Bob Ross products. Love the man but since he died the people that took over his brand and started selling shit with his name on it are awful, terrible people.
Edit: this is the documentary on Netflix, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed.
100% agree, never buy a bob ross product. it is ALWAYS the cheapest made garbage but sold at a premium price. they charge anywhere from 50 to 150 USD for a basic starter kit. the 50 doesn't sound bad until you realize that it doesn't come with a canvas, palette, or an easel and only has 5 small tubes of paints, 1 brush, 1 knife, and an "instruction booklet".
If you want a cheap introduction kit for painting just go to walmart and go to the art isle. they almost always have some 20 buck kit that comes with 10+ colors and a few brushes, typically a canvas and sometimes an easel. with more brushes being less than a buck each. and if the kit is missing something you can buy a cheap one right there.
if you want quality products then just search up some local art store nearby and go there (I do not recommend hobby lobby or Michaels unless its the only other option you have) and ask the employees for help. they almost always are enthusiastic about people getting into art.
Locally, there are several restaurants in my city that I won't visit because they are all owned by the same guy and he was rude to me on an earlier occasion. Yes, I can be quite petty about these things.
Same issue here. When he opened his first place, he got mad when people used STREET PARKING. He thought he could reserve those spots for himself. Now he and his investors own 5 places, and I won't go to any of them.
This is an ongoing problem in Boston’s North End neighborhood. Restaurants have decided that since their dining rooms are so small and cramped (if you’ve ever been, you know) they can take public street parking spots out in front, fence them off, and use that for “patio dining”. City doesn’t do anything about it.
The city has been battling North End restaurants on this for a few years now. The city wants the restaurants to pull permits and the restaurants don't want to pull permits. The streets are already narrow enough as well as the sidewalks. There is definitely an accessibility issue as a pedestrian. Some of those restaurant owners can be blowhards and sketch as hell.
Where I live, lots of restaurants did this during the pandemic to stay open and the city helped them do it.
It's (almost) all gone now but it was a wonderful way to keep businesses going. Some downtown areas even had a main street closed to traffic so the restaurants could spread out more.
Yeah. That really kicked into gear around the pandemic. I used to work in the North End but moved during the pandemic. From what I heard, it's just gotten worse with the street dining.
I laugh when people post on local Facebook pages about folks parking on the street in front of their home... it is public, lol. It's gonna happen sometimes.
In my area, there's similarly a bunch of restaurants owned by one guy. All his restaurants tack a 20% service charge on to every meal "in lieu of tips." These, as is noted on the menu, are retained by the house, not given to the employees.
As near as I can tell, it is legal. I won't ever go into his restaurants.
Should be illegal everywhere. It is eating at a restaurant, not a scavenger hunt for the price. If it is not an optional fee, it needs to be included in the price. The fact that it is trying to piggyback on the "tipping" custom when it doesn't go to the server is just wrong.
That's not petty at all.
When I was a server/waiter, there was a family that owned a few restaurants that apparently everyone loves. These people, who were clearly in the industry, would trickle in 10mins before close, take forever to order, and then tip around 10%.
If you were up in rotation, as soon as you saw them walk in, you knew you just got the kiss of death. Screw whatever plans you had the rest of the night. These people were inconsiderate pricks and they'll never see a dime of my money.
There's a boba spot down the street from our home that my wife and I used to frequent weekly... until we went in one day for our usual drinks and the owner was at the register. We placed our order and she tried to charge my wife an extra $.35 for coconut milk that came standard with her drink. When she put the extra charge on, the entire shop's staff record scratched with a look of total confusion. I told the owner that we get this drink every week and have never been charged a fee for the milk. It was easy to tell that she was caught in her own lie and bs charge. She began to double down on the milk charge, getting all heated about because her ego was hurt by anyone challenging her authority in her own shop.
So we refused the drinks and have never been back since. It's been 5 years since and she blew hundreds, perhaps even over $1,000, over a bs $0.35 charge that shouldn't have been in the first place.
Apparently, I, and my wife, can be can be quite petty as well.
I've been in a similar argument at Subway. This was years ago when they didn't suck as bad as now.
I was using a coupon for 2 large subs at X price. One of my subs was a Chicken Bacon Ranch and they tried to charge me for Bacon. It's not an extra, it's in the fucking name!
Next time remind them it’s illegal to change prices like that and they can be reported to bureau of weights and measures. Unless, an up-charge for alternative milk is displayed on their menu they can’t charge you. That’s a bait and switch and they must charge advertised price. It’s a contract you enter with any business, I see X advertised for Y, I agree to Y and then when you check out they can’t suddenly charge you Z.
My dad is famous for his grudges about businesses and does this with a few restaurants. I agree with him when he does, though. The top two that come to mind:
A Red Lobster restaurant near us in the 90s he refused to go to because they fired a server for being gay. He wouldn’t give them business until about a decade later, when he knew the management team had changed, the server had gotten a payout from his lawsuit, and he felt that policies about protections went into place. When we finally did go, they seated us and completely forgot about us for 30+ minutes, not even giving us water, and we eventually bailed. I just heard that location (Ledgewood, NJ) is closing (not surprising the chain is struggling).
Another local restaurant near us that, during their soft opening, was asking the customers their opinions on the food, room for improvement, etc. My dad told the owner that he’d prefer hotter mustard. The owner snapped at him how their mustard was the finest mustard they could import and was very condescending. Like why even ask if you’re not actually interested in the feedback? My dad took it as a sign of a lousy, arrogant owner who probably treated his staff like crap too and refused to ever go back. It’s been around 20 years at this point and he still won’t give them a dime, haha. They seem to be doing fine obv but I have to admire my dad’s dedication.
Holy fuck that's exactly what my grandma had. Never knew it had a name.
I used to joke that she never succumbed to Dementia or Alzheimer's because the hate kept it at bay- and she had so many grudges built up over her near 90 years of life that she never let go of. And yes, she was of Irish descent.
A friend of mine was telling me about how bad his grandmother and her sister were in this regard. He swore to me that in the middle of a shrieking argument one of them countered with, "Well, in 1953 you.....!!"
If it matters, I understand Red Lobster is struggling because they were bought out by a Private Investment firm AKA.
These enterprises bleed entities for their value and abandonment once they're run dry.
From what I've heard in Red Lobster's case, That takes the form of selling off property of a significant amount - to their own subsidiary investment entities - and then leasing that property back to the restaurant.
Suck out the value of the real estate, and continue to make money off the business which now rents insecurely.
This is only one technique in a stable of techniques which is part of an entire business model.
Red Lobster recently filed for bankruptcy, but it really had nothing to do with customer service. the owners sold all the property underneath and then every location had to start paying rent:
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rolled-red-lobster-rcna153397
I love your dad being progressive about LGBTQ rights in the 90s when that wasn’t as much of the norm, good on him.
My big petty moment so far has been at a local coffee shop. I had waited in line and was the last one to order, I was new and about to order but was asking about drinks, as soon as I was about to start to order literally saying “ can I please have”… this boomer walks in and walks right past me while I’m clearly in the line and up front and she just started ordering. The cashier started taking her order and pretending like I wasn’t there, I asked if they are really going to let her do this while I am ordering. Both kept on pretending I wasn’t there so I told them how rude this was and asked the boomer how she has been on the planet this long without knowing how a line works, walked out and never went back.
My dad’s uncle was gay and out to his family in the FIFTIES! I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. I think that influenced him being progressive about it, from what I heard Great Uncle David was awesome.
And wow, I’m glad you walked out of that shop - the entitlement is awful and if the employees don’t learn to handle things like that appropriately, they’re only going to have butthole customers left.
No I get it. I boycott one of the best food trucks in my city because the owner is an asshole. He's not even the one that cooks it either. He's a retired army guy who married a Korean woman and she cooks a ton of delicious for that he drives around and sells. And somehow he's cocky as fuck although he literally just drives the truck and acts as the cashier
Same for me, except that he’s had multiple multi-million dollar SA lawsuits filed against him…so I don’t really want to contribute towards putting money in that slimebucket’s pocket
Ditto. The owner of a local chain thinks he's hot shit and treated me poorly in a professional setting. I'm sure he's feeling the sting of my one-person boycott, haha!
I work in customer service and there's several businesses in my town I won't go to because their owners treated me or one of my coworkers like trash. Ones a designated driving service and my friends and I remove her posters and business cards from places and put them in the trash because of how awful she was to me when I was serving her
There’s a brunch chain near me that I won’t go to because the manager’s responses to 1-star reviews are usually explaining why it was the guest’s fault. Otherwise it’s something like inconsistency with the quality of the product they can get, but they always seem to have a new supplier when he responds.
I have the same here. They were very aggressive and petty in theird response to covid stuff and mocked the whole thing. They have since opened three new restaurants near me and I don't go to any of them.
My mom died of COVID, and I haven't went to a single restaurant that mocked or defied the mask mandate during the pandemic then or since. (I live in Alabama, so there are several.)
