Redditor HRJafael wanted to know who still has their doors open and has some staff, so they asked:
"What 'obsolete' companies are you surprised are still holding on in the modern world?"
The other day I saw a Radio Shack. I thought it was 1999.
What's next? A Circuit City?
Who is She?
Weight Loss Lol GIF by Sofa City SweetheartGiphy"Jenny Craig just bottomed up this week. I'm surprised it lasted this long."
BlackPopeye_03
Knock, Knock
"I had some older woman knocking on my door at like 2 pm on a Wednesday trying to come in and give me a demo of a Kirby vacuum cleaner. Also, door-to-door salespeople are apparently still a thing in 2023."
jimx117
"I have a nice Kirby from one of those salespeople. Convinced her to try some homemade shine. Her driver/supervisor stopped and tried some as well. They both got so buzzed they left the demo model at my house. It’s been 4 years and no one has tried to get it back. Quite a few attachments as well."
HoosierPaul
The Catalog
"I read that Netflix just announced they are going to stop mailing DVD's for rental in the next few months. I thought they stopped doing that a long time ago."
King_Kong_The_eleven
"Apparently this is a big deal for hardcore movie fans, as there are many movies deep in the movie catalog that are not available to view through streaming."
roraima_is_very_tall
"There's a reasonably large community that prefers physical media, particularly UHD BDs to streaming. I mean it does make sense, those enthusiasts have spent considerable amounts of money on their equipment, so they will naturally get the best possible picture quality."
samstown23
Hey John
"There's a secret society among us that is keeping Long John Silvers afloat."
EMPRAH40k
"My grandma liked to go there for a piece of fish and some hush puppies. Then she’d take me to McDonald’s for coffee (for her -I was a small child) and a vanilla cone. When I miss her I go to one of the last Long John Silvers in my area and get fish and hush puppies."
yesiamyam233203
"Secret society meaning those who only eat fish during Lent."
"I mentioned it in a different thread but Lent is like a 40-day Black Friday for Long John Silvers."
"Source: former LJS employee who experienced lines out the door during Lent."
StasnoFrete
AO What?
aol GIFGiphy"Blows my mind that aol.com is still a thing."
Iliveacrossthegreen
"I honestly thought this was gone and I didn't notice until I worked in IT support and saw people with AOL emails. Total shock for me."
Arcades_Samnoth
I still can't believe I know people with AOL.
Do they know the century?
Bad Execution
raul julia GIFGiphy"Cutco. Seems like they could be much more successful if they dropped their current sales rep pyramid model."
i0datamonster
"Yeah, I never understood the MLM thing. Sometimes the product is actually good, but the execution is garbage."
CpuJunky
I need a number
"The yellow pages."
AlternativeSelfee
"I do remember before being able to look stuff up online, going out of town & browsing the yellow pages @ the hotel looking for places to eat & many other things. I couldn't tell you when I last saw a set of yellow pages."
Runes_my_ride
"I work at a hotel. About once every two years I get someone asking if we have a copy of the Yellow Pages."
steelgate601
A reason for every holiday...
"Party City. Their stores are huge and every time I go there’s less than 10 customers."
iamnotkelly
"Party City is one of those stores that makes its nut from a few days a year. The week before Halloween and there's a line out the door."
"4th of July, Easter, graduation time, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are when they do their business. It's a one-stop shop for everything you need for an event that allows you to see it beforehand and not make a bad Amazon purchase."
StalkMeNowCrazyLady
Bad Health
"Herbalife. Don’t the people know? Lol."
CThreePHo
"They've been opening storefronts that pose as small health food shake shops in place of (or in addition to?) the old MLM model. They just opened one down the street from my job and stopped by with free samples."
"They tried really hard to disguise that it's Herbalife."
"It's a really weird business model, you buy a 'one-day membership' in their health club that comes with a shake and an energy tea and I think that's supposed to let them skirt some legal issue with the shops?"
daabilge
Check Please
Applebees GIFGiphy"Applebees. I can microwave my own food."
User8675309021069
"The other week I was at Applebee's when the waitress came by and I told her that my Pepsi wasn't tasting right, and she offered to put water in it."
Applebee's? Who in the world wold still eat there? I've turned down free food from there. Geesh.
What would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
But guess what? Retail can be painful in many other ways, as explained here by the shoppers of Reddit. RelapsedCatoonist asked:
Which store is the most painful to shop at?
Speaking of painful, let’s talk about the stores that are hella confusing to navigate.
Sears was a beast.
“It used to be Sears when they were still around.
