Oh, since SnoopyFan bringing in the places, I am a participant in the NAACP’s boycott of South Carolina. Okay, sure, I don’t have any reason to go to South Carolina, but should someone ever say to me, “Hey, Kyla, feel like going to South Carolina?” I’d slam my hand down on the desk (or right leg, should I be standing or not sitting at a desk) and say “NO! I’m insulted you even asked!”
But not an outlet store? It’s like an actual standalone store? Funky. (I go to DSW for mine, so nyah!)
But not an outlet store? It’s like an actual standalone store? Funky. (I go to DSW for mine, so nyah!)
Yeah, and they’re REALLY FUCKING HUGE too. Larger than any shoe store has need of.
Charthouse – ridiculously overpriced, mediocre food. Just a waste of money. Never again.
Cheesecake Factory – ridiculously overportioned, mediocre food. A veritable orgy of obesity. Plus they make you wait, and then cram you in. I’ve been twice. Never again. (I will miss some of their cheesecakes, but my dignity and honor are worth the sacrifice. 
)
(I pretty much avoid all of the chain type restaurants – there is so much better food, at better prices, from independant restaurants. Especially in Los Angeles.)
Walt Disney World, Orlando. Unless I am dragged there, kicking and screaming, by my wife and kids. The whole idea of it makes me shudder. Although, I must say I liked California Adventure last summer – the lack of crowds made it enjoyable.
Supposedly, people tip better when the servers do this. I dislike it, because I feel like they’re trying to manipulate me, and because I think it must be AWFULLy uncomfortable.
Not just manipulate, but patronize - I feel like they’re treating me like a little kid. “Now, Johnny, what would you like? We have Big Boy meals …”
Kyla, you’re not missing much. I hear Charleston is pretty nice, but otherwise I am extremely extremely unimpressed with the state. I lived right next to it for six years. I DO miss one needlework store in North Augusta, though. It was excellent.
Exxon. Ever since the Valdez incident, and their shitty attitude about the clean-up.
Arby’s. After being screwed by the drive thru many times, I complained through their website. They never responded. And it’s dirty in there.
I used to work in a combination deli/convenience/liquor store in Las Vegas, and our shifts were all over the place. Working 14 days straight WILL get tiresome. I generally worked the afternoon shift, when I got to take care of all the 9to5ers who didn’t want to cook dinner, but didn’t like our prices at the deli, either. And the kids used to try to either buy or steal booze, and play the slot machines. You have to be 21 to either buy booze or gamble in Vegas.
I also used to work in a movie theater…and because of the labor laws, the theater didn’t have to pay any overtime bonus for hours worked in excess of 8 per day OR 40 per week. The management always took advantage of this fact, too.
My husband works a rotating shift. That is, he’ll work days one week, swings the next week, and graveyard the week after that. What’s worse, his shop doesn’t operate on a 7 day schedule. I’d LOVE for him to have a regular day off that we could count on.
The problem, as I see it, with having a complete store close down for Sunday “to give our staff time to spend with their families” is that in many cases, other family members will have to work Sundays. I think this is especially the case when there are teens in the family, as many teens have jobs now.
Fry’s Electronics - I’ve admittedly been in only one of them, the only one that is in the San Diego area. But there’s something about the place I find very creepy and uncomfortable, so I’ve decided to just avoid it and look in other stores for electronics and software and other items that can be found in a Fry’s.
Hee! That was great Kyla
And SnoopyFan, may I ask why you’re boycotting our fine, if not a bit unorthadox, state?
Chick-Fil-A? Their processed chicken patties are nothing to cry over. You can get better sandwiches and chicken strips at Popeye’s, and they have cajun fries!
After spending much of my chemistry thinking things over, as opposed to aromatic nitration, I’ve figured out why this whole t-shirt thing grinds on my nerves so much. And while I do understand the points that you make, and could see myself agreeing with them if it was a different situation, this is why it upsets me so much.
When I see bands with such, for lack of a better term, “revolutionary” lyrics as the Sex Pistols and RATM being commercialized into everything they decreed against; it angers me. It’s the same feeling I get seeing skateboarders on TV, trying to sell me Corn Pops or McDonald’s. “A day without my Corn Pops is like a day without my skateboard.” There are few things and places that are still free of pure commercialism. A band like Radiohead, who toured 3 years ago without ANY corporate sponsorship. Or a band like Weezer, who tried to release their last album, through the Internet for free before being shut down by their label. I realize the above 2 bands aren’t exactly underground, but they show that you can be successful and make money and good music and still do it without “selling out”. I turn on “alternative” radio and what do I hear, Staind, Puddle of Mud, Nickelback, Default, Trapt, all making the exact same music while bands who actually have things to say get shut out because they’re too punk, too controversial, too alternative. Is it that hard to play NOFX or Flaming Lips or Broken Social Scene on the radio?
Sorry about the out of control rant above, I know I went all over the place with it. It’s just that I look at things today, and wonder what has happened to things in 6 years. Something is wrong when I look back longingly for 1997, when I was 14 years old. My thinking may not be rational or logical, but it comes from the heart and I can’t argue with that.
Sorry for the hijack.
Any USAir aircraft, due to their callous and cruel handling of a situation where my insulin and other life-sustaining equipment was stolen from my checked bags. I used to keep a tab of how many times I purposefully chose a higher-priced airline rather than take USAir (who, on many routes I travel, are the lowest-cost or tied for lowest-cost choice), and how much that $50 worth of insulin cost them. I stopped counting in about 2000, and it was up to nearly $13,000 in lost fares for them at that time. With the extreme amount of travel I did from 2000-2002, it surely must have cost them maybe $25,000 in airfares by now. Oh well, I guess they showed me…
I’m with you. I find it to be almost stalker-like behaviour, and could never do it as a server myself. I feel sorry for them for having to do it, though, and it doesn’t affect the tip. I just wish they would stop.
Everywhere that’s ‘fast’ and/or has a ‘theme’, ‘image’ and/or requires employees to wear garish uniforms or name tags.
Exxon/Esso
Pretty much any store that looks too organised. Difficult to explain but it’s because I’m intimidated rather than for any overt political reason.
Anywhere that plays piped music does my head in. Again, not political.
Having BEEN a waitress who crouched down to table level to talk with my customers, I will say that it’s pretty easy to tell when a customer is not going to go for that. But I also know that there are some really clueless servers out there who do not read their tables well. Personally, I made a buttload of money as a waitress, so I apologize for nothing (except for that one time I upended two bowls of French Onion soup, cheese-side-down, not two feet from the table for which they were intended.)
I boycott Cracker Barrel (reasons noted by others) and that one stings sometimes, because they make pretty good pancakes and they’re located very close to the hotel where out-of-town friends often stay.
Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, and various and sundry other impossibly loud and obnoxious theme restaurants.
Starbucks, but that one’s easy. Their coffee is swill.
Lynn - I kinda like Hobby Lobby, although I agree that their public self-congratulation makes me queasy. If you want to close your store on Sundays, go right ahead. You don’t need to tell everyone why. Chinese restaurants are typically closed on Mondays, and dentists’ offices on Wednesdays - no one seems to be up in arms over this, it’s just “the way we do things.”
lez it’s not so much a “boycott” as it is zero desire to ever go there. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t see why I should bother. If I want mountains, I have 'em here, and Myrtle Beach is much closer than California 