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
Quench That Thirst
"My biological father investing in those get rich quick health scams. Literally spent thousands of dollars on bottles of f'king fruit juice, only for him to drink all of his product and not make back a dime. Not that he'd make any money off of it anyway, they can get organic juice at the store for far f'king less."
– Silver-Syndicate
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
Hire A Band, Or Two Or Three
"Got invited to a birthday party at a vineyard. They had food trucks, open bar, and three stages for musical acts. The acts were Flo Rida, Duran Duran and Wyclef Jean. The following year the acts were Drake and Imagine Dragons."
– Hawk13424
Historical Obsession
"I'm not rich but in high school I had a friend who's dad spent vast sums of money on historical Nazi paraphernalia. My friend said he was a big fan of WW2 history but he didn't collect a single item that wasn't specifically related to the Nazis. He kept it all in his 'office' which was literally just a shrine to the Third Reich. It was super creepy. The scariest part is that my friend's dad was a high ranking police officer where we lived."
– staffsargent
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
Transportation Provided
"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
All Is Fine
"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
Day Trippin'
"I knew a guy who flew to the Neatherlands and back in a single day in order to see a concert."
– Aidan11
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.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
There's a reason why they say a person makes an honest living.
Many of us tend to forget there are shady operations by which wage-earners make their money, and if they have a conscience, it's not telling them what they are doing to survive is most definitely an honest way to survive.
With people willing to do anything for money, there are plenty of jobs that can potentially make one lose sleep at night.
Curious to explore this notion, Redditor MoronByTrade asked:
"What is the most unethical profession?"
"Professions" exploiting the elderly and other vulnerable people continue to be rampant.
Scammers
"Any profession where the source of your income is scamming the old and/or the gullible."
– EvidentlyEmpirical
Financial Help At A Cost
"Pay day loans. Want a loan with 600% interest?"
– starving_to_death
"My job just partnered with a company to advance your check if needed. The company has all of our info such as hourly rate and time clock punches. If you make $10 an hour and have 80 hours of punches, they will give you an $800 advance. No interest, but they don't take out taxes. Girl I work with had been taking an advance every 2 weeks because 'you make more money this way.' I told her she's getting f'ked in April but she doesn't believe me."
– minnick27
The Struggling Friend
"I have a friend who works her ass off, has had a difficult life and had been struggling a bit, and needed $250 to make rent. I had just set up her computer and had stopped by to drop something off and she was filling in the financial info part of a payday loan form, and had already clicked 'next' after she entered her contact information. I stopped her and helped her out with the money in exchange for one of her amazing dinners if I bought the groceries."
"About a week later she called me crying, saying there was an officer coming to her house to arrest her for non-payment of the payday loan that she didn't get. These ruthless f'ks took her info and tried to scare her into giving them twice the amount she was going to take out. I calmed her down, assured her, then reassured her later that night when she called me again, that it was a scam and she wasn't getting arrested."
"This woman is one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. She's older, doesn't have much of an education, but has raised some amazing children and would give you the shirt off of her back if you needed it. F'k those douchebag scammers."
Edit: If I didn't make it clear, the police were not actually being sent to arrest her, they can't do that, and when she called me, I explained this to her. Saying that someone will be served or arrested is a common, shady way for debt collectors to scare people into paying a debt (in this case a debt she didn't owe). The whole thing was a scam to scare her into paying them using the info she entered to attempt to get a payday loan.
– Clusterf**kySh*tshow
Teaching By Example
"I teach highschool economics, and occasionally when I get a scam call during class, I'll plug my phone into my projector speakers and answer it in front of my students."
"I play along and ask the scammer questions to make it seem like I'm a good Mark. My students have prior instructions on types of scams, and their job is to figure out which scam this is and how it works as I go through the call. Afterwards we'll discuss what happened."
"When I decide to end the call, we usually either just hang up or we mess with them a bit. One time a student jumped in and asked the scammer if his mother was proud of him, and the guy cussed us out and hung up. That story is legend among my students."
– StrategicWindSock
It's confounding how people in these positions get away with everything, under the guise of work.