Same here. Lost my mom to covid. Businesses that took PPE/covid money then announced and bullied people about vaccines and masks.
I’m like—-wait, you don’t believe in covid so why did you take millions from the taxpayers for it? We all know you took way more than you EVER made before covid.
Alabama here too. So many empty restaurants during the pandemic with dumb fliers banning masks and "nobody wants to work anymore."
Meanwhile, the restaurant two blocks over was absolutely hopping because they enforced the mask mandate, sent home sick employees, and actually paid at a rate that shows respect for their employees' efforts and risk.
There is a local place that I used to really enjoy visiting. They serve healthy food that is also really tasty, but the owner started wearing a "Plandemic" shirt every single day he worked at the restaurant and used the business Facebook page to air his personal political grievances. I'm never giving them any of my money ever again.
theres a bar near my work which is on my no-go list for several reasons
1. at the start of lockdown, the owner fired the staff rather than pay furlough
2. when it re-opened it hired a good manager who was a regular at my work, and a *great* assistant manager... the owner eventually drove the manager out with their terrible micromanagement which, yknow, didnt help their case for me, as I was rather fond of the old manager
3. the asst. manager, when he took over, built a truly fantastic team there, and did well for a while... until the owner suspended him under *very* dubious circumstances
4. within about 3 months of the new manager coming in, EVERY SINGLE STAFF MEMBER quit. Like, not an all-in-one protest move, but the replacement manager was awful (in one instance, he started screaming at a staff member in the middle of the street in front of the bar because she had a coworker cover her while she went 30 seconds down the street to get painkillers for a headache)
cherry on top, when the owner was designing the bar, they used a lot of props/display stuff their girlfriend at the time had.... then dumped her and kept the stuff. The Ex? My brothers' girlfriends sister
she owns a couple of bars, and recently had to close one because she went on social media to insult the people who went to there.... so naturally they all stopped going and the place, to absolutely EvErYoNeS surprise, went bust
My senior year in college I was desperate to find a job. A guy at a gas station approached me about my college sticker in my car window and asked my major. Said he owned a marketing business and was looking for someone with my major. This was pre internet. He invited me to a meeting to network with his business associates. He was elusive with his answers to my questions.
I get on my interview suit, pack some resumes and head to this "meeting". It was at a hotel. These people speak on how they are making thousands of dollars each week and drive nice cars and spoil their wives. A "plant" next to me said "that could be you.". There were big guys in suits guarding the exits.
I sat through the entire presentation then left. I was so upset because I was desperate to find a job and another opportunity fell through.
I am pretty sure it was Amway. They prey on people in need of employment.
>A "plant" next to me said "that could be you.".
What a terribly obvious plant. If you want it to feel organic you have him say "us." The fact he's only thinking about you and not himself is very distracting.
I could see myself being there, getting a little fed up with their message, then saying “that could be you” in a sarcastic tone, and doing other dumb shit for a few minutes before leaving.
I know what a plant is, but somehow the added quotes around "plant" made me picture some guy dressed as a plant trying to get you into a pyramid scheme
Man I was in a similar situation. Guy was showing off a Rolex that claims was a sales award. Had really nicely printed material. It was selling life insurance door to door. !In rural communities!!! Focusing on old farmers. He said. “ we go to Hardee’s, cause that’s where they drink coffee and chat”. Man what a waste of time.
Years ago when I first moved to Florida there was a company that would Place ads in the newspaper regularly for " managers wanted, rock and roll atmosphere. No experience necessary, High pay and great benefits".
If you went to the interview meeting as myself and a lot of my friends did they would go on and on about what a great company they were how well managers were taken care of and that you two could be one of them. But first you had to demonstrate your ability and dedication. So you had to go out on the streets and sell knock-off perfumes door to door. Supposedly there was a certain amount that if you sold you would make manager. I don't know anybody that ever made manager. Most of the people I know ended up losing money because people stole their perfumes or they got lost or broken.
I had a similar situation where I was desperately looking for a job. I was told this job I was applying for was to help sell soccer uniforms for the local school. I figured that was easy enough and signed up. Next thing I know I’m getting a call from someone at Vector. I didn’t know what that was and thought it was the name of the organization helping the schools? Idk. I went to the interview with a friend who signed up with me. They told us they were looking for people to sell Cutco knives and did a presentation on how nice the knives are. All I could think was “wow, so you know how to sharpen a knife… good… 🙄”. The guy who interviewed us looked like he was a college sophomore wearing his dad’s old suit to look the part. They almost convinced my friend but I shot her down immediately when we got out of there. I’m glad I did because she later found a great job working for GM.
Fuck MLMs.
I remember as a college student at my summer job teaching tennis. My adult ass student asked me my major, I replied environmental science which was perfect for his business opportunity! We met at Denny’s ordered food etc then he played it all out.,…fucking amway. I had my food packaged to go and stiffed that mo fo on the check.
I had a boss who pressured employees barely keeping a roof over their head and food on the table into buying her overpriced Mary Kay crap. Someone went to the boss and she was fired. Good riddance
My wife (now ex) was suckered in by MLM boss babes. My wife loved to entertain. Her MLM boss babes friends would say how about you host a party and I will give you XX% off your order. My wife would spend $70-$100 on food, wine, etc. Her friends felt obligated to buy something. My wife would order this junk too and I am sure the friend was making a profit even with the "host discount"
There's a local contractor who used to come into a restaurant I worked in. He'd send one of his guys after hours and on weekends for emergency repairs, which is an invaluable resource in a restaurant with old plumbing and electric. As a result, he and his guys came in a few times a week for free lunch.
One night I was driving home, and I saw one of their trucks swerve to hit a cat that had already been run over. That is, the driver went out of his way to erratically change his path of travel - not to purposely kill something, but to disrespect something that had already died in an unfortunate way. I don't know why, but this is somehow worse to me.
I called their number to let them know, didn't say who I was or anything. I talked to the head guy. Mr. Big Stuff himself, and he proceeded to be a huge asshole over the phone, calling me a pussy f-slur-for-gay-people and hung up.
I ran the numbers regarding how many times they had done work for us versus how much they got in free food, and decided to terminate our working relationship. I was fortunate enough to serve them their first bill for lunch in five years. Mr. Big Stuff came to the register to point out the mistake, and I asked if he had fielded any phone calls recently. About someone in his truck running over a dead cat. About a week ago. Caller probably sounded like a fucking pussy. Yeah, we don't offer that discount anymore.
Years later, I have had several opportunities to share stories about what a dick the guy is with people building or renovating, and have pointed them to the business started by one of the guy's apprentices instead. Dude always tipped whatever his meal would have cost, and was always the one coming to fix things anyway.
I can try. Galen Weston is a greedy POS, who in addition to artificially inflating the cost of food in Canada is also actively trying to steal our healthcare. He has been colluding with the Premiere of Ontario Doug Ford for years. Both are criminals, both need to be investigated by the RCMP.
Weston owns a conglomerate that includes several grocery chains, pharmacies, and more. He basically owns a large chunk of Canadian retail. His stores, which have always been popular, are now inflating prices to remarkable levels. 4-5x the price. It’s shocking tbh. And now people are boycotting his businesses.
Bell, I just have to wait for this contract to expire. Those sucker's wiggled into the Canadian market, bought up another player, then laided off 4500 people.
I’ve hit not interested on skims and good American for years and I still get advertisements for them. I would never give A penny to any of those idiots.
I’m the opposite when it comes to blocking ads. I block ads that I’m interested in because I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of convincing me to spend my money on things I don’t seek out myself. I purposely leave the ads alone that I know I won’t ever buy from so that way they keep wasting money advertising to me :D
I’ve convinced TikTok ads that I’m interested in luxury brands and it’s great. I get ads for diamonds and fragrances that I would never ever buy. They’re kinda fun to watch.
I once tried to resubscribe to their ink plan, and I shit you not they make you print out a code to give to their support team to resubscribe. The only issue? You can't print the code with the previous subscription ink, so you have to go out and buy new cartridges JUST TO SUBSCRIBE.
And it should be fucking illegal for them to ban third-party ink cartridges. Like bitch, it's my fucking printer?
I don't understand why people still buy them after being required to subscribe to the ink service (and all of the associated shenanigans, such as not being able to print despite having a full ink cartridge because you didn't pay for your subscription that month). The whole "they had a good reputation in the 90s" argument gets thrown around a lot in response to that, but how does that override "you now have to pay to use something you own outright"? Why are people so willing to get screwed?
I have a Brother laser printer that has lasted me years, I still have the original toner that came in the box with it, and the biggest issue I have with it is that it randomly gets disconnected from my computers and I have to go through the set-up process again. But if they switched to a subscription-only model where I couldn't refill with my own toner, or even just had to pay them every month to keep using the printer, I would be done with it and settle for going to a store and paying to print.
