[bwind22]

Okay, I think it's pretty much common knowledge that in any given industry or line of work, there are things that the people who work in that industry know, but the common consumer (ie: The rest of us) does not. I am going to post a few that I've picked up over the years at different occupations I've had. Some may be useful, others might just be interesting and still others might just be pointless. Feel free to add yours as well.

- Hotel rates are generally able to be negotiated. This pertains to walkins rather than reservations made months in advance. (Unless a hotel is sold out or close to selling out, you can generally ask for a better rate before checking in and they will generally accomodate you. Reasoning is that they'd rather get something for a room than have it sit empty all night and make no money off it. Don't expect them to give it away for $10 or anything, but a $10-$20 discount would not be out of the question. It is generally up to the dscretion of the person working the desk, so it's beneficial to be courteous and polite to them.)

- When trying to book a hotel room online (Especially if it's only for 1 nite) and the computer informs you that the hotel is sold out, try to make the reservation for 3 or 4 days instead, starting with the day you want to check in. (Alot of times hotels will put a minimum # of nights for a reservation, especially if they are close to being sold out that night. They will think along the lines of "Well, we've only got 3 rooms left this Friday, so let's make sure we sell them to people that will be here for a few days and not just 1".) So you just make the reservations for a few extra days and alot of times, that will open up more rooms to you. Just remember to cancel the extra nights after you've already checked in.

- In kitchens, solid spoons are refered to as 'male', while slotted spoons or spoons with holes in them are refered to as 'female'. Why you ask? The female ones have holes in them. It's crass, but that's legit. I'm not sure who came up with that though.


Hmmmm..... I guess that's all I can come up with right now... I'll try to think of some more, but in the mean time feel free to add your own tricks of your trade....