Advocate cite.
Reputation? History? What does that mean?
McDonalds, again.
I just want to add Food Lion. It’s dirty and the cashiers are slow, rude and clueless. Even the other customers ick me out. There’s one by my house, but I drive an extra 15 minutes to get to Publix.
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!
I’m really gonna miss their food.
McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell etc. (Crap, unhealthy food with poor ethics)
Starbucks (Too expensive for coffee, I’ll just stick to my Tim Horton’s)
Wal-Mart(My mother used to work there as a head pharmacist; just a horrible place to work. But, I have to say I love their return policy. My buddy had a party, so we camped in his backyard, so we could get wasted. Returned the tent the next day, full refund. Never mind it was covered in jam, and donut syrup and of course, dirt.)
Gap, Old Navy (Just my personal crusade, not to look like everyone else.)
American Eagle(I will not pay $30 for a t-shirt that looks like a can get it from value village/salvation army for $1. Ridiculous)
Abercrombie and Finch (See Gap)
Bluenotes (Canadian chain(?), I refuse to buy there since they sell Rage Against the Machine t-shirts and other band tees. Simply so, a bunch of poseur 12-year olds can think they’re cool, even if they don’t listen to the music.)
If it wasn’t for Queen Street and Sporting Life in Toronto, I wouldn’t own any clothes.
So much for Chik-Fil-a. 
Maybe Mrs. Winner’s…
Ford. My grandfather owned a Model T. He cursed at that cantankerous old piece of junk so often he swore he’d never buy another Ford. He never did.
My dad never did.
I bought one once, but only to part out. Still, I felt as though I was betraying a family tradition 
and I haven’t since.
<<Name a place you will never go into that’s popular.>>
Paris Hilton.
Also Hardee’s - always filthy, as are the employees (at least in the one near my house).
If any of y’all work at one, I’m sorry.
BWAAA-HAAA-HAAA!
Texas Land and Cattle Company.
Expensive local steakhouse chain. I ordered a peppery steak from them once. When they brought out the plate, I smelled…something, but I thought it was the BO of someone at a neighboring table. My steak tasted mostly of pepper but there was something off…I flipped the steak over at last and was washed with this horrific odor.
Green. My steak was GREEN.
And it wouldn’t have pissed me off so badly if the waiter had taken the meal off the ticket. I’d have expected a full refund on dinner at that point and an abject apology. Instead we got a “Gosh, sorry, we’ll replace the steak and only charge you half.” Half? Screw you bastards. I could have gotten seriously ill from that meal, and if I’d gotten food poisoning, you can damn well bet that my non-litigous ass would have sued the pants off yours.
Never ever eating there again. No matter how good their steaks usually are.
I must admit I can’t quite figure this one out. Do they sell shirts only to 12-yrar olds? How do you know they don’t listen to the music?
Wouldn’t your beef be more with the people buying the shirts than the store selling them?
Just what is it that you have against Frango mints?
Most of the ones I boycott are already on this list.
WalMart: my firm is involved in the wage and break litigation going on against them, and I know way, way too much about how badly they treat the employees. I go in, but I won’t so much as buy a candy bar there.
Abercrombie and Fitch: who in their right mind pays that much for clothes that already have holes in them? Stupid concept. Also can’t get over the fact that they bought the formerly great Abercrombie and Fitch name (they used to be safari outfitters, very posh and old-time glamorous, if politically incorrect) and turned it into yet another store for emaciated teenagers with more money than brains.
Old Navy: shoddy clothes that are proportioned very strangely. Also, obnoxious store concept. Loud music, psycho sales associates, annoying tweens everywhere.
Petco: okay, I go in, and sometimes buy stuff here, but only if necessary (meaning, I can’t find it anywhere else). They constantly advertise their low prices, but the independent local pet food/equipment shop I patronize (they don’t sell pets) is cheaper. And it has two “store cats” who are very cool. And they really care about selling products that are good for animals. So there.
All pet stores that sell something other than hamsters/fish/birds. Just cruel, IMHO.
matt_mcl
I’m curious, why? Please don’t tell me it’s related to the Chick-Fil-A problem, I love Amazon…
OK, my whole hatred of selling band t-shirts in commercial chains stems from seeing Sex Pistols t-shirts at Le Chateau, which is a store where the Sex Pistols would burn to ground if they could. My problem is the usage of a bands image to sell t-shirts in an environment, that the band would not be happy with. Now whether this has anything to do with the fact that the bands are no longer together or what not, I don’t know.
