Hey "environmentally responsible" assholes, go fuck yourself

The BBQ Pit
1

And while you’re at it, get off of your goddamn moral high horse then crawl under the beast and suck its cock until it’s balls fall off.

I’m so fucking tired of bullshit “green”/environmentally responsible shit I could just puke. I go into this breakfast place I’ve heard so much about this morning, Cliff Cafe. They’re so cool they only have 8 tables so naturally you have to wait a while. And everyone eating there is so entitled they sit around chit chatting long after they finished eating while glancing at us waiting outside oh so unapologetically. But OK, that’s this scene.

So we finally get in and the waitress comes over and asks if we want to start with something to drink. Yes, thank you - I’ll have a Coke please. “I’m sorry sir, we don’t have Coke here, we serve the more environmentally and socially responsible Blue Sky cola. It’s natural.”

Me: (blink blink) Umm, what did you just say?
Her: (repeats her 'tisk-tisking")
Me: What is socially irresponsible about serving Coke?
Her: Coke has chemicals in it that are bad for you. Blue Sky is all natural.
Me: Is it socially responsible to serve those big portions of bacon and hash browns I see everyone chowing down on?
Her: Bacon and potatoes are natural.

I see this going no where (and I’m hungry) so I decide to drop it even though I’m mildly curious about the “environmentally” part. Besides by now everyone is looking down their noses at me. But as I’m getting ready to order tea instead, she sates my curiosity…

Her: Coke plants pollute the environment

Now this is getting ridiculous. I’m sure in her mind there are some Brazilian cola maker cranking this shit out by hand somewhere in South America. But being no expert on that subject I try another tact.

Me: Did you drive here this morning?
Her: Did you?
Me: I’m not after the moral high-ground here.
Her: I need this job to pay my bills!

I drop it and order but Jesus goddam Christ. What the fuck is wrong with people? It’s not just this incident, Santa Cruz is over run with this mentality. I got the same tisking from a woman at the nice supermarket for not bringing my own bags (I do bring them usually - this was an unplanned visit). In the parking lot I noted the high school bumper sticker on her SUV. " Hey, I notice your children go to “aforementioned school’, did drive all the way over here to go shopping?” “Yes, I like the selection here.” And so it goes.
Look, there is nothing wrong with being responsible, I am, but keep it in perspective folks. Inflating the tires to the proper pressure on your SUV might save a little but it Goddamn sure ain’t going to save the planet so drop the holier-than-thou attitude, fuck faces.

[sup]The kicker about the breakfast, when I tried to pay with a card I was informed, “We only take cash”. Sorry, I didn’t see the sign. There is no sign — our customers just know, there is an ATM on the corner.

And, yes, I gave her the full tip anyway.[/sup]

2

And why did you reward her for giving you abuse? She was beyond rude, no matter the premise of the restaurant. She used her bully pulpit on you and you paid her for it.

Who’s crazy here? :confused:

I hope you went home and had a Coke. :slight_smile:

3

Oh, good grief.

Look, I know people come to the Pit to vent. I’ve done it myself. But the problem was the waitress. You asked for a meal and got a sermon; that’s a problem. What’s more, you had an obvious mechanism for dealing with the problem in a manner that was both perfectly within your rights and squarely within the bounds of decency and civility. So instead of taking advantage of it, or even just not eating there ever again, you tip the bitch and then come here and tell all environmentalists to suck horse cock. You not only failed to address the actual problem in any way, you actively made the state of the world just that tiny little bit worse by pissing in other people’s Cheerios for spite.

You got bad service. Next time, stand up for yourself and deal with it. Don’t just take it like a whipped dog and then get pissy with strangers afterwards.

4

This reminds me of an item in a MAD magazine article many years ago that said that the “all-natural” label wouldn’t be such a pleasing term if you consider that cow dung and arsenic are also all natural.

5

Sigh The worst part is the way the piddling stuff (bring your own bag!) gets elevated above the more relevant environmental choices.

Recycling is way over-rated. And I see from their website that Blue Sky Cola has more sugar (via the usual high fructose corn syrup) than plain Coke.

Let’s get our bearings here, gang:

The Union of Concerned Scientist’s, Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices can help. Focus on the big purchases - cars, refrigerators, washers and dryers - and be sure that they’re energy efficient. Bear fewer children. Consider vegetarianism.