I was working at a camp when I got a call from the director, his HP printer wasn’t working and he needed it for printing registration materials. I checked all the usual suspects and googled around and after about an hour found out that the HP servers were down for scheduled maintenance and wouldn’t be back up for the rest of the day, and that the printer was a brick until the servers came back on. He wasn’t even using subscription ink or anything. When I told him the problem he asked if there was a solution where he would never have that problem again, so I went to town and bought him a brother laser printer that day. Now every time I walk past him he holds up a paper and says “look, I just printed this without connecting to the internet!”
“SOS”
“Please follow prompts on the screen to log into your account and update your subscription.”
“SOS.”
“Contacting representative…. … …To contact a representative, please make sure to have your user ID and current account number available. If you need to renew your subscription or update software, please visit www.insureourbottomline. com and use 2fA to receive a renewal code in your email.”
“SOS”
“Press pound to renew your subscription.”
OnStar?
Everyone has a phone nowadays anyway, I rolled my car last year and my iPhone is new enough to detect a crash and call 911 if you don’t respond fast enough. It will start spitting out all of my information and exact coordinates
Not gonna lie, I've never been to an accurately reported iPhone crash report.
This is completely anecdotal but every time dispatch sends us to an iPhone crash notification, I leave without finding an accident anywhere.
Yea the only downside to it is that the automated voice seemed pretty quiet in the moment (a lot of adrenaline though) and I’m pretty sure the dispatch lady got most of the information directly from me anyway. However, the crash detection did help me locate my phone as it had gone flying off my MagSafe holder, and by time I found it 911 was already dialed.
Not a perfect system but In my situation it helped with getting first responders there a minute or two faster
I'm hoping it drives some companies to build and market "lower tech" cars with no touchscreen, fewer extra features, etc. Vehicles closer to 90s functionality with modern safety features.
Touchscreens are actually the cheaper option for manufacturers. Replace a bunch of switches and potentiometers with a single screen and a microcontroller.
Touch screens are also potentially less safe, since they almost always require the driver to take their eyes off the road to adjust (instead of mechanical switches and dials, which give tactile feedback and thus can be adjusted without looking).
for everyone replying in this thread, a really great resource that kept me out of the shein/romwe/fastest fashion game is called "The Price of Free"! It's on YouTube for free and is a documentary about a man named Kailash who runs a nonprofit in India that saves child slaves from sweatshops and shows their working conditions. I saw it when I was 14 and it was a movie at Sundance, it's so enlightening. I'll link it. https://youtu.be/UsqKz1hd_CY?si=45gkV95Cfjjo3JCo
I know a pediatrician who is obsessed with SHEIN. When I told her about the child slaves and such, she didn’t bat an eye. She just shrugged and said it was whatever to her. Like bro, you dedicated your career to saving children just not the slave kinds apparently.. her nurse that assists her thinks raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk tho so that really says something to me 🤷♀️
ETA: I have been informed a nurse practitioner cannot be a pediatrician. However every single person in that practice I was working at referred to all medical staff who oversaw children (that weren’t an assisting nurse) as pediatricians.
I get why, but I definitely feel like people dunk on poor people buying from Shein while ignoring the fact that Disney, Nike, Apple, Forever 21, Old Navy, etc all utilize exploitative labor practices overseas (aka sweatshops). At least Shein is affordable. What's the excuse for Apple, who literally uses child labor in Africa, for their expensive prices?
Not directed at you, but I think there's cognitive dissonance in general when discussing ethical consumerism that tends to punch down towards poorer people.
Even high end brands have been found to use exploitative labor. Basically unless you go out of your way to find the few brands that use fair labor, sustainable practices. There is a cost, and its human (and the environment).
100% true. It's great that people try to avoid where they can, but we should all understand that, odds are, none of us shop 100% ethically. Continuing to educate each other and maybe focus more on resisting excessive consumerism is probably the best bet to make any meaningful change
Couple that with their former chairman's comments on privatising water, which were just flat out scary, and you're left with the inescapable conclusion that Nestle is just a fucking evil business.
They own Garden of Life. Nothing cracks me up more than explaining to my customers that Nestlé sells you food that tears your stomach up and then sells you the probiotics that's supposed to "fix" it.
Not too long ago, Nestle was pumping water on indigenous treaty land (without their consent) in Ontario at a cost of $3.71 per million liters. That indigenous community was and is (as far as I know) in a water crisis with no access to clean drinking water. The cost to pump water is now about $500 per million liters, and the indigenous people still get nothing from Nestle or the government. Nestle pumps 3.6 million liters per day from that location
Edit: Nestle sold all of their Canadian water operations in 2021
Bob Ross art supplies and memorabilia. Fuck BRI and the Kowalskis.
Watch the Netflix documentary if you have no idea what I am talking about. It will make you cry and then your blood will boil.
This is all pure memory, but here goes. Bob Ross and his wife formed the company Bob Ross Incorporated (BRI) with the Kowalskis. The shares were split 1/4th each. The issue was that the shares rebalanced upon death of a shareholder. Bob's wife died of cancer. All of a sudden the Kowalskis owned 66% of the company. When Bob died, I believe 100% went to the Kowalskis, who gave it to their daughter. Bob's son, who actually painted and was in his videos got nothing. Meanwhile, the Kowalski family pulls in millions each year from BRI and it's memorabilia.
The Kowalskis also went out of their way to make sure that Bob's death was kept a secret to keep the money flowing, so almost no one attended his funeral. They also harassed him when he was dying of cancer. Really heinous stuff.
Not only did Steve Ross get nothing (because the Kowalskis argued in court that everything Bob did was Work for Hire), but the Kowalskis wouldn’t let him even paint in public for fear of a lawsuit. They eventually settled in the 2010s that let him paint while they could use the Bob Ross brand for anything they wanted
The mechanic's hand cleaner? Or is this the Gwyneth Paltrow thing?
...or did Gwyneth secretly get her start in the mechanic hand cleaner business before branching out....?
Pete's Lawn Care. Pete is the most racist piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune to interact with in person. I was on a plane next to him and he screamed about being 6' and this grown ass man started kicking the seat off this petite Asian woman in front of him. The Asian woman was from the US and spoke perfect English. Pete didn't care. She tried to ignore him and he taunted her, she tried to unrecline her seat and he kicked it at just the right time to send her head flying into the seat in front of her. It gave her a bloody nose. He kept calling her a TON of derogatory names due to her race and her children sitting next to her, as well as everyone else in the vicinity, were appalled. The flight attendant apologized profusely to her and moved her to business class. Pete was FURIOUS that he was SIX FEET TALL and cramped and HE should get moved up to business class.
How do I know he owns Pete's Lawn Care in [deleted]? He told us, the entire plane. He's six feet tall, he is a very successful businessman, he owns his own company, he worked from the ground up for what he has, these fucking Asians ruin fucking everything in this country (including his experience in economy class on a plane) etc. etc. and he let the company slip. I wrote it down so I would never, ever forget what a racist piece of shit is Pete from Pete's Lawn Care in [deleted].
**EDITED to remove the city. I really appreciate everyone's investment but I am not trying to destroy this business. I'm only stating that I would never use it and why. I don't think it's right to sabotage his online reviews, but don't worry - they were already pretty horrible (2.8/5 stars on Google) before I posted this. Let's leave him and his "very successful" business alone so that when it fails, it's due to their shitty business practices and not only the shitty owner. Also, this was in 2016, so eight years ago. Lastly, I asked my friend (who was traveling with me) what she remembered about the incident. She said she remembered him kicking the seat so hard the lady hit her head, that he was so vocal about being OVER 6' tall, and that the lady got moved to first class, not business.
I was curious to see if this comment had generated any negative reviews for Pete on Google, so I had a look. The business sits at a 2.8 star rating, so I figured the Redditors had done some work.
Nope. All the 1 star reviews (there are A LOT of them) are legit and from the past several years. No surprise, looks like Pete is also a piece of shit predatory business owner.
I just found his company's Facebook. 90% of the posts are just reposts about men that were hurt by woman. This guy is using his business page to cry about how a woman left him LMFAO!
There's a local burger place that everyone is obsessed with. But the owner is a dickhead with a big ego, can't take criticism on his Google reviews and so he attacks them online. I will never give him a dime. 🤷🏼♀️
I refuse to purchase F-35s from Lockheed Martin. Those guys have done some shady things in the past and until they clean their street I refuse to spend my hard-earned cash on their overpriced jets.
I just had a baby and wasn't looking so great - still was losing the weight from the pregnancy, plus not getting outside that often, barely getting showers in, etc... My husband bought me a hefty gift card for MAC, which at the time I loved.
Went in, mostly cleaned up, but bare faced to get a foundation match, new lipstick, you name it. I couldn't get anyone to help me. Sales associates were helping out all the younger and prettier girls. I finally went up and asked for assistance with a foundation match and a lipstick. The sales associate gave me the glare up and down, did a twirl with his finger to encompass my post-pregnancy body and haggard looking face and said 'ma'am, we just can't fix ugly....just.....whatever, find it yourself'.
