
Food Industry Experts Reveal The Biggest Menu Ripoffs To Avoid
[rebelmouse-image 18349469 is_animated_gif=We've all had it. That nagging thought, popping up in the back of our brains, as we're looking down at the menu, at the side order of french fries that costs $8. We all think, "I could just bake my own at home! Why am I here?" Well, as it turns out, you're not the only one having those doubts about the food industry and what you should avoid on the menu. Reddit user, u/Sanscosmic, wanted to know what specifically when they asked:
People who work in the food industry, what food item is a complete rip-off yet people still buy?
Drink Up. It's Your Money.
[rebelmouse-image 18349470 is_animated_gif=The profit margins on drinks is usually ludicrously high no matter where you go.
PM--
The Massive Popcorn Conglomerate
[rebelmouse-image 18349471 is_animated_gif=The margin on popcorn is ridiculous.
Where The Real Movie Theater Money Is
[rebelmouse-image 18349472 is_animated_gif=If you're specifically referencing movie theaters, all of it is. 5.49 for a small soda, at least half of which is frozen water? But it's where they actually make their money, not much meat on the bone if any from box office sales.
I once heard a movie theater owner say he was not in the movie business, he was in the snack business. The movie was just to get and keep customers around for a couple of hours.
For Our Friends Overseas
[rebelmouse-image 18349473 is_animated_gif=Really irks me when a fish and chip shop charges $2 for tomato sauce put in a container.
Make an effort to avoid those places.
Just Do The Math
[rebelmouse-image 18349474 is_animated_gif=Soda.
In order to get your money's worth of a McDonald's medium soda, you would have to fill your cup up 16 times.
We All Know It, But We Still Do It
[rebelmouse-image 18349475 is_animated_gif=Bottles of water.
I deliver pizzas where water is 100% fine to drink out of taps, yet people still buy them.
They are ridiculously overpriced as well.
600% Markup
[rebelmouse-image 18349476 is_animated_gif=i used to work at a chicken restaurant. biggest rip off was the green beans.
theyre just the jumbo sized canned green beans with onion seasoning, microwaved. it was almost $3 for a pint. you can buy a can of green beans for like 50 cents.
But It's SO Good
[rebelmouse-image 18349478 is_animated_gif=Garlic Bread.
In most restaurants the Gbread is just yesterdays bread slathered in garlic butter and passed through a toaster. Costs maybe 50c a serve but we'll sell it for $5. If the restaurant doesn't sell or provide fresh bread, it's yesterdays bread from the bakery down the road.
It IS really good though, toasts better if you use day old bread.
Ice. It's Ice. You're Paying For Ice.
[rebelmouse-image 18349479 is_animated_gif=A medium flavored coolatta (slushee drink) is 5 dollars.
Five dollars for 3 squirts of flavoring then mixed with shaved ice.
Just Don't Add Sweet n' Low
[rebelmouse-image 18348095 is_animated_gif=Tea.
You can buy 100 teabags for the same price as a cup of tea. Also boiling water is free at most coffee shops if you ask.
A Good Set Of Guidelines To Follow
[rebelmouse-image 18349480 is_animated_gif=General rules at a sit-down restaurant:
Soda costs them 8c, including washing the glass, but costs you $2 to $3. Alcohol is always highly marked up. Sides and apps are marked up much more than entrees.
It's All The Same
[rebelmouse-image 18349481 is_animated_gif=Long time since I worked in the food industry so I don't know if this still holds true, but around 2005 every uk supermarket (except Morrisons) had their salmon encroute produced by the same company on the same line by the same people. One of my jobs was literally stopping the line and changing the sleeve to a different supermarkets one. Same fish, same sauce, same pastry, same lattice, even the same plastic tray just a different sleeve.
Naturally this never stops people insisting the Tesco one was sh-te and the M&S one was just better somehow because it was double the price.
This extended to 90% of non fresh fish products but brand loyalty still reigned supreme.
Flying Too Close To The Sun
[rebelmouse-image 18349482 is_animated_gif=...Chicken Wings are costly as a raw material, need refrigeration/freezing to store and preparing them properly requires trained manpower (which is costly as hell nowadays)
Compare that with a Coke or say Lemon soda: Hardly any preparation, no special skills needed by the person making it plus the Raw material is cheap af.
Restaurants don't fleece you on food...they fleece you on the drinks.