It was impossible to find anyone, they never had what I wanted, and I went to the same Sears for most of my life. When I was younger, it was a beast, but near the end, you can tell it was dying.”
“Sears has become a case study of poor management. With their early history as a catalog store they could have repurposed themselves using that image arcing to the internet age and competed with Amazon. Instead the CEO pitted different parts of the organization against each other in the belief that the competition would make the company stronger but all they did was eat each other and aid in its destruction.”
Why are Hot Topic stores so small, anyway?
scared hot topic GIF by South Park Giphy“Hot Topic. I never understood how every Hot Topic store I've been to has the same squished layout. I still occasionally go because it's one of the few in person places I can shop for fandom merch (at least where I live). But c'mon, why it always gotta be so thin and narrow?"
The smell in these shops are unbearable.
“Abercombie and Fitch and Hollister are not ideal places to shop when you have asthma.”
“Also, why do they advertise clothes by plastering the walls with photos of topless models being photographed from the chest up? The guy isn't even wearing anything that you're selling; why is he there?”
These guys are totally right about Hollister and Hot Topic. But what about the smaller stores?
People do this???
“Most of the convenience stores in my neighborhood. There's almost always a person buying lotto tickets. They can't buy them all at once though. First they need to get their previous tickets checked/cashed in. Then they need to buy their weekly tickets. Then they need to buy a couple scratch'n'win tickets, which they quickly scratch off just the verification area. Depending on those "winnings" they'll buy more. When that's done, they'll look at how much change they have left and buy a couple more tickets.
Meanwhile, there's a line of people forming behind the gambler as they treat the cashier like a slot machine.”
It’s a clothing store, not a club.
Animated GIFGiphy“Any store that I can hear before I see. Dark lights and thumping music is really not necessary in a clothing store and I'll walk straight past every time no matter how good the clothes are.”
This is so messed up.
“Any stores with their exit located behind the cash registers forcing you to cut through a line of people waiting to pay.
F*ck your tricks.”
“My local Walmart has blocked off every unused register so you have to go through a line to exit the store. And they want you to stand in line with nothing (or a bag of meds you picked up from pharmacy) wait your turn, and tell them you don't need to checkout before you can leave.
I refuse to do this and usually just squish past people if I have to go in.”
The most painful of all retailers.
“Cellphone carriers.
You can't get anything done at AT&T or similar without them trying to sell you 15 things and services that are totally irreverent to what you need.
That is why I switched to Boost because they will actually just sell you a phone without trying to sell you half the store.
What should be a 10 minute experience of buying and activation of a phone ends up being about half an hour.
On that note, rereading this, this is totally a first world problem.”
On second thought, maybe we should just shop online instead.
Looking at you, LUSH.
How Are You Help GIF by Your Happy WorkplaceGiphy“Any store where employees are constantly hounding you about helping find something. Please leave me alone to browse in peace, if I needed help I would come ask.”
“I used to work at a Target and were told we'd get yelled at if you didn't ask. It was also a theft deterrent. I go to Target all the time and no one asks me which I am okay with actually.
I really hate how the American meaning of good service is bugging your customer/patient/whatever constantly as opposed to just flagging someone down when you need something.”
Nothing wrong with boring underwear.
“Victoria’s Secret can suck it. Went there as a teenager with a group of friends to get "properly fitted" for bras. The sales lady was all positive and enthusiastic and assured us that they had the perfect bra for each of us. Get to me, and I measured at 34AA. She frowns and says, "oh we don't carry that small a size, you will have to special order it." So I had to sit there on a stupid pink velvet bench and watch my "normal" friends pick out frilly bras.
That experience ruined my self-esteem for years. Luckily, now I love my little t*tties and my boring underwear!!”
Nothing wrong with being barefaced, either.
“Holy sh*t, Sephora 100%. If you're not wearing at least 7 shades of eyeshadow they think you're either stealing or don't belong there.”
“Ulta is like that too though. They try to steer you towards the super expensive brands or they talk down to you. when joked I was just looking for a concealer in almost white because I'm pale to a girl there, she got snippy with me and was like ‘actually you mean fair skinned’ lmao.”
So to sum it up--turn down the music, stop cleaning your carpets with nasty perfume, and leave me the hell alone. Shopping would be a much better experience that way.
They gotta make money, sometimes they just go about it in an unethical way. Retailers--be the change!
Myla Corvidae, 30, was born female and now identifies as transgender non-binary using they/them pronouns.
Myla Corvidae /SWNS.COM
They had picked up a few items of clothing from the menswear section of M&S in Aberdeen, Scotland, and wanted to try them on in the store.
