# Looks like umkay is back, so we may as well get this thread started... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 15, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570 "2013-07-15T16:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/161 "2013-07-16T10:36:55Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > \*as a non-Brit, I think I’m right that Tesco is a grocery store; but I have no idea what a Costa might be. A restaurant? A bank? A meeting place for parapalegics? It’s a British copycat version of Starbucks, i.e. it’s a coffee bar. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/162 "2013-07-16T10:49:25Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > It’s a British copycat version of Starbucks, i.e. it’s a coffee bar. Yeah, Costa Coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Tracijo67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@Tracijo67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracijo67)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/163 "2013-07-16T11:22:05Z")
Complete derail, but this thread is a slightly disturbing train wreck anyway (and yes, I’m STRAINING to gawk). I have a question about Tesco. To me, it seems the bastard child of Sam Walton. The Tesco in Kuala Lumpur is enormous, which is the best that I can say about it. I shopped there a few times for items that I needed for my son. Gently rolled a display stroller of the shelf and it fell apart in my hands. The clothing items appeared to be one skeptical glance away from bursting into flames, and toys meant for baby included small pieces that appeared to have been glued together with spit. I am, obviously, exaggerating – but only slightly. The quality of items for sale were of shockingly poor quality. Unsafe for baby. Socks and nappies with loose threads and toys that really did have badly glued together small pieces otherwise known in the US as ginormous lawsuits that could file themselves. I’ve heard other people make favorable remarks about Tesco, and I’m just curious if it is meant to be a chain where safety and quality take a back seat to low price. Low quality is practically my middle name (I love Wal-Mart and Dollar Store) but obviously dangerous items are reserved for neighborhood garage sales. Retail stores know better than to open themselves to opportunistic lawsuits. So… is Tesco really that bad all over the world, or at they merely exploiting an opportunity in a country where people aren’t likely (or even constitutionally able, I’m guessing) to sue? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/164 "2013-07-16T11:44:08Z")
Heh, [Tesco in question](https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&gbv=2&safe=active&ie=UTF-8&q=tesco+dalmarnock+road+glasgow&fb=1&gl=us&hq=tesco&hnear=0x4888413566136063:0xd719c60309870480,Dalmarnock+Rd,+Glasgow,+UK&cid=0,0,3426624909121206862&ei=uTDlUZOcK-ewyQH5hYDAAg&ved=0CBwQtgMwAQ) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/165 "2013-07-16T11:50:08Z")
> [@Tracijo67](#): > > So… is Tesco really that bad all over the world, or at they merely exploiting an opportunity in a country where people aren’t likely (or even constitutionally able, I’m guessing) to sue? Consumers can sue quite easily in South Korea yet Tesco, in association with Samsung, operates a nation-wide chain of stores called [Home Plus](http://www.homeplus.co.kr/app.exhibition.main.Main.ghs?paper_no=category). I love the place. Wish 'twere in this burg. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/166 "2013-07-16T11:53:43Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > It’s a British copycat version of Starbucks, i.e. it’s a coffee bar. I wouldn’t call it an exact copycat of Starbucks - for a start the coffee is actually coffee-y unlike Starbucks. Not as good as Nero, but not bad, even out of the machines that are becoming ubiquitous in mini-marts and petrol stations (maybe they copied that business model from Starbucks - I haven’t been to the US in years, are there Starbucks machines now in every other convenience store, bowling alley, mobile phone store? - it certainly seems a successful business strategy) I suppose the whole coffee bar as a chain thing in the UK comes from the US chains (the original espresso bars in the 50s where inspired by Italian ones I think and often run by Italian immigrants, but weren’t that common outside big cities, and of course, way back, Lloyd’s of London started as a coffee house in the original 17th-18th century craze for them, though god knows what the coffee tasted of - the hot chocolate they served was apparently unsweetened which I can’t even imagine) ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/167 "2013-07-16T11:58:38Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > She offered to meet you at precisely 2PM–so we have another piece of evidence to be verified. Oh…ummm…well, yeah, she did just _happen_ to forget to mention which day, so there is still a little bit of wiggle room. But all you have to do is quit your day job and go to Tesco every day at 2:00 till jaymac shows up. > > ## Come on, **cinnamon Imp** ----Don’t let us down! Let’s get some hard proof! Fight Ignorance for all of us! > > \*as a non-Brit, I think I’m right that Tesco is a grocery store; but I have no idea what a Costa might be. A restaurant? A bank? A meeting place for parapalegics? **Cinnamon Imp** mentioned which day in post #64: > [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > Tell you what, if she’s really from Glasgow, I’ll meet her tomorrow afternoon. I’ve no plans, and I need to visit Rutherglen anyway. > > **jaymac1** , how about it? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/168 "2013-07-16T12:01:59Z")