Shady Media Outlets
"Media outlets that take money from interest groups (or owned by specific people) and espouses their talking points instead of reporting the factual truth."
– nowhereisaguy
Bad Reputation
"Politician shouldn't be, but the system makes it really easy for people to forget they are public servants and not out for themselves."
– theliability10
The Palm Message
"One of my coworkers used to be a repo man. One time he was telling me about his tattoo. Often while hooking up the car to tow it, the person would come up to him and say 'isn't there some way I can get you to not take it'" On his left palm in all caps was tattooed PAY HERE."
"He'd drop the car for $100 and tell his boss he didn't find it. I opined that that sounded kind of f'ked up. He said it was actually way cheaper for them to pay him and maybe have time to fix the situation than it would be to try and get the car un-repoed from the yard with the bank involved. He's not wrong, sadly."
– Lampwick
Based on the input from these Redditors, there is corruption in faith.
Con Artist
"Televangelists. Easy, they're confidence men, and true pieces of sh*t. Looking at you Joel 'I'm a garbage f'king person' Osteen."
– Silkysenko91
Bad Conduits
"Mediums and psychics who capitalize on the pain and grief their clients feel from losing someone they love. 'I will help you communicate with your dead loved one for $200 an hour' the Gabby Petito (sp?) Case was so f'ked up with all the Tik Tok psychos, oh I'm sorry, psychics posting videos saying she was speaking to them from beyond the grave."
– Alohamora95
Prosperity Preachers
"The tech support scammers are usually poor and desperate and sometimes dumb enough that they think they are doing a legitimate job (some of the frontline ones are just there to make initial calls and get a mark on the line--they pass it off to the next level of scammer once they find someone who 'needs technical support')."
"But the prosperity preachers are pure scum. They could be normal preachers. They could take other jobs. They could quit now and still be fabulously wealthy...but they don't do any of those things because they are terrible people."
– RegulatoryCapture
Like many Redditors here mentioned, scammers are the lowest of the low.
The lengths at which they go to prey on people by coming up with elaborate schemes and backup plans to ensure their ploy will work is baffling.
It's become our job to watch our backs. Remember the following points to prevent you from being a sucker when you respond to suspicious calls.
Never send money in order to receive a prize.
Never send personal or financial information when prompted.
And remember it's a big red flag if someone puts pressure on your to act quickly or there would be consequences involving the FBI or law enforcement.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
It's no secret that businesses will cut corners to increase profitability however, there is a line-a big red line that should not be crossed. When it comes to safety or ethics cutting costs should not come first. Almost everyone has had on-the-job experiences where bosses have asked them to do something that didn't sit right with them.
One job I left after being pressured to break my own morals was *surprise* working retail. It was a mall jeweler and we were closely tracked on how many credit card apps we sell in a day and they wanted us to sell a minimum of several hundred dollars to customers per visit. We were given guidance on how to sign people up for the credit cards without actually telling them it was a credit card. It went beyond sales tactics into straight-up dishonesty, we were also encouraged to take advantage of people who may not understand what we were doing and to put pressure on the vulnerable.
Grandma comes in looking around? Tell her you just want to help her save by making her a "member" and need some info, get her into a credit card and then max it out by guilting her into buying hundreds in things she doesn't need because her family will love her so much more for the gifts. It just felt gross.
Right before I left there was a region-wide legal issue that was being investigated. Turns out employees-encouraged by their managers-had been opening credit accounts under customers' names and charging expensive jewelry to them without their knowledge just to reach sales goals and the commission. We weren't supposed to talk about it but it was a company-wide issue not a unique experience.
Bad as it was it was still minor compared to some of the stories below that are outright dangerous.
Redditor Inner-Housing1927 asked:
“What's that one blatantly illegal or unethical thing management forced you to do at work??"
The responses confirmed what we already expected...bare bottom morals.
"The building itself was also a literal death trap.”
“Worked at a little drive through coffee stand. Boss was incredibly cheap. Wanted me to use about half the grounds necessary to pull a good shot. If a cup fell on the floor I was supposed to rinse it and use it anyway (I did not). That kinda thing.”
