Hook Ups
May 15th, 2008 by Braddah LanceMy cousin is flying in for a vacation/family reunion (of sorts) in June and the last time I seen her was just last July at our wedding. Before that? Maybe about 25 years ago. We were tight back then and the funny thing is we just started emailing each other a few years ago and we picked up right where we left off. What trips people out is that she haole. Well, hapa-haole.
Last year she paid an arm an a leg just to attend our wedding so this time around I told her to just book the airfare (which is an appendage by itself) and I would help her out getting a deal for the hotel and car.
We all know that the kama’aina rate is always lower than the rack rate but here’s another “useless” fact.
* Did you know that membership has it’s benefits? The two most popular are the Entertainment cards and AAA - which are 50% off the rack rate, kama’aina is usually 25% - both which are generally lower than the kama’aina rate.
Wassap Wit Dat?
I used to work hotel das why - get choke “lower” rates that they no like say dey get but you have to ask and show proof, now in the internet age if you book online you do tend to get a better deal than a travel agent or calling direct too.
We all live Hawaii so we know more than anyone else in the country that it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know. So I start asking my friends that work in the travel industry for some hook ups. Two work in the hotel industry and one works for a car rental agency. The hotel? Little tough on the rates considering it’s “peak” season but the car, no problem.
So now what?
Ask again. Ask my friends fo’ ask their oda friends and so on.
No bu’lai. You either have done that or been on the receiving end of that and doesn’t it all seem to boil down to if the person you “may” help out is significant to you or if the friend asking is really asking for a favor?
You get da, “eh, if can, can, no can, no can” (no mattah one way or anoda) or “nah, Brah, if you can hook ‘em up, would be good.” (Brah, need da help so do wat you can).
My cousin? She need da help so I still looking for anything and everything for her cause family yeah? Das wat we do.
I’ve gotten “discounts” at a popular sushi restaurant, employee pricing at various stores and so on from friends and I also return the favor anyway I can whether it be hook ups of my own (in the past - pizza, hotel, discounts etc.) or the good ole’ fashion ”manual labor”. But isn’t the point of getting a hook up getting a deal? But we kama’aina and no mattah wat, seem to return more than we receive….guess das why we no ka oi wen it comes to Aloha yeah?
So wat kine hook ups have you’ve given or received? Do you “overuse” your hook ups? Do you offer anything back other than “thanks”?
How’s about not even using your hook up “power”? How many of you work at some place and no even use the “benefit”? Sad, but I must say I work at the paper but no read ‘em except for the weekend…sometimes (but I do clip out coupons for friends when asked). I had a friend work at a restaurant that they don’t eat at, a clothing store that they don’t wear and even one at a car dealership that they don’t even have a car with.
So wat - Anybody like hook me up wit anything?
Get coupons I can clip……….. 
May 15th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Unfortunately in the job I’m in I can’t really hook anyone up. Well, I could but it would be a pretty big fiasco, I would get fired and the media would eat it up. Pau with dat. In my old job, I was a retail manager of a popular surf shop and would hook up the occasional friend or loyal customer. It was just my way of showing them that they were appreciated and hope that they come back to only my shop. It worked. It was against company policy but I think I made up for a few discounts with bybassing our sales goals. I guess that’s the only thing. If you do ask for deals from friends or give some, be prepared to accept the repurcussions if it’s against company policy.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:48 am
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about it not being what you know but WHO you know BL…that goes for anything from getting discount to landing a great job! but das one whole nodda topic no get me started i’m still bitter
anyways back to “hook ups” my friend’s dad work hotel & they get comp rooms every now & then, and he got my family rooms for real cheap price at da fancier schmancier hotel woo hoo!
where i used to work we had eployee discount but i never really used it unless i was buying for someone else because you just get tired of seeing the same stuff over & over, day in & day out. at that job tho, had dis former employee who was working at a surf shop so he used to hook us up with all kine stuff for door prizes li’dat when we had company parties (i think he’s a classic example of overuse of hook up powers). every now & then it’s free drinks, free coffee, discounts on clothes…..man i miss dat one! how da heck i ended up paying only about 10% of what i figgahed i was going owe is beyond me. nah, it’s nice and all but i never go in expecting it and i’m always ready to pay mostly cuz i no like my friends get in trouble! but to echo what MoOgoo said, when you do dat kine stuff be careful because when you doing stuff like giving stuff away for free, sometimes they consider it stealing from the company!
ok now i going try punch in my AAA number & see if myr ate is cheaper than my kamaaina discount
May 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am
Hah! When I seen da blog title and da first paragraph…….I thought you wuz trying fo get yo cousin “hooked-up” with someone ova here.
You right BL…..in Hawaii, it’s an advantage to know peeps that can hook you up with stuff.
But I also had experiences where I got winnah deals/service from peeps I don’t even know. Now dat’s some serious Aloha Spirit fo you.
As for hooking you up?