Maybe, I’m just being music elitist or something, but my belief is, if you want to buy a band’s t-shirt, get an official one, not something co-opted by ‘commercialism’, especially with the Sex Pistols and RATM.
Where’d ya buy your Kid A tee-shirt, Kid A?
I understand that*, but I still think that’s more of a rant at the consumer than the store.
Besides, many times there’s no way of knowing if the t-shirts a store sells aren’t “official.” Oh, sure, you have your ripoffs and thin parodies, but most of them won’t be found in the stores themselves.
Now, if you’re talking about shirts being sold by stores the group probably wouldn’t care for if asked and the shirts aren’t cheap knockoffs, then you gotta blame the band for selling their image. Hey, it’s been known to happen.
*It’s like when you’re standing in line to get into a show and you see all these guys selling t-shirts from … well, from God knows where. I actually saw someone pull one from his pants. He was trying to sell it for $10. The t-shirt, not his pants. Crappy merchandise.
No, I really don’t know. However, as a general rule I try to avoid ANY store that uses religion as one of its selling points, unless, of course, it’s a religious-oriented store, such as the place where one can buy Bible lesson plans and choir robes.
** Kid_A,** your sig is too long. We ask that sigs be no longer than four lines, including blank lines. We also ask that you use your sig no more than once per thread, or once per page (so you’re OK there).
If you want to use the whole thought as your sig, I suggest:
“Riot shields/Voodoo economics/It’s just business
Cattle prods and the IMF/I trust I can rely on your vote
—“Electioneering” Radiohead”
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
OK, sorry about that, I’ll plead ignorance, but I’ll make sure I don’t do it in the future. It’s just this is the first board that I’ve been on that has a rule like that.
Anyways, I own 4 Radiohead t-shirts and 1 Weezer t-shirt, all bought from their concerts.
When I think of a t-shirt as being official, I think of it being sold either at a concert or through the band website or through some other source where music is the priority. Not at some commercial chain, where it sits next to the cologne or pocket knives.
Just wondering if anyone can enlighten me about what happens to the merchandising deals of bands when they break up. In order for these t-shirts to be made, who had to give the OK? The managers, former members of the band. I’d hate to think that Tom or Zach gave this their OK.
I will admit that part of this is a rant against the consumer. But, I really have a dislike for white pre-teens/teens from the suburbs who shop at alot of the places that are mentioned in this thread like American Eagle or Abercrombie and Finch or Gap/Old Navy. And I’m a white guy from the suburbs, who only moved away to go to school. And things aren’t much better here. The concept of buying clothes because they’re “cool” right now, but in six months will be sitting in the closet, astounds me.
Well, I’ve quit going to Applebee’s because of a story someone on here told about them discriminating against gays.
It would be nice if it were not true, because there’s an Applebee’s right by my house and the food (at this particular location) is actually pretty tasty.
American Express gave me a free cerdit card when I graduated from college. There was no way I was responsible enough to have gotten one for free with no solicitation on my part when I was 22 years old. It just showed up in the mail, ready to use.
I ran up about $200 worth of crap, was a month late with my first bill, and they closed my account and reported me to a credit agency. 30 days late. It took me several years to get rid of it.
Now I get cold calls from them announcing that I qualify for their “unobtanium card” or whatever bullshit precious metal they think will impress me. I tell them my whole story, then I tell them to go to hell and never call me again, then I hang up.
I want to stress that I absolutely know it’s my fault that I didn’t pay my bill on time, but I do hold them partly responsible for dangling such forbidden fruit in front of young irresponsible me. They will never get any money from me ever again.
I’m with y’all on most of these, but
I went to ten different stores looking for a suit to wear to my wedding – Men’s formalwear stores, department stores, tuxedo rental stores. And Banana Republic. Only Banana Republic even sold suits that fit me.
So yeah, they might be overpriced for most of their stuff, but at least they have clothes in my size.
(I’m a scrawny 5’5", by the way)
Daniel