But a member of staff told them they could not try the clothes on in the changing rooms by the menswear section.
Myla says they were told the facilities were "only for men" during the incident on December 31, 2019.
A spokesman for M&S admitted "a mistake was made" and the store has apologized - including a personal letter from the manager.
Google
Myla, of Aberdeen, said:
"I'd picked up some shirts and jumpers from the menswear section and went into the changing rooms nearby. There was no attendant so I just went on in."
"I left the changing room to grab a bigger size in one of the jumpers and a female attendant approached me on the shop floor."
"She told me I couldn't use the changing rooms there as they were 'only for men' and said that I had to use the changing rooms downstairs which are for women."
"I was utterly shocked and the only thing I could think of to say was 'I'm not female' to which she looked me up and down, apologized and walked off."
"I felt sick, like I was being accused of some kind of crime just for trying on clothes. Afterwards, I went home and cried - I have never been accosted like that in a store before."
"I had to go back in and speak to someone in store because no one took it seriously the first time and I started crying even trying to talk about it again with them."
Myla Corvidae /SWNS.COM
Myla had been shopping in the Aberdeen City Center branch of Marks & Spencer regularly for the past five years before this happened.
Following the incident, Myla has complained to Marks & Spencer who have formally apologized to them both in person and via letter.
Despite the apology from the company, Myla feels unable to return to the shop due to the distress caused on that day.
Myla said:
"I don't think the apology was enough to be honest, it shouldn't have ever happened to start with and I have lost confidence in Marks & Spencer as a company for standing up for trans folk like myself."
"I still feel scared to shop at Marks & Spencer in case it happens again elsewhere or if I have to deal with that same person again."
"The fact that I saw a female using the space at the same time in full view of the attendant when I left the changing rooms just made it so much more of a personal attack."
"I honestly don't think I would go back there, I don't want to have to experience something like that again or see that staff member again."
"I am still very much upset by what happened and if I were to go back I wouldn't go on my own and I would not be shopping for clothes there again."
Myla Corvidae /SWNS.COM
An M&S spokesperson said:
"With our fitting rooms we only offer individual lockable cubicles and this is to ensure every customer feels comfortable and has the privacy they need."
"The fitting rooms are located within our womenswear and menswear departments and therefore are mainly used by customers of that gender. However, as an inclusive retailer and in line with most other retailers, we allow customers the choice of fitting room in respect of how they identify themselves."
"Clearly on this occasion a mistake was made, we have apologized to our customer for this incident, additionally our store manager wrote a personal apology assuring the customer they have spoken to the team."
"My wife and I had our first baby a month ago. She prefers to pump a few bottles worth of milk at a time and feed the baby from the bottle. She stores the bottles in the fridge."
"My little brother has never had a girlfriend. He acts quite awkward around my wife and other women from what I've seen. He came to my house last week to see the baby and he noticed the bottles in the fridge."
"Yesterday, my wife and I, along with our baby, went over to my parent's house. My brother knows since he's in our family group chat. He texted me when I was at my parent's house that he bought my baby some cool clothes and will drop them off. He knows my front door pin to get in."
"When I got home I saw the cool clothes he bought and thanked him via text. My wife bottle fed my baby that night with no issues. Today, however, she said the baby reacted very differently to the new bottle she fed her. She coughed much more than usual and spat out the milk, which never happened before. So, my wife tasted it and said it was cow milk, not her milk. She told me to taste it too and compare it with the two other bottles in the fridge. That bottle indeed tasted much more like cow milk than the other two."
"My wife suspected it was my brother drinking her breast milk and swapping out that bottle with cow milk. I agreed that it would not be out of character for him to do that. I thought it was a bit fishy he would come by and drop off clothes, especially since that was the first time he would come to my house when no one was home."
"I called my brother and asked him why he would drop by when we were not home and why he couldn't wait a few hours until we got home. He said he just bought the clothes from the nearby mall and it was more convenient to drop them off then. I asked him to please tell me the truth if he swapped my wife's breast milk with cow milk and he vehemently denied it. I told him how we found out the bottle contained cow milk and what a coincidence it must be. He said he really doesn't know, but I could hear the tremble in his words. I told him that my wife and I don't believe him and if he doesn't apologize now, we would tell our parents what happened and ask what they think. He once again denies doing anything so I hung up."
"Before calling my parents, I want to know what you guys think first. Are my wife and I just paranoid or do we have good enough reason to believe my brother swapped out her breast milk with cow milk?" u/902I0
Not Around my Kids!