Have your people call my people.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:50 am
whoa BL…when i read the subject of today’s blog i thought we was gonna be talkin’ about something nasty…lol!!
when i was a manager at mcdonalds i would ALWAYS hook up friends/family/cute customers when they came in. kinda like MoOgooGuypAn, i wasn’t supposed to, but at least the customers were loyal. it was funny cuz my brother-in-law worked a couple stores down from me and he’d come in everyday and buy one or two 99 cent sandwhiches and then walk out with one or two bags full of all kind of stuff! i try to “hook up” people whenever i can, because when i need help/something i always think, “okay, who can help me out?” i figure if i’m the kind of person that always helps others out then others will help me out…ain’t that part of the aloha spirit too?
May 15th, 2008 at 8:58 am
When I was in college, I worked at that *unnamed* popular Japanese department store in Ala Moana. The only discounts I ever took outside of the ones we usually got was because certain managers offered them. If someone wanted something from there, I was glad to purchase it for them with the little discount I had. If I got an additional discount, I would be grateful. I could not give any discount outside of the normal ones because only the managers could authorize those. Other than that, I never really had a job where I could “hook” someone up with discounts or perks. Funny story, one time I came home for a visit and was renting a car in Honolulu. I knew they had kama’aina discounts, and I asked about it. She told me I could only get it if I had a Hawaii DL or a Hawaii ID card. I told her I was born in Hawaii (I did not have a Hawaii DL already since I had lived in the mainland for sometime). She looked at me funny and said I didn’t sound like I was from Hawaii. I guess I lost all my pidgin
or at least most of it.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:02 am
first panty fights…now hook ups? where has ur mind been these past couple days my braddah?? hahaha nah nah
well the most typical type of hookups given and received in my circle of friends are free food/drinks. i use to be a waiter and some of my friends still are…the thing is i never ask for “hook ups” they jus do it and i jus pretend im suprised when 6 drinks come out to like 3 dollars….
May 15th, 2008 at 9:08 am
This is one of the things I learned when I moved to Hawaii. It’s ALL about who you know.
I try to take full advantage of any hook ups I have - got my car tinted for free, thanks for one of my previous hook ups; used to buy all the Christmas presents wherever my sis-in-law worked, and it goes on and on. Even get “professional” courtesy discount from my dentist, since I’m in medical field. Unfortunately, I can’t hook anybody up, but we can still be friends, can’t we?
May 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Exactomondo! I used deliver pizza/shift manager for a well known Pizza “Hale” and used to give free breadsticks - among other things - to repeat customers all the time. Just a little mahalos for being loyal.
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Rrrrreeeeooww. Braddahs - Caaaaaat Fiiiiiiggghht!
Try let me know if it does cause back in da day, kama’aina rate wasn’t kama’aina friendly. Maybe wen change and I gotta update my useless fact.
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Braddah, she one citizen…no need green card.
Might have been me doing dat. When I work dat kine, I hooked everybody up as long as they were supah nice.
They did. The message says your line has been disconnected.
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Wow. Is that wat you peeps tink? Braddah Lance all skebe li’dat. Ho, hurt da feelings li’dat.
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You know, wen I used to work hotel I would get plenty malahini saying the same thing. I give them one test and a back up question too if they said they “fo’got” their ID. Pronounce and spell kama’aina correctly. Now Kalaniana’ole. Gets ‘em everytime.
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Obviously not where your’s is.
Das the bess kine yeah? But you know wea dat “savings” ends up right? Right back in da tip.
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E komo mai to da real Hawaii Braddah!
No.
ha ha ha
May 15th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I thought you was going say you wen hook up wit an old girl friend or someting.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am
ok after extensive research
looks like the AAA discount is only about $25 cheaper than the regular no-mo-discount price….but if you book online, no mattah same price with AAA, military, or nothing at all! granted i only checked 1 hotel haha! nah, we have a room booked there for an event so i knew da locals price so can compare ah? our price is about $50 off da regular price so Kamaaina seems to be da way to go! 8-D
no…scratch dat….having a friend/relative dat can “hook you up” is da way to go!
May 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
In my line, nothing for hook up somebody wit, but I do the referral thing, and that helps me out sometimes…lol. Like I wen refer someone to my optomologist and got da huge discount when I needed new glasses. I don’t refer to get the discounts, I do it cause I’ve found good people, and if someone else needs that service, then here it is.
I think the best hook up is to find personable people, not just in the service industry, but medical/dental as well. Theres nothing worst than not liking the ones that know you the most.
The biggest hook up I’ve gotten… my cousin wen hook me up wit his cousin (I guess dat makes him my cousin? Only in Hawaii) fo get my tattoo. Now dat was winnas and wen save me plenny kala and was excellent work too! Can’t wait for the next one!
May 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Yeah, I can just hear Da Wife, “wtf, I gotta hear this s*!t from your blog?!” SOS
Peeps, it’s hook up, not hoooook uuuuuup.
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You know I just called the hotel my cousin is staying at and the online price beat kama’aina by $30! The only catch - non-refundable and payment in full. Come to think of it, Da Wife and I did the same thing on our honeymoon and at both hotels we stayed at and the front desk was surprised at the rate we got. Same deal though - non-refundable & full payment.
