What we’re about
Welcome to Meaningful Discussions Oakville! Our group is all about bringing like-minded individuals together to enjoy both online discussions and dining out at both old and new restaurants in town while engaging in meaningful conversations. We focus on improving communication, learning, and gaining a deeper understanding of various aspects of human nature and this world in general. Whether you're looking to meet new people or deepen existing connections, this group is for you. Join us for insightful discussions either on your couch or over delicious meals and build lasting relationships with fellow members. Let's grow together through connection, conversation, and community in both Halton and Peel!
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Food Service, Wages, and Tips (online meetup)Needs location
The grief-inflected gratitude of the post-pandemic period introduced new tipping behaviors. Etiquette experts studied the so-called guilt-tip boom. The gratuity, like everything else, has gone contactless—the swivelling of the iPad. In the past three years, according to data from the payroll company Gusto, tips in bakeries and cafés are up forty-one per cent. Apparently, we now tip assistant sports coaches (up three hundred and sixty-seven per cent) and theatre-box-office staff (up a hundred and sixty-one per cent).
Do you tip the cashier when all she’s done is ring up your salad? Don’t, and you’re a cheapskate. Do, and you’re a sucker. Where before you scribbled a tip in the candlelit darkness of a restaurant, now you do it in the spotlight glow of the screen. The polite thing to do, standing in line, is to behave as you would at the A.T.M., or the urinal: look away.
Let's talk about food service, wages and tips in late October. Hope you can join us.
## Details
Videos Some entry-level info (and other options) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Q6TBLlV0A (9:13) Some history https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzAxny6es74 (9:30) Wages for restaurant workers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLB4Fp6L9J0 (1:21) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NUBs2qjjNw (2:43) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LdpEvaiD7k (4:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABBcG846MY (11:06) Tipping https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJxgS0JMjg4 (5:21) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_fMkXHYh6c (12:15) Minimum wage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4yp8Fbi-Y (9:31)
Questions: 1. What purpose do restaurants have in society? 2. Do servers get enough respect from customers? How much respect do they deserve? 3. How can fast food in particular balance its (theoretically) cheap prices with worker pay? 4. Is the outsourcing of delivery good for restaurants, drivers, customers...or apps? 5. Do you always tip your servers? How much? Do you tip in situations that are not food related (hotels, hairdressers, etc.)? 6. Do you feel that tipping is an expression of gratitude for a job well done, or a forced subsidy that your shouldn't be responsible for in a fair economic society? 7. How would you feel about living in a society that required its members to eat only professionally prepared food (no home kitchens, only restaurants or community diners, and take-out)? 8. How would you feel if the restaurant industry was banned and all food had to be prepared in the home? This includes ready-to-eat meals and take-out from supermarkets.
- The Loneliness Epidemic (online)Needs location
Loneliness is as bad for our bodies as 15 daily cigarettes. Even before the pandemic forced so many of us into our homes and behind our screens, Canada was a nation of lonely folks. In 2019, nearly a quarter of Canadians said they experienced social isolation and loneliness. By 2021, that number had climbed to 35 percent. Join us in late November and let's talk about it! Watch a few or all of the videos and read the articles. Be ready for an insightful discussion.
## Details
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8pa506BFk4 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVPc46GFq-4 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udRNgM4x2W4 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR1tTwaRxFk 5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSbxMkRYb6o 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFz7Zm2UjY 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vB59ZVTKdc 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J509AZl7bHY 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vB59ZVTKdcReading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/opinion/loneliness-epidemic-america.html 2. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/well/mind/loneliness-isolation-surgeon-general.html 3. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/opinion/treating-loneliness.htmlQuestions: 1. a) When was the loneliest time of your life, and why? b)When was the least lonely time of your life, and why? 2. Do you believe there is a loneliness "epidemic" in modern society? If so, what has caused it? 3. In an age of greater connection than ever through technology, why are human connections so difficult and unsatisfying? 4. There are a number of reasons why loneliness is so ubiquitous now. We're more mobile, for starters. And we also have more technology that can dilute or substitute higher-quality interactions. To what do you attribute the loneliness epidemic? How has mobility, technology, or something else impacted your ability to make durable connections? 5. Some of Dr. Murthy's patients have shared that they don't have anyone who they can authentically talk to or feel seen by in their life. As one of Dr. Murthy's friends put it, "To be loved is not enough. You have to both be loved and to be known." Do you feel known? What keeps you from opening up? 6. To address the loneliness epidemic, Dr. Murthy says we will have to ask deeper questions about life, its purpose, and our obligations to one another. What question do you think is part of the solution? 7. Can we maintain our level of technological and scientific advancement and take care of our basic human emotional needs? Will we manage to balance things better in the future, or will we have to make some tough choices?
- Youtube, Censorship, And Monopoly (online)Needs location
Hello fellow MD members,
Please watch at least a few of the videos in the links below and be ready to discuss what is happening. See you in late January!
Note: for our October, November and January online events, to get the video conferencing link please message me and I'll provide you my email for you to contact me. I will be able to email the link to you. Thank you in advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-S-oeWZLWM (9:27) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ObNiT_hpM (9:05) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BruZDX4HNqY (5:47) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4SrTFyOL6M (3:09) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uma8Sf6rhTY (11:40) 4:38-5:36 is relevant, but enjoy the whole thing if you need a laugh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN5hNzVqkOk (8:07) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGxbaxviRVw (6:09) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4JqkvU734A (10:31) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtjLA1AIaGQ (37:19) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxrC0diGnUA (4:49)
Questions: 1. Do you use Youtube with any regularity? What do you use it for (education, research, work, etc.)? 2. How do you think Youtube has changed since it began? 3. Are you familiar with any competitors to Youtube? Do they constitute real competition? Why (not)? 4. Do you agree with Youtube's censorship of sexual images and profane language? If not, how should they deal with such things to avoid the wrath of parents (and/or advertisers)? 5. What is your opinion of Youtube's treatment of creators? Do you know about any scandals? 6. If Youtube becomes a paid service exclusively, will you subscribe? 7. Does Youtube have a future as a product/service?
