Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

Kiddo was waking/restless/crying around 2-2:30 this morning. I've been "sleeping" in the recliner in her room since about 3. 
 

At 3:45 or so, she needed to go to the bathroom. Since she's 4, I helped her... and whoa kid, you're running a fever. Don't know how high, can't find the thermometer. But I digress. Pump some ibuprofen down her throat.

4am, she's in our bed. She falls asleep. 
 

5am, she's singing/chanting icky sticky bubble gum. Back to her room, back to the recliner... now I'm listening to her make up songs about Skye and Ryder and Marshall. It's wonderful, it fills my heart with joy, she's sweet and funny and the medicine is clearly working... but tomorrow is gonna suck with about 3 hours of solid sleep. 

Streetwiseguy said:

Price wise, everything restaurant-ey here is twice what it was pre covid.  If you don't do taco Tuesday, or Whopper Wednesday, or whatever, and just buy the special, lunch is $15.00.  Sit down with a waiter?  $22.00, unless you have a side salad or something.  Then, it's $28.00.

I asked PW just yesterday, when was the last time we went to a burger place? It's been a long time because, for about the same cost, we can go to one of the local mom and pop sit down restaurants and get a proper meal. 
 

Appleseed said:

RX Reven' said:

First, I apologize for just thinking about the consumer.

I recently turned 60 and the fine actuaries over at the SS Administration give men of my age a 50/50 of 20.04 years.

If suddenly having to pay $12 for a $5 sandwich is the new normal, I'm not entirely sure wishing for many, many more years is smart.

 

If a $12 sub sandwich is making you contemplate an early death, you're doing it wrong.

Note to self - use more smiley faces. 

In reply to RX Reven' :

I was orginally going to take the dark path, suggest upgrading a $12 sub to anxiety, depression, nuclear war, crippling dept, chronic illness, heavy duty E36 M3 like that.  

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders.  In my experience, if the screen works (which isn't always the case) it takes a lot longer than simply walking up to the counter and saying "give me the #7 meal to go."  I don't see any advantage for the consumer.

Appleseed said:

 crippling dept

I'm going to avoid that department, given a chance. 

In reply to stuart in mn :

My guilty pleasure is Taco Bell and their self service interface is frustrating to use (narrow range of acceptable touch pressure, about a two second lag time, excessive complexity).

In my experience (California with a wide range of times), they ignore you if you try to place an order at the counter and I've noticed that I take an average amount of time to use the interface relative to other patrons.  So, it looks like the system is troublesome for everyone and adds about two to three minutes to placing the order.

How many packs of mild would you like...1...2...3...4...5...6

How many packs of Diablo would you like...1...2...3...4...5...6

I'm not just attending to my hunger, I'm looking for an enjoyable experience and this isn't it.

Peabody said:

Streetwiseguy said:

Price wise, everything restaurant-ey here is twice what it was pre covid.  If you don't do taco Tuesday, or Whopper Wednesday, or whatever, and just buy the special, lunch is $15.00.  Sit down with a waiter?  $22.00, unless you have a side salad or something.  Then, it's $28.00.

I asked PW just yesterday, when was the last time we went to a burger place? It's been a long time because, for about the same cost, we can go to one of the local mom and pop sit down restaurants and get a proper meal. 

That was more or less my point. We very seldom go to a real sit-down restaurant, but we can get a better burger at the local hot rod hangout for less money than it would cost at any fast food chain.

Similarly, we can get local beef at the family-owned butcher shop downtown for not a whole lot more than mystery meat at the national grocery chain. Butcher shop prices have risen over the last five years, but not by as much as supermarket prices.

Neither of the local places had the foot traffic or advertising pull of big competitors. Both of them are looking a little run down after decades of operation. Patronizing either involves the risk of speaking to an actual human who may recognize you after repeated visits.

It's a different world once you get off the interstate, metaphorically speaking.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

And to come full circle, my local (country) butcher makes subs. I think they're $7, and all the meat comes from them. It's probably the only sub I've bought the last 10 or so years. 