So looks like online is the way to go if your plans are solid.
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Das right. Makes everything easier.
I tink dat’s a second cousin to you but I dunno. btw, got any pics (email to me)? Da Wife and I are looking to get tat’s for our anniversary present (was supposed to be last years X-mas present) to each other…no not our names on each other (in case the worse happens…knock on wood). We just wanted our respective family kanji inked.
Maybe your cousin’s cousin knows somebody I know….does that make us “distant” cousins?
May 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I can’t hook anybody up wit anyting… like MoOgooGuypAn, I’d be out pounding the pavement looking fo’ one new job if I did dat! But, I always try to help out my friends, if I can. (okay, you folks wit da dirty minds… that’s NOT what I mean. Heh heh.) My friend always give me her employee discount on my glasses - but it’s okay with her bosses so it’s cool. Otherwise, I prefer that my friends don’t give me discounts or extras that would get them into trouble!! After years of working retail and numerous requests to share my employee discount, which I did but it made me uncomfortable, I don’t want to put my friends in that same position and potentially jeopardize their jobs.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
i work at a bank, so you what everybody says . . . “can you hook me up w/a loan?!” or “hook me up w/some money!!” shoot, i can’t even hook myself up w/some money!!
i got hooked up w/tons of “bad” chocolates from ethel m. when i went w/my friend to vegas cuz her aunty that works there said if the plastic wrapping has even a small puka, they can’t sell it!! score!! i got a free tattoo cuz the X’s artist insisted that he spent too much time on my then bf’s back piece
score . . . again!!
anyway, i too thought that this blog was about HOOKING UP . . . like . . . 2 people hooking up!! heehee . . . that’s been on my mind lately - tryna get my friends to introduce me to new people (ie: single guys!!) heehee!!
May 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Looks like getting small kind confusion between hook ups and stealing. :oP
May 15th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I work at a bank also and just like kako mochi said everybody ask that question, i think the only thing would be waiving some bank fees. But my other jobs i hook ppl up with foood and maybe some beverages and i possibly could hook ppl up with rides to the napali coast but i haven’t tried that yet. As for getting hooked up my cousin is a bartender and everytime we go to have a few, we can be there the whole nite and our tab would be $10 or even nothing..but of course we leave her a huge tip.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Just started working at a national department store. Of course, the policy is you cannot use your employee discount for people other than your spouse and dependents under 18. But another manager said the real sticking point was ‘having an exchange of money’ for whatever your purchase for others. So you could purchase something as a gift. Or, if you purchase something for others, it can be a ‘barter’ system where they do something else for you in exchange. Hmmm…. I guess there’s no end to how people can find loopholes.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Obviously she knows someone here…YOU. Why can’t she just stay with you and your Wife?
May 15th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I used to be a store manager at a fairly popular juice bar … i used to hook my friends up all the time. partially because they never used to come around, but i also used to hook up my regular customers. amazing because i still used to make bonus … hahahaha.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I tink if you get one relative working for the hotel, you get the employee’s discount. toher den dat, gotta go online…. i no have connections.. not in da business i’m in..
May 15th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Hey Wasssup Braddah Lance!!!
I so sad…I no mo’ connections. Can you hook me up with your Korean connections? Food is always good…especially when gotta do potlucks. Can you make Korean Fried Chicken? I get Lakeside potluck in a couple of weeks…got any Hookups?
May 15th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
BL…..FYI. Try check out Kawehi’s blog on Fort Street Bar & Grill. She get some wicked fuud pix. No mean fo buss yo balls or nuttin but dats how supposed to look like.
Go….go check um out….go.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:54 am
It must be hard for people that feel uncomfortable but still no can say “no”. You just too kind yeah? Den get da oda’s dat just push even afta recogmanotice (thanks eh Opso, but I had to add da “ma” in dea) your reaction yeah? Auwe.
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You and my ex-coworker. We just went to lunch the oda week and she was telling me, “if you wasn’t married, there was this girl that I would have liked you to meet.”
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Yeah, I guess so…but only if was free right? Discount is discount….maybe “five-fingah” discount?
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I gotta know da secret den cause getting my bank fees waived is like pulling teeth….without meds.
Ok, I going remembah dat! I tink Da Wife needs a little getaway (with da stimulus moolah) and we haven’t been to da Garden Isle together….yet.
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Uh…Nordstroms? Good ting nobody reading hea no who you are….
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Uh, If we had mo’ room, no dogs, lived in town, didn’t wake up at 5:00am, oh yeah….one bathroom…..da list goes on. Dunno about you but wen I’m on vacation, I like walk around in my undies without wondering who walking in da room.
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Wow - wat you puttin’ in da drinks?
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book2:
btw Braddah, how you doin’?
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Make? My mom get one one secret receipe dat she uses for da lunchwagon…but if I tell ya’ I gotta “eliminate” ya.
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Wow you really like make me feel bad yeah? Her pics were solid! Now you make me feel like my disposable camera no good?