Source: I'm a restaurant owner :P
But, Again, It's All Soo Good
[rebelmouse-image 18349483 is_animated_gif=Most cereal has no nutritional value and its unclear whether 'fortifying' them with vitamins has any actual benefits. Yet hugely expensive and well liked although I think as a market it's slowly fading.
A High Price For Mediocre Cheese
[rebelmouse-image 18349485 is_animated_gif=Extra cheese on pizza.
Name vs. Value
[rebelmouse-image 18349486 is_animated_gif=Used to work in a chip factory when we ran plain chips all the same chips went into the "name brand" on one line then right next to it would be the "value chips" with 2/$1 stickers on them
Listen To The Bread Experts
[rebelmouse-image 18349488 is_animated_gif=A lot of things are like this.
Generic sliced bread is basically the same as the name brand, made in the same place, with a different package. For example in Shop Rite stores in PA the shop rite brand white bread is actually Stroehmann bread. The generic is $1 and the name brand is $3.99.
Fruit Comes To Overthrow
[rebelmouse-image 18349489 is_animated_gif=In Austria; I find fresh fruits and veggies quite highly marked up. Just the other day I spent 6€ for one kilo of cherries. In the middle of the season! Strawberries - around 2,5€ per half of kilogram - also in the season now.
Not even "organic" ones. Plain market prices.
Don't let me even start on other, more exotic produce.
strawberries grow great in 1/4 day direct light, and medium dry soil of any kind(esp higher altitudes!). we planted 4 strawberry plants 2 years ago(5'x5' bed on the shaded east side of our house), and now we literally cant pick and eat them as fast as they grow.(colorado high plains, similar latitude and altitude as austria, but we're a bit drier.)
it looks like the movie 'The Ruins' out there now only strawberry plants..
THey'll also outcompete most pest plants, so you can plant strawberries to kill off bindweed, thistle and dandelion(they outcompete swiftly if you trim the weeds back) before long strawberries becomes the weeds in your lawn and paths.
the only real 'downside' is the birds, squirrels, and slugs they attract.
KNEW We Couldn't Trust
[rebelmouse-image 18349490 is_animated_gif=When I worked for popular pizza restaurant we would charge something like $5 dollars for a box of breadsticks. My boss told me one day how much of a rip off it was since the dough, cost of labor, and even the box they came in only totaled around $1.25.
The Hidden Secret
[rebelmouse-image 18349491 is_animated_gif=...When you buy food/drinks at a restaurant, you aren't simply paying for the food. You are paying for the experience. That restaurant pays for building rent, utilities, supplies, and employees to actually make the food/serve the food/clean the place.
Of course they aren't going to sell at value. Sure, some items are blatantly overpriced even considering, but selling you a coffee for $3 instead of 15 cents so you can hang out in the cafe on your laptop for four hours isn't exactly capitalistic greed.
"Homecooked" = Store Bought
[rebelmouse-image 18349492 is_animated_gif=Not me, but my dad. He goes to Starbucks and orders a pastry or something I don't remember the name of. He starts asking the lady behind the counter what it was and all that jazz and then she mentions that he could get an entire box of them for like, $20 across the street at Costco while he was here paying $5 for a single one.
Reminder that everything "gourmet" and "homecooked" is probably still mass produced in a factory.
H/T: Reddit
Comedy is in a very tricky place right now.
There is so much to NOT laugh about in this world.
In truth, many of us have forgotten how to laugh.
And certain jokes that are told, make people afraid to laugh.
So what do we do?
We tell inappropriate jokes apparently.
Let's hear some...
Redditor CrewCreation wanted to hear some "risky" comedy. So they asked:
"What’s the best morbid joke you know?"
***WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!***
I can't think of anything hilarious at the moment. Make us LOL.
Lady
"I have this friend, love him to bits, but his wife has a tendency of just constantly showing everyone pictures of their son at every social event. At the start it was understandable, but now I'm just like 'Lady, it's been two years; they're not going to find him.'"
UnoriginalUse
at 9am...
"Not the most morbid but I love Anthony Jeselnik’s story about his neighbor who has Alzheimer’s. 'One of my next door neighbors is a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. And every single morning at 9am he knocks on my door and asks me if I have seen his wife.'"
"'Which means that every single morning at 9am I have to explain to a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s that his wife has been dead for quite some time. Now I’ve thought about moving. I have thought about just not answering my door in the morning. But to be honest, it’s worth it… just to see the smile on his face.”
dreagan021
Comedy?
"Why can't orphans play baseball? They don't know where home is."
GW2RNGR
"Why can't orphans play tennis? They get confused when they hear love."
