# Misleading/inaccurate advertising terms: hand-scraped floors and homemade soup **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276 "2023-12-28T13:57:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/81 "2023-12-30T03:17:38Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Whereas you’ll be up the creek in no time if you advertise your restaurant as “kosher” when it’s only “kosher-style.” “I mean it’s Jew-ish cooking after all!” -snerk- ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/82 "2023-12-30T18:00:15Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > In the specific above, the only perceptible difference was price, and the “normal” loaf wasn’t sliced. Which granted, is a preference of mine in most (not all) cases, but it didn’t justify the price jump. You’re complaining about the price increase and one of the loaves of bread was sliced? Why, that’s the greatest thing since… since… Okay, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2023, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/83 "2023-12-30T21:55:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s another thing: Do the waitstaff at a $50 a meal place really work five times as hard as the folks at the $10 place? Why is tipping even a percentage of the price at all? If anything, we should be tipping a lower percentage at the nice places. I know, that bugs me also. Dont get me wrong, I am a good tipper and I am pro-tipping, but that does seem a bit weird. > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Whereas you’ll be up the creek in no time if you advertise your restaurant as “kosher” when it’s only “kosher-style.” Unless it’s a pickle. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/84 "2024-01-01T16:29:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I pit (in an IMHO-compatible fashion) the common corpspeak that they’re doing “[whatever] for your convenience.” I’m reminded of a sign I saw in a car-rental place that proudly proclaimed something like “serving our customers is our top priority”. I was tempted to scream, “You’re a business! Your primary motive is PROFIT! Claiming anything else makes me wonder what else you’re lying about.” ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/85 "2024-01-01T17:01:54Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I mean, sure, some Amish folk might be superior craftsmen. And if you want something created without power tools, that’s fine. But I’d wager the Amish community enjoys crappy craftsmen, the same as any other demographic. My parents tell a story about encountering an Amish man walking down a road in Ohio. He had walked several miles to a store, to use their phone for a call he needed to make, was headed home, and gratefully accepted the ride they offered him. When they got to the man’s home, he went into his kitchen and came back with a loaf of bread and a jar of apple butter his wife had made. When she told me this story, my mom ended it with, “…and they tasted _terrible_!” ---
**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:** [January 1, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/86 "2024-01-01T17:16:54Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I suspect there’s a non-zero chance that restaurants coined “house-made” specifically because pedantic customers kept asking them, “so, at whose home was this pie actually made?” Probably. IMO they should just charge extra for serving redditors. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/87 "2024-01-01T17:19:03Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > I’m reminded of a sign I saw in a car-rental place that proudly proclaimed something like “serving our customers is our top priority”. I was tempted to scream, “You’re a business! Your primary motive is PROFIT! Claiming anything else makes me wonder what else you’re lying about.” I think it’s safe to assume this occurred while you were standing in a long and almost unmoving line while 2 workers manned 8 computer workstations. Amiright? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/88 "2024-01-01T21:14:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s another thing: Do the waitstaff at a $50 a meal place really work five times as hard as the folks at the $10 place? Why is tipping even a percentage of the price at all? If anything, we should be tipping a lower percentage at the nice places. Food & beverage service is a common point of entry for employment: McJob, ‘flipping burgers,’ the banana stand. Basic competence is relatively easy to learn along the way, there is some level of supervision, a low risk of truly catastrophic errors/injuries, and staffing is particularly challenging. I’ve been charmed by some t(w)eenagers pausing homework or video games to help with my order at their family’s restaurant. I’ve also known some people who were barely hanging on between addiction and mental illness but could get some hours to fill a slot at a bar or restaurant. The unwed, teenaged-mother diner waitress is herself a trope: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/akZb02QWlw0/maxresdefault.jpg "Family Guy - Meg and my son Stewie") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akZb02QWlw0) But we expect more professionalism in other environments. The low pay and lack of benefits in the industry is unfortunate and a server who need to make a living wage can’t support themselves solely on tips at the $10 place (to the extent those exist). A tipped server only has so many tables a week and, in the theoretical free market, those who wish to pursue the profession compete for the better jobs. Like probably every occupation, there are different tiers and the compensation may not align with the apparent work or effort. Nurses. Roofers. Truckers. Dog groomers. Auto mechanics. Childcare/education. I mean, look at the enormous range of compensation for something like mid-level IT Admin or Programmer and they mostly don’t even have to show up anywhere, much less deal with customers, vendors, auditors, shareholders, regulators… And, it’s understood that some fine dining establishments have staff that may be tipped out by the server like bartenders/backs and table bussers. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/89 "2024-01-02T12:38:18Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > and > > [Hand-scraped Hardwood Floor - Carlisle Wide Plank Floors](https://wideplankflooring.com/our-floors/hand-scraped-hardwood-floor/) The second paragraph in this link has an example fit for this thread: “At Carlisle Wide Plank Floors, our artisan craftsmen created…” Artisan or craftsmen, pick one. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/90 "2024-01-02T16:30:25Z")
“Artisan” and “artisanal” long ago surrendered to ad-speak in the realm of food advertisements. Especially baked goods. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/91 "2024-01-02T17:09:00Z")
This reminded me of a local condo building that was being advertised—every unit was a penthouse! I always wonder what the buyers thought about their ground-floor or second-storey penthouses. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/92 "2024-01-02T22:50:46Z")
Why can’t it be both? It’s entirely possible for a business to serve a community _and_ be a for-profit enterprise at the same time. I mean, phone companies provide a service to the community (i.e. “serving”) and also turn a profit. Same with individual city/state/federal workers- they’re serving the community, and being paid to do it. I’m not sure why you conflate service with free or non-profit. Or that profits are somehow bad. None of that makes any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/93 "2024-01-02T23:08:54Z")
I think the point was about the _top priority / primary motive,_ rather than saying that those two motives were mutually exclusive. Still, “serving our customers is a high priority!” or “serving our customers is right up there with turning a profit!” are not quite as zingy. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/94 "2024-01-03T00:31:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m not sure why you conflate service with free or non-profit. Or that profits are somehow bad. None of that makes any sense. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I think the point was about the _top priority / primary motive,_ rather than saying that those two motives were mutually exclusive. > > Still, “serving our customers is a high priority!” or “serving our customers is right up there with turning a profit!” are not quite as zingy. well it fits the OP to the T … misleading/inaccurate advertising … they make it sound like they are committed to the community - when in reality they are NOT (committment is not their business driver)… how often has a perfectly profitable factory moved off-shore, b/c they could make **more** money that way? … why stop serving when you still make money - b/c … _we just said that, we didn’t really mean it_ ? well guess what, they are still serving the community, just one in a different country now… bigotry par excelence … maybe a couple of those “serving the community, holding up family values, …” resonate different for non-mericans ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/95 "2024-01-03T02:32:21Z")
There’s a huge difference between serving your customers, serving your shareholders, and serving _all_ your stakeholders. You serve your customers by being quick, expert, reliable, well-to-overstaffed with mostly overqualified people, and with very narrow margins to produce the lowest possible prices. You serve your most short-sighted shareholders by being the opposite of all of those. Some longer-sighted shareholders may have priorities more in the middle. Serving your stakeholders includes paying the employees well, not outsourcing their jobs, treating them like humans not like cogs, paying your vendors timely and well, complying fully with the letter and spirit of all applicable laws and regulations, and especially all tax-related laws and regs. etc. etc. While also doing your utmost to make happy customers and happy shareholders with what’s left after taking care of the mentioned stakeholders. It’s hardly surprising that a US business will put up an ambiguous sign claiming to prioritize customers, that might be optimistically read by some people as prioritizing stakeholders, but is really just a cynical bit of outright lying hoping to hide the fact that only shareholders are being well-served, while everyone and everything else is only being considered up to the barest minimum necessary to avoid revolt. ---
**Author:** ![Cityyewtree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cityyewtree/32/15992_2.png) [@Cityyewtree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cityyewtree)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276/96 "2024-01-24T22:26:36Z")
There’s a shop in the city I regularly commute to that has a similar tagline, except it reads ‘Serving [city name] since 1945’, maybe I should demand some free products from there? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-inaccurate-advertising-terms-hand-scraped-floors-and-homemade-soup/995276.md?page=4)