I guess compact fluorescents are nice as well. But recycling is an entirely different sort of choice.

6

“Tell her to have a Blue Sky and a smile, and shut the fuck up!” – Misquoting Richard Pryor

I think taking care of the environment is good and all–after all, I live there, sometimes–but there is a whole subculture that is predominantly ignorant of actual science who falls prey to any marketing scheme which labels something as “all-natural,” “organic,” or “good for the environment,” even it isn’t, especially. (I’m going to wager that Blue Sky Cola has refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it, which makes it anything but “all-natural.”) And if you’re really serious about doing good things for the environment or your own health, there are a heck of a lot of things you can do that make a far greater impact than drinking a soda labeled as “all-natural” (like not drinking soda to begin with). A lot of this ecological wanking–especially about “organic” food–is really little more than feel-good elitism than any logic.

On the other hand, I applaud supermarkets for starting to get rid of plastic grocery sacks, and the Whole Foods near my house is cleaner and definitely has fresher produce than Ralph’s or Vons. But when I hear someone talking about how they’re getting 27 mph on their Highlander Hybrid like they’re doing something extra special for the world, I have to refrain from pointing out I get the same from a high performance sedan, and my first three cars routinely had mileage rates in the high thirties.

Maybe that’s just the aesthetic they’re selling there, like the way the waitresses at Canters Deli always walk past your table three times before acknowledging your presence. Personally, I prefer Fred 62’s, where “Jesus is our Dishwasher” and the waitresses all call me “baby”, but everybody else likes Canters. I can’t figure it out.

Stranger

7

Coke for breakfast?

Tsk tsk tsk.

8

No, he asked for a Coke and she explained why they don’t serve it. He asked for more details and she gave them to him. I don’t see the big horror; lots of restaurants don’t serve Coke (some serve Pepsi ‘cause of whatever deal they have with the distributor), and the customers don’t have a freakout over it. If this restaurant has a policy, presumably due to the owners’ own beliefs, I don’t see what’s so offensive about the waitress expressing it. Drink the Blue Sky (or how about some water or juice instead) and give her a smaller tip if she was so outrageously offensive to your Coke-lovin’ sensibilities.

Going on a tirade against environmentalism over this seems a tad exessive. Maybe cut down on the caffeine & sugar and you won’t get in such a dither. :wink:

9

I am moving to California this week.

You are filling me with fear.

No one would DARE try that lecturing crap around here! Well, maybe in Ann Arbor …

10

I might hold your position if the “reasons” and “details” given weren’t so incredibly lame. Let’s see…

Ingredients list for Coca Cola Classic- carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors and caffeine. Ingredients list for Blue Sky Cola- filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn sweetener, natural cola nut flavor, caramel color (from fructose), tantaric acid (from grapes) and citric acid. Interestingly, according to Wiki the FDA decided last April that you couldn’t call something “natural” if it contained high fructose corn syrup. But I digress… They frankly don’t look all that different.

Let’s look at their plants next and see who is and is not “polluting the environment.” Drat, a non-starter- couldn’t really find anything. But, I noticed that Blue Sky is a wholly-owned part of Hansen’s. Hansen’s is based in Corona, CA, so I assume that some big ugly diesel truck delivered that tasty beverage to the restaurant (probably looked shockingly like a Coke truck). I cannot find anything that indicates Blue Sky is made in anything other than a normal carbonated beverage plant. So, I guess it a tie for “polluting plants.”

I agree with the OP- if you are doing something for “the sake of the environment” or whatever, at least be smart about it. Be able to articulate why what you are doing is making a difference. Research your own claims to see if they hold water. Otherwise, you just sound like an overzealous, whiny undergrad.

11

There is certainly a pit worthy idea in pitting the tree-huggers who know next to nothing about science. The OP is not it.

12

I just got back from Maui and it’s loaded with these granola wannabe’s. During our Pacific Whale Foundation snorkeling trip at Molokini, we were inundated with their cheerfully beligerent “Go green!” campaigns, which were conveniently intermixed with various upsells.

For instance, PWF dude got on the mike and informed us that for the low, low price of $10, we could rent one of their wetsuit tops.

