Oh, the 90's. So many of us, especially millennial's, have an affinity to the nostalgia of that decade. It's hard not to love the retro aesthetics, compact discs and Sony Discmans, the jazz blue and purple pattern that was on all of the cups, and dial-up internet.
Well... maybe not the dial-up part. But if that sound isn't burned into all of our memories!
Some of these things we just can't do anymore, because they simply do not exist (RIP Blockbuster). It's sad, but true. The most we can do is hold tight to those fond moments of our childhood.
Redditor tjapp93 wanted to take a trip down memory lane:
"What's something from the 90s you miss?"
Let's take a stroll through the past together.
Sitting in a Pizza Hut.
"Sit in Pizza Hut."
"I was on vacation in the mountains up state and they had one in town. I got to have pizza in an actual Pizza Hut for the first time since the late 90's early 2000's. We had one outside of town and then that closed and they made a to go one that ended up also closing. Now I can have one of the local places or Papa John's or Domino's."
"The target nearby does have the mini Pizza Hut pizzas and some of their appetizers. It's hardly the same as getting it from a Pizza Hut itself."
"One of my guilty pleasure is Pizza Hut pizza buffet. Haven't been in years and my girlfriend doesn't like it but that's okay I don't need to be there on the reg anyway. That Tony hawk demo disc though..."
- tjapp93
"Remember dessert pizza?!"
"Those stained glass chandeliers."
"And red plastic glasses"
Airports have changed dramatically since the 90s.
"Pre-911 airports."
- touchbar
"I was moving cross country and called a friend to bring me my toolset he borrowed so I could put it in my checked baggage. He never showed up and I thought well, that's that. Sitting on the plane, the stewardess walked up and said are you '____ ' I said yes, and she just handed me my 120 piece toolset complete with hammer, socket wrench, screwdrivers, carpet knife and explained the friend had arrived at the gate just after I boarded. Even back then I was like...'seriously?'"
This would never happen today.
"I remember I was flying home after my first year of college, where I had taken some art classes."
"When I finally got home I was looking in my backpack and forgot that I had left some art supplies in there including a couple of box cutters (the weapon used on 9/11). Security said nothing."
"Another time I was seeing one of my friends off at the airport as they were going to an out of state college. I arrived to the airport with my other friend and his little brother who had brought a toy rifle with him to the airport for some reason. Anyway, we were super late and rushing to the gate so we could say goodbye to my friend who was leaving. The little brother was too small so my buddy picked him up so we could sprint to the gate. In the process his brother hands me the toy rifle. So there we are the 3 of us running through the airport and I'm holding what looks like a rifle. This was before the security checkpoint and I realized this might not look good but I'm in a rush so I just chuck the rifle behind some chairs. I literally just threw it behind some airport seats."
"Nobody said anything, but I'm still surprised security wasn't called."
"The summer before 9/11 my father and I flew to Cincinnati for a national science competition thing I qualified for. While there we decided to drive into Indiana. One of the first things we noticed were firework stores (not stands, but stores)."
"My family ran a couple of firework stands back in Texas, where we are from, for like 30+ years until our town got too big to sell them."
"So, being firework people, we stopped and discovered that not only did they sale fireworks year round (not just 11 days in June/July and 13 days in December as is the season in Texas), they also sold original 'bottle rockets.'"
"These are the rockets on a stick that have a body about as big as a standard firecracker (not quite two inches) and are about 10 inches overall. They had been illegal to sale in Texas since 1981 and not a firework season had passed in my entire life where I wasn't asked if we had any, and then asked again and told they were 'cool' so I could trust them."
"These things were like the holy grail to 18 year old me. They sold them by the gross at about $6 per. My dad and I figured we could put 8 gross into my duffel bag, so that's what we bought. Even bank then we didn't know if they would make it back on the plane."
"We arrive at DFW airport and nervously wait in the baggage area. After a few moments, out comes my black duffel bag. I grab it, open it up, and the bottle rockets had made the flight."
"So, what I miss about the 90s is being able to put explosives in your checked luggage and transporting them home."
- dxbigc
Window Cleaners Share The Best Things They've Ever Seen | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The electronics.
"Colorful translucent electronics."
"Oh yea that purple N64 controller."
- tjapp93
"Game Boy Color, seeing all the circuit board through the plastic was way cool."
When viral video's weren't a thing.
"Being able to act goofy without having anyone record it and share with the world."
"Ugh agreed. I had to stop drinking with one of my friends because she'd ALWAYS record everyone doing anything even remotely fun or goofy and it'd be on snapchat or Facebook within seconds. Like, I just wanna get a little drunk and dance and have a good time with my friends, I don't want every person I hardly know seeing me let loose."
"l never forget watching a last day of school video from June 2001 and while there's a lot of differences especially in style and fashion, hands down the biggest difference was the relative novelty all the students and teachers gave to the video camera. like, only this one guy decided to bring in the camera, there were no phones or other recording devices at the time so it was so cute seeing someone walk up to him and then their eyes go wide and they say 'Ooo! a camera!' Being recorded was not the norm. And shoot dude I'm in my late twenties still but June 2001 feels like yesterday to me time just f*cking moves on ya."
"I remember being in high school around 2003/2004 when some of my peers were just starting to get cellphones. My friends and I all laughed at the 'Spoiled rich kids' with their cellphones, all of us claiming we'd never be like that. A year or two later, we all had cell phones."