Appleseed said:

In reply to RX Reven' :

I was orginally going to take the dark path, suggest upgrading a $12 sub to anxiety, depression, nuclear war, crippling dept, chronic illness, heavy duty E36 M3 like that.  

"Wars and pandemics and natural disasters oh my...wars and pandemics and natural disasters oh my" 

I hear you.

My comment about only having 20 years left can be seen as a good thing...I've got 60 years in the bank that can't be taken away.

I'm a super duper good worrier and I fear failure more than anything else (raised on a rich diet of conditional love).

I checked the last box on my major life goals back on march 20th and I feel like I've transitioned onto a smooth highway after driving for hours on a rough dirt road.

Anyway, back to minor rants.

mtn said:

Kiddo was waking/restless/crying around 2-2:30 this morning. I've been "sleeping" in the recliner in her room since about 3. 
 

At 3:45 or so, she needed to go to the bathroom. Since she's 4, I helped her... and whoa kid, you're running a fever. Don't know how high, can't find the thermometer. But I digress. Pump some ibuprofen down her throat.

 

4am, she's in our bed. She falls asleep. 
 

5am, she's singing/chanting icky sticky bubble gum. Back to her room, back to the recliner... now I'm listening to her make up songs about Skye and Ryder and Marshall. It's wonderful, it fills my heart with joy, she's sweet and funny and the medicine is clearly working... but tomorrow is gonna suck with about 3 hours of solid sleep. 

Dude. I think 3-4 is the most adorable age. That's our youngest right now and I've especially enjoyed all of them at that stage. They know just enough to be amazing, but not quite enough so they're hilarious or adorable with it. 
The other day, she was sitting beside me in the Z4 with the convertible top down, "daddy? How do people know to make things?" Like what? "Like top downs (convertible tops)-- daddy how do people know how to make that?" -- what an astute question-- it's a complicated thing!

Or the songs she continually makes up. The rest of us just stop and nonchalantly listen in

/unRantOver

stuart in mn said:

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders.  In my experience, if the screen works (which isn't always the case) it takes a lot longer than simply walking up to the counter and saying "give me the #7 meal to go."  I don't see any advantage for the consumer.

Similar to grocery self checkouts, the kiosks allow many customers to order simultaneously with minimal employee oversight.  It's easier for franchises to use those and apps to take orders than to pay multiple employees to cover the cash registers.  The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

It's just capitalism.

prodarwin said:

stuart in mn said:

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders.  In my experience, if the screen works (which isn't always the case) it takes a lot longer than simply walking up to the counter and saying "give me the #7 meal to go."  I don't see any advantage for the consumer.

Similar to grocery self checkouts, the kiosks allow many customers to order simultaneously with minimal employee oversight.  It's easier for franchises to use those and apps to take orders than to pay multiple employees to cover the cash registers.  The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

It's just capitalism.

It almost certainly increases order accuracy, too, I bet.

But no, it's all an evil corporate plot.

prodarwin said:

The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

I suppose in theory the savings could go to keeping costs (to the consumer) down, but in practice there's never been any hint of that, probably because the budget for executive bonuses is always hungry.

Undiscovered tribes in the wilds of Borneo already knew you were going to say that.

Duke said:

prodarwin said:

stuart in mn said:

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders.  In my experience, if the screen works (which isn't always the case) it takes a lot longer than simply walking up to the counter and saying "give me the #7 meal to go."  I don't see any advantage for the consumer.

Similar to grocery self checkouts, the kiosks allow many customers to order simultaneously with minimal employee oversight.  It's easier for franchises to use those and apps to take orders than to pay multiple employees to cover the cash registers.  The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

It's just capitalism.

It almost certainly increases order accuracy, too, I bet.

But no, it's all an evil corporate plot.

 

I'd believe that if I saw costs being kept down.

Appleseed said:

Duke said:

prodarwin said:

stuart in mn said:

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders. 

 The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

It's just capitalism.

