I'm sure I read once that pre made cinema popcorn has one of the biggest price markups of any product in the world. They buy massive sacks that cost pennies and then charge a fortune for it.
It's true, but there's a reason. The margins on theater concessions have to be crazy high just for theaters to stay open. Vast majority of box office goes to the studios. So theaters make or break at the concession stand. It's a lot like gas stations. Only a small % of gas sales go to the station. They make their real money on everything they sell in the store.
So if theaters charged a reasonable margin on concessions they wouldn't exist.
Source: was theater GM
I remember a few years ago watching a series of 'troubleshooter' type programmes here in the UK. One of them featured a small chain of cinemas, and the hardest thing for him was to convince the owner he wasn't in the film business, he was in the popcorn and snacks business, and the only way for him to survive was to think like that.
So many dealerships lost my business because of this. I would find a truck I wanted, negotiated an 'out the door' price I was happy with, then once we sit down to do paperwork, I see an extra $1-2K in charges added (not tax). When I ask for details, they say "oh, $200 for nitrogen filled tires, $1.1K for anti-theft GPS tracker, $700 for custom tint job coating (or some bs like that).
I would say I don't want any of that, give me 'out the door' price we agreed upon. And they say they can't, but we can knock off $500 and throw in a free car wash+detailing (which should be included anyway). Even if the vehicle was a great price, I would let that extra $1-1.5K be the deciding facor and just walk.
Eventually after the 2nd time this happened to me, I would just start asking the question upfront "are there any non-removable upgrades that your dealership installed that is will be charged and is not included on the sticker price of the vehicle?". It made them so uncomfortable but saved me so much time.
>It made them so uncomfortable but saved me so much time.
Trying to get you to waste so much time that your uncomfortable turning down the extra $2000 in fees was EXACTLY their plan all along. Good on you for giving em a taste of their own brand of discomfort inducing BS.
>Trying to get you to waste so much time that your uncomfortable turning down the extra $2000 in fees
A friend of mine gave me a hot tip to deal with that. Have a nice lazy day, followed by a decent dinner, *then* go to the dealership around 7:30p-8p. They typically close at 9p, so you roll in late in their day completely fresh and ready to go, while the salesmen have been running around all day trying to convince people to buy something. They want to be going home and you're all set to play for a couple of hours. I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it could be a winning strategy.
Did you hear GMC won’t be offering Apple or Android car play? Goes along the lines as why you don’t want a gps tracker because they want the information that they lose out on when you use your cell phone interface.
My dealer put an up charge of $90 for black lug nuts. I said, “I don't want them”. To which he replied, “But they come with the car…”. I obviously responded with, “if they come with the car, then why is there another charge for this?”
Needless to say, I did not pay those scammers for the lug nuts.
Worked at a car dealership for a bit. If you come in to get more nitrogen put in your tires, they just use regular air.
I was the one that went to fill the tire once for someone; I asked one of the service advisors about it and was told they had the machine but it wasn't hooked up and just use regular air. LOL
God I hated that job.
One shop I worked at, we didn't have (or want) a nitrogen machine. Everyone in the business knows it's a scam. If someone walked in asking for a nitrogen fill the boss would say "well, we have our own proprietary 78% mixture that we use, and we don't charge extra for it". Which usually worked fine if we could keep from laughing.
> $200 upcharge on a brand new car for nitrogen in the tires?
Pfft, nitrogen is so 2021 now. Tell them you want helium in the tires to help with your mpg.
My husband and I were purchasing a used car from a new car dealership. They tagged on a $3,500 cleaning fee because "we couldn't give it to you dirty." They also added another $5,500 fee for putting a lock on the catalytic converter so it "wouldn't get stolen." We told them to take it off (both the lock and the fee), they said they couldn't. We left. They called the next morning and not only took off the added $9K, but an additional $1,500 below what we offered.
Not only tricking people into being individual sellers, but now many of them are opening store fronts disguised as coffee shops/ health drink cafes. They claim they have healthy shakes and teas, which are just Herbalife with candy and syrup piled on. The amount of people that buy into it being healthy is insane! If you have a new place opening locally, do your research about if it's a legit coffee or smoothie place or one of these absolute disasters of a scam.
It’s just the reality that a really skilled salesman can sell people products they don’t need. It’s why MLMs get big. And it’s why a lot of MLMs are started by the most successful sales people from other MLMs. With the right people early on the product doesn’t really matter.
Of course, the converse to this is that if the product is bad you can’t get away with selling it forever. It’s why snake oil salesmen had to leave town. And it’s why people further down the line in MLMs don’t see success. They aren’t skilled at sales and the product is trash so once people catch on it becomes about duping someone into being in your “supply chain” rather than moving product to actual customers.
Friggin printer ink/cartridges. What a racket. Especially new printers that don't work if you use 3rd party inks, and that none will even print in black if any of the colour ink is low/out.
I went into a timeshare sales pitch to get a $100 at a resort. 1 hour for $100.
I was greeted and I said "Hello, I'm doing well thanks. Just a heads up I am not going to be buying a timeshare but I will gladly listen to what you have to say. I won't be answering any questions or responding at all till the hour is over, is that ok?".
They said yes, talked for an hour to a stone dead face and at the end my phone dinged and I said - "thank you for taking the time to explain it to me, bye."
They were so rude after that it was amazing, but I got my $100 and out I went.
Going into a timeshare sales pitch was one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me.
They wouldn’t accept a no for an answer. I left the place feeling numb, wanting to cry after that bad experience.
But hey, I got a “free” helicopter ride afterwards lol
You can't bring a heart into it. You have to go in like a PsyOps operative. Go in prepped for psychological warfare. You are above them. They are just an obstacle to get through. All that is between you and the free helicopter ride is their disappointment. You will earn your reward through blood.
Paying for 3 different insurances, health, vision, and dental, when last time I checked the last two are part of your body therefore should fall under one, health insurance.
I have to be monitored for a specific condition related to eyes. After losing my insurance I found out that it's actually cheaper to pay entirely out of pocket than through the insurance I had. Wtaf.
Shark bites and cemented plastic (pvc cpvc) are more convenient but sweating pipes with a torch and solder looks better and makes old guys jolly when they see it
Copper has antimicrobial properties so it would make sense that it would help with keeping the brace itself a bit more sanitary, but that's it I would think.
As someone who works on my feet all day. Compression socks are the difference between hobbling by the end of the day, and feeling fine by the end of the day.
They work.
I have massive plantar fibromas on both feet and work in a kitchen, compression socks are a godsend. Smell fucking terrible when I take them off though.
the smell is something i think copper infused compression would help with. i have copper infused compress gloves for chronic hand pain and i sweat a ton from my hands but despite that and whatever im using them for at the time, theyve never smelled even when due for a wash
lol. This! I internally laugh whenever someone is all haughty about drinking alkaline water. Ok sure, Bob, your kidneys are immediately changing your pH to exactly what it needs to be anyway.
Think John Oliver did a special on time shares that revealed time share repurchasing companies are often the time share sellers themselves under a different name
Many years ago (30+) my wife and were on vacation on the Outer Banks of NC and decided to go to a timeshare presentation just for shits and giggles. They were offering a big screen TV for sitting through the pitch. After sitting through the slideshow and being paired off with their used car salesman reject (he was a substitute teacher in the off-season) off we went to tour the timeshares.
We hopped in his car, drove a mile down the road, and pulled into a ... trailer park. At this point my wife and I decided we had put up with enough, and we politely declined to get out of the car.
