Yukon Chatter Bug

The drive to Skagway is quite spectacular to say the least. It’s easy to bring visiting family and friends for a pleasant day trip, as it only takes two hours to drive there. Yesterday was a perfect autumn day for it, and only one cruiseship was docked, which meant no fighting for sidewalk space.

One of the popular landmarks in Skagway is the Red Onion Saloon, a bordello turned eatery. The place has much flavour of the goldrush days: ladies are dressed in corsets and wear bright red lipstick.

Since I was bringing a visitor for the touristy stuff Skagway has to offer, and trust me, there is much of that, I decided to take her for lunch at the famed red velvet curtained establishment. I wouldn’t say the food and service is outstanding, but it is good, and the prices are very reasonable.

However, when I received my bill at the end of the meal, this is what I got:

I couldn’t believe my eyes, and I was downright insulted. Not only did she write down a tip without even implying that it was just a suggestion, but she was trying for about 20% in tips. This was insulting not because of the level of service or the quality of food, but because of her presumption.

We called her over to the table and first asked if we were expected to pay the $39.00 or if it was just a suggested tip. She said it was a suggestion.

I then mentioned to her that I am from Whitehorse (most of their business is from cruiseship passengers) and have been at the Red Onion on a number of occasions, and I have never ever seen a server do this. Was this something new? She replied that “we get people here from all around the world, and sometimes people don’t know how to tip, so this is just to help them.” She’s helping herself more than anything else in my opinion.

We reassured her that the food and the service were very good, but that the norm for tipping is 15%, not 20%, and that we felt that she was being very forward by indicating a 20% tip on the tab for herself.

In the end, I did leave her a good tip (a little more than 15% but not the requested amount). She eventually came by the table to collect payment and apologized, which I was pleased about, but I have to wonder if “Madam Jan” doesn’t have something going with ‘ol Soapy Smith, the most famed con artist in Skagway’s history. Maybe his ghost resides in the old Red Onion Saloon.

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To leave you with a more pleasant impression of our drive, here are a few photos taken in and around Carcross, Yukon, the halfway point:

After looking over a spelling assessment I administered recently to my third graders to try to figure out where to start with them, I came across one word on the test that made me smile. Instead of writing We, one student wrote Wii.

They are keeners!

The biggest shock at work this week came when I spent time with one of the high school groups. On my second day with them, and after telling them a little bit about myself, I asked them to write a short bio.

The first kid asked, “Can we do it on our laptop?” (Every student in the secondary wing gets a laptop on loan from the school.) There were only 15 minutes of class left, so I said no, that we didn’t have time for all of them to go out, get their laptops, and get started.

“But we all have our laptops with us,” piped up another student pointing to his bag on the floor.

“Really? How long will it take you to get set up?” I asked.

“Like, thirty seconds!”

After giving them the go ahead, I had 20 students sitting in front of me with open laptops. Wow! I think it’s wonderful, but that’s only half the story.

The next day, I wrote a tongue twister on the board as a warm-up before the students were to do mini presentations.

“Some of us can’t read what you wrote on the board,” a kid on my left exclaims.

“Oh, is there not enough light? Or maybe the sun is reflecting off the board?”

I start walking toward the light switches when a few of them say, “No, no, it’s the writing…the letters like that, all connected!” I was floored.

Cursive writing is a skill usually taught in grade four, but apparently these kids either didn’t learn it or forgot how to do it. When I asked whether or not they had learned cursive writing, I was told, “Yeah, a little bit, but we don’t need it anymore!” The kid points to his laptop.

So, is cursive writing going by the wayside? When I told my story to another high school teacher, she mentioned that many kids don’t know how to write cursive, although some can read it.

Interesting discoveries this week, and this was only one of them. I’ll have to keep using this font for my blog!