It almost certainly increases order accuracy, too, I bet.

But no, it's all an evil corporate plot.

I'd believe that if I saw costs being kept down.

How do you know that costs wouldn't be even higher without the kiosks?  Prove to us that this isn't keeping costs down.

In reply to Appleseed :

Oh, it can definitely keep costs down.  You wouldn't believe the number of times I've missed that pack of tortillas I'd forgotten was under the dog food. That's a big savings right there 

In reply to Peabody :

You be all like "Oops, my bad"

I'd rather use self checkout at a store just so I don't have to deal with the slow idiot behind the register. 

I refuse to use it at a restaurant. I will walk out. If I wanted to order food from a machine I'd be at a vending machine. 

Duke said:

prodarwin said:

stuart in mn said:

Fast food joints are pushing customers to use the self service screens to place their orders.  In my experience, if the screen works (which isn't always the case) it takes a lot longer than simply walking up to the counter and saying "give me the #7 meal to go."  I don't see any advantage for the consumer.

Similar to grocery self checkouts, the kiosks allow many customers to order simultaneously with minimal employee oversight.  It's easier for franchises to use those and apps to take orders than to pay multiple employees to cover the cash registers.  The advantage to the consumer is it can keep costs down.

It's just capitalism.

It almost certainly increases order accuracy, too, I bet.

But no, it's all an evil corporate plot.

 

Subway is one place where you HAVE to watch them make the food.

If you get a sub with heated meats, a lazy/rushed person will put the veggies on first while the meat is in the microwave, which makes for a bad sandwich experience.

I used to work across the street from a Subway.  I went to the one six minutes up the street because if I asked for onions on a sub at the one across the street, I got like three or four thin little sprigs on onion on a footlong.  No I want that sub coated with veggies.  The one up the street had staff that would do it Right.

There used to be a Subway with a drive-thru.  Went there once.  We ordered two footlong veggie subs.  (Cue Jules' Pulp Fiction quote here) We got no questions of what we wanted on them.  When we got home we found that we got subs with everything on them, and mayo and mustard.  On a veggie sub.  Berking gross.  We weren't asked what we wanted and weren't told what we were going to get.

Fast food prices in general have gotten crazy relative actual restaurants, but I don't understand how Subway has any sort of presence outside of desolate highway rest areas.   In Manhattan which is generally comically expensive, I can still get a good sandwich with more meat and better roll than Subway for about $15 with chips or a pickle.  A $12 footlong makes Katz deli's giant, overpriced, touristy pastrami sandwiches look reasonable.  

In reply to Duke :

Easy for the self checkout. Without fail, no matter the grocery store, Lowe's, home Depot, or wherever else, the 4 people milling around the self checkouts instead of actually running a register need to come and intervene because something is ringing up wrong or not at all. Sure, on a long enough timeline, it may become cheaper to just have the self checkouts, but not when you're paying for both a self checkout machine AND a person to watch it all day and correct any errors. Eventually annual maintenance and updates should get cheaper than wages and benefits, in theory. That's just increasing costs and annoyances, and costing future sales because I will leave carts full of stuff sit if the only way to pay and leave is self checkout, and I won't come back unless I absolutely have to. Turns out ordering stuff online is still cheaper and easier than going to a physical store for 90% of stuff. 

I prefer to use apps to order, so when my order comes back wrong I know it's because the dip E36 M3 in the back doesn't know how to read instead of just ringing in the order wrong. Not that it changes anything other than making me wait longer for the order to be remade correctly, and again, costing them money because Johnny on the grill can't read. 

I haven't run into the kiosks, but I don't know the last time I actually went into a fast food joint. App to drive thru or delivery app only when I have discount codes. 

In reply to Toyman! :

Sam's Club out here is pretty infuriating... 80% self checkout, but then EVERYONE has to que up for a single 'loss prevention' person at the exit door to randomly check items in the cart against the receipt.

Sir,  self-checkout is open.

I'm sorry, I don't work here.