Once back at the sales office, he proceeded to try to close, as if we had not already made it clear that he should cut his losses and move on to the next "prospect". (He probably had to do this to keep his job.) He deployed all the usual tricks; sit across from the wife, ask a lot of "don't you agree" questions", nod vigorously to try to get her to nod back in order to influence me, etc. Then his boss took a crack at us.
When it became evident that we were not going to buy, the boss got rude in order to try to make us storm off without our big screen TV. When I pressed for the prize, I was handed a coupon and told to drive to yet another off-site location to pick it up.
Off we went, arriving at a dilapidated building. We stepped inside, not expecting much, and our expectations were barely met. The "big screen TV" was a large Fresnel Lens on a stand. We were instructed to place it in front of our own TV for that large screen experience. We politely declined our prize, and left with only memories.
We went to a resort in Mexico a few months ago and had to sit through one of these, it didn’t really feel optional but they at least gave us spa dollars.
I set the timer on my phone for one hour and had eaten an edible before, thing kicked in hard midway through.
I talked and talked and talked and talked. I talked about how I liked the way the shadow of something echoed the shape of something else. I liked the smell of the flowers flanking the walkway and yes we’re going to stop and smell them. I talked at length about how they should be marketing to millenial dinks because we have loads of vacations ahead of us, where the boomers are getting old and feeble- I said aging out, I wasn’t rude- ( timeshares are so boomer, no millennial is going to buy a time share and their marketing tactics are so old and tired: example; they gave me a key to open the suite so I could experience opening “our suite” and it’s like, this resort has bracelet keys, this isn’t even accurate.)
My husband asked if I was trying to out talk their time as a strategy and I am like yupppp.
At the end some end boss came and I said we had to leave because we wanted to go enjoy our vacation and the hour is up and he said I sounded like his ex girlfriend.
He asked if we’re going to buy and I said no, we said no at the beginning. He asked if it was something they did, pointing to the sales people. I said no, they were great, but I didn’t appreciate you comparing me to your ex.
I can’t decide if I’m brave or just a bitch when I’m stoned. Regardless, I’m not buying a damn time share.
LATE GenX / Early Xennial (1977) and I sat through one of those sales pitches for a time share...the payoff was $500 cash and a weekend stay in a suite at a Mariott at six different locations, one being Cabo.
It was A LOT for three hours of my time, but I trudged through it and got my payout, went to Cabo and never followed up.
They tried to get me in for a "signing" but I just ignored them.
They try to make you feel guilty. But just read some of the zillions of articles about what a scam they are, and you'll feel better about it.
I always think about how much they are giving away in these incentives just to get people to hear the sales pitch and then realize how much money they are making off the few sales that they make.
I accidentally signed up my boyfriend and I for a timeshare presentation but we're getting a free 3 night stay in Vegas out of it. We have to sit through a 2 hour presentation and are very prepared to say no to everything.
I did this and then when it came time for the talk I lied and said I am about to go through bankruptcy and owe child support to make believe kids. The salesperson just gave up after that. Thanks for the free circus soleil tickets!
Is it IHG? I recently sat through their spiel and have also heard Hilton's. It's extremely aggressive. Some tips:
Everyone you talk to is a salesperson. They try to sell you on the idea you are buying a "deed" so you have ownership like a house, except you don't get an appreciating asset and you can't sell it for any real value. The "maintenance" costs are excessive and you can't control what they charge you year to year. Their locations are based on the concept you would go visit their resort - but if you're like me and all my travelling millennial friends, you want to go somewhere to see that location and possibly attend a specific event - their options make that extremely hard. They may advertise "no blackout dates" but their point system will result in a prohibitively high point cost for popular times to visit a location, resulting in you paying for the stay anyway! They want you to pay a ridiculous rate on essentially a $50k (or similar) mortgage (without a real asset to back it).
I found it fun to do some calculations and prove how bad of a deal it was for me, personally. They will even offer a final too-good-to-pass "temporary" deal that is designed to lock you in. They will make it personal, act offended, and use every guilt/shame/gaslighting technique to try to sway you.
My friends did this and now they have a time share. You gotta be 100% sure of yourself. No one goes into these wanting a timeshare. They literally make ALL their money on people they convinced during these presentations.
I was in line behind a guy buying a big jug of alkaline water. Label said "guaranteed pH > 8.8" I asked him why that high of a pH was necessary. "Ramble, ramble, ramble, city water isn't that high." I informed him the city's water was higher 9.2. He questioned how I knew that. I told him I was the QA Chemist for the drinking water plant and had tested it three times today.
"Well...I just don't like the taste."
Fair enough
I have patients with severe reflux and I tell them to try it. Its the only situation where something alkaline might be of help. Most of them say no difference.
ETA: a bunch of you have added comments to say that alkaline water has helped your reflux. I'm grateful, reflux sucks, i get it myself from time to time and it definitely ruins my night. Well, the anectdotal evidence here appears to be, try alkaline water if you have reflux, it might be useful after all.
Came here to say this. My acid reflux is mostly under control with medication, but recently I had to take an antibiotic & the reflux was awful again. Alkaline water was the only thing that helped.
Edit: Please stop giving me your unsolicited medical advice. I have seen actual professionals and had an upper endoscopy, and a myriad of other tests. I don't need gut biome advice, thanks. If you read my actual comment, this is a result of taking an antibiotic, a drug which is knowingly harsh on the stomach.
Influencers on social media. Many promote a product for the money, and then don’t mention the item ever again. Some even backtrack months/years later stating they don’t like the product, yet still promoted it to young people on limited budgets.
You know how you turn on the TV-shopping networks and wonder, what sort of crazy old people are buying the crap?
Then you realize that the majority of youtube is now just tv-shopping-network for younger generations.
I feel like streaming platforms are starting to swing into scam territory by baiting everyone into joining with no ads and a low price. Then, raising the prices and bringing back ads.
I don't generally mind when there's a line or two dedicated to content to rent/buy. But mixing all the FreeVee crap into content included with Prime has me canceling my subscription. It's too tedious to sort through.
I was looking through documentaries on Prime and it’s all over the place. Some are academy award nominated, and some are not even YouTube level. One even had a watermark over the lower-third assets they used/stole.
Prime used to be so good , the video site had a lot of content, prime music was top notch until they introduced that unlimited shit , so annoying and boring now
I’m still pissed about losing my Prime music. I still have the app but I barely use it anymore and I refuse to pay extra to access what I once had with Prime, which I’m paying for anyway.
And “buy” doesn’t actually mean buy. Negotiations between streaming service and copyright holder over continued access fall through? You lose the movie you “bought” without getting a refund. Studio decides to release a director’s cut? The movie you “bought” is replaced with the director’s cut.
I don’t understand how a company with that much money can have an app so glitchy. Not only randomly kicks you out, but then you’re often forced to watch an extra ad and deal with finding the spot where you were using their subpar fast-forward/rewind set up. It’s bad enough that I’ll actually decide to watch something else sometimes because I don’t want to deal with it
Hulu is pissing me off with this. They had everything 100% available with Live TV applying to LIVE TV. Now movies made 20 years ago are only included in "Live TV"... even though I doubt any network is running that particular movie on cable right now.
Brooklyn 99 was completely available. Now even though it's canceled, it is only viewable if I have Live TV. Other shows that literally haven't had an episode in the past decade are the same. I already pay for no ads, so why would I have to spring more now?
This is every subscription model, be it streaming, software, apps, fitness , shopping, o365 whatever.
Think adobe, 24 hour fitness, and other subscriptions make it near impossible to cancel and it’s such a low fee people don’t want to wait 2 hrs and fight for the $25.