> [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](#): > > No, and I’m confused as to how you could. > > First spoken line? > > First sung line? “Well if you wanted honesty, That’s all you had to say.” If one is drawing a reference to NotOkay I don’t think honesty should be even alluded to 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/169 "2013-07-16T12:04:14Z")
> [@jaymac1](#): > > You’re a brain dead little cunt. That would make him mentally challenged, to which you should be more sensitive. > [@Bob Ducca](#): > > I am trained in gorilla warfare . . . Does that mean you beat your chest after each kill? ---
**Author:** ![Tracijo67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@Tracijo67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracijo67)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/170 "2013-07-16T12:06:05Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Consumers can sue quite easily in South Korea yet Tesco, in association with Samsung, operates a nation-wide chain of stores called [Home Plus](http://www.homeplus.co.kr/app.exhibition.main.Main.ghs?paper_no=category). I love the place. Wish 'twere in this burg. Well, yeah. I am assuming that, frivolous lawsuit capital of the world aside, many other countries can and do sue if unsafe items caused any harm to them/their children. I just know that Malaysians are unlikely to do so; I am not even sure what the litmus test would be to even get to the filing point. I asked the question because I wondered if the quality of items are actually better in other countries. We don’t have Tesco here in the US, but if we did, I’d be the first to drive my gas guzzler to the nearest outpost to save a dime on Cheerios. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/171 "2013-07-16T12:39:03Z")
> [@PookahMacPhellimey](#): > > It’s a British copycat version of Starbucks, i.e. it’s a coffee bar. Yes, because Starbucks invented coffee. Costa is better, IMO (and better value - they don’t charge extra for soya milk, for example) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/172 "2013-07-16T12:47:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Costa is better, IMO (and better value - they don’t charge extra for soya milk, for example) But why the crazy admiration of sportscaster Bob Costas? The French love Jerry Lewis for some weird reason, now you Brits jump on the Costas train. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/173 "2013-07-16T12:47:37Z")
I’ve already had my morning coffee, so back to our possible returned prodigal poster. I’m really kind of hoping that he/she/it/they also have an unnatural affection for James Otto, and can be a Pentecostal zealot as well. We can get the band back together! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/174 "2013-07-16T12:52:19Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Heh, [Tesco in question](https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&gbv=2&safe=active&ie=UTF-8&q=tesco+dalmarnock+road+glasgow&fb=1&gl=us&hq=tesco&hnear=0x4888413566136063:0xd719c60309870480,Dalmarnock+Rd,+Glasgow,+UK&cid=0,0,3426624909121206862&ei=uTDlUZOcK-ewyQH5hYDAAg&ved=0CBwQtgMwAQ) Hey, zoom in to the handicapped parking space to the left of the entrance. Is that who I think it is approaching the black sedan with a grande mocha latte? So, what time today, tomorrow, or yesterday does 2 pm occur in Scotland? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/175 "2013-07-16T12:54:50Z")
Oh shit! I just checked, and I think it is almost the wee bitching hour! Now how am I supposed to get any work done with all this excitment. Damn, my nipples are erect! ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/176 "2013-07-16T13:00:01Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Oh shit! I just checked, and I think it is almost the wee bitching hour! Now how am I supposed to get any work done with all this excitment. Damn, my nipples are erect! Does anyone want anything from Tesco while I’m here? ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/177 "2013-07-16T13:03:01Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > Does anyone want anything from Tesco while I’m here? Do they have fresh haggis? ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/178 "2013-07-16T13:04:29Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Don’t pussy out on us. Hey, I’m here. Only wheelchair user is an old dude in his 80s though, and he just left. ---
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/179 "2013-07-16T13:05:34Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > Does anyone want anything from Tesco while I’m here? I’m all out of popcorn, so if you’d be so kind… ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570/180 "2013-07-16T13:07:33Z")
> [@Cinnamon\_Imp](#): > > Hey, I’m here. Only wheelchair user is an old dude in his 80s though, and he just left. I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise. Cheers for putting your time in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looks-like-umkay-is-back-so-we-may-as-well-get-this-thread-started/663570.md?page=10)