JayDub506
People who make comedy are evil. LOL.
The Darkness
"Dark humor is like food; not everyone gets it."
storm_the_castle
God Laughs?
"A Holocaust survivor dies and goes to heaven, where she meets God. To break the tension she tells God a joke about the Holocaust, but God doesn’t laugh. The lady shrugs and says 'I guess you had to be there.'"
“'I guess you had to be there' is a common expression used when someone doesn’t laugh at a joke. It means that the comedy may not translate without the context of the situation."
"In this case the Holocaust survivor is saying it, meaning that during the Holocaust God was nowhere to be found. It’s not really a joke about the Holocaust, but the absurdity of belief in a benevolent God. Hilarious right?"
semimillennial
Oh Baby
"How many dead babies does it take to fix a light bulb? More than 3 cause my garage is still dark."
sirnibs3
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because I don't know what it says about us as people if we laugh. Oye.
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Life can change in an instant.
It can always change for the better.
Just ask any lottery winner.
Sadly, life can also take a turn for the worst and leave people shattered beyond repair.
Watching someone's life fall apart in a short amount of time is difficult.
You have to wonder if there really is such a thing as karma, bad luck, or Voodoo.
Redditor OkImagination5852 wanted to hear about the times we've been witness to personal disaster. They asked:
"People who witness a person's life crumble in a single day, what happened?"
I have lived through a lot of bad days. But thankfully they've been one disaster at a time days. So I guess I'm lucky.
Horror
"A friend of a friend had his entire family killed overnight. He was from my college and was home visiting his family. His parents, siblings, and extended family were all there together. One night, while they were all asleep, his father got up, took out a gun, and went on a shooting spree. He then killed himself."
"Everyone except this guy died on the spot. When my friend visited him at the hospital, the guy was still in shock. He had no idea why his father did that. This was more than a decade ago, and I have no idea how he's doing now."
DeadOnDeparture98
The IRS Called
"Knew a guy who had a nice house, wife, 3 kids. Machine shop in his garage, Snap On tool truck, sign out front, great mechanic. Never incorporated, didn't pay taxes on his business, cash only. Took nice vacations, bought a boat, then a camper. Five years later, the IRS came. I don't know what they estimated he owed but they seized everything. He lives alone in a trailer now."
Nobody_Wins_13
2 at Once
"My mom’s dad and dad’s mom both died on the same day. Completely unrelated. We were pretty messed up for awhile. It was 2010. Mom's dad had emphysema (lifetime smoker) and was pretty sick for a few weeks. I was in college at the time and came home to be with him, because we knew he was about to pass. Dad's mom was in the nursing home, as she had had a stroke and also had dementia (she often thought I was my dad, she thought we were in the 70s, etc.)."
"She took a turn for the worst, and so my dad left the hospice my grandpa was at and went to be with her. The towns they were in were about an hour apart, so I stayed behind with my mom to comfort her when her dad passed. A few hours go by, and he passes peacefully (huge thanks to the hospice workers for their respect and grace during this time)."
"Within an hour or so of his passing, we get a call from my dad saying that his mother had passed as well. It was a terribly dark day in our family, and the next couple years for me in college were pretty much a blur. Thankfully, things got better in time and we are all doing well now."
She lost everything...
"Her husband left her after previously persuading her to remortgage their house to save his business and he's already made her take multiple credit cards out in her name. She lost everything. He did it the week after their youngest turned 18 so he wouldn't have to pay child support. He'd obviously been planning for years."
Ieatclowns
a black sheep...
"My cousin was in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend died. She broke her back. When she was in the hospital she learned she was pregnant. It's been 16 years and we're still trying our best, she took an all too familiar path of drugs, burning bridges and more pregnancies."
"At this point she's fairly stable and clean as far as I know but a bit of a black sheep. Her mother has custody of all one of her kids. She has her youngest and seems to be doing good by her, but who knows. It's been hard on everyone, especially her mother and her brother."
Paradigm6790
Well this is the stuff of nightmares. I'm grateful for every moment I have alive.
Several lawsuits are filed...
"Here is multiple lives ruined in an instant. A friend was over at some other people house, drugs were involved. They had been playing with a gun. My friend points the gun at a girl, pulls the trigger and shoots her in the head. Girl dies, friend gets locked up until he turns 18. Parents at the house get arrested because they knew what the kids were doing. Friends mom goes into a depression and ends up getting evicted from her house. Several lawsuits are filed."
sentondan
Gone Forever
"It was me... got in a car accident and suffered a traumatic spinal and brain injury that I had no chance of surviving... a 7 vertebrae spinal fusion, yrs of physical and mental therapy... 18 yrs later and the pieces, though many forever gone, are finally coming back together."