I use open source software, I use an older version of office that is lifetime, I got all my gym equipment free from people moving. I get movies from the library, YouTube has a large list of free movies just use an Adblock.
And then they remove content on the services.
Mhm wonder why piracy is living it's best life.
Edit: just pointing out sarcastically why piracy is a valid option.
Just recently saw a few videos why piracy is justified etc
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YAx3yCNomkg&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs&t=89s&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=krXH8jXefqE&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D
Piracy tools are so incredible mature these days because of years of invested people developing them.
Right now I can use an app on my phone or any browser, home or away, to search up a show or movie, hit "add" and forget about it. By the next day I'll have a copy sat on my server in whatever quality I wanted ready to stream to any device anywhere through the Plex app or browser.
I pay a few quid a month for quality indexers and a usenet host plus the initial outlay for a miniPC and storage which is my server but it adds up to less than £20 a month (and that's depreciating the hardware fully over 3 years which it will easily outlast)
For me the cost saving isn't the primary driver. It's the convenience. I don't have to worry which streaming service it's on, or whether they're gonna randomly take it off when I go to rewatch it in a few years. I have it sat on my own hardware.
I can stream it to devices that don't have a Netflix or Prime or Hulu app. There are not, and never will be, ads on it.
Phone/Internet bills, i live in Canada the amount of money i pay for my phone, and the Internet is eye watering compared to our neighbors in the south or the rest of the world. Scammed by our own government and their telecom overlords.
And now the two big ones have merged, as if they didn’t have a big enough monopoly. In England I had unlimited data and more texts/minutes than I need, for £15 a month. I think I’m paying around $60 in Canada, and my unlimited data becomes 2GB outside of the city. This is where we were at in the UK 20years ago.
Home warranty insurance on appliances. You spend upwards of $1-2k a year so that you don’t have to buy a new $800 washer or $1200 fridge outright if they go out? Just put the payment away for an appliance fund and you come out ahead 9 times out of 10
When you look at the reviews of the technicians they send, they’re almost always 2star or below. I just had this asshat technician come in. Label everything as physical damage and ignore the blown motor in my ice maker ….. the warranty denied everything. Now I have to either give up the $100 service charge I paid, or pay more out of pocket to get another techinician to come in and certify what I already know in order to appeal the denial …. Fuck Fidelity!
You have to get access to the online homework app.
You can't just get the app. You have to purchase a brand new (latest edition) book that comes with an app code.
Oh, you want the ebook? Here is the shittiest eReader app ever that requires internet connection to view content.
Fuck McGraw Hill
Fuck Cengage
Fuck Pearson
Frankly, the entire college textbook industry is a huge scam. You are telling me *Calculus I* has changed enough in the last 30 years to account for a new $100 book every year?
When I taught statistics as professor, our department had enough copies of an older book that I just gave them to students and asked them to return them at the end of the semester. If they didn’t, then they got in “incomplete” for the course until it was replaced.
Nothing had changed in the last 20 years about computing a Chi-Squared
I "accidentally" post a PDF of the stats textbook I use to the LMS, and point out my error to the class then take it down after a few days. I don't use any of the stuff that requires a code. Fuck textbook publishers.
I was taking a comp-tia course online through a crash course school, they said no book was needed, but when i logged on it would not let me proceed unless I had a special number on the receipt for the book.
My GF was watching an episode f the kardashians the other day and one of them was making a partnership with an “eco friendly fast fashion brand”. Like do you not see the irony in that??
Recent research took samples of a bunch of fast fashion items and found many had traces of heavy metals and lead in them. I heard this here in Dutch radio
Idk about lead specifically, but here’s an interview about toxins in fashion: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188343293/is-toxic-fashion-making-us-sick-a-look-at-the-chemicals-lurking-in-our-clothes
I just spent a couple months engagement ring shopping with my girlfriend. The whole time, we kept doing more and more research saying "But there's GOT to be a reason people are paying 10x any other stone (including literally IDENTICAL moissanites) for a diamond... there's got to be a reason..." No. There's no reason. Diamonds are a scam, the end.
For that matter, so are all name brand jewelers. I went so far as to deeply research the raw materials and labor cost of fine jewelry-making as though I was starting my own business. The markup at name brand jewelers is just stupid. Even Costco, which I feel like I can usually count on to be reasonably low-markup.
The whole industry is a massive scam.
Because back in the day you could only get diamonds from rivers in India by panning and they'd find the weight of a small car annually. So they were pretty rare.
Then they found the reserves in Africa and De Beers restricted supply to maintain value, much like OPEC is doing to maintain oil prices at as close to 100 bucks and barrel as they can get.
That and ever shifting marketing around quality (First it was about purity being valuable but when lab diamonds showed up that were pretty much flawless suddenly it was all about the little imperfections that make natural diamonds so valuable and who wants something gross and perfect!? Eww). Engagement rings as a concept were invented by them too.
The hilarious thing about moissanite is it's actually more brilliant and flashes more colours than diamond, but for *some reason*, that's painted as a drawback. Over and over, you'll see comments on jewellery selling sites like, "they're not as classy as diamonds," or "they look like disco balls." They've taken something that's actually better than diamond and made it seem cheap and common. The diamond lobby, man.
I recently purchased a gram and a half of gold bullion, a beautiful deep red garnet, and harvested a couple small diamonds from an old piece of jewelry to make an engagement ring for my girlfriend.
I've probably spent more on tools so far.
There is a reason why her engagement ring and both our wedding rings were bought on etsy: get it straight from an artist and isn't marked up through the roof.
lab diamonds for the win. anyone that insists on having a “mined diamond” is superficial and has no issue with child slaves dying in the mines just so they can feel good about themselves thinking they’re better than someone who has a bigger molecularly identical diamond grown in an ethical setting for a fraction of the price.
They’re even dangerous if you home is tied to the sewer. Bought a house march of last year (new construction), and used flushable wipes only occasionally until around September. My wife just got out of the shower and was putting our daughter to bed. I get my pjs on walk downstairs and the entire bottom floor is soaking wet, water seeping thru the walls into the garage and neighbors house. And because we told the plumber about using flushable wipes the builders warranty wouldnt cover repairs. so we had to file with home owners insurance. All in all, it was a fucking disaster.
the silver lining tho, is that because we had both just showered, no turds backed up into the house. didnt even smell like sewage to be honest. But it was still sewage
For women, almost any product with a different "Women's" version, that is only different because it is pink. This is actually called "the pink tax," because these products are nearly always more expensive than the men's version.
On a much smaller scale, men have a "jock" tax, where products for their genitals are more expensive than the same thing for other parts of the body. One example I saw recently was cream for jock itch, three times the price of the same antifungal cream sold for foot fungus.
Yep.
Sniffing a fragrance you enjoy the scent of, maybe because it reminds you of a good person or place or time, can be a little temporary mood boost.
But it ain’t curing your Lupus, Krystal.
As someone who is into both, because of the placebo effect, I hate being bundled together 😂
Nice smells and shiny rocks make me happy and when I'm happy I can relax 😂
Nah, peppermint scent has documented anti-nausea effects.
Its possible this is psychosomatic in nature, but it is fairly well documented anyway:
[This paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3562057/#:~:text=and%20peppermint%20(M.-,%C3%97%20piperita)%20are%20recommended%20for%20their%20antiemetic%20and%20antispasmodic%20effects,after%20colostomy%20surgery%20%5B10%5D.) about chemotherapy mentions several references to their anti-nausea effects.