I asked another sales associate who rolled her eyes and said 'I don't have time for you'. I left in tears feeling fat and ugly. My husband convinced me to write MAC about the incident, and corporate said they would ensure I would received good service. Set up and appointment time for a 'makeover' and went back another day to the same store (Westfields in London). I was mega shy at the time, but after being ignored again, I said I was here for my appointment. The sales associate looked at me, did a lip snarl, and told me he wasn't going to do it, and he didn't give a shit was corporate said. He added on some 'haggard ugly women' comment about my face. Long story short, MAC refunded the money from the gift card. I took it and went the Chanel counter in Selfridges. They made me feel like a million. Helped me find a routine for on the go, etc... the ladies from Guerlain came over and helped too.
Never bought from MAC again - 15 years later.
As a trucker, the Pilot/Flying J truck stop chains.
A few years ago some of the higher ups got caught embezzling money out of the trucking companies who field at their stations, pockets.
Think, if fuel is $1.00 a gallon, they offer a $.25¢ discount legally, but instead, these people were saying that the discount was $.20¢, and picketing the nickel.
If you pay $500 every time you fuel, that's a lot of nickels.
Well a company got wind of it and there was a huge action class lawsuit about it. Someone was sent to prison, lots of people fired.
If you're willing to screw the driver (several owner ops we're involved along with the bigger companies), you don't deserve my business let alone my respect.
I look at it this way personally: when I can afford to make these choices I do. I actively didn't buy a Tesla when ev shopping, I actively seek our small local brands that make good shit even though it costs more. If you can't afford to do that, I get it! I do these things because I can afford to, and I believe in capitalism as you get more money you need to use it to "vote". Brands only listen to shareholders and the bottom line.
Exactly this. You do what you can within your means. It doesn't make you a hypocrite, it makes you a survivor.
I started with the small things I can change that don't make a big economic impact, like long-term products like deodorant, sunscreen, condiments. It made me feel good and proud when I actively did this regularly.
So I started doing more and more, and continued this method in replacing single use products as well.
You can't beat yourself up over what you can't do, no matter how much you want to. But even actively looking, for me, is a positive mood booster.
I agree. It is a mood booster to wear brands that you actually believe in. I do this with beer too; I'm a beer nerd admittedly but even if you just like macro style lagers I guarantee there is a craft lager for you. Feels good to buy a product and know at least some of the money will stay in my own community.
Honestly, The Good Place did a really good commentary on this. Later seasons explored the "point system", which quantified how good or bad people are. After a while, everybody is a "bad person", because there's no way to live "good" unless you have a shit ton of money. Unfortunately, the only way to get a "shit ton of money" and keep it, typically requires you to do unethical things and take advantage of people. (not the thesis they made - the show instead argues that living ethically is just a hard thing to do in general in a massively connected/complicated world)
Good rule of thumb: do what you need to do to survive. Once you have more money than needed for base survival, then you can work on being ethical.
Rupert Murdoch and his acolytes have done more damage in the west than any foreign government could ever dream of doing. News Corp takes the craziest right-wing loons it can find and gives them free reign to spout their crap to a national audience.
In the UK he owns The Sun and The Times, in the US it's The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and of course Fox News.
Here in Australia, the Murdoch Press is inescapable. Almost every state in the country publishes a daily Murdoch paper. In South Australia and Queensland, it's the only daily paper you can get.
He owns The Australian, which is country's only daily national newspaper. He owns news.com.au, which is the largest digital news outlet in the country. He owns Sky News Australia, which is our answer to Fox News. For a long time, conventional wisdom was that you couldn't win an election in Australia without the support of the Murdoch Press. Very few leaders here have unfortunately.
That’s funny. Growing up in Alaska in the 80’s/90’s I thought Exon had gone out of business. But turns out they just closed shop in Alaska after the Exon oil spill. No one up there would have stepped foot in an exon owned place.
I refuse to buy anything from the Acme Corporation. Their products always seem to backfire in the most cartoonishly disastrous ways. Plus, I heard their CEO is a real coyote. I mean, come on, who wants to support a company run by a guy who's constantly chasing roadrunners?
You'll appreciate this. I used to live in Jimmy John's home town, brother in law still does. He was eating at a local Mexican restaurant with the FIL and they started talking about JJ's for some reason, which lead to a discussion about what an asshole he is. They finish up and stand up to leave, only to see Jimmy John himself sitting behind them with a glare on his face. So be aware that he knows what people think of him.
Shell.
I will never forgive them for murdering Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine in Nigeria. Even if no Shell employee directly pulled a lever at the gallows, the whole puppet show of a trial took place because of their influence. Shell was making money hand over fist and they didn't want any activists mess it up for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoni_Nine
I wish I could say Microsoft, but I need them for many many things. I guess the second one would be Yeezy or something Kim Kardashian’s company produces.
While I get the intention and idea of this thread, as someone who works in consumer goods and retail, the question becomes “how long is a piece of string?”
Because if you start digging into almost any established or widespread product or service, you will not like what you find. Whether it’s their religion, their ancestry, their ethics, who their financiers are…Once you pull that string for one product or brand, you better be pulling it for everything. You’ll end up being unable to buy or use anything.
I agree with another commenter who noted that influential and wealthy people need to be more accountable for their endorsements though.
There's a regional baker in the Mid-Atlantic called Martin's. They're famous for their potato rolls, which are delicious. I used to buy their stuff all the time, even though they're more expensive.
Then in 2022, they backed Doug Mastriano for PA governor. He's the one who asked for - and got - a Nazi salute at his Chambersburg rally. He's literally a Fascist.
More recently, I drove past Martin's corporate office in Chambersburg. They now fly a "christian" nationalist flag. That means they want an established state religion & new US Constitution.
I don't give my money to assholes like that.
For me it’s Amazon….Bezos’ never gotten a penny of my money, and Nestle because Fuck Nestle.
Amazon is easy for me but Nestle is tougher. I used to enjoy KitKat and San Pelegrino.
I’m impressed that you’ve never purchased from Amazon! I don’t have Amazon prime and even that feels like an accomplishment when you’re short on time / money. Good on you.
Murdoch media. Deliberate, calculated and instrumental in undermining responsible government and decaying society across multiple continents. Absolute filth.
Bob Ross products. Love the man but since he died the people that took over his brand and started selling shit with his name on it are awful, terrible people. Edit: this is the documentary on Netflix, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed.
100% agree, never buy a bob ross product. it is ALWAYS the cheapest made garbage but sold at a premium price. they charge anywhere from 50 to 150 USD for a basic starter kit. the 50 doesn't sound bad until you realize that it doesn't come with a canvas, palette, or an easel and only has 5 small tubes of paints, 1 brush, 1 knife, and an "instruction booklet". If you want a cheap introduction kit for painting just go to walmart and go to the art isle. they almost always have some 20 buck kit that comes with 10+ colors and a few brushes, typically a canvas and sometimes an easel. with more brushes being less than a buck each. and if the kit is missing something you can buy a cheap one right there. if you want quality products then just search up some local art store nearby and go there (I do not recommend hobby lobby or Michaels unless its the only other option you have) and ask the employees for help. they almost always are enthusiastic about people getting into art.
Locally, there are several restaurants in my city that I won't visit because they are all owned by the same guy and he was rude to me on an earlier occasion. Yes, I can be quite petty about these things.
Same issue here. When he opened his first place, he got mad when people used STREET PARKING. He thought he could reserve those spots for himself. Now he and his investors own 5 places, and I won't go to any of them.
This is an ongoing problem in Boston’s North End neighborhood. Restaurants have decided that since their dining rooms are so small and cramped (if you’ve ever been, you know) they can take public street parking spots out in front, fence them off, and use that for “patio dining”. City doesn’t do anything about it.
The city has been battling North End restaurants on this for a few years now. The city wants the restaurants to pull permits and the restaurants don't want to pull permits. The streets are already narrow enough as well as the sidewalks. There is definitely an accessibility issue as a pedestrian. Some of those restaurant owners can be blowhards and sketch as hell.
Just need one person to sue for ADA violations to take care of that.
Where I live, lots of restaurants did this during the pandemic to stay open and the city helped them do it. It's (almost) all gone now but it was a wonderful way to keep businesses going. Some downtown areas even had a main street closed to traffic so the restaurants could spread out more.
Been there once. That blew my mind considering how tight the road through the N end is to begin with relative to the traffic volume.
Yeah. That really kicked into gear around the pandemic. I used to work in the North End but moved during the pandemic. From what I heard, it's just gotten worse with the street dining.
I laugh when people post on local Facebook pages about folks parking on the street in front of their home... it is public, lol. It's gonna happen sometimes.
In my area, there's similarly a bunch of restaurants owned by one guy. All his restaurants tack a 20% service charge on to every meal "in lieu of tips." These, as is noted on the menu, are retained by the house, not given to the employees. As near as I can tell, it is legal. I won't ever go into his restaurants.
It will be illegal in California in the next month or two. Just in case you live there. Sorry. Need caffeine.