Giphy"Wow this is weird.... does he have a history of this kind of thing? It almost seems sexually deviant. Why would he do this? Breastmilk is usually a bit different in color then cow milk, more yellow, much sweeter, and cows milk is definitely way harder for babies to digest. So if you are sure it was cow milk in the bottle, then it sounds like he's the only one that could have done it. Anyone else in your house? Maybe ask him in person. Face to face. To be sure. If he did this, then he was putting your baby's health at risk for his own twisted gain, and that is really crappy of him. I wouldn't want him around my kids!" Raven3131
Mistakes Happen....
"Did you even think about the possibility that he just knocked it over? That he was smelling and looking and dropped it. Or that he has this awful rash and has read breastmilk helps (true) and used it for that. You mind jumps right to drinking, but that's not at all the issue."
"Cows milk is very, very bad for baby's. They should not be drinking it at all. I would tell your brother that, make it clear why it's bad and ask him if he, or anyone else, can be honest next time something happens to the breastmilk. If it falls, be honest, do NOT replace with cow's milk. Or with anything."
"Also, how did she not notice? They don't look the same at all. It's really barely a mistake you can make, unless you don't look at the bottle when you take it out of the fridge."Gwennie333
Check Up.
"My daughter got really really sick (she was hospitalized) from drinking cow's milk. And she is 5 months old so I can only imagine how much more dangerous it is to a month-old. I'm not in the best position to give my judgement. Mine is to urge you to please follow up and check if everything is okay with your baby." murrayxi
Be Sure.
"You sound somewhat skeptical that it was 100% cow milk— If it was cow milk, it was surely your brother. In which case; NTA at all. Cow milk is not good, and can mess some babies up digestion-wise. NTA, and your brother is weird."jakejames
"I don't have the best of taste buds. Plus, the temperature of the supposed cow milk is a bit warmer than the refrigerated breast milk, so that throws things off a little. I'm 90% sure it's cow milk and my wife said she's 100% sure."902I0
Skin Crawl.
Giphy"I am a breastfeeding mom, and this made my skin crawl. If it really was drank by him, how absolutely intrusive and deviant. It's very dangerous for babies to have anything other then formula/breastmilk when they're that young as well."
"The only other explanation I can think of is the milk going bad somehow. Which if you're freezing before 24 hours it shouldn't be bad and should be fine in the fridge."
"Your brother is a creep if he did that, and I would keep him away from your wife and baby." Dontsuffocate
"you just know?"
"WTH is this thread? Everybody either on the crap post train or NTA bandwagon?"
"OP, do you have any (I mean any) actual evidence that he did something wrong? None of those intuition nonsense or "you just know?".. that's not gonna cut it. Especially if you're planning on some sort of grand spectacle where you make your brother appear like some creepy sexual pervert."
"Maybe take a step back, deep breath and think whether whatever evidence you have is enough/conclusive because your relationship with your brother will likely never be the same afterwards but surely you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that discussion?"
"EDIT: Because it seems many responses are tripping up on this.. "none of this intuition nonsense" refers to the brother having done something and not whether it was or wasn't breast milk. That's a separate discussion in itself."rycology
Not in this House.
"NTA, and maybe make sure he cant get into your house when you're not home. That can be terrible for the poor baby's digestion, even deadly depending on the age. And... it sounds like your brother might be a sexual deviant, if he has done this, then he has gone out of his way to set up a situation where he's violating your wife's dignity in her own home. Protect your family from the threat, brother or not, and tell your parents. Cow milk and breast milk are noticeably different, trust your judgement and make sure these more subtle offenses don't turn into something more sinister. Your wife must feel pretty gross, I'm sorry for you both." haveitoldyouyethaveitoldyouyet
Sour taste.
Giphy"NTA, him drinking your wife's milk is incredibly creepy, and not only that but he also endangered your child's health. If I was your wife I wouldn't want him near me, breastfeeding a child is extremely personal, him inserting himself into that feels really intrusive and wrong."nessy612
About Him.
"Has he ever done anything comparable to this that would lead you to believe it was him? I mean the evidence you have is pretty damning as it is" casualpotato96
"Nothing comparable. He's a socially awkward but very intelligent guy. He never got into trouble as a kid. But like I said, he's super awkward around women, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's a bit sexually deviant." 902I0
Menace.
"NTA, and the really serious issue here is that your baby could have been killed by his stunt. Google infants drinking cow's milk. Change your pin code. Your brother is a menace and a weirdo. I wouldn't ever trust him again. Take your baby to the doctor immediately and tell them what happened." brotogeris1
Accidents Happen.