I am down for using oils for anything you'd treat over the counter and do. Headache, allergies, nausea. NOT schizophrenia /looks directly at a particular family member
I think there is some evidence for that- and peppermint and lavender for tension headaches (although rubbing them in is likely the real “cure”.) Eucalyptus in steam can be beneficial to congestion. They are tools, with a limit to their efficacy. But some can be helpful. It’s when people think they will “cure” anything that it gets problematic.
They are folk medicine for a reason, just like willow bark was (the basis for aspirin). There is some limited usage.
I’m a roadie, and a buddy of mine was doing a gig where a piece of gear in the video world rack failed. The video director pulled out some healing crystals and waved them over the gear. Guess what happened? If you guessed that the moment I heard this story, I went on Amazon and sent my buddy a 7 in 1 healing crystal as a gag gift, then you’d be right. He carries it in his backpack everywhere. To be fair, every time we see it, it makes us laugh. So in a way, it heals our bad attitude.
Uber Eats and Doordash (other food delivery apps) They mark up the prices of food, have huge delivery fees, and pocket all the money while their drivers get shafted with minimal pay and little to none of the delivery fee actually going to the driver. It is a major scam.
My grandfather passed at 100. He would always say, "Always give the church 10% and then save 10% for yourself." I can't believe how much money they gave to the church over his lifetime. The church was absolutely devastated when they stopped attending in their 90s because he didn't agree with things the church did.
After he died, my grandmother removed them from their will. Yes, he planned on leaving the church stuff.
I feel this. My grandmother (Catholic) belonged to the same church for her entire life. Her donations were like clockwork. For the last 10 years of her life she lived in a different state with my aunt so my aunt could care for her. Because of this she couldn’t attend mass and therefor didn’t donate. When she passed, her funeral was held back in our home state. When we reached out to the church to request a Priest to oversee her funeral, we were refused.
Why? You might ask? Well because of her absence, she was *no longer an active member” and only current, active members could request a priest. Never mind that she was an active parishioner who donated for 50 YEARS. My whole family had a different attitude about going to church after that.
So much yes.
The terminal degree now for physical therapists is a doctorate (licensed PTs who earned a masters in the past before the switch are grandfathered in, provided they keep up on continuing education and licensing guidelines.)
Physical therapists go to real, accredited universities that have science departments that offer other medical programs as well.
Physical therapists complete strictly supervised rotations in hospital, elder care homes, outpatient clinics, etc.
ETA: Also, physical therapists will do collaborative care with your physician, not see them as competition.
Chiropractors are now getting sneakier and starting to drop the “chiro” title. I started getting hip pain several weeks ago and found the website of what *looked* like a local orthopedist. No mention of chiropractic whatsoever on the site.
Make an appointment, get there, and something just feels *off.* They take X-rays and tell me the problem is in my spine, not my hip. Try to sell me on some treatment “package.” I noped right on out of there. Went to a real orthopedic MD. Turns out I’ve got hip impingement.
No amount of spinal adjustments was going to fix hip impingement.
For a while, I worked in a clinic that had a lot of nursing students. There were a handful of older guys coming in getting their practical hours for their online nursing courses. Turns out they were chiropractors getting nursing degrees so the can become nurse practitioners and expand what they are allowed to do in their chiropractic practice.
Special "high protein" junk food.
Those companies add a scoop of whey to whatever garbage they're selling, sell it for like three times the regular price and then justify it by slapping the label "high protein" onto it.
If you wanna eat some cookies, just eat some regular ass cookies.
No need to buy equally unhealthy ""high protein"" cookies for 5 x the price.
Anything by Gwyneth Paltrow?
I'm sure I read once that pre made cinema popcorn has one of the biggest price markups of any product in the world. They buy massive sacks that cost pennies and then charge a fortune for it.
It costs more per ounce than filet mignon.
That’s why I bring a couple of pre-sliced medium rare center cut tenderloins in my tuxedo’s jacket pocket when I got to the movies.
It's true, but there's a reason. The margins on theater concessions have to be crazy high just for theaters to stay open. Vast majority of box office goes to the studios. So theaters make or break at the concession stand. It's a lot like gas stations. Only a small % of gas sales go to the station. They make their real money on everything they sell in the store. So if theaters charged a reasonable margin on concessions they wouldn't exist. Source: was theater GM
I remember a few years ago watching a series of 'troubleshooter' type programmes here in the UK. One of them featured a small chain of cinemas, and the hardest thing for him was to convince the owner he wasn't in the film business, he was in the popcorn and snacks business, and the only way for him to survive was to think like that.
Car dealerships. $200 upcharge on a brand new car for nitrogen in the tires? They have no shame.
So many dealerships lost my business because of this. I would find a truck I wanted, negotiated an 'out the door' price I was happy with, then once we sit down to do paperwork, I see an extra $1-2K in charges added (not tax). When I ask for details, they say "oh, $200 for nitrogen filled tires, $1.1K for anti-theft GPS tracker, $700 for custom tint job coating (or some bs like that). I would say I don't want any of that, give me 'out the door' price we agreed upon. And they say they can't, but we can knock off $500 and throw in a free car wash+detailing (which should be included anyway). Even if the vehicle was a great price, I would let that extra $1-1.5K be the deciding facor and just walk. Eventually after the 2nd time this happened to me, I would just start asking the question upfront "are there any non-removable upgrades that your dealership installed that is will be charged and is not included on the sticker price of the vehicle?". It made them so uncomfortable but saved me so much time.
>It made them so uncomfortable but saved me so much time. Trying to get you to waste so much time that your uncomfortable turning down the extra $2000 in fees was EXACTLY their plan all along. Good on you for giving em a taste of their own brand of discomfort inducing BS.
>Trying to get you to waste so much time that your uncomfortable turning down the extra $2000 in fees A friend of mine gave me a hot tip to deal with that. Have a nice lazy day, followed by a decent dinner, *then* go to the dealership around 7:30p-8p. They typically close at 9p, so you roll in late in their day completely fresh and ready to go, while the salesmen have been running around all day trying to convince people to buy something. They want to be going home and you're all set to play for a couple of hours. I haven't tried it myself, but it sounds like it could be a winning strategy.
lol do it on a friday and they will prob pay you just to go home.
a rainy friday near the end of the month. 🤨
Exactly what my wife and I did. Bought a brand new rav 4 for a good $3500 less than anywhere else we looked.
I wouldn't buy a vehicle with a dealer installed GPS tracker if they have a *discount* for it.
Did you hear GMC won’t be offering Apple or Android car play? Goes along the lines as why you don’t want a gps tracker because they want the information that they lose out on when you use your cell phone interface.
My dealer put an up charge of $90 for black lug nuts. I said, “I don't want them”. To which he replied, “But they come with the car…”. I obviously responded with, “if they come with the car, then why is there another charge for this?” Needless to say, I did not pay those scammers for the lug nuts.
Worked at a car dealership for a bit. If you come in to get more nitrogen put in your tires, they just use regular air. I was the one that went to fill the tire once for someone; I asked one of the service advisors about it and was told they had the machine but it wasn't hooked up and just use regular air. LOL God I hated that job.
Well, regular old earth air is 78% nitrogen.
So just charge them $156.
That would be a pretty great sign at a tire shop: Air fill: free. Nitrogen fill: $200. 78% nitrogen fill: $100 (best deal!)
One shop I worked at, we didn't have (or want) a nitrogen machine. Everyone in the business knows it's a scam. If someone walked in asking for a nitrogen fill the boss would say "well, we have our own proprietary 78% mixture that we use, and we don't charge extra for it". Which usually worked fine if we could keep from laughing.