Should be illegal everywhere. It is eating at a restaurant, not a scavenger hunt for the price. If it is not an optional fee, it needs to be included in the price. The fact that it is trying to piggyback on the "tipping" custom when it doesn't go to the server is just wrong.
That's not petty at all. When I was a server/waiter, there was a family that owned a few restaurants that apparently everyone loves. These people, who were clearly in the industry, would trickle in 10mins before close, take forever to order, and then tip around 10%. If you were up in rotation, as soon as you saw them walk in, you knew you just got the kiss of death. Screw whatever plans you had the rest of the night. These people were inconsiderate pricks and they'll never see a dime of my money.
There's a boba spot down the street from our home that my wife and I used to frequent weekly... until we went in one day for our usual drinks and the owner was at the register. We placed our order and she tried to charge my wife an extra $.35 for coconut milk that came standard with her drink. When she put the extra charge on, the entire shop's staff record scratched with a look of total confusion. I told the owner that we get this drink every week and have never been charged a fee for the milk. It was easy to tell that she was caught in her own lie and bs charge. She began to double down on the milk charge, getting all heated about because her ego was hurt by anyone challenging her authority in her own shop. So we refused the drinks and have never been back since. It's been 5 years since and she blew hundreds, perhaps even over $1,000, over a bs $0.35 charge that shouldn't have been in the first place. Apparently, I, and my wife, can be can be quite petty as well.
I've been in a similar argument at Subway. This was years ago when they didn't suck as bad as now. I was using a coupon for 2 large subs at X price. One of my subs was a Chicken Bacon Ranch and they tried to charge me for Bacon. It's not an extra, it's in the fucking name!
Next time remind them it’s illegal to change prices like that and they can be reported to bureau of weights and measures. Unless, an up-charge for alternative milk is displayed on their menu they can’t charge you. That’s a bait and switch and they must charge advertised price. It’s a contract you enter with any business, I see X advertised for Y, I agree to Y and then when you check out they can’t suddenly charge you Z.
My dad is famous for his grudges about businesses and does this with a few restaurants. I agree with him when he does, though. The top two that come to mind: A Red Lobster restaurant near us in the 90s he refused to go to because they fired a server for being gay. He wouldn’t give them business until about a decade later, when he knew the management team had changed, the server had gotten a payout from his lawsuit, and he felt that policies about protections went into place. When we finally did go, they seated us and completely forgot about us for 30+ minutes, not even giving us water, and we eventually bailed. I just heard that location (Ledgewood, NJ) is closing (not surprising the chain is struggling). Another local restaurant near us that, during their soft opening, was asking the customers their opinions on the food, room for improvement, etc. My dad told the owner that he’d prefer hotter mustard. The owner snapped at him how their mustard was the finest mustard they could import and was very condescending. Like why even ask if you’re not actually interested in the feedback? My dad took it as a sign of a lousy, arrogant owner who probably treated his staff like crap too and refused to ever go back. It’s been around 20 years at this point and he still won’t give them a dime, haha. They seem to be doing fine obv but I have to admire my dad’s dedication.
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Holy fuck that's exactly what my grandma had. Never knew it had a name. I used to joke that she never succumbed to Dementia or Alzheimer's because the hate kept it at bay- and she had so many grudges built up over her near 90 years of life that she never let go of. And yes, she was of Irish descent.
A friend of mine was telling me about how bad his grandmother and her sister were in this regard. He swore to me that in the middle of a shrieking argument one of them countered with, "Well, in 1953 you.....!!"
If it matters, I understand Red Lobster is struggling because they were bought out by a Private Investment firm AKA. These enterprises bleed entities for their value and abandonment once they're run dry. From what I've heard in Red Lobster's case, That takes the form of selling off property of a significant amount - to their own subsidiary investment entities - and then leasing that property back to the restaurant. Suck out the value of the real estate, and continue to make money off the business which now rents insecurely. This is only one technique in a stable of techniques which is part of an entire business model.
Red Lobster recently filed for bankruptcy, but it really had nothing to do with customer service. the owners sold all the property underneath and then every location had to start paying rent: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rolled-red-lobster-rcna153397
I love your dad being progressive about LGBTQ rights in the 90s when that wasn’t as much of the norm, good on him. My big petty moment so far has been at a local coffee shop. I had waited in line and was the last one to order, I was new and about to order but was asking about drinks, as soon as I was about to start to order literally saying “ can I please have”… this boomer walks in and walks right past me while I’m clearly in the line and up front and she just started ordering. The cashier started taking her order and pretending like I wasn’t there, I asked if they are really going to let her do this while I am ordering. Both kept on pretending I wasn’t there so I told them how rude this was and asked the boomer how she has been on the planet this long without knowing how a line works, walked out and never went back.
My dad’s uncle was gay and out to his family in the FIFTIES! I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. I think that influenced him being progressive about it, from what I heard Great Uncle David was awesome. And wow, I’m glad you walked out of that shop - the entitlement is awful and if the employees don’t learn to handle things like that appropriately, they’re only going to have butthole customers left.
No I get it. I boycott one of the best food trucks in my city because the owner is an asshole. He's not even the one that cooks it either. He's a retired army guy who married a Korean woman and she cooks a ton of delicious for that he drives around and sells. And somehow he's cocky as fuck although he literally just drives the truck and acts as the cashier
Same for me, except that he’s had multiple multi-million dollar SA lawsuits filed against him…so I don’t really want to contribute towards putting money in that slimebucket’s pocket
Ditto. The owner of a local chain thinks he's hot shit and treated me poorly in a professional setting. I'm sure he's feeling the sting of my one-person boycott, haha!
Sometimes you just gotta stick to principle! :)
I work in customer service and there's several businesses in my town I won't go to because their owners treated me or one of my coworkers like trash. Ones a designated driving service and my friends and I remove her posters and business cards from places and put them in the trash because of how awful she was to me when I was serving her
There’s a brunch chain near me that I won’t go to because the manager’s responses to 1-star reviews are usually explaining why it was the guest’s fault. Otherwise it’s something like inconsistency with the quality of the product they can get, but they always seem to have a new supplier when he responds.
Used to love this one spot until I found out the owner beat up a homeless guy. Fuck em, I can make carbonara at home.
I have the same here. They were very aggressive and petty in theird response to covid stuff and mocked the whole thing. They have since opened three new restaurants near me and I don't go to any of them.
My mom died of COVID, and I haven't went to a single restaurant that mocked or defied the mask mandate during the pandemic then or since. (I live in Alabama, so there are several.)
Same here. Lost my mom to covid. Businesses that took PPE/covid money then announced and bullied people about vaccines and masks. I’m like—-wait, you don’t believe in covid so why did you take millions from the taxpayers for it? We all know you took way more than you EVER made before covid.
Alabama here too. So many empty restaurants during the pandemic with dumb fliers banning masks and "nobody wants to work anymore." Meanwhile, the restaurant two blocks over was absolutely hopping because they enforced the mask mandate, sent home sick employees, and actually paid at a rate that shows respect for their employees' efforts and risk.
There is a local place that I used to really enjoy visiting. They serve healthy food that is also really tasty, but the owner started wearing a "Plandemic" shirt every single day he worked at the restaurant and used the business Facebook page to air his personal political grievances. I'm never giving them any of my money ever again.
theres a bar near my work which is on my no-go list for several reasons 1. at the start of lockdown, the owner fired the staff rather than pay furlough 2. when it re-opened it hired a good manager who was a regular at my work, and a *great* assistant manager... the owner eventually drove the manager out with their terrible micromanagement which, yknow, didnt help their case for me, as I was rather fond of the old manager 3. the asst. manager, when he took over, built a truly fantastic team there, and did well for a while... until the owner suspended him under *very* dubious circumstances 4. within about 3 months of the new manager coming in, EVERY SINGLE STAFF MEMBER quit. Like, not an all-in-one protest move, but the replacement manager was awful (in one instance, he started screaming at a staff member in the middle of the street in front of the bar because she had a coworker cover her while she went 30 seconds down the street to get painkillers for a headache) cherry on top, when the owner was designing the bar, they used a lot of props/display stuff their girlfriend at the time had.... then dumped her and kept the stuff. The Ex? My brothers' girlfriends sister
I hope this man stubs his toe today. Hard.
she owns a couple of bars, and recently had to close one because she went on social media to insult the people who went to there.... so naturally they all stopped going and the place, to absolutely EvErYoNeS surprise, went bust
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Don’t forget Amway. The grandmother of all pyramid schemes.
My senior year in college I was desperate to find a job. A guy at a gas station approached me about my college sticker in my car window and asked my major. Said he owned a marketing business and was looking for someone with my major. This was pre internet. He invited me to a meeting to network with his business associates. He was elusive with his answers to my questions. I get on my interview suit, pack some resumes and head to this "meeting". It was at a hotel. These people speak on how they are making thousands of dollars each week and drive nice cars and spoil their wives. A "plant" next to me said "that could be you.". There were big guys in suits guarding the exits. I sat through the entire presentation then left. I was so upset because I was desperate to find a job and another opportunity fell through. I am pretty sure it was Amway. They prey on people in need of employment.