2boneskuLL
A Bad Night
"He trashed his fathers vacation house with an axe before setting it on fire, stabbed the neighbor nearly to death, stole their car and then crashed it into a cop car so bad the cops were injured. He also got his girl pregnant, so once he is out of prison they're gonna start a family."
Dumbing_It_Down
"dangerous"
"Pregnant friend found out husband (43) was having an affair with young woman (19) who was a volunteer at their ecolodge. Friend had 'dangerous' pregnancy and had to spend a lot of time in bed. This betrayal destroyed their marriage, split the little town where they lived and caused two employees to quit because witnessing the affair going on was just too painful."
"She had a beautiful baby girl (to go with her other two girls, lol) and after the breakup was clinically depressed. Worked hard and got a divorce (she had a great lawyer); got the business back on track; beat her depression and now is planning a great vacation trip with her girls."
"Meantime, Dad has generous visitation but just 'hasn't gotten around to' buying a car seat so he can pick up the baby and for a long time asked my friend, 'Can you drop the girls off at my Mom's?'"
NoBSforGma
Lost it All...
"Recently, I know of a guy that had borrowed all his family’s life savings for the most part to participate in the whole game stop stock thing happening… he lost every penny of his money (credit card advances), and his parents retirement, and every other dime he could get… it makes me sick to even think of it."
Bangbangsmashsmash
Well those are A LOT of bad days. Good luck to all of you.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
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Those who are wealthy have the luxury of acquiring the best of the best–whether it's dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant or status-identifying clothing from Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent.
But even the rich have their limits when it comes to frivolous spending before casting judgment on friends or colleagues.
Curious to hear examples of this, Redditor Sasquatchfl asked:
"Rich people of Reddit, what's the craziest/most unethical thing you've seen people in your circle spend money on?"
Expensive experiences were a priority over prized possessions.
Live Sushi
"An ex worked for Dell in the late 90s/early 2000s. He was pretty high up and there were lots of partiers in his work circle. Went to a party hosted by one of the dellionaires and there was a body sushi girl. I don’t know what was paid to her, but it was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen."
– 5hrs4hrs3hrs2hrs1mor
Pissing Contest
"Paid a group of homeless guys to only use the bathroom on a competitors business. Eventually bought that place for a massive discount."
– Haboobalub
Let's Work Out
"My mother woke up one morning and said she felt she was way too fat and she wanted to get a treadmill. The treadmill wouldn’t be a problem, but then she saw where it would be and didn’t like the lighting. Fast forward 2 months later there’s a 40k outdoor gym built and connected to the house. She hasn’t used it once."
– Herrera5449_
Taking A Leap
"Travelled with a bunch of ex 'friends' all fairly wealthy."
"First trip to SE Asia together and as an ex-local I was a de-facto tour guide (despite not being there in over a decade)"
"They somehow found and offered a bunch of kids diving off cliffs to jump for spare change."
"They increasingly challenged each other to land their coins as close to the cliff base and small surrounding rocks for the kids to dive for."
– Satakans
It's about the finer things in life.
Expensive Party Gag
"A 3k ouija board from Gwen Paltrow's store. I didn't even know it was a thing until the dude brought it out. I really wanted to cut it up and see what it was made from. Looked nice don't get me wrong but the thing is basically a party gag. For 3 grand, it better summon a demon that's all I'm saying."
– con_this
Slow Burn
"$600 USD for a candle."
– Jeffranks
It's not always about the things you acquire.
Minor Inconvenience
"I know a guy who went to get a new drivers license and had to pay ~$100k in back parking tickets, then joked about it after."
"Apparently he couldn't get a permit to park in front of his house, so he just did anyway, and accepted like a $200 fine everyday."
– melodyze
For A Successful Election
"Not me, but I know a guy who crowd funded (read: threw a bunch of money into, then solicited more at a flea market) $80,000 toward his friend's DA election campaign. The guy won. So far, this has paid back at least $120K in avoided legal fees. I know some rich people. Most of them are more boring than you think. Hell, most of them drive Hondas, Toyotas, and Nissans."
– KP_Wrath
The Lance Corporal
"I was stationed with a Lance Corporal who was wealthy beyond means after selling some of his patents. He owned and piloted four helicopters. Lived in a palatial waterfront house in Jacksonville, NC."