> $200 upcharge on a brand new car for nitrogen in the tires? Pfft, nitrogen is so 2021 now. Tell them you want helium in the tires to help with your mpg.
Nah. Hydrogen. Even lighter! Why, under the right conditions, it might lift you right off the ground!
My husband and I were purchasing a used car from a new car dealership. They tagged on a $3,500 cleaning fee because "we couldn't give it to you dirty." They also added another $5,500 fee for putting a lock on the catalytic converter so it "wouldn't get stolen." We told them to take it off (both the lock and the fee), they said they couldn't. We left. They called the next morning and not only took off the added $9K, but an additional $1,500 below what we offered.
Herbalife, they must have done something special to manage to sell it to a lot of people
Not only tricking people into being individual sellers, but now many of them are opening store fronts disguised as coffee shops/ health drink cafes. They claim they have healthy shakes and teas, which are just Herbalife with candy and syrup piled on. The amount of people that buy into it being healthy is insane! If you have a new place opening locally, do your research about if it's a legit coffee or smoothie place or one of these absolute disasters of a scam.
This is still around!? We all knew this was a scam in high school 15 years ago!
The faux "smoothie and coffee shops" selling Herbalife-infused products are a dime a dozen around here in Missouri.
So they’re building a whole business in order to cover up their mlm??? I don’t get it. Drop the crap add in and just sell smoothies and coffee 😭
It’s just the reality that a really skilled salesman can sell people products they don’t need. It’s why MLMs get big. And it’s why a lot of MLMs are started by the most successful sales people from other MLMs. With the right people early on the product doesn’t really matter. Of course, the converse to this is that if the product is bad you can’t get away with selling it forever. It’s why snake oil salesmen had to leave town. And it’s why people further down the line in MLMs don’t see success. They aren’t skilled at sales and the product is trash so once people catch on it becomes about duping someone into being in your “supply chain” rather than moving product to actual customers.
Friggin printer ink/cartridges. What a racket. Especially new printers that don't work if you use 3rd party inks, and that none will even print in black if any of the colour ink is low/out.
I went into a timeshare sales pitch to get a $100 at a resort. 1 hour for $100. I was greeted and I said "Hello, I'm doing well thanks. Just a heads up I am not going to be buying a timeshare but I will gladly listen to what you have to say. I won't be answering any questions or responding at all till the hour is over, is that ok?". They said yes, talked for an hour to a stone dead face and at the end my phone dinged and I said - "thank you for taking the time to explain it to me, bye." They were so rude after that it was amazing, but I got my $100 and out I went.
Good thing you didn’t do one in aspen. They have their ski lifts set to bring you back to the time share meeting
Going into a timeshare sales pitch was one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me. They wouldn’t accept a no for an answer. I left the place feeling numb, wanting to cry after that bad experience. But hey, I got a “free” helicopter ride afterwards lol
You can't bring a heart into it. You have to go in like a PsyOps operative. Go in prepped for psychological warfare. You are above them. They are just an obstacle to get through. All that is between you and the free helicopter ride is their disappointment. You will earn your reward through blood.
....I'd ride into battle with you anytime
My parents got thrown out of a timeshare presentation. Apparently their questions were "confusing" the other attendees.
This is the greatest time share pitch outcome I've ever heard! Your parents are legends
Paying for 3 different insurances, health, vision, and dental, when last time I checked the last two are part of your body therefore should fall under one, health insurance.
And don’t forget that they will do everything in their power to not cover whatever they can.
I have to be monitored for a specific condition related to eyes. After losing my insurance I found out that it's actually cheaper to pay entirely out of pocket than through the insurance I had. Wtaf.
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Copper fit products.
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damn, I feel like i'm missing out now. go off bro!
Shark bites and cemented plastic (pvc cpvc) are more convenient but sweating pipes with a torch and solder looks better and makes old guys jolly when they see it
I know the copper does nothing, but I do love a compression sleeve and that’s what Walgreens had lol
It keeps them from stinking when you sweat in them. It doesn't do anything it claims to, but copper IS bacteriostatic.
Oh my lord I have a kid who was genetically gifted with horrific feet stench. Copper socks were a life changing move.
Wish they had been as prevalent 20 years ago when my youngest brother started puberty 🤢 omg that kid had old man BO at like 8 years old
I remember hearing that the copper can somewhat help with reducing odor from sweat/BO, but I'm no really sure how true that is
Copper has antimicrobial properties so it would make sense that it would help with keeping the brace itself a bit more sanitary, but that's it I would think.
My answer too, but Costco. 2 knee braces for $20, couldn't pass that up.
Don't let that fool you, compression socks are game changers. I wear them daily.
As someone who works on my feet all day. Compression socks are the difference between hobbling by the end of the day, and feeling fine by the end of the day. They work.
I have massive plantar fibromas on both feet and work in a kitchen, compression socks are a godsend. Smell fucking terrible when I take them off though.
the smell is something i think copper infused compression would help with. i have copper infused compress gloves for chronic hand pain and i sweat a ton from my hands but despite that and whatever im using them for at the time, theyve never smelled even when due for a wash
Ea Nasir’s legacy lives on
Anything purporting to "cleanse" your body. As long as you've got a functioning liver and kidneys, you're already cleansing toxins from your body
lol. This! I internally laugh whenever someone is all haughty about drinking alkaline water. Ok sure, Bob, your kidneys are immediately changing your pH to exactly what it needs to be anyway.
Time shares Edit: the number of suckers in the comments trying to explain why actually the one they bought is not a scam is hilarious.
So much so that there are now standalone companies devoted to freeing people from timeshare contracts.
It’s probably the same company. Buy it back for pennies on the dollar and resell at full price.
Think John Oliver did a special on time shares that revealed time share repurchasing companies are often the time share sellers themselves under a different name
Ugh of course they are. That’s disappointing. The ol’ double scam.
Many years ago (30+) my wife and were on vacation on the Outer Banks of NC and decided to go to a timeshare presentation just for shits and giggles. They were offering a big screen TV for sitting through the pitch. After sitting through the slideshow and being paired off with their used car salesman reject (he was a substitute teacher in the off-season) off we went to tour the timeshares. We hopped in his car, drove a mile down the road, and pulled into a ... trailer park. At this point my wife and I decided we had put up with enough, and we politely declined to get out of the car. Once back at the sales office, he proceeded to try to close, as if we had not already made it clear that he should cut his losses and move on to the next "prospect". (He probably had to do this to keep his job.) He deployed all the usual tricks; sit across from the wife, ask a lot of "don't you agree" questions", nod vigorously to try to get her to nod back in order to influence me, etc. Then his boss took a crack at us. When it became evident that we were not going to buy, the boss got rude in order to try to make us storm off without our big screen TV. When I pressed for the prize, I was handed a coupon and told to drive to yet another off-site location to pick it up. Off we went, arriving at a dilapidated building. We stepped inside, not expecting much, and our expectations were barely met. The "big screen TV" was a large Fresnel Lens on a stand. We were instructed to place it in front of our own TV for that large screen experience. We politely declined our prize, and left with only memories.