“The building itself was also a literal death trap. The fire marshal came out for an inspection one day and straight up said they hoped I wasn't inside when it caught fire.”
“The electrical system was overloaded, and the appliances were all situated between the main workspace and the door, thankfully the drive up window wasn't too high so I probably could have jumped if need be. The nail in the coffin though was that they wanted to bring by stock at the very end of my shift and expected me to clock out before putting it away if they were late.”
“I refused so I'd constantly be harassed about how they were poor small business owners and I needed to understand (they weren't poor by any means). I eventually found a better job and quit but they told all my former coworkers they'd fired me for stealing.” caffeineandsarcasm
Dangerous infrastructure...
“Pass a concrete strength test that failed two of the three data points, but the third was high enough that the average was fine. The very small footbridge broke. They got sued, I quit.” sandh035
Good advice: “Take notes of the bad things they do and keep dates.”
“I worked maintenance a plastic molding company. We had a grinder that would destroy plastic chunks turning them into tiny pieces. Well the hopper where the plastic is added has a huge sign on it saying ‘don't lean in’ right on the front near the opening.”
“There was a request from a worker asking for padding because he would hurt his stomach when he leaned in. When I told him I was not going to do it, he glared at me telling me, ‘sometimes you just have to get over yourself and do what you're told.’”
“When I put my two weeks in, the plant manager asked my reasons, I mentioned that as one of them. PM told me he and the safety manager told the maintenance manager that was not to be done. The MM was fired in the middle of my two weeks.”
“On a positive note, I was asked to list off the reasons why I quit in the legal hearing when the MM sued the plastics company for wrongful termination. Advice for everyone. Take notes of the bad things they do and keep dates.” yankstraveler
“notifying them that what they were doing was extortion...”
“Fortunately I wasn't dumb, so I refused. But I had worked for a bakery for five years before receiving a better offer at competing bake shop. I was polite and gave them two weeks notice, they turned around and told me I wouldn't receive my last two paychecks until I signed a NDA.”
“I didn't say a word in return, just calmly walked out and went straight to the department of labor. Sent them an official form notifying them that what they were doing was extortion, it was a class four felony, and they had two weeks to send me my paychecks or I would see them in court. They complied within three days.” Inomsbacon
Window Cleaners Share The Best Things They've Ever Seen | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Some fishy business practices...
“My first ever job as a teen was at a small fish and chip shop. There was a bit of cod that was getting a bit smelly, so my boss threw it in the bin. A couple of hours later after the evening rush, I was washing up at the sink next to said bin.“
“My boss came out, reached in the bin and dug out the cod. He rinsed it very sparingly under the tap I had running, before going out and dipping it in batter and serving it to a customer.”
“I was a very timid 16 year old at the time and I asked him why he would sell that, he just shrugged and said ‘we didn't have any other medium cod’. The shift after that I was making the pea fritter mix ready to be battered.”
“We used to use an ice cream scoop to get the mushy peas into a ball shape. I accidentally dropped a whole scoop on the sticky floor, and he told me to pick it up and squish it back into a ball. Um, no. I left the next week and went to work in a shop.“ Comfortable_blanket
Heavy equipment with only three wheels...
“I was told to run a remote overhead crane with only 3 wheels. it carried large coils of rolled-up aluminum for Ladle Treatment. The aluminum would swing and cause the missing wheel area to bottom out, causing more swing and making it worse."
“This was moving over my coworker's heads. The foreman told me to keep doing it... i called the safety team and they came up and said 'hell no' another foreman came up and ordered me to run it but have everyone clear the area...ok that's sorta safe I guess but killed production."
“The 2nd foreman later 'reminded' me that I hadn't filled out the daily safety inspection. Well, don't mind if I do. Red section 'if anything is checked in this area do not operate' let's see...missing wheel, check. mechanical problems, check. The first foreman sees what I'm doing and says 'the wheel is on order it's just not here yet.'"