"The cheapest one cost 400K. That's the one he trained on. The most expensive was about 1.2 million. That's 1.2 million 1981 dollars. The two he's got now are about 5 million each."
"Had a floating landing pad out back moored to his dock and another landing pad in the back yard. Kept two helicopters and a Rolls inside his custom-built hangar at Norfolk International Airport."
"He drove a pair of Rolls-Royces. He also toyed with a 900K Miami-Vice type speedboat. He also housed and transported his squad to Camp Lejeune and back in a custom mini-bus."
– ApplicationConnect55
The dude was very giving and lived a very clean life. He'd fly us to Norfolk, pickup the car and we'd do our shopping and eating. Hop in a chopper and return home. He'd fly his fire team down to Miami on weekends. He kept a Limo there and wore a chauffer's outfit and did all the driving.
He bought a full-service and licensed pub in Northern Ireland. He lives there with his wife. Does a lot of charity work there. We still keep in touch."
– ApplicationConnect55
When there's plenty of money going around, there's no need to worry about a single thing.
That peace of mind is a luxury in itself.
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When marriages or relationships fall apart, infidelity is not always the cause.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Liam_Tang asked:
"People who've divorced, aside from adultery, what were the irreconcilable differences that ended the marriage?"

You think you know a person when you walk down the aisle.
These Redditors were in for a rude awakening.
Pet Neglect
"My wife divorced her ex for many reasons, but the final straw was when she went out of town for a few days, and when she got back he had not fed or given water to the dog. The dog lived a long and happy life after that."
– StrangeCrimes
Obsessed With A Crush
"Not me, but I had an old coworker that divorced his wife for spending their entire savings on candy crush and games of the same type."
– Hexis40
Compatibility Musts
"ITT: Intimacy (sex/romance), beliefs (religion/spirituality/politics), kids, and I haven’t seen it yet but it’s coming: finances."
"The big four. You REALLY need to discuss these things in detail BEFORE getting married."
– rabbiskittles
Physical violence is a legit reason for people to peace out of a relationship.
The Flattening
"She threatened to hit me with a hammer."
– michaelrohansmith
Hitting The Bottle
"She became an abusive alcoholic. It was sad but I had to get out."
– diegojones4
Emotional pain is too damaging to recover from.
Truth Hurts
"She told me as we stood in front of the judge ending our 7 year marriage, 'I never loved you, I just wanted kids.'"
– Pinch_Dogs
Can't Fix Angry
"She was beautiful/smart but an angry angry person. I thought I could be sweet to her and 'fix' that. Heh. She kicked the crap out of me emotionally. Wife II has been a walk in the roses for 32 years now :)"
– lowlandr
A change of heart is worthless if comes too late.
"We Could've Had A Nice Marriage
"He could not understand that my wants and needs were as important as his wants and needs. We tried to make it work for 7 years. During that time, for things that were really important to me, I tried explaining logically, asking nicely, begging, crying, yelling, passive aggressiveness... cycled back through all of these options multiple times."
"(If I knew something was important to him, I would do that. For example, he was really into sports, so I went to all his events, even though that is not at all my thing.) When I finally threw up my hands and told him it was time to get a divorce, he suddenly panicked and said 'What can I do? Do you want me to do half the chores? I'll do it! Do you want me to get a job? I'll do it! Do you want me to buy you presents for your birthday? I'll do it!'"
"So, in other words, he could have been doing that all along, but just couldn't be bothered. That made me so angry. We could have had a nice marriage that we both enjoyed, but no, by the time he saw the light, that ship had sailed."
"We are both happily remarried now (to different people) and I joke that his new wife owes me a thank you note. It was his experience with me that taught him to listen to her and take her needs seriously."
– Bluebird-True
"What Can I Do?"
"My ex was exactly like this. I didn't marry him but when I told him let's break up, he went all like, what can I do? Let's get engaged, let's look at houses, etc. Basically all the pre-marriage topics that we should be discussing about after being together for 7 years."
"I got so angry and straight up told him it's too late... I don't need you anymore."
– gudetarako
As much as a couple wants to stay together, unforeseen circumstances can eventually tear people apart.
Very few people can maintain healthy long-distance relationships.
When a new job opportunity takes a significant other away, would you begrudge them for wanting a better position to earn more money? Or is it better for them to reluctantly turn down the opportunity so they could stay with you? Do either scenarios breed resentment?
These were questions I've often asked myself with past relationships, and my answers varied depending on the person I was with.
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