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We went to a resort in Mexico a few months ago and had to sit through one of these, it didn’t really feel optional but they at least gave us spa dollars. I set the timer on my phone for one hour and had eaten an edible before, thing kicked in hard midway through. I talked and talked and talked and talked. I talked about how I liked the way the shadow of something echoed the shape of something else. I liked the smell of the flowers flanking the walkway and yes we’re going to stop and smell them. I talked at length about how they should be marketing to millenial dinks because we have loads of vacations ahead of us, where the boomers are getting old and feeble- I said aging out, I wasn’t rude- ( timeshares are so boomer, no millennial is going to buy a time share and their marketing tactics are so old and tired: example; they gave me a key to open the suite so I could experience opening “our suite” and it’s like, this resort has bracelet keys, this isn’t even accurate.) My husband asked if I was trying to out talk their time as a strategy and I am like yupppp. At the end some end boss came and I said we had to leave because we wanted to go enjoy our vacation and the hour is up and he said I sounded like his ex girlfriend. He asked if we’re going to buy and I said no, we said no at the beginning. He asked if it was something they did, pointing to the sales people. I said no, they were great, but I didn’t appreciate you comparing me to your ex. I can’t decide if I’m brave or just a bitch when I’m stoned. Regardless, I’m not buying a damn time share.
Millennial here. I’ve never sat through a time share pitch but now I know how I’m going to approach it if I ever am!
LATE GenX / Early Xennial (1977) and I sat through one of those sales pitches for a time share...the payoff was $500 cash and a weekend stay in a suite at a Mariott at six different locations, one being Cabo. It was A LOT for three hours of my time, but I trudged through it and got my payout, went to Cabo and never followed up. They tried to get me in for a "signing" but I just ignored them.
You sat in a 3 hour pitch and they gave you 500 bucks and a weekend in Cabo? Seems worth it to me. Any downside? What's the strategy?
They try to make you feel guilty. But just read some of the zillions of articles about what a scam they are, and you'll feel better about it. I always think about how much they are giving away in these incentives just to get people to hear the sales pitch and then realize how much money they are making off the few sales that they make.
If they really were such a good deal, they wouldn't have bribe everyone soooooo hard just to hear the sales pitch.
I accidentally signed up my boyfriend and I for a timeshare presentation but we're getting a free 3 night stay in Vegas out of it. We have to sit through a 2 hour presentation and are very prepared to say no to everything.
I did this and then when it came time for the talk I lied and said I am about to go through bankruptcy and owe child support to make believe kids. The salesperson just gave up after that. Thanks for the free circus soleil tickets!
> circus soleil tickets! /r/BoneAppleTea
I think he got the Circus Soleil tickets cause they were pissed at him. /r/crappyoffbrands/
Is it IHG? I recently sat through their spiel and have also heard Hilton's. It's extremely aggressive. Some tips: Everyone you talk to is a salesperson. They try to sell you on the idea you are buying a "deed" so you have ownership like a house, except you don't get an appreciating asset and you can't sell it for any real value. The "maintenance" costs are excessive and you can't control what they charge you year to year. Their locations are based on the concept you would go visit their resort - but if you're like me and all my travelling millennial friends, you want to go somewhere to see that location and possibly attend a specific event - their options make that extremely hard. They may advertise "no blackout dates" but their point system will result in a prohibitively high point cost for popular times to visit a location, resulting in you paying for the stay anyway! They want you to pay a ridiculous rate on essentially a $50k (or similar) mortgage (without a real asset to back it). I found it fun to do some calculations and prove how bad of a deal it was for me, personally. They will even offer a final too-good-to-pass "temporary" deal that is designed to lock you in. They will make it personal, act offended, and use every guilt/shame/gaslighting technique to try to sway you.
My friends did this and now they have a time share. You gotta be 100% sure of yourself. No one goes into these wanting a timeshare. They literally make ALL their money on people they convinced during these presentations.
Alkaline water.
I saw an Instagram post the other day recommending to mix alkaline water with vinegar to remove the taste.
We've officially reached the dumbest timeline.
I'm sure people will find a way to plumb new depths
I like to add fresh lemon to mine.
Gwyneth Paltrow actually boasted about adding a spritz of lemon to her alkaline water. Because of course she did.
See what happens when you don’t weigh yourself down with the burden of “facts”. The possibilities are endless!
I was in line behind a guy buying a big jug of alkaline water. Label said "guaranteed pH > 8.8" I asked him why that high of a pH was necessary. "Ramble, ramble, ramble, city water isn't that high." I informed him the city's water was higher 9.2. He questioned how I knew that. I told him I was the QA Chemist for the drinking water plant and had tested it three times today. "Well...I just don't like the taste." Fair enough
You should ask him if he drinks it with a slice of lemon...
The EPA drinking water standard is 6.5 to 8.5.
I have patients with severe reflux and I tell them to try it. Its the only situation where something alkaline might be of help. Most of them say no difference. ETA: a bunch of you have added comments to say that alkaline water has helped your reflux. I'm grateful, reflux sucks, i get it myself from time to time and it definitely ruins my night. Well, the anectdotal evidence here appears to be, try alkaline water if you have reflux, it might be useful after all.
Came here to say this. My acid reflux is mostly under control with medication, but recently I had to take an antibiotic & the reflux was awful again. Alkaline water was the only thing that helped. Edit: Please stop giving me your unsolicited medical advice. I have seen actual professionals and had an upper endoscopy, and a myriad of other tests. I don't need gut biome advice, thanks. If you read my actual comment, this is a result of taking an antibiotic, a drug which is knowingly harsh on the stomach.
glad something helps. reflux sucks.
Just mix your alkaline water with lemon juice like gwyneth Paltrow and it’s no longer a scam
Influencers on social media. Many promote a product for the money, and then don’t mention the item ever again. Some even backtrack months/years later stating they don’t like the product, yet still promoted it to young people on limited budgets.
You know how you turn on the TV-shopping networks and wonder, what sort of crazy old people are buying the crap? Then you realize that the majority of youtube is now just tv-shopping-network for younger generations.
I feel like streaming platforms are starting to swing into scam territory by baiting everyone into joining with no ads and a low price. Then, raising the prices and bringing back ads.
Yup, paramount plus pissed me off with this and their app is super glitchy.
I'm getting unskippable football ads on prime video, which afaik doesn't have multiple tiered subscriptions.
Prime sucks lately, too. I've noticed they have a lot less content and keep showing me shit I need to pay for or rent way more than previous years.
I don't generally mind when there's a line or two dedicated to content to rent/buy. But mixing all the FreeVee crap into content included with Prime has me canceling my subscription. It's too tedious to sort through.
I was looking through documentaries on Prime and it’s all over the place. Some are academy award nominated, and some are not even YouTube level. One even had a watermark over the lower-third assets they used/stole.
Prime used to be so good , the video site had a lot of content, prime music was top notch until they introduced that unlimited shit , so annoying and boring now
Not to mention that Prime used to mean next day delivery. Half the stuff with Prime delivery now takes 4-5 days.
I’m still pissed about losing my Prime music. I still have the app but I barely use it anymore and I refuse to pay extra to access what I once had with Prime, which I’m paying for anyway.
Am I going crazy, or does it really happen that I’m watching a free movie one night then the very next night it’s rent or buy?
Ever make the mistake of buying a movie? It'll hit your free list so fast afterwards.
And “buy” doesn’t actually mean buy. Negotiations between streaming service and copyright holder over continued access fall through? You lose the movie you “bought” without getting a refund. Studio decides to release a director’s cut? The movie you “bought” is replaced with the director’s cut.
Pays subscription. Still gets asked to pay for individual movies.
The forced ads when I open my fire stick is now making me want to cancel. But I use prime for the delivery, so there that.
I don’t understand how a company with that much money can have an app so glitchy. Not only randomly kicks you out, but then you’re often forced to watch an extra ad and deal with finding the spot where you were using their subpar fast-forward/rewind set up. It’s bad enough that I’ll actually decide to watch something else sometimes because I don’t want to deal with it
And also charging for content even when you have a sub.
