[pct-l] Tipping
Pea Hicks
phix at optigan.com
Mon Dec 25 14:30:09 CST 2006
Slyatpct at aol.com wrote:
>
>
> I wouldn't bother playing games and just charge $20 per night upfront.
> I'd also charge for shuttles, atleast enough to pay for gas. What you
> offer is a bargin in anyone's book.
true, that would be a bargain relative to the sort of rates that a
business would usually charge, but i think there's some subtleties of
experience that would be missed by operating a trail angel stop on a
business transaction model, even if there's no profit being made and the
money simply covers the basic costs. maybe i'm just a bit too much of a
romantic about these things, i dunno, but to me the facade of a business
would set up a sort of formal relationship to the possible detriment of
the purely human interaction...
but this is a complex issue, and it works two ways... while i would find
it off-putting to see a trail angel operating as a "business," at the
same time, some of the services i found on the pct that i was most
grateful for were businesses that turned out to operate more like trail
angels. the store at trout lake immediately comes to mind- they clearly
were running a business, not a trail angel stop. yet the room they
offered me was one of the best motel rooms i stayed on the trail (at any
price), and they only charged me $20!! AND they gave me free pie, free
laundry, hooked me up with a ride back to the trail, and were very
friendly and helpful in general!! so in the end, i considered it a trail
angel stop, even though technically it was a business transaction...
ultimately i found it to be a rewarding human interaction, because i had
no expectations of any sort of good samaritanship, so when that
happened, it was a very pleasant surprise.
well anyway, don't get me wrong- i'm very thankful for WHATEVER
kindnesses are offered to me on the trail, in whatever guise or
paradigm, trail angel or business. i just personally would find it odd
to see trail angels operating on a business model, even if they were
only charging the same amount that i would have donated anyway.
gs
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