I try, too, but let’s face it. We are immersed in a hyper-capitalist society. Unless you’re living off the grid via hunting/gathering/subsistence argiculture, you’re at least indirectly supporting a terrible, regressive, unjust system. Every order from Amazon, every trip to a major grocery store is engineered to put money into some already-fabulously-rich dude’s pocket.
So we do what we can at a level we can live with without making ourselves TOO crazy. That level is different for everyone. Do what you can and don’t worry about being less righteous than the next guy. It’s not a competition, and people who treat it like one are generally insufferable.
13 Likes
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
82
Well put.
I saw a cool slogan the other day - “profits are stolen wages.”
Some people up here have been rationalizing that not scanning all their groceries at the self-checkout is taking their wages (since they’re doing all the work)
So much better than chick - fil - A . A one inch slab of Molinari mortadella , head cheese . Not shown .Point Reyes blue , Monterey bay sardines veal loin chops , and duck breasts . All for 66 dollars
I was doing that, and unfortunately, the largest grocery store chain that owns the largest drug store in Canada, took cashiers away from their cash registers, and has them standing behind self-checkouts to encourage people to use self-checkout, and watch people check out their own goods through self-checkout. At my local drug store, three often is no cashier at the cash register lane.
. The grocery stores and drug stores have physically removed at least half the cash register lanes to put self-check out machines in the space.
Now, there are usually 3 cashiers working, with 7 lanes closed, , in a large store that once had 18 cash register lanes.
I went from being the customer choosing to wait for a cashier, to the person choosing to do self-checkout because there are 15 people in line for one of the 3 cashiers, and the self-checkout has no line.
If there’s no line for the cashier or the self-checkout, I will choose the cashier.
Not trying to dissuade you, but sometimes Costco carries this giant bag of 2 popcorn mixes - cheese and caramel. It is pretty addictive and excellent for parties.
Speaking of cheetos, I was watching an episode of Taco Chronicles (Netflix) the other day and someone in Las Vegas I think was blending hot cheetos with water and adding them to masa before making tortillas. And I thought to myself both ew and also yum? I believe they also blitzed them and sprinkled them on top of their tacos. The argument was to keep evolving to stand out, which I can appreciate to an extent. You can take it too far though. I’m not sure they did.
Stop it! He should eat a CFA sandwich. I rec anything that would be a special order. Urban legend is that they have to make a fresh one then. Although come to think of it, they have so many people all day that I dare say none of their sandwiches probably sits for more than 5 min before they sell it. I like the OG, not spicy, extra pickles, and no sauces. Also the nuggets are outstanding.
Yes, their politics are awful. Their chicken is good enough to make me periodically look the other way, especially because I do rainbow good things elsewhere in my life.
Making food choices based on political and social viewpoints is a tough way to enjoy food.
If you (not “you” specifically but “you” in the generic sense) want to make a difference socially, politically, etc. there are better and more efficient ways of doing it than based on where you decide to eat, or not eat.
I find it’s much easier to vote with my wallet when I haven’t already established a fondness for something. But I also believe it’s true that if you dig into ANY business’ owners or C suite, there will be unsavory finds that will cause you to want to not do business with them. At some point, you have to pick your battles. I’ll still eat at CFA but because it’s far, it’s annual maybe. I still occasionally get sandwiches at Jimmy John’s on the road, despite their big game hunters, because Subway is not even real food. But I gave up my dealings with BoA financially, when I learned they were underwriting all sorts of gun manufacturers. Soo… choices. We all have to make them, all the time.
ETA: I just saw your second post on this topic and agree with all of it. Do what you can, when you can. Don’t let perfect become the enemy of good.
I have a fondness for Jimmy John’s as its early stores were in my college town of Urbana, IL. And, as you say, subway isn’t actually food.
John Liautaud, the founder, did get a a lot of flack for big game hunting in the early 2000’s, but issued a statement in 2015 saying he no longer participates in it. The restaurant itself has been sold to an investment group. Liautaud hasn’t divested, ala Papa John’s John Schattner, but he is no longer CEO and is only an ‘adviser’.
They got MORE flack around 2014-2015 when it was learned that they were making employees sign non-compete agreements that forbid them from working for another ‘sandwich-based’ establishment for 1 year. They were rightly sued and have since stopped the practice.
Thankfully, Jersey Mike’s exists. They have not, so far as I know, done anything to get on folk’s shit list. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time, though.
Matter of time, or far as we know. Either or. And my experience tbh it’s usually the latter. We don’t have Jersey Mikes nearby, and I don’t think they’re particularly widespread either as far as road trip eating goes.
Urbana? Cool. We lived there for a year while husband was doing post doc work. I didn’t personally enjoy it but I also had a newborn and was quite isolated.
I’m not sure how much of the vitriol is about current vs past political behavior/stances. But people have long memories. All I can say is it’s hard to stop doing business with someone when you’ve established that relationship. I learned recently that In & Out has a new policy forbidding their staff to wear face masks unless they have a doctor’s note, because that way customers can’t see their faces and won’t feel the warmth. To me, that just super sucks. As a “corporate culture” type of move and the fact their employees don’t have autonomy over their own health. And I love me some In & Out when I travel to Cali.
1 Like
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
97
I tried about 8 different times to scan a package of corn on the cob at Aldi. No one came to help.
They are actually the worst about self check because they have only one cashier whose job is both to ring up the old-fashioned way AND to monitor and respond to self-check issues. It’s maddening and horrible to the employees and customers both. I’ve seen associates suspend one transaction to go help another.