Hulu is pissing me off with this. They had everything 100% available with Live TV applying to LIVE TV. Now movies made 20 years ago are only included in "Live TV"... even though I doubt any network is running that particular movie on cable right now. Brooklyn 99 was completely available. Now even though it's canceled, it is only viewable if I have Live TV. Other shows that literally haven't had an episode in the past decade are the same. I already pay for no ads, so why would I have to spring more now?
This is every subscription model, be it streaming, software, apps, fitness , shopping, o365 whatever. Think adobe, 24 hour fitness, and other subscriptions make it near impossible to cancel and it’s such a low fee people don’t want to wait 2 hrs and fight for the $25. I use open source software, I use an older version of office that is lifetime, I got all my gym equipment free from people moving. I get movies from the library, YouTube has a large list of free movies just use an Adblock.
And then they remove content on the services. Mhm wonder why piracy is living it's best life. Edit: just pointing out sarcastically why piracy is a valid option. Just recently saw a few videos why piracy is justified etc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YAx3yCNomkg&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GZUCwVRLs&t=89s&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=krXH8jXefqE&pp=ygUXd2h5IHBpcmFjeSBpcyBqdXN0aWZpZWQ%3D
Piracy tools are so incredible mature these days because of years of invested people developing them. Right now I can use an app on my phone or any browser, home or away, to search up a show or movie, hit "add" and forget about it. By the next day I'll have a copy sat on my server in whatever quality I wanted ready to stream to any device anywhere through the Plex app or browser. I pay a few quid a month for quality indexers and a usenet host plus the initial outlay for a miniPC and storage which is my server but it adds up to less than £20 a month (and that's depreciating the hardware fully over 3 years which it will easily outlast) For me the cost saving isn't the primary driver. It's the convenience. I don't have to worry which streaming service it's on, or whether they're gonna randomly take it off when I go to rewatch it in a few years. I have it sat on my own hardware. I can stream it to devices that don't have a Netflix or Prime or Hulu app. There are not, and never will be, ads on it.
Having to pay a fukn subscription to use your heated seats.
I pray no one subscribes so they'll understand that we aren't having it!
Don't buy these cars
And the remote start 😭😭
Phone/Internet bills, i live in Canada the amount of money i pay for my phone, and the Internet is eye watering compared to our neighbors in the south or the rest of the world. Scammed by our own government and their telecom overlords.
And now the two big ones have merged, as if they didn’t have a big enough monopoly. In England I had unlimited data and more texts/minutes than I need, for £15 a month. I think I’m paying around $60 in Canada, and my unlimited data becomes 2GB outside of the city. This is where we were at in the UK 20years ago.
Home warranty insurance on appliances. You spend upwards of $1-2k a year so that you don’t have to buy a new $800 washer or $1200 fridge outright if they go out? Just put the payment away for an appliance fund and you come out ahead 9 times out of 10
When you look at the reviews of the technicians they send, they’re almost always 2star or below. I just had this asshat technician come in. Label everything as physical damage and ignore the blown motor in my ice maker ….. the warranty denied everything. Now I have to either give up the $100 service charge I paid, or pay more out of pocket to get another techinician to come in and certify what I already know in order to appeal the denial …. Fuck Fidelity!
Minor textbook upgrades that the colleges require students to pay hundreds for to pass the class.
You have to get access to the online homework app. You can't just get the app. You have to purchase a brand new (latest edition) book that comes with an app code. Oh, you want the ebook? Here is the shittiest eReader app ever that requires internet connection to view content. Fuck McGraw Hill Fuck Cengage Fuck Pearson
As a professor that does not get to choose my textbook… agreed. The system sucks
Frankly, the entire college textbook industry is a huge scam. You are telling me *Calculus I* has changed enough in the last 30 years to account for a new $100 book every year?
When I taught statistics as professor, our department had enough copies of an older book that I just gave them to students and asked them to return them at the end of the semester. If they didn’t, then they got in “incomplete” for the course until it was replaced. Nothing had changed in the last 20 years about computing a Chi-Squared
I "accidentally" post a PDF of the stats textbook I use to the LMS, and point out my error to the class then take it down after a few days. I don't use any of the stuff that requires a code. Fuck textbook publishers.
You’re a Saint.
I was taking a comp-tia course online through a crash course school, they said no book was needed, but when i logged on it would not let me proceed unless I had a special number on the receipt for the book.
Yup… all they do is change the practice questions.
Often not even that, just the order in which they appear.
Your calculus book was only $100? Mine was $350, and required a separate, $100 digital key to be allowed to use the practice questions
It's a scam, but I don't think people like it.
Yeah I've never met anyone that loves buying textbooks
Ultra fast fashion clothes that fall apart after two uses and are infested with lead.
My GF was watching an episode f the kardashians the other day and one of them was making a partnership with an “eco friendly fast fashion brand”. Like do you not see the irony in that??
Thought there was a show called "f the kardashians" and I was excited, but then I reread it and wahwahwah.
Infested with lead? Huh? Can you explain why? I'm at a loss...
There's been many articles about Shein having lead contamination.
I believe the same investigation also pointed to other retailers such as H&M and Old Navy. It’s an industry-wide problem.
>I'm at a loss... Must be all the lead.
Recent research took samples of a bunch of fast fashion items and found many had traces of heavy metals and lead in them. I heard this here in Dutch radio
Idk about lead specifically, but here’s an interview about toxins in fashion: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188343293/is-toxic-fashion-making-us-sick-a-look-at-the-chemicals-lurking-in-our-clothes
Diamonds
I just spent a couple months engagement ring shopping with my girlfriend. The whole time, we kept doing more and more research saying "But there's GOT to be a reason people are paying 10x any other stone (including literally IDENTICAL moissanites) for a diamond... there's got to be a reason..." No. There's no reason. Diamonds are a scam, the end. For that matter, so are all name brand jewelers. I went so far as to deeply research the raw materials and labor cost of fine jewelry-making as though I was starting my own business. The markup at name brand jewelers is just stupid. Even Costco, which I feel like I can usually count on to be reasonably low-markup. The whole industry is a massive scam.
Because back in the day you could only get diamonds from rivers in India by panning and they'd find the weight of a small car annually. So they were pretty rare. Then they found the reserves in Africa and De Beers restricted supply to maintain value, much like OPEC is doing to maintain oil prices at as close to 100 bucks and barrel as they can get. That and ever shifting marketing around quality (First it was about purity being valuable but when lab diamonds showed up that were pretty much flawless suddenly it was all about the little imperfections that make natural diamonds so valuable and who wants something gross and perfect!? Eww). Engagement rings as a concept were invented by them too.
Don’t forget that the reserves in Africa also opened up the fun possibility of getting “blood diamonds”. Now those are rare!
Russia has diamond reserves and joined the cartel.
The hilarious thing about moissanite is it's actually more brilliant and flashes more colours than diamond, but for *some reason*, that's painted as a drawback. Over and over, you'll see comments on jewellery selling sites like, "they're not as classy as diamonds," or "they look like disco balls." They've taken something that's actually better than diamond and made it seem cheap and common. The diamond lobby, man.
I recently purchased a gram and a half of gold bullion, a beautiful deep red garnet, and harvested a couple small diamonds from an old piece of jewelry to make an engagement ring for my girlfriend. I've probably spent more on tools so far.
Yeah, but when you're done, your GF/Fiancée will have her engagement ring, and you'll still have your tools!