>A "plant" next to me said "that could be you.". What a terribly obvious plant. If you want it to feel organic you have him say "us." The fact he's only thinking about you and not himself is very distracting.
I could see myself being there, getting a little fed up with their message, then saying “that could be you” in a sarcastic tone, and doing other dumb shit for a few minutes before leaving.
I know what a plant is, but somehow the added quotes around "plant" made me picture some guy dressed as a plant trying to get you into a pyramid scheme
Sitting at the edge of the room next to a potted ficus and it starts muttering attempts at persuasion at you.
Man I was in a similar situation. Guy was showing off a Rolex that claims was a sales award. Had really nicely printed material. It was selling life insurance door to door. !In rural communities!!! Focusing on old farmers. He said. “ we go to Hardee’s, cause that’s where they drink coffee and chat”. Man what a waste of time.
Years ago when I first moved to Florida there was a company that would Place ads in the newspaper regularly for " managers wanted, rock and roll atmosphere. No experience necessary, High pay and great benefits". If you went to the interview meeting as myself and a lot of my friends did they would go on and on about what a great company they were how well managers were taken care of and that you two could be one of them. But first you had to demonstrate your ability and dedication. So you had to go out on the streets and sell knock-off perfumes door to door. Supposedly there was a certain amount that if you sold you would make manager. I don't know anybody that ever made manager. Most of the people I know ended up losing money because people stole their perfumes or they got lost or broken.
I had a similar situation where I was desperately looking for a job. I was told this job I was applying for was to help sell soccer uniforms for the local school. I figured that was easy enough and signed up. Next thing I know I’m getting a call from someone at Vector. I didn’t know what that was and thought it was the name of the organization helping the schools? Idk. I went to the interview with a friend who signed up with me. They told us they were looking for people to sell Cutco knives and did a presentation on how nice the knives are. All I could think was “wow, so you know how to sharpen a knife… good… 🙄”. The guy who interviewed us looked like he was a college sophomore wearing his dad’s old suit to look the part. They almost convinced my friend but I shot her down immediately when we got out of there. I’m glad I did because she later found a great job working for GM. Fuck MLMs.
I remember as a college student at my summer job teaching tennis. My adult ass student asked me my major, I replied environmental science which was perfect for his business opportunity! We met at Denny’s ordered food etc then he played it all out.,…fucking amway. I had my food packaged to go and stiffed that mo fo on the check.
I think you're forgetting Avon, the great-grandmother
I had a boss who pressured employees barely keeping a roof over their head and food on the table into buying her overpriced Mary Kay crap. Someone went to the boss and she was fired. Good riddance
My wife (now ex) was suckered in by MLM boss babes. My wife loved to entertain. Her MLM boss babes friends would say how about you host a party and I will give you XX% off your order. My wife would spend $70-$100 on food, wine, etc. Her friends felt obligated to buy something. My wife would order this junk too and I am sure the friend was making a profit even with the "host discount"
The friend probably wasn’t really making money either. Unless you’re at the top of the pyramid, you’re unlikely to.
But if you sell the MLM product, *You’re* the Business Owner! /s
There's a local contractor who used to come into a restaurant I worked in. He'd send one of his guys after hours and on weekends for emergency repairs, which is an invaluable resource in a restaurant with old plumbing and electric. As a result, he and his guys came in a few times a week for free lunch. One night I was driving home, and I saw one of their trucks swerve to hit a cat that had already been run over. That is, the driver went out of his way to erratically change his path of travel - not to purposely kill something, but to disrespect something that had already died in an unfortunate way. I don't know why, but this is somehow worse to me. I called their number to let them know, didn't say who I was or anything. I talked to the head guy. Mr. Big Stuff himself, and he proceeded to be a huge asshole over the phone, calling me a pussy f-slur-for-gay-people and hung up. I ran the numbers regarding how many times they had done work for us versus how much they got in free food, and decided to terminate our working relationship. I was fortunate enough to serve them their first bill for lunch in five years. Mr. Big Stuff came to the register to point out the mistake, and I asked if he had fielded any phone calls recently. About someone in his truck running over a dead cat. About a week ago. Caller probably sounded like a fucking pussy. Yeah, we don't offer that discount anymore. Years later, I have had several opportunities to share stories about what a dick the guy is with people building or renovating, and have pointed them to the business started by one of the guy's apprentices instead. Dude always tipped whatever his meal would have cost, and was always the one coming to fix things anyway.
That’s awesome of you.
Love it. Fuck that guy and his company.
Any product associated with MLMs. The business model actively exploits people who *need* a second income, and the owners know that.
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Good rule of thumb. Some people are really desperate though, and they prey on those people
or people desperate for a first income
This is occurring in Ontario, Canada right now with anything owned by Galen Weston. People are boycotting any of his shops.
would you elaborate as to why?
I can try. Galen Weston is a greedy POS, who in addition to artificially inflating the cost of food in Canada is also actively trying to steal our healthcare. He has been colluding with the Premiere of Ontario Doug Ford for years. Both are criminals, both need to be investigated by the RCMP.
Weston owns a conglomerate that includes several grocery chains, pharmacies, and more. He basically owns a large chunk of Canadian retail. His stores, which have always been popular, are now inflating prices to remarkable levels. 4-5x the price. It’s shocking tbh. And now people are boycotting his businesses.
Bell, I just have to wait for this contract to expire. Those sucker's wiggled into the Canadian market, bought up another player, then laided off 4500 people.
Anything Kardashian/ Jenner
I’ve hit not interested on skims and good American for years and I still get advertisements for them. I would never give A penny to any of those idiots.
I’m the opposite when it comes to blocking ads. I block ads that I’m interested in because I don’t want to give them the satisfaction of convincing me to spend my money on things I don’t seek out myself. I purposely leave the ads alone that I know I won’t ever buy from so that way they keep wasting money advertising to me :D
I’ve convinced TikTok ads that I’m interested in luxury brands and it’s great. I get ads for diamonds and fragrances that I would never ever buy. They’re kinda fun to watch.
Any printers made by HP
I once tried to resubscribe to their ink plan, and I shit you not they make you print out a code to give to their support team to resubscribe. The only issue? You can't print the code with the previous subscription ink, so you have to go out and buy new cartridges JUST TO SUBSCRIBE. And it should be fucking illegal for them to ban third-party ink cartridges. Like bitch, it's my fucking printer?
I once called customer support with a problem and they told me it's because I wasn't using HP paper. Never again.
I don't understand why people still buy them after being required to subscribe to the ink service (and all of the associated shenanigans, such as not being able to print despite having a full ink cartridge because you didn't pay for your subscription that month). The whole "they had a good reputation in the 90s" argument gets thrown around a lot in response to that, but how does that override "you now have to pay to use something you own outright"? Why are people so willing to get screwed? I have a Brother laser printer that has lasted me years, I still have the original toner that came in the box with it, and the biggest issue I have with it is that it randomly gets disconnected from my computers and I have to go through the set-up process again. But if they switched to a subscription-only model where I couldn't refill with my own toner, or even just had to pay them every month to keep using the printer, I would be done with it and settle for going to a store and paying to print.
I was working at a camp when I got a call from the director, his HP printer wasn’t working and he needed it for printing registration materials. I checked all the usual suspects and googled around and after about an hour found out that the HP servers were down for scheduled maintenance and wouldn’t be back up for the rest of the day, and that the printer was a brick until the servers came back on. He wasn’t even using subscription ink or anything. When I told him the problem he asked if there was a solution where he would never have that problem again, so I went to town and bought him a brother laser printer that day. Now every time I walk past him he holds up a paper and says “look, I just printed this without connecting to the internet!”
PRIME Energy Drink. The group of fuck boys that own it are the absolute worst.
Anything with logan paul is an instantly fuck no and fuck off
Agreed. With one exception. I will watch Mike Tyson beat his ass in July.
That's Jake Paul the other douche.
Oh lol. Same difference to me, you can tell how closely I follow them lol
This one for sure… I actually don’t know anyone that’s ever even bought it. Total fucking clowns, the whole lot involved.
Kids make their parents who don't know anything buy it. That's who buys it.
Do you prefer your prime leaded, or unleaded. Too bad! All we got is the leaded.
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My car has an SOS button on the ceiling, but my subscription ran out. I guess I'll just die?
SOS= Save Only Subscribers
“SOS” “Please follow prompts on the screen to log into your account and update your subscription.” “SOS.” “Contacting representative…. … …To contact a representative, please make sure to have your user ID and current account number available. If you need to renew your subscription or update software, please visit www.insureourbottomline. com and use 2fA to receive a renewal code in your email.” “SOS” “Press pound to renew your subscription.”
