by CrittersMinion » Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:41 am
[Reposted from old comment system, from Terry on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:23:36 0000]
Just say no to land lines.
You can have a Skype phone number and unlimited calling for about $90/year.
You can send faxes using faxzero.com and efax.com will give you a fax number and email your received faxes.
Google Voice is on the verge of replacing Skype for free. Already, you can get a free phone number from Google, and use their web based voice mail, and now you can call land lines with no charge from within gmail in a compatible browser. International calls, as with Skype, are very cheap.
And as for those ubiquitous tip jars that have become a fixture on every retail counter in the country, just ignore them. The person behind the counter is paid to serve you. If they don't serve you, they will be fired, or you will go somewhere else. The best "tip" a customer can give is repeat business, plus word-of-mouth advertising. Emptying your wallet into these tip jars as a sort of bribe to get the clerk to treat you nicely is foolish and thankless, even though they may mutter "thanks" (if they notice).