"'OK what's that got to do with this liability checklist I was told to fill out?' Back to the checklist, oh look a write-in section. 'INOP crane ordered to be run by 3rd foreman' signed me 'Smartass Steelworker' the 3rd foreman was the 2nd guy it was 3rd shift."
"What he didn't know was he didn't comeback to my area for the rest of the night and the checklist was picked up by the General Foreman in the morning when I got off. I came in that night to a sh*tstorm."
"he safety team had lost its mind, that paper I filled out went directly to OSHA. That missing wheel showed up in record time and they had been down all day fixing it. I showed up and it had just been certified by the millwrights." BlueFalconPunch
Petty...
“I was asked to cut off a doctor from getting new clients in an effort to get them to quit, while at the same time lying to them about why they weren't getting new clients. I was asked to do this twice with two different doctors.”
“Before I left I told the doctor in question (the other one had already quit) what I had been told to do. It didn't go well for them. Seriously, just grow up and fire people you don't like. Don't do this.” Gigglekittens
“he said he didn't care, it's how he made his profit...”
“At all butchers I worked at, they had me re-label almost anything that had a short date. This was to give it a longer date. The worst one was the chicken, which would be frozen, defrosted for selling.”
“If it didn't sell, back in the freezer it went, then back out the next day to thaw and sell. Re-labelled. I confronted the owner about this, and he said he didn't care, it's how he made his profit. Safe to say I quit a month later.” CrysisRegrets
A dangerous combination...
“I was asked to sign off on a plan to immediately start receiving, storing, and using huge quantities of an extremely volatile chemical without any of the necessary infrastructure or procedures to do so even remotely safely. It would have almost literally been a ticking time bomb.”
“It was also all for a new product they wanted to get into the market ASAP which they'd skipped 95% of the design control process for and mostly bypassed both the Quality and Regulatory departments on.”
“When I was pulled into a meeting with upper management about it, I told them that if they were going to actually consider this then I needed to quit effective immediately to avoid implicating myself in what they were doing. Oddly they suddenly started taking my concerns very seriously after I said that.”
“Rather than overtly evil, they ended up simply being a terrifyingly dangerous combination of ignorant, eager, optimistic, and overconfident in their own knowledge.” Stylemys
Working in surgery with no medical experience!?
“I got hired as a secretary for a plastic surgery office. Was told I would be answering phones/scheduling and that's it. I had zero medical experience and told them this. On day 1 I was handed a pair of scrubs and told that I was also going to be a scrub tech as well."
“I was instructed to assist the doctor in surgery (basically I handed in tools, held tools that were attached to the patient, etc). I almost passed out on the first day from shock. I was assured over and over again that it was legal. Whether it was legal or not I'm not sure, but I lasted 3 months and quit as soon as I found another job." JustSuze_393
In the corporate world, one thing seems to trump all ethics and statutes--the dollar. However, when faced with these awful and potentially dangerous situations, it's always best to speak up if you're able.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
The commonality of a practice is not a reliable expression of how moral or justified that practice is. Let's put that in more direct terms: there are a lot of people out here doing all kinds of terrible stuff that we're just "used to."
With life flying forward, through chaos, at an impossible pace, it's easy for us to lull ourselves into acceptance of scathing abuses to humans, animals, or general ethics. It takes deliberate efforts to really notice and internalize the questionable things occurring all the time.
To do that noticing, some help is often required.
A recent Reddit thread offered just that kind of help. The forum offered readers a chance to stop, learn about things happening under the radar, really reflect on those, and, perhaps, vigilantly oppose them in the future.
adventuresmith asked, "What common practice do you find barbaric?"
Grosser than the Sum of its Parts
"Embalming a body by pumping it full of incredibly toxic stuff, then dropping it into a few thousand dollars' worth of casket..."
"...then dropping all that into another couple grand worth of concrete 'burial vault'..."
"...then putting all of that in a big hole in the ground--and charging the emotionally distraught grieving family a fortune to do it."