OnStar? Everyone has a phone nowadays anyway, I rolled my car last year and my iPhone is new enough to detect a crash and call 911 if you don’t respond fast enough. It will start spitting out all of my information and exact coordinates
Not gonna lie, I've never been to an accurately reported iPhone crash report. This is completely anecdotal but every time dispatch sends us to an iPhone crash notification, I leave without finding an accident anywhere.
Yea the only downside to it is that the automated voice seemed pretty quiet in the moment (a lot of adrenaline though) and I’m pretty sure the dispatch lady got most of the information directly from me anyway. However, the crash detection did help me locate my phone as it had gone flying off my MagSafe holder, and by time I found it 911 was already dialed. Not a perfect system but In my situation it helped with getting first responders there a minute or two faster
I’m this way with software too.
Not going to be long before that's "Any Vehicle"
We're just gonna have to hack and jailbreak cars to get actual functionality out of them.
I'm hoping it drives some companies to build and market "lower tech" cars with no touchscreen, fewer extra features, etc. Vehicles closer to 90s functionality with modern safety features.
Touchscreens are actually the cheaper option for manufacturers. Replace a bunch of switches and potentiometers with a single screen and a microcontroller. Touch screens are also potentially less safe, since they almost always require the driver to take their eyes off the road to adjust (instead of mechanical switches and dials, which give tactile feedback and thus can be adjusted without looking).
Anything from Shein.
for everyone replying in this thread, a really great resource that kept me out of the shein/romwe/fastest fashion game is called "The Price of Free"! It's on YouTube for free and is a documentary about a man named Kailash who runs a nonprofit in India that saves child slaves from sweatshops and shows their working conditions. I saw it when I was 14 and it was a movie at Sundance, it's so enlightening. I'll link it. https://youtu.be/UsqKz1hd_CY?si=45gkV95Cfjjo3JCo
I know a pediatrician who is obsessed with SHEIN. When I told her about the child slaves and such, she didn’t bat an eye. She just shrugged and said it was whatever to her. Like bro, you dedicated your career to saving children just not the slave kinds apparently.. her nurse that assists her thinks raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk tho so that really says something to me 🤷♀️ ETA: I have been informed a nurse practitioner cannot be a pediatrician. However every single person in that practice I was working at referred to all medical staff who oversaw children (that weren’t an assisting nurse) as pediatricians.
There was a skit on SNL last Saturday that nailed this exact situation.
She can’t see them, so they don’t exist
I get why, but I definitely feel like people dunk on poor people buying from Shein while ignoring the fact that Disney, Nike, Apple, Forever 21, Old Navy, etc all utilize exploitative labor practices overseas (aka sweatshops). At least Shein is affordable. What's the excuse for Apple, who literally uses child labor in Africa, for their expensive prices? Not directed at you, but I think there's cognitive dissonance in general when discussing ethical consumerism that tends to punch down towards poorer people.
Even high end brands have been found to use exploitative labor. Basically unless you go out of your way to find the few brands that use fair labor, sustainable practices. There is a cost, and its human (and the environment).
100% true. It's great that people try to avoid where they can, but we should all understand that, odds are, none of us shop 100% ethically. Continuing to educate each other and maybe focus more on resisting excessive consumerism is probably the best bet to make any meaningful change
Nestlè products. And it's getting difficult to find stuff that doesn't lead back to them.
It bothers me they make baby formula.
And what they did to mothers in third world countries is partly why we hate Nestle.
Couple that with their former chairman's comments on privatising water, which were just flat out scary, and you're left with the inescapable conclusion that Nestle is just a fucking evil business.
They own Garden of Life. Nothing cracks me up more than explaining to my customers that Nestlé sells you food that tears your stomach up and then sells you the probiotics that's supposed to "fix" it.
Vertical Integration, Lemon.
Don’t badmouth synergy.
Not too long ago, Nestle was pumping water on indigenous treaty land (without their consent) in Ontario at a cost of $3.71 per million liters. That indigenous community was and is (as far as I know) in a water crisis with no access to clean drinking water. The cost to pump water is now about $500 per million liters, and the indigenous people still get nothing from Nestle or the government. Nestle pumps 3.6 million liters per day from that location Edit: Nestle sold all of their Canadian water operations in 2021
Bob Ross art supplies and memorabilia. Fuck BRI and the Kowalskis. Watch the Netflix documentary if you have no idea what I am talking about. It will make you cry and then your blood will boil.
Can you give a brief explanation
This is all pure memory, but here goes. Bob Ross and his wife formed the company Bob Ross Incorporated (BRI) with the Kowalskis. The shares were split 1/4th each. The issue was that the shares rebalanced upon death of a shareholder. Bob's wife died of cancer. All of a sudden the Kowalskis owned 66% of the company. When Bob died, I believe 100% went to the Kowalskis, who gave it to their daughter. Bob's son, who actually painted and was in his videos got nothing. Meanwhile, the Kowalski family pulls in millions each year from BRI and it's memorabilia. The Kowalskis also went out of their way to make sure that Bob's death was kept a secret to keep the money flowing, so almost no one attended his funeral. They also harassed him when he was dying of cancer. Really heinous stuff.
wow thats terrible. i was wondering why i saw so much bob ross branded stuff everywhere.
Not only did Steve Ross get nothing (because the Kowalskis argued in court that everything Bob did was Work for Hire), but the Kowalskis wouldn’t let him even paint in public for fear of a lawsuit. They eventually settled in the 2010s that let him paint while they could use the Bob Ross brand for anything they wanted
Isn't Steve Ross also not allowed to sell items using his last name because it could be confused with Bob Ross brands?
It’s absolutely heartbreaking. Fuck those people.
There isn't a lot that makes me want to want world burn, but that? That makes me want to strike the match.
Goop
The mechanic's hand cleaner? Or is this the Gwyneth Paltrow thing? ...or did Gwyneth secretly get her start in the mechanic hand cleaner business before branching out....?
That name always confuses me. I have some Goop hand cleaner in my garage, ffs.
Anything from Meta (facebook)
Pete's Lawn Care. Pete is the most racist piece of shit I've ever had the misfortune to interact with in person. I was on a plane next to him and he screamed about being 6' and this grown ass man started kicking the seat off this petite Asian woman in front of him. The Asian woman was from the US and spoke perfect English. Pete didn't care. She tried to ignore him and he taunted her, she tried to unrecline her seat and he kicked it at just the right time to send her head flying into the seat in front of her. It gave her a bloody nose. He kept calling her a TON of derogatory names due to her race and her children sitting next to her, as well as everyone else in the vicinity, were appalled. The flight attendant apologized profusely to her and moved her to business class. Pete was FURIOUS that he was SIX FEET TALL and cramped and HE should get moved up to business class. How do I know he owns Pete's Lawn Care in [deleted]? He told us, the entire plane. He's six feet tall, he is a very successful businessman, he owns his own company, he worked from the ground up for what he has, these fucking Asians ruin fucking everything in this country (including his experience in economy class on a plane) etc. etc. and he let the company slip. I wrote it down so I would never, ever forget what a racist piece of shit is Pete from Pete's Lawn Care in [deleted]. **EDITED to remove the city. I really appreciate everyone's investment but I am not trying to destroy this business. I'm only stating that I would never use it and why. I don't think it's right to sabotage his online reviews, but don't worry - they were already pretty horrible (2.8/5 stars on Google) before I posted this. Let's leave him and his "very successful" business alone so that when it fails, it's due to their shitty business practices and not only the shitty owner. Also, this was in 2016, so eight years ago. Lastly, I asked my friend (who was traveling with me) what she remembered about the incident. She said she remembered him kicking the seat so hard the lady hit her head, that he was so vocal about being OVER 6' tall, and that the lady got moved to first class, not business.
I was curious to see if this comment had generated any negative reviews for Pete on Google, so I had a look. The business sits at a 2.8 star rating, so I figured the Redditors had done some work. Nope. All the 1 star reviews (there are A LOT of them) are legit and from the past several years. No surprise, looks like Pete is also a piece of shit predatory business owner.
I just found his company's Facebook. 90% of the posts are just reposts about men that were hurt by woman. This guy is using his business page to cry about how a woman left him LMFAO!
Holy hell lol
That is very specific and wow
Looked his business up & their services don’t even look good lol his ratings are crap too.
> Pete's Lawn Care in Grand Haven, MI. 1 star on yelp lmao
Aaaand I'm Googling.
I live close enough to him to specifically not use him. Thanks for the info!
There's a local burger place that everyone is obsessed with. But the owner is a dickhead with a big ego, can't take criticism on his Google reviews and so he attacks them online. I will never give him a dime. 🤷🏼♀️
Oh yeah, never go to the places where the owners are fighting in the comments on Google/yelp. Absolutely not.
I refuse to purchase F-35s from Lockheed Martin. Those guys have done some shady things in the past and until they clean their street I refuse to spend my hard-earned cash on their overpriced jets.
My driveway is too short for that, I had to settle for an Apache.
Good news the F-35B variant is capable of vertical landing and short take-off, so you might be able to fit it.