“This will greatly enhance your hour long snorkeling trip at Molokini followed by a forty-five minute trip off Makena.”
“You’d hate to have to end your snorkeling trip early, so get the wetsuits now!”
“Get them quick because your size may sell out!”
“Being exposed in the water for very long may make you susceptible to hypothermia, especially those young children.”
“The wetsuit tops are selling quickly! See Tiffanie now if you haven’t already.”

Now it’s the middle of July and pretty darn hot for Maui: 85 degrees with balmy ocean temperaturs. We’d been snorkeling all week, sometimes for hours on end, without the aid of a wet suit, so his somewhat hysterical marketing campaign was rather silly. But we listened to it because he was the one with the big, booming microphone in the middle of our beautiful snorkeling trip.

After the last dive, my husband handed me a piece of paper that he’d found floating in the water off Big Beach. We unfurled it to discover it was…

a credit card receipt for the $10 wetsuit some schlep rented from the Pacific Whale Foundation. :rolleyes:

13

I was prepared to argue with the OP, but the only thing I’d argue with here was that you tipped her. By doing so, you were aiding and abetting her destruction of Mother Earth, by supporting her oil addiction as she drove to work. If you’d withheld the tip, that might have made it easier for her to cut the cord and find a job closer to home.

I have no problem with restaurants refusing to serve Coke for whatever dumbass reason they desire. I have no problem with them explaining their policy. It sounds as though she went above and beyond, by turning the explanation into a personal attack on you. True, you made it personal first by asking her about driving to work, but she was offering an absurd explanation of their policy (for one thing, Blue Sky is served in aluminum cans, which are tremendously inefficient; I’d bet good money that a Coke fountain uses a lot less energy in the long run than individual servings in aluminum cans).

Daniel

14

No, just the ones who justify their consumption and then haughtily tell everyone how their BS attempts are saving the planet.

Do what you can - just shut the fuck up about how great you are for doing it. It reminds me of the Cris Rock routine about black men who brag about supporting their kids. “Your supposed to to, you dumb motherfucker”.

15

I’m reminded yet again of a former co-worker who stunk to high heavens because he wouldn’t wear deoderant due to it “causing cancer”…and blowing cigarette smoke in my face as he told me this.

I’m with the OP, although you shouldn’t have tipped her because she was rude.

I hate this environmental double-speak that guises itself as somehow superior to you and the products you use, only to find in the end that the net result interms of pollution is the same.

Of course this isn’t true of all “environmentally-friendly” products, but I believe that the general rule of thumb here is that the louder and more militant people are about a particular practice or product touted as environmentally friendly, the more likely that it is all a bunch of elitist bullshit contrived to shame “sheeple” into buying into their point of view.

16

Ok DFTH, but how do you propose that we enforce social standards?

My answer:

  1. Separate out the symbolic from the substantive.
  2. Insult egregiously wasteful and unsocial behavior.
  3. Praise proper and efficacious action, with an eye towards the sum of one’s efforts.

(On edit: Er, I should add something in about proper context.)

17

I can’t believe all you who are suggesting that the OP not tip. They’re mandatory in the US! How else are waitstaff supposed to pay their bills?

You let them know they did a shitty job by not returning. Jeez, how many times have we been over this?

Vote with your wallets, people, but always (always) leave a tip!

18

So you heard so much about this place but not about the kind of food they serve? I don’t understand why you went there in the first place.

19

You can’t be serious. Rudeness from a waitperson is never tolerated in my book, from the lowest Ponderosa to the highest Alain Ducasse restaurant.

I used to wait tables, in fact I did it for a really long time and I was extremely good at it because I have a certain measure of knowledge about fine food and drink. I was also engaging and polite with customers…after all, if the tip is all your chasing, it’s in your best interests to “serve” rather than condescend.

Of course, you may be whooshing here, in which case nevermind it.

20

I’m sure it’s one thing to hear positive word-of-mouth about a place in terms of food, ambiance, etc without getting the scoop that they are militant with their offerings of soda and will lecture you on the enviornment if you dare question their offerings of soda.

If it were me, as soon as I got the remotest note of condescenscion from the waitstaff about me questioning their choices/philosophy in choosing to offer those choices and was berated as a stupid American for not “knowing better”, I’d either be engaging the manager in a debate or simply walking out. It’s my money and if you want it, act like it. YOU are supposed to be providing service, not questioning my ethics over a drink choice that you do not have.