Businesses to avoid

Please make a list including all previous items when you start a new page. Link to context.

• Texas Roadhouse (Restaurant)

Chipotle: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/business/chipotle-shuts-restaurants-in-northwest-after-e-coli-outbreak.html?_r=0

Not that we live in the states, but fuck them.

Avoid Anything at all that is MLM:

* Multi-Level-Marketing,
* Direct Marketing,
* Direct Selling,
* Network Marketing,
* Network Selling, etc.,
* or anything at all that looks, sounds or smells like that.

Reason why? 99.7% lose money, after all expenses are added up, regardless of what the product, feature, or service is. Additionally, 78%-85% of everyone in the network never quality for commissions, regardless of how hard they work, and 60%-70% of all payouts go to the top dozen or 2 dozen people who started it.

Typically the products are just overpriced junk, ritzy sugar-water, or el cheapo vitamins, in fancy packages or bottles with high price tags in order to cover all the massive overhead.

http://www.financialindustryscam.com/mlm.htm

This guy has some detailed charts and graphs showing how all the money goes up to the top, and since the cornerstone of the entire racket is little more than photocopying as many salesman as possible, the end result is the total market penetration for the MLM surges through the roof while the individual sales reps, all competing with one another in the same territory, and up going into the red.

Additionally the real money to be made in older, larger multilevel marketing schemes is in the “tools” or training programs. These are books and videos which ostensibly exist for expanding your sales skills, but in practice they are little more than a “rah-rah-rah, go team!” hype and hot air productions, with all the same depth and character of a religious revival, all designed to get you hyper-excited about being a better draft horse for the pyramid, and all costing you a pretty penny along the way. Interesting note: many of the videos are not bona fide sales training techniques, but just previous recordings of past rallies.

http://www.mlm-thetruth.com/research/multi-level-marketing-unmasked/

I've read all of this man's nearly 500 page report on his experiences and reviews of the income disclosure statements of over 500 network marketing companies, and he makes an extremely solid case as to why nobody ever makes any money with that junk. Plus this guy has an MBA and a PhD in business, so he's no mere yapping dog on the sidelines.

http://pyramidschemealert.org/

There is some more information here.

Both of the above webpages have analytic tools so you can do your own evaluation.

As a personal side note, my own parents divorced because of multilevel marketing, so I have personally seen the cost and consequences when a loved one gets roped into one of these scams.

So in closing, if you see any of the red flags listed in the links above, do yourself and your family a favor and had the other way. If you have any family or friends that get into these schemes, try to point them in the right direction and help them see reason so they can get out without bankrupting themselves and ruining everyone around them.

Let me guess: Was it Amway (Also known as Scamway and Cultstar)? Their products are overpriced and really don't work well.

Also, one of our neighbors was into Amway and the company is also very breederific.

If you're ever invited to a dinner at someone's house from someone you would never expect an invite from you can almost bet on it being a sales pitch for Market America.

Target, or as I call it, Tarbutt. This is not about official policy but the general atmosphere of the place. I was there today and it was Temper Tantrum City. The fucking shriek alarm went off every 30 seconds as some other brat had a meltdown. No other store has anywhere close to the number of annoying kyds as Tarbutt has every damn time I go in there. Every moo in the world who cannot or will not control her demon spawn gravitates to Tarbutt. Lately I have not been happy with the prices or selection either, so there is no reason to go anymore.

Later in the day I went to Fry's (Kroger). I had much better luck finding what I wanted, better prices, and only one irritating brat.

Even Walrusmart is better now.

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ondinette
Even Walrusmart is better now.

Isn't that scary?

We've been painting and doing a lot of cosmetic work on our house. Since market conditions indicate we won't be able to sell it without losing lotsa $$, we've decided to get away from the neutral decor and indulge our favorite colors. For one - painting our kitchen cabinets a sunny yellow. And I thought we had pretty much cleared out the evidence that the previous owners were smokers until we changed out a couple of light fixtures and saw that the space beneath them was white, not the grey color that made up the rest of the ceiling. That is in the process of being repainted a glossy white.

So, we need a large area rug for in front of the entrance. Just a plain one, large enough to have an area off to one end to pile shoes. We check both Lowe's and Home Depot - they have them, but not in the color we want. About the color - I'm adamant. We even drive 25 miles, to Big City, to check their Lowe's and HD - zip. Target and KMart, too. Dh and I look at one another and make whiny noises ("mehhh...") because we don't wanna go to Squalmart. The one at home and in Big City are just awful. Scabby-looking and Breeder Central. Dh *sighs* and says "there's a new Walmart a few miles from here. It would just be a quick in-n-out." So we drive over there.