Giphy"I really hope the dude like dropped or accidentally used them or something. But i'd feel like he would admit if that happened so."Korpela
"I'm sorry to tell you this because it's disgusting but there are a fair amount of men who drink breast milk because they think it will help them gain muscle mass."
"Edit: okay I get that it's not actually that disgusting and just bc something grosses me out doesn't mean it's automatically bad. I do think it's stupid because there is 0% proof that it works and also a lot of the time they're buying it out while parents whose babies can't take formula and whose mothers can't provide enough for them really struggle (my cousin went through this) so I don't have a lot of respect for the guys involved lmao."hogelett
Get Him!
"Nail his butt to the wall. There is a huge difference between the sweet taste of breast milk and cow milk. Newborns can't digest cow milk, can have a bad reaction to it, and your baby could have gotten really sick from drinking it. Even before formula and if another nursing mom couldn't help they never gave babies straight cow milk. Goat milk is much closer to human milk. Your brother might of just been curious but he has to know you don't mess with the baby's stuff because they can get hurt."lisasimpsonfan
"will you go fill up a bottle of milk for my baby?"
"Don't ever underestimate people's ability to be ignorant of things you think are obvious. This is the same world where men thought there were left and right tampons. I don't know anything about babies (I'm a woman) and if I hadn't seen various PETA things about how cows milk isn't meant for humans, I might not realize that it made much difference. I could see someone saying "will you go fill up a bottle of milk for my baby?" and grabbing the quart of cows milk without realizing they were supposed to look for a bottle that had been pumped. I once had a friend who couldn't figure out that you had to put water in a coffee maker in addition to the grounds. Smart guy, too, at least in terms of book intelligence."JLLsat
Set a Trap....
"This might be horrible advice, but I would tell your brother that the baby is having a horrible reaction to the milk and is in the ER and you need to know if the baby drank cow milk."
"Edit: I have been enjoying the conversation this comment has turned out, thanks for that and the silver."
"In reality, OP most likely already missed his chance at a straight out confession and doing this tactic wouldn't work if the brother is already on the defensive."
"I do think it is fair game to say the baby is having a reaction and it is important to know if the milk was changed. Maybe he could have framed it as something where he thought the brother was trying to do a favor and filled a bottle for them, that they appreciate it, but if it is cow's milk, it is bad for the baby... etc. etc."Punky_Grifter
Is He a Fool?
Giphy"Is your brother an adult? What the hell is he doing swapping out food for your child like that, and drinking breast milk? I tell you the code to my place would be changed immediately. What else has he done in your place?" MaryK007
"He's 23. I will definitely change my code ASAP. He hasn't done anything out of the ordinary in my place since he's only there when I'm home as far as I know."u/902I0
Get a new Code...
"I'd make sure to not give him the new code. Cows milk is not good for babies under 1yr. As a pumping mother the taste between breast milk and cows milk is very different, there is no way you could mistake the taste. It may have been curiosity or, as others have said, if he is a body builder he may have heard it's good for muscle repair or he might have decided to try and sell some. But in my opinion he has drunk it. I would test the other bottles or even dispose of them rather than feed them to your baby, in case he has tampered with them too." Kapearce82
Family Can be Trouble.
"I read the other comments before making this post. Specifically to the other folks saying this couldn't be real... I hate to be the one to point this out, but lactation fetishes are real, and quite common."
"OP, follow the other poster's advice. Change your security PIN, limit your brother's access to your wife and child, and tell your parents about this breach of trust. You need to make it clear to your brother that his behavior hurt his family and it's unacceptable."
"Also, tell your wife to look through her undergarments to see if anything is missing. While I don't want to condemn your brother as "the creepy pervert" I wouldn't be surprised if she was missing at least one pair of undergarments."CIA_astroturf_acct82
HIDE!
"You're not an a**hole."
"Bro what the HECK??? I don't think you should let your brother see your wife anymore cause that's so creepy. I know I'd be mad about it. I'm not sure how your relationship with ur brother is but I'd definitely distance myself. He's a creep and a fool in my opinion, especially if he DRANK it. I cannot even begin to imagine how uncomfortable and upset you and your wife are, but I hope things turn out well and that you guys get some peace of mind." Sara-tonin-
Be Serious.
Giphy"Seriously, this needs to be on top! OP just had a baby a mouth ago. A child this young should not be having cow's milk this young since their digestion system isn't fully develop and can't digest it fully."
Well, reader, what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.