The world didn’t used to be like this. A busninesses reputation was built on how it treated its customers, and Americans demanded and got quality products and services at a price normal people could afford.
Now every FUCKDAMN restaurant wants a 30% tip, and now I’m getting PRESSURED TO TIP THE CASHIER AT A GAS STATION?!
Look I get it, times are tough and those people deserve more BUT IT SHOULD COME FROM THE VAST UNCHECKED PROFITS OF THE COMPANY THAT THEY ALLOW TO EXIST!
But NooOOoow we’ve NORMALIZED customer abuse and dark patterns, we just ‘oh gee damn’ extra fees and not owning anything.
WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO LET US LIE BACK AND TAKE THIS?!
When it comes to capitalism, you vote with your wallet. While you might not always get to choose where your money goes, when you can you should try.
My examples: haven’t bought from Amazon in a decade, and quit Twitter and Reddit over their API crap (I believe my time online is valuable)
Oh I agree but in my case, I will not assume yours, my entire economic voting power can be completely undone by an order of magnitude from one trust fund kiddies party weekend.
With the economy being what it is, I have near zero discretionary money and my brand choices are limited by cost pressure so as much as I want to boycott most of the big 4 food conglomerates, sometimes that means not eating for a few days.
If we were in our grandparent’s economy, these companies would be FIGHTING for our dollars, but now we are basically captured cows being milked in increasingly more cruel and nuanced ways.
And I don’t see a way out of it without tearing down capitalism completely.
Because you guys accept it.
Back in 2003, I worked at a grocery store. Its a regional chain, and the owner of the chain came in, treated me like shit, and left while my supervisors followed him around kissing his ass. I quit on the spot, and haven’t been back to his store since.
Sony and Microsoft decided to charge for digital games. Same price as the physical. Not only do you NOT own these games, but you also have to pay for online now. And now XBox is trying to raise their prices. Even Nintendo started charging.
I don’t pay for online. I don’t buy digital, and now, as an extra fuck you, I only buy used copies. That way the developers get nothing.
I don’t pay for Hulu, or Netflix, or any other streaming platform. Instead I have a HUGE collection of DVDs.
I want to physically own the things I buy. I heard Sony just cancelled some peoples digital movies that they paid money for.
Fuuuuuuuck that. I will never pay sony a dime for any digital service. But all of you do. Everybody else is voting with their wallet. DVD sales are near non-existant to the point best buy no longer even carries them.
For anyone who has shelves and shelves of DVDs, this doesn’t apply to you. But do know that you’re less than 1% of society. People think I’m crazy for owning PS2 games, and DVDs.
But then these publishers want to re-release 20+ year old games. Fuck that. I already bought them 20 years ago!
And I NEVER tip these people who have historically never been tipped. I come into an ice cream parlor, and uou scoop 3-4 scoops into a bowl, cover it in toppings, and now I’m expected to tip $3 on a $8 purchase that took 1 minute to prepare??? FUCK THAT!!!
I’ll tip the waiter, who on average is in charge of being responsible for an entire room worth of tables at once, and each table is 45-60 minutes of time serving them. Thats hard work. And I tip those people. That I get. However if they try that trick on me where they wait until I get a bite of food to ask how I am, I will put the finger up sign, as if to say “give me a minute”, and when I have chewed and swallowed at my own pace THEN I’ll say “I’m fine, thank you”. I’ve noticed that they stopped doing that at resteraunts I frequent. Because waiters do that intentionally, so you can’t ask for things, and they have a faster time. So by slowing them down past what they otherwise normally would have, they learn its faster to ask you when you’re not face-full into a burger.