-- captain_borg
A Reminder: They are ALIVE
"Keeping exotic pets (reptiles, amphibians, etc.) in horrible conditions because people don't feel the need to do research beyond what they were told by the Petco employee at checkout." -- MissMetalSix
"It's not only exotics. Hamsters, bunnies etc. are kept under horrible conditions (tiny cages, social animals alone, no vet care) in most homes because people just don't care to do any research at all because 'It's just a bunny.' And they suffer in silence." -- WeirdOctopus
Horrible Even if it was Rare
"Child abuse is way too common. I mean in general, abuse is too common, but especially child abuse." -- Aperture_T
"I'm gonna say it, any amount of child abuse that isn't 0 is way too common." -- ihavetwonoses
Living Decorations that Feel Plenty of Pain
"Breeding animals with disabilities for our pleasure. Get a rescue pet people!" -- The-Herbal-Cure
"Pugs can have their eyes pop out of their sockets due to how they're bred." -- AdventureGirl1234567
"I was looking at pictures of bloodhounds recently and I couldn't believe it. The skin around their eyes sags so much beneath the socket that you can see the red flesh inside of the skin that wold normally be hidden behind the lower lid."
"Basically, if you pinched your lower lids and dragged them downward as far as possible." -- onepigeon
Hollowed Out
"I've worked at Panera bread... Some people don't eat any of the bowl! What a waste of good bread! In the trash!" -- Parkerthekitty4
"As a (former) baker, the best way to ruin a perfectly good loaf of bread is to carve out the middle and throw it away all to make a bowl out of it." -- SuiXi3D
Systemically Screwed Up
"In several states, a woman can marry at 16 if her parents consent, then her spouse becomes her guardian, meaning, if she wants a divorce, she needs his approval" -- FestesTestes
"I've recently been enlightened as to just how many states still have really old-fashioned laws like this. My wife recently told me that a lot of places still require a husband's consent for a woman to get her tubes tied."
"I can see how that sort of thing makes sense in some way, but the fact that men don't need the same consent for vasectomies kind of ruins any kind of argument for it."
"This is the kind of sh!t I just assumed had been phased out decades ago." -- FullTorsoApparition
Hopefully a Dwindling is at Hand
"Declawing cats-- even though I'm pleased to see that's in decline nowadays. Most shelters won't let someone adopt a cat if the person plans on declawing it-- or will blacklist them if they find out. Some vets will even refuse to do the procedure."
"However, where I live it's still a common practice. In order to declaw a cat the procedure removes the first finger where each claw grows out of. Imagine if someone chopped off your fingertips! Just to keep your furniture nice?"
"Cats are living breathing creatures and are not meant to be used as decoration. If you wanted a decorative pet you should have gotten a fish."
-- ZeD00m
Monsters
"Leaving shopping carts scattered all over the parking lot. In the United States we definitely live in a 'someone else will take care of it' kind of culture." -- weatherloft
"I worked at a grocery store as a teenager, the worst was the people that left them in the handicapped space." -- adventuresmith
Busy Shifts Do Not Justify Attacking People
"Have worked in a lot of cafes, restaurants and bars. Every single venue had chefs that acted in barbaric ways toward other staff members. Bullying by chefs has been normalised if not glorified by people like Gordon Ramsay."
"Bullying literally destroys peoples lives, why is it okay as long as somebody claims the title of chef?"
-- sadie_faye
No Say
"Circumcision. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a circumcised d***, but the fact that people are carving up other people's genitals without their consent is barbaric."
"Even worse than circumcision is the practice of "fixing" intersex babies genitals. This practice especially should be illegal."
-- twstdrose
Just Hold Onto it For Like One More Minute
"Littering."
"In nearly every major city around the world we have bins in the streets. Far far to often you walk down the street and less than 5 feet from a hanging bin there is a bottle, wrapper or worst of all Cigarette ends."
"It is simple common curiosity to walk over stub, crumble or crush you're rubbish and toss it into the bin."
"Another problem is how we are dealing with our littler. Land fills! Let's dig up a big whole and out it under the ground run land that could be used to grow life and nurture new habits for animals - instead our governments allow it to continue and do not take it serious enough."