Zounds! Niiiice

It's not the dreadful, bland concrete block front, but a facade that looks like a number of shops. Even two-story with faux windows. There are brick sculptures scattered across the parking lot that draw the eye and make you go over and look at them. It's on the bus route; there is a very nice covered sitting area next to the bus sign. And inside ... I have to say I'm kinda impressed. Not a bunch of racks and shelves squashed and disorganized, with cheap-looking wares piled in mish-mash fashion, but everything laid out neatly in department store style. And the place has been there for two years, so this isn't a grand opening appearance that declines with time. And it isn't a Walmart in an upscale area, but one that is middle class but diverse.

It definitely felt weird to walk out with the rug we wanted, look back at the store as we were loading it into the car, and see WALMART.

Starbucks has joined a pro-breeder campaign in the UK:

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The company has signed up to a campaign by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) to encourage businesses to do more to help those feeding children, whether by breast, bottle or high chair.

Baristas have been given training in understanding the needs of parents with young children or babies and in how to support them “without judgment”.

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yurble
Starbucks has joined a pro-breeder campaign in the UK:

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The company has signed up to a campaign by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) to encourage businesses to do more to help those feeding children, whether by breast, bottle or high chair.

Baristas have been given training in understanding the needs of parents with young children or babies and in how to support them “without judgment”.

In short: kiss breeder ass.

Glad I'm not a coffee person.

I've never expected much from customer service except an acknowledgement; maybe a smile or a few cheery words; then I'm on my way with whatever product I've purchased. I really don't want to be singled out or chosen for any inane reason, just give me what I ask so I can go on my way. I'm busy, dammit.

These breeders must have too much time on their hands or feel excessively entitled if they think the (likely) busy barista needs to engage with them that much,

http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/

Hoegger supply. A farm business that felt fit to mail me some Gawd bothering crap along with their catalog.
I can guess they're also anti choice and anti child free.

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Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

Evan Davis

Also, Herbal Life. The products are virtually unsellable and people involved in it make their money on getting others into the scheme.

Target can be removed....the moos are all up in arms over trans folks being able to use bathrooms they identify with. THey are all boycotting.

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From a bottle cap message on a Magic Hat #9 beer: Condoms Prevent Minivans
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I want to pick up a bus full of unruly kids and feed them gummi bears and crack, then turn them loose in Hobby Lobby to ransack the place. They will all be wearing T shirts that say "You Could Have Prevented This."

You mean Target should be added because they now allow men to use the women's room. Google men in Target's women's rooms for some videos of men, dressed in male clothing getting permission from the store managers to use the women's toilets.

Starbucks baristas are actually asked to deal with screeching kids and rude breeders "without judgement"? Really? Because they need to realize that the other customers who want a quiet and sanitary place to buy coffee are sure as heck going to be judgemental.

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JoJo
You mean Target should be added because they now allow men to use the women's room. Google men in Target's women's rooms for some videos of men, dressed in male clothing getting permission from the store managers to use the women's toilets.

This is just what we need to have normalized.
Last time a male perv decided to bust through my stall in the women's room he had the door kicked back in his face while I sat on the throne. I then proceeded to kick the door in on the perv's stall after washing my hands. Note it was intentional: he was in the ladie's room, I was in the only occupied stall and my feet were easily visible from eye level. Next time he'll think twice about stall stalking in the women's room. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Some moron walks in on you, kick the door as hard as you can closed in their face and then brace the door with your foot while you finish your business. Draw blood if you can. 100 extra points if you break the perv's nose or fingers.

Apparently there is a perv trend out there of men who like to watch random women pee. Isn't happening to me.

Avoid https://www.mypillow.com/ because the CEO is a Q annon quisling.

Also article how MLM's and Q Anon go hand in hand

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/10/why-multilevel-marketing-and-qanon-go-hand-hand/616885/

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“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

Interesting article. The Atlantic has great writing.

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Pyramid Scheme Hun

Schrandt declined to be interviewed for this story beyond telling me that her posts were “completely genuine,” directing me to a Young Living spokesperson, and later signing off with a polite “Hugs, Jordan.” In a recent Instagram video, she talks straight to the camera, with a light-sepia filter smoothing away contours of the bones in her face. “I’ve literally built my brand and my businesses on being real and genuine and a thinker,” she says somberly. “An independent thinker.”

I love the unintended irony in this statement, because I think it really sums up how these two things are related: people that buy in to them have no critical thinking skills.

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"Not every ejaculation deserves a name" - George Carlin