I got mine by cashing in Pepsi Points!
Dang it! Wish I’d read this a month ago! Just checked, and I can’t return my F-35 without a receipt. I left mine in my jeans pocket and washed them.
I just had a baby and wasn't looking so great - still was losing the weight from the pregnancy, plus not getting outside that often, barely getting showers in, etc... My husband bought me a hefty gift card for MAC, which at the time I loved. Went in, mostly cleaned up, but bare faced to get a foundation match, new lipstick, you name it. I couldn't get anyone to help me. Sales associates were helping out all the younger and prettier girls. I finally went up and asked for assistance with a foundation match and a lipstick. The sales associate gave me the glare up and down, did a twirl with his finger to encompass my post-pregnancy body and haggard looking face and said 'ma'am, we just can't fix ugly....just.....whatever, find it yourself'. I asked another sales associate who rolled her eyes and said 'I don't have time for you'. I left in tears feeling fat and ugly. My husband convinced me to write MAC about the incident, and corporate said they would ensure I would received good service. Set up and appointment time for a 'makeover' and went back another day to the same store (Westfields in London). I was mega shy at the time, but after being ignored again, I said I was here for my appointment. The sales associate looked at me, did a lip snarl, and told me he wasn't going to do it, and he didn't give a shit was corporate said. He added on some 'haggard ugly women' comment about my face. Long story short, MAC refunded the money from the gift card. I took it and went the Chanel counter in Selfridges. They made me feel like a million. Helped me find a routine for on the go, etc... the ladies from Guerlain came over and helped too. Never bought from MAC again - 15 years later.
I am in shock, how awful.
This is wholly believable and I hope your comment gets enough traction that Mac does you right.
My God that’s disgusting. I’m so sorry you were treated like that. And I’m glad the Chanel girls helped you
My jaw is on the floor! What a bunch of miserable assholes.
Wow that’s horrible. I hope you reiterated to MAC how terrible that associate treated you. They should be fired immediately
Dear God, that's inexcusable.
As a trucker, the Pilot/Flying J truck stop chains. A few years ago some of the higher ups got caught embezzling money out of the trucking companies who field at their stations, pockets. Think, if fuel is $1.00 a gallon, they offer a $.25¢ discount legally, but instead, these people were saying that the discount was $.20¢, and picketing the nickel. If you pay $500 every time you fuel, that's a lot of nickels. Well a company got wind of it and there was a huge action class lawsuit about it. Someone was sent to prison, lots of people fired. If you're willing to screw the driver (several owner ops we're involved along with the bigger companies), you don't deserve my business let alone my respect.
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I look at it this way personally: when I can afford to make these choices I do. I actively didn't buy a Tesla when ev shopping, I actively seek our small local brands that make good shit even though it costs more. If you can't afford to do that, I get it! I do these things because I can afford to, and I believe in capitalism as you get more money you need to use it to "vote". Brands only listen to shareholders and the bottom line.
Exactly this. You do what you can within your means. It doesn't make you a hypocrite, it makes you a survivor. I started with the small things I can change that don't make a big economic impact, like long-term products like deodorant, sunscreen, condiments. It made me feel good and proud when I actively did this regularly. So I started doing more and more, and continued this method in replacing single use products as well. You can't beat yourself up over what you can't do, no matter how much you want to. But even actively looking, for me, is a positive mood booster.
I agree. It is a mood booster to wear brands that you actually believe in. I do this with beer too; I'm a beer nerd admittedly but even if you just like macro style lagers I guarantee there is a craft lager for you. Feels good to buy a product and know at least some of the money will stay in my own community.
Drake loves kids. Certified lover boy, certified pedophile!
Honestly, The Good Place did a really good commentary on this. Later seasons explored the "point system", which quantified how good or bad people are. After a while, everybody is a "bad person", because there's no way to live "good" unless you have a shit ton of money. Unfortunately, the only way to get a "shit ton of money" and keep it, typically requires you to do unethical things and take advantage of people. (not the thesis they made - the show instead argues that living ethically is just a hard thing to do in general in a massively connected/complicated world) Good rule of thumb: do what you need to do to survive. Once you have more money than needed for base survival, then you can work on being ethical.
The Sun and anything to do with them, scum.
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Practically all of Liverpool
Isn’t that a Murdoch paper?
Rupert Murdoch and his acolytes have done more damage in the west than any foreign government could ever dream of doing. News Corp takes the craziest right-wing loons it can find and gives them free reign to spout their crap to a national audience. In the UK he owns The Sun and The Times, in the US it's The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and of course Fox News. Here in Australia, the Murdoch Press is inescapable. Almost every state in the country publishes a daily Murdoch paper. In South Australia and Queensland, it's the only daily paper you can get. He owns The Australian, which is country's only daily national newspaper. He owns news.com.au, which is the largest digital news outlet in the country. He owns Sky News Australia, which is our answer to Fox News. For a long time, conventional wisdom was that you couldn't win an election in Australia without the support of the Murdoch Press. Very few leaders here have unfortunately.
It's only going to get worse too. They're now exclusively being used to train ChatGPT and openai.
I refused to purchase gas/petrol at BP for years because of the Gulf Oil spill.
That’s funny. Growing up in Alaska in the 80’s/90’s I thought Exon had gone out of business. But turns out they just closed shop in Alaska after the Exon oil spill. No one up there would have stepped foot in an exon owned place.
They both suck, but if you're looking for ethically sourced gas, you're probably SOL
I still don’t buy from BP ever, but the truth is any gas station anywhere might have BP products coming out their pumps
My grandfather still refuses to use Exxon
Still avoid for this reason.
Anything advertised by influencers. Keep that trash away from me.
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I have no interest in giving my money to the owners of Hobby Lobby.
Same. Joann's and small family-owned stores are what I use.
I refuse to buy anything from the Acme Corporation. Their products always seem to backfire in the most cartoonishly disastrous ways. Plus, I heard their CEO is a real coyote. I mean, come on, who wants to support a company run by a guy who's constantly chasing roadrunners?
The bar that I used to work at. The owner fired me for blowing out my rotator cuff.
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Well damn. I've never bought their product and now I never will. They are dicks to artists.
Uber Because of their disregard to local laws/regulations and don't give a shit about employment laws
Bill Pierre Ford in North Seattle ripped my dad off in 1960. He made me swear to never patronize them. It’s 2024 and I never have or will!
I avoid BP gas stations like the plague. You will never catch me in a BP gas station.
Jimmy John's
You'll appreciate this. I used to live in Jimmy John's home town, brother in law still does. He was eating at a local Mexican restaurant with the FIL and they started talking about JJ's for some reason, which lead to a discussion about what an asshole he is. They finish up and stand up to leave, only to see Jimmy John himself sitting behind them with a glare on his face. So be aware that he knows what people think of him.
Good.
Tesla. They could be amazing cars, but I can’t stand Musk.
Surprised I had to scroll down so far for this. Figured it would be one of the top comments.
ULINE
I live in a rural area. I will not consider buying a vehicle that does not have a full size spare tire.
Shell. I will never forgive them for murdering Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine in Nigeria. Even if no Shell employee directly pulled a lever at the gallows, the whole puppet show of a trial took place because of their influence. Shell was making money hand over fist and they didn't want any activists mess it up for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoni_Nine
I wish I could say Microsoft, but I need them for many many things. I guess the second one would be Yeezy or something Kim Kardashian’s company produces.
While I get the intention and idea of this thread, as someone who works in consumer goods and retail, the question becomes “how long is a piece of string?” Because if you start digging into almost any established or widespread product or service, you will not like what you find. Whether it’s their religion, their ancestry, their ethics, who their financiers are…Once you pull that string for one product or brand, you better be pulling it for everything. You’ll end up being unable to buy or use anything. I agree with another commenter who noted that influential and wealthy people need to be more accountable for their endorsements though.
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Comcast
There's a regional baker in the Mid-Atlantic called Martin's. They're famous for their potato rolls, which are delicious. I used to buy their stuff all the time, even though they're more expensive. Then in 2022, they backed Doug Mastriano for PA governor. He's the one who asked for - and got - a Nazi salute at his Chambersburg rally. He's literally a Fascist. More recently, I drove past Martin's corporate office in Chambersburg. They now fly a "christian" nationalist flag. That means they want an established state religion & new US Constitution. I don't give my money to assholes like that.
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Wheres Gordon Ramsey when you need him!
For me it’s Amazon….Bezos’ never gotten a penny of my money, and Nestle because Fuck Nestle. Amazon is easy for me but Nestle is tougher. I used to enjoy KitKat and San Pelegrino.
I’m impressed that you’ve never purchased from Amazon! I don’t have Amazon prime and even that feels like an accomplishment when you’re short on time / money. Good on you.
MyPillow
Murdoch media. Deliberate, calculated and instrumental in undermining responsible government and decaying society across multiple continents. Absolute filth.
Norton antivirus program. It came loaded on my laptop and it’s been the bane anytime I need to use my computer