"It really is a matter of Out of sight out of mind applied to far to many of us in this day and age."
-- SimplyNot0
Microscopic Horrors
"Walking out of a washroom without washing your hands. If you don't wash them, many people are basically indirectly touching your genitals."
"And you're indirectly touching the genitals of everyone else who didn't wash their hands."
-- raccoonTowel
Ugly Behind the Scenes
"Ballet, as a former ballet dancer, I loved it, but I would never let any daughter of mine do it, the pressure, the eating disorders, the bloody, blistered, calloused feet from hours of practice"
"I still can't feel parts of my foot & eventually, all that time in turn out & en point comes back to bite you with knee/ hip joint problems."
"Parents, please put your girls in a safer sport."
What's the Rush?
"Piercing baby girls' ears. Ear piercing hurts. Why would you do something that hurts your child, just for aesthetics? It's different if it's something for their own good, like a vaccine, but parents get their baby girls' ears pierced, why? So everyone knows she's a girl?"
"I used to pierce ears at the mall and I refused to pierce any child who wasn't old enough to ask for it."
Stop Enabling Injuries
"I'm going to say it, and I'm going to be ignored or get a ton of crap for it. Football, especially in high school and middle school."
"Kids can get really messed up and for some reason everyone is like yeah it's okay, it's tradition or some other lame excuse."
-- McNoobens
Cash is King
"The concept of posting bail is so absurd it feels like something from last century."
"It's literally saying 'rich people get an easy way out, poor people can go f*** themselves.' Allowing a non-dangerous inmate to buy their way out of jail is one of the most elitist sh** still embedded in our legal system."
"If they're being allowed a bail out, they shouldn't be there in the first place."
-- acgian
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
In a time where money talks more than anything else, the consumer's dollar holds a lot of power.
Withholding that dollar from unethical brands makes a big statement, not just about the brand, but about the buyer. What capitalistic nonsense do they refuse to engage in?
And also, if they continue spending their money there, such as Chik-Fil-A, what kind of atrocities are they committed to engaging in?
u/AngryTrooper09 asked:
People of Reddit, what unethical brands to you refuse to buy from?
Here were some of those answers.
US Healthcare Is A Joke
If I could ditch the over priced insulin, I would in a heart beat but you know, I'd like to live.
Here in Canada, the vial is $40 CAN. In the US, the same vial by the same company is $550 CAN.
So freaking unethical overpricing life sustaining medication.
Stealing Intellectual Property
Sinful Colors nail polish. 10+ years back my sister told me about how they took her friends nail art pictures and used them for marketing purposes. She asked them to either give her credit or take them down and they refused.
Petty Jealousy
Backcountry.com and it's affiliated websites. They hired a bunch of lawyers to sue small businesses using the name 'backcountry' anywhere in it's name or tag line. Many of the companies were much older than backcountry.com. They have since sent out a 'sorry we were caught' letter, but there's too many other outdoor companies that are run ethically, I can't justify buying from backcountry.
She Just Cares About Your Money
Random one, but Kylie Jenner.
She exploited young fans by saying she didnt have fillers and looks like she has big lips from wearing lipstick and liner. Then sold Kylie lip kits to take advantage of self conscious girls wanting bigger lips, and seriously thinking that she hadn't used filler.
She stole designs from smaller brands and used them for her own clothing, pretending her company made the designs.
Then her skincare is awful. Overpriced stuff that barely works, and the scrub will cause serious damage to your skin.
Another which some have commented on. She isn't paying her workers in Bangladesh. She is taking advantage of desperate people in order to save money...when she is close to being a billionaire.
Overall she just exploits her fans for money. Nothing she does is actually as good as it is made out to be.
Whoopsies
Lenovo.
It seems every year they are either putting malicious code or conveniently overlooked security backdoors into their hardware. And when called out on it, their response is "Was that wrong? Should we not have done that?"
