TooFineAPoint said:I don't get the fairytale around "Mom & Pop Shops".
Those shops suck ass, and are the worst of both worlds: overpriced, understocked, and lacking in both convenience and expertise.
I remember having to deal with Mom & Pop Shops for most of my life, and it was nearly always terrible. I am glad they are going under. International corporations and boutiques are the better options, in my opinion. You have convenience and low price (due to economies of scale and advanced logistics) in the chain corps, and you have quality and expertise in the boutiques.
When I travel to America (minimum once per year for more than a week), I am always pleased with both. Especially compared to Canada and Europe.
LEMONed IScream said:Just an info, I often have trouble seeing links, twitter videos etc. It just shows up blank, this thread is another example. Surely does not affect only me!
PharaohRa said:... when SHTF, Manhattan can be turned into a prison island and the rich can move somewhere else.
Leonard D Neubache said:TooFineAPoint said:I don't get the fairytale around "Mom & Pop Shops".
Those shops suck ass, and are the worst of both worlds: overpriced, understocked, and lacking in both convenience and expertise.
I remember having to deal with Mom & Pop Shops for most of my life, and it was nearly always terrible. I am glad they are going under. International corporations and boutiques are the better options, in my opinion. You have convenience and low price (due to economies of scale and advanced logistics) in the chain corps, and you have quality and expertise in the boutiques.
When I travel to America (minimum once per year for more than a week), I am always pleased with both. Especially compared to Canada and Europe.
I think it depends. My trouble is that when I go to big-box stores they're always staffed entirely by minimum wage, minimum age millennials who couldn't find their ass with both hands.
If I know what I want, where to find it and how to use it then the low prices are great. Otherwise it's a 30-60 minute game of "find the dodgers then work them around to finally admitting they have no fucking clue where the item I want is, whether they even have it, or for that matter how it works". Then they offer to find someone else who can help and promptly piss off to lunch "because I'm not getting paid enough for this shit".
phluff127 said:@TooFineAPoint enjoy your Arby’s. Home of expert employees serving you not overpriced meat that arrived to the store in liquid form (Arby’s meat is at one point literally a liquid) Enjoy the decline. At least it’s convenient.
Athanasius said:I never can get over how utterly stupid liberal cities are. A recent Colin Flaherty podcast was an introduction to this growing phenomenon of fare-evasion, which has been exacerbated by cities deciding to not go after it. Now they are reconsidering after large budget shortfalls.
Problems like this are easily solved. There's just no will to do it.
JohnKreese said:Athanasius said:I never can get over how utterly stupid liberal cities are. A recent Colin Flaherty podcast was an introduction to this growing phenomenon of fare-evasion, which has been exacerbated by cities deciding to not go after it. Now they are reconsidering after large budget shortfalls.
Problems like this are easily solved. There's just no will to do it.
To be fair, there are a lot of people in other parts of the world that scrimp out on paying for public transport. I was at a party in EE and the topic came up of who actually pays for a city bus pass. Only one girl rose her hand and everyone else laughed at her.
TooFineAPoint said:Leonard D Neubache said:TooFineAPoint said:I don't get the fairytale around "Mom & Pop Shops".
Those shops suck ass, and are the worst of both worlds: overpriced, understocked, and lacking in both convenience and expertise.
I remember having to deal with Mom & Pop Shops for most of my life, and it was nearly always terrible. I am glad they are going under. International corporations and boutiques are the better options, in my opinion. You have convenience and low price (due to economies of scale and advanced logistics) in the chain corps, and you have quality and expertise in the boutiques.
When I travel to America (minimum once per year for more than a week), I am always pleased with both. Especially compared to Canada and Europe.
I think it depends. My trouble is that when I go to big-box stores they're always staffed entirely by minimum wage, minimum age millennials who couldn't find their ass with both hands.
If I know what I want, where to find it and how to use it then the low prices are great. Otherwise it's a 30-60 minute game of "find the dodgers then work them around to finally admitting they have no fucking clue where the item I want is, whether they even have it, or for that matter how it works". Then they offer to find someone else who can help and promptly piss off to lunch "because I'm not getting paid enough for this shit".
Absolutely. There is no pleasure in the experience of a big box shop. It is strictly for availability and price.
You make your decision usually before leaving the house if you want quality or affordability/convenience, then you are not let down.
phluff127 said:@TooFineAPoint enjoy your Arby’s. Home of expert employees serving you not overpriced meat that arrived to the store in liquid form (Arby’s meat is at one point literally a liquid) Enjoy the decline. At least it’s convenient.
Work on your reading comprehension. I talked about chains AND boutiques, for different uses.
Maybe you aren't well versed in how most one-off small ma/pa restos are run. They use generic ingredients, have a menu too-large, and often just source from the local "wholesale" shop like Costco. Functionally it is as unhealthy as eating at Arby's, just double the price and twice as long a wait.
If you want quality, you need to go to a gastronomic restaurant and pay 4x the price. Or you go to a supermarket and cook yourself. But if you are on the road, yeah, I'll take quick and dense calories at McDonalds over the average "local family restaurant" trash.
And the amazing thing about America is that they actually have corporate/chain semi-healthy / semi-fast food restos popping up to serve this market need I just wrote about.
An In-N-Out Burger in western USA probably has fresher ingredients and less calories than a cepelinai from a hole-in-the-wall Lithuanian eatery, for instance. Likewise a burrito bowl from Chipotle.
aeroektar said:Corruption is corruption. Have a look at the Big Dig, brown men weren't in charge of that.
The problem is we don't punish these scumbags anymore, they get off scot free or with a slap on the wrist every time, whereas a century or two ago they'd be publicly executed for fucking their communities over that bad.
Leonard D Neubache said:I frankly think the uglier truth is that importing low-trust outsiders to do work in your nation results in these catastrophes not because they're especially incompetent but simply because they either don't care about the natives that die later, or worse, actually think it's funny or just.
Mexicans build massive structures in Mexico, Indians build them in India and Chinese build them in China.
Now would you trust a bunch of Indians and Chinese and Mexicans with a proven track record in their home nations to build you a school for your lily white kids?
Fuck no. Because they don't care about your people and they know that when the local gravy train ends that they're going to be able to zip off back to their homeland with profits in hand and laugh all the way.
That's why Manuel and Bhanesh are only slapping in every third bolt or spot welding instead of beading the whole seam. Because "fuck these people, they're not my people."
Leonard D Neubache said:I frankly think the uglier truth is that importing low-trust outsiders to do work in your nation results in these catastrophes not because they're especially incompetent but simply because they either don't care about the natives that die later, or worse, actually think it's funny or just.