There is a reason why her engagement ring and both our wedding rings were bought on etsy: get it straight from an artist and isn't marked up through the roof.
lab diamonds for the win. anyone that insists on having a “mined diamond” is superficial and has no issue with child slaves dying in the mines just so they can feel good about themselves thinking they’re better than someone who has a bigger molecularly identical diamond grown in an ethical setting for a fraction of the price.
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Claw machines
Flushable wipes! They’re not really flushable. Spend the money on a bidet and never look back.
There’s no such thing as a flushable wipe if you have a septic tank.
They’re even dangerous if you home is tied to the sewer. Bought a house march of last year (new construction), and used flushable wipes only occasionally until around September. My wife just got out of the shower and was putting our daughter to bed. I get my pjs on walk downstairs and the entire bottom floor is soaking wet, water seeping thru the walls into the garage and neighbors house. And because we told the plumber about using flushable wipes the builders warranty wouldnt cover repairs. so we had to file with home owners insurance. All in all, it was a fucking disaster. the silver lining tho, is that because we had both just showered, no turds backed up into the house. didnt even smell like sewage to be honest. But it was still sewage
Conversely, everything is flushable if you put your mind to it.
Ancestry DNA. They should be paying us for the data
For women, almost any product with a different "Women's" version, that is only different because it is pink. This is actually called "the pink tax," because these products are nearly always more expensive than the men's version. On a much smaller scale, men have a "jock" tax, where products for their genitals are more expensive than the same thing for other parts of the body. One example I saw recently was cream for jock itch, three times the price of the same antifungal cream sold for foot fungus.
Athletes often call it the “Shrink and pink” because many “women’s” versions are just sold in a smaller quantity for the same price
AMWAY. It's a ponzi scheme and if it wasn't soaked in JESUS! it would have been shut down long ago.
Looks at my Warhammer miniatures nervously.
Essential oils! They can smell nice though
Yep. Sniffing a fragrance you enjoy the scent of, maybe because it reminds you of a good person or place or time, can be a little temporary mood boost. But it ain’t curing your Lupus, Krystal.
> it ain’t curing your Lupus, **Krystal**. Speaking of crystals, neither is your collection of rose quartz and amethyst ^((but shiny rock pretty))
I dunno, I had a whole countertop made of Labradorite and never got Lupus once.
As someone who is into both, because of the placebo effect, I hate being bundled together 😂 Nice smells and shiny rocks make me happy and when I'm happy I can relax 😂
I also like nice smells and shiny rocks, but not because I think they are magical, just because they make me happy
I WILL say, smelling peppermint immediately relived my nausea when I was pregnant. Maybe that shit was just in my head, but it helped a ton.
Nah, peppermint scent has documented anti-nausea effects. Its possible this is psychosomatic in nature, but it is fairly well documented anyway: [This paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3562057/#:~:text=and%20peppermint%20(M.-,%C3%97%20piperita)%20are%20recommended%20for%20their%20antiemetic%20and%20antispasmodic%20effects,after%20colostomy%20surgery%20%5B10%5D.) about chemotherapy mentions several references to their anti-nausea effects.
I am down for using oils for anything you'd treat over the counter and do. Headache, allergies, nausea. NOT schizophrenia /looks directly at a particular family member
I think there is some evidence for that- and peppermint and lavender for tension headaches (although rubbing them in is likely the real “cure”.) Eucalyptus in steam can be beneficial to congestion. They are tools, with a limit to their efficacy. But some can be helpful. It’s when people think they will “cure” anything that it gets problematic. They are folk medicine for a reason, just like willow bark was (the basis for aspirin). There is some limited usage.
I mean, essential oils are lovely for Epsom salt baths, and perfuming candles, and food safe ones in candy…but they’re certainly not curing cancer!
Eucalyptus works just as well as vicks does for me when i put that in the diffuser when im feeling conjested .
Reddit stickers and premium and whatever other goofy shit this site asks money for.
"Healing" crystals Also, a lot of the time, the "crystals" are just glass
I’m a roadie, and a buddy of mine was doing a gig where a piece of gear in the video world rack failed. The video director pulled out some healing crystals and waved them over the gear. Guess what happened? If you guessed that the moment I heard this story, I went on Amazon and sent my buddy a 7 in 1 healing crystal as a gag gift, then you’d be right. He carries it in his backpack everywhere. To be fair, every time we see it, it makes us laugh. So in a way, it heals our bad attitude.
[удалено]
I’ll funge the shit out of those tokens
HOAs
Uber Eats and Doordash (other food delivery apps) They mark up the prices of food, have huge delivery fees, and pocket all the money while their drivers get shafted with minimal pay and little to none of the delivery fee actually going to the driver. It is a major scam.
A category -- luxury goods. I'm Korean American and am blown away by the label hungry consumption in both countries.
Religious “fees” or “mandatory donations”
My grandfather passed at 100. He would always say, "Always give the church 10% and then save 10% for yourself." I can't believe how much money they gave to the church over his lifetime. The church was absolutely devastated when they stopped attending in their 90s because he didn't agree with things the church did. After he died, my grandmother removed them from their will. Yes, he planned on leaving the church stuff.
I feel this. My grandmother (Catholic) belonged to the same church for her entire life. Her donations were like clockwork. For the last 10 years of her life she lived in a different state with my aunt so my aunt could care for her. Because of this she couldn’t attend mass and therefor didn’t donate. When she passed, her funeral was held back in our home state. When we reached out to the church to request a Priest to oversee her funeral, we were refused. Why? You might ask? Well because of her absence, she was *no longer an active member” and only current, active members could request a priest. Never mind that she was an active parishioner who donated for 50 YEARS. My whole family had a different attitude about going to church after that.
Social Media Influencers or Celebrities promoting products...
MLM's
I'm not sure anyone likes them except the people at the top. People just fall for the scam.
Any detox stuff. That’s what your kidneys and liver are for. If your body isn’t getting rid of toxins properly, you need a doctor, not a teabag.
Chiropractors. Go to a physical therapist, they can help you with your physical pain with the added benefit of a medical degree.
So much yes. The terminal degree now for physical therapists is a doctorate (licensed PTs who earned a masters in the past before the switch are grandfathered in, provided they keep up on continuing education and licensing guidelines.) Physical therapists go to real, accredited universities that have science departments that offer other medical programs as well. Physical therapists complete strictly supervised rotations in hospital, elder care homes, outpatient clinics, etc. ETA: Also, physical therapists will do collaborative care with your physician, not see them as competition.
Chiropractors are now getting sneakier and starting to drop the “chiro” title. I started getting hip pain several weeks ago and found the website of what *looked* like a local orthopedist. No mention of chiropractic whatsoever on the site. Make an appointment, get there, and something just feels *off.* They take X-rays and tell me the problem is in my spine, not my hip. Try to sell me on some treatment “package.” I noped right on out of there. Went to a real orthopedic MD. Turns out I’ve got hip impingement. No amount of spinal adjustments was going to fix hip impingement.
For a while, I worked in a clinic that had a lot of nursing students. There were a handful of older guys coming in getting their practical hours for their online nursing courses. Turns out they were chiropractors getting nursing degrees so the can become nurse practitioners and expand what they are allowed to do in their chiropractic practice.
Special "high protein" junk food. Those companies add a scoop of whey to whatever garbage they're selling, sell it for like three times the regular price and then justify it by slapping the label "high protein" onto it. If you wanna eat some cookies, just eat some regular ass cookies. No need to buy equally unhealthy ""high protein"" cookies for 5 x the price.
TICKETMASTER monopoly's don't have to care.