Rurality Speaks Volumes
Walmart. I work for a small transport company so Ive seen how they bully small companies with fines for like, everything if you don't do things their way. Plus they also have a lot of internal stories about terrible employee treatment
Bentonville Arkansas has a bunch of little communities around it. Walmart decided one day to "test out" some small grocery stores in these communities, smaller than neighborhood markets. Ran them at a loss, forcing all the grocers shut down. Then went "We're not making money at these" shut down the grocery stores, forcing people to come back into the main town.
Last time I was in the region, I saw they were putting up walmart gas stations as well as the ones at each of the stores. All conveniently 5-10 cents cheaper than non Walmart gas stations.
I get "don't shop there" but when people are trying to save money, they're obviously going to go to the cheaper place. And no one can compete with the company that runs things at a loss until all the competition is gone.
Fast Fashion, Fast Pass
I don't buy from fast fashion brands. H&M, Zara , etc. They aren't unethical, but they are terrible for the environment. One of the most wasteful industries. I love fashion, don't get me wrong. I tend to lean towards a more vintage vibe anyway and thrift shop a lot. But when it comes to sneakers I'll spend a little more on some better brand. Over a wasteful brand.
No Free Market
If you read this thread you will realize that nearly everything you buy comes with serious ethical issues. It is nearly impossible to avoid consuming things that cause harm. What we need more than you individually boycotting a company you just discovered has unethical practices is for you to join a political movement to hold the wealthy and the powerful accountable and to regulate business practices. There are simply too many people who are either oblivious or refuse to be inconvenienced that render little boycotts here and they're ultimately ineffective. The market does NOT regulate itself effectively. This is a myth and a lie.
Running Through The Excuses
Honestly, Mcdonalds.
After running that poor old lady through the mud for literally serving coffee that was dangerously hot and then refusing to pay her bills over their coffee being so hot that it gave her third degree burns and nearly killed her after putting her in shock.... All she wanted was her medical bills paid for. She only sued because they kept refusing, despite the courts saying that 190 degree coffee was too dangerous to serve in the end.
They were in the wrong, and painted her lawsuit as frivolous and that she was the idiot. Coffee is hot, but it shouldn't be served at 190 degrees.... Plus the way they treat the franchisees and employees. Food ain't good enough for me to want to give them any money.
They Ruined Star Wars
EA Games.
It used to be that you either bought a game OR had micro transactions in a free game. EA changed this so you had to BUY the game and then pay for micro transactions to unlock the good part of the game.
Google "most down voted reddit post" and it's EA customer service trying to justify their decision to put micro transactions into Battlefront.
If I see a game with EA on the cover I absolutely 100% will not buy it.
Not The Chocolate!
Nestlé and its brands, Mars, Hershey, and Folgers. More generally I don't buy any chocolate, coffee, or clothing that uses exploitative labor, as far as is in my power. Lots of child slave labor in those industries.
More Chocolate Stealing?
Hostess. They "borrowed" from their employees pensions, and then filed bankruptcy. Only to come back, debt free and start making Twinkees again. Also, all big business who took money from the payroll protection program intended for small businesses.
The Biggest News Story Of 2017
United Airlines. They violently dragged away a medical professional who needed to go back to work just for more room for some employees. After the incident, the ceo sent an email to employees saying he was 'belligerent' and 'distruptive'. They also killed a puppy by putting it in the overhead compartment where there's no ventilation.
Let's Normalize Necessity, Not Money
Bottled water.
Unnecessary plastic pollution? ✔️
Less regulated than tap water? ✔️
Stealing water resources from developing countries? ✔️
Capitalizing on what should be a basic human right? ✔️
Not-So-Funimation
Most anime studios. They pay their employees low wages and work them to the bone, paying by the page completed rather than the hour. Made me rethink my stance as an anime fan. The only ones with any sort of ethics are Kyoto Animation, paying their workers a livable wage. They'll be the only ones I'll buy from until things change.
The Food Is Poison!
Chipotle and Panera. Hate their marketing campaigns, both claim to be "healthy" and "clean" but truly aren't. And those words are akin to "natural" when discussing food and nutrition - too broad a description and utterly meaningless. So many better Mexican food joints and local sandwich places I'd much rather support.