"How old does it make me when I remember kids getting their first pagers? They had them clipped to the inside of their jeans so you could only see the back of the clip exposed. Pagers were the sh*t."
Photographs weren't so easy to send.
Now we aren't even talking the 90s, this is just in the last 20 years.
"This is the example I use. When my son was born in 2007, I had a digital camera. I had to take the camera home that night, upload pictures to my PC, and email them out to people. When my daughter was born in 2011, I did all of that in the delivery room on my phone."
"I was in 5th grade in 2005 and was part of a photography club that year."
"Had a cheap digital camera that was my prized possession. It was a pain in the a** to plug that into the laptop and upload my photos using a dedicated software that I had to install from a disk that came with the CD. And the memory card limited me to like, 100 photos."
"Nowadays my phone has a substantially higher resolution and memory, by orders of magnitude. And I can just upload them to the cloud or social media in a minute."
There was a specific kind of movie.
"Movies. A lot my favorite movies are mid-sized thrillers from the 90's. A lot of big actors, but not huge spectacles.
"That segment is dying out. You have huge blockbusters for international markets, some prestige period pieces, comedies and indies. And then there are TV shows."
"But the sort of 'Harrison Ford's wife is missing, again' films are severely lacking theses days."
"I sometimes ask myself if movies from the 90s were so great because they were just a part of my childhood, or they're actually special by objective standards."
"As you alluded to, I really do think there was a style of film they put out more in the 90s. I can't exactly put my finger on what that style is, though."
"I feel like it was just a simpler style of storytelling. For me, watching a 90s movie feels like hearing a really engaging story from a good friend. Nothing flashy, nothing in 4 parts. There's some good music on in the background and I'm just enjoying something humans have enjoyed for eons."
"Arcades. Big, noisy arcades, full of actual videogames, whose graphics were 20 times better than what you could get at home."
"And the machines took coins, not this bullsh*t refillable card system that is waaaay more of a blatant rip-off."
- Tazittel
"Oooh the cards are the worst. You have to buy one card per person or everyone has to stay together to use the card, and each card has an activation fee!"
"Instead of inserting x amount of coins into an arcade machine to play, arcade chains found it better if people had to buy cards with credits in them, so you can buy credits with cash that are loaded onto the card instead of turning paper money into coins. That way, you can carry your card and bring it to multiple locations. If I had to guess why this happened, It's probably because arcades shifted to redemption games and prizes that are damn near impossible to get."
"Also, people are acutely aware of what a game costs when you have to plug in five tokens. You can tell how much play time you're getting by how fast your pockets get empty. On a card, you never really know what the game costs and how much you have left. You go full tilt until it is gone."
"The other thing is a lot of us will add a dollar to two just to spend the entire card or people walk out with 50 or 75 cents on a card and never come back. That's real money when a thousand people or more a year do it."
"Arcades died specifically because home console graphics caught up to them. The PS1 and Saturn got close enough that the differences started feeling minor and then with the Dreamcast and PS2 (and the rise of online gaming) it was all over. It's not as though Dave and Busters and Round One are unpopular, but you go for experiences that don't translate as well to home, which means the few modern arcade games are either steering wheel racers, light gun games, or peripheral-based rhythm games."
The 90s internet.
"Sometimes I miss the internet from the 90s. It was less stressful if that makes sense."
"It was far less commercial, people ran the internet, not companies."
"I'm so glad that the dumba** sh*t I said as a teenager is hidden away on some defunct video game forums under a screen name that isn't even close to my real name. I feel for today's kids, who know that if they ever do anything noteworthy with their lives, someone will dig through their old tweets and be like 'Yeah but look at the sh*t this guy said as a freshman in high school.'"
Trying to hang with friends.
"Walking 20 minutes to a mates house knocking his door then finding out he's not in. It was like rolling the dice."
"Various issues to 'just use the landline' - a lot of people didn't answer their phones anyway, some people left them off the hook sometime as they didn't want to be bothered. Some friends wouldn't hear the phone if they were in their room listening to music/playing SNES/Megadrive, some people had sisters who were always on the phone so calling just got engaged tone. That's just the issues I can think of right now."
"If I really wanted to hang out with a particular friend and they weren't home, that meant it was time to hop on the bike and ride by the next 4-5 most likely places he would be."
"We did this all the time. Huge games of tag, capture the flag, or hide and seek at dusk/night time. Was some fun times back in the 90's."
- ilikeme1
"Or when you could hear kids playing and you'd just bolt out the door hoping it was so-and-so coming your way. No better feeling when your two best buds were coming down the road on their bikes."
Though it is so sad to see these things go, we can still carry those fond memories with us. Who knows, with the way trends work, maybe these once popular things will come back around again.
"Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here."
People Break Down Which Main Characters Are The Hardest To Sympathize With
Between all the movies coming out and various streaming services we have to pick from, we're really at the top of the entertainment era right now.
But despite how much we have to pick from, there are some pretty unlikeable characters out there, and some of them are in some predominant, if not leading, roles.
Redditor LuinAelin asked:
"Who's the worst main character we're supposed to sympathize with?"
Hate for Caillou
"I can see the intention behind Caillou, like presenting kids with a child who's actually childish. he throws tantrums and acts selfishly and then grows."
"But I feel like that's too complex for kids. I think kids watch Caillou acting like a sh*thead and just focus on that without internalizing the show's morals."
"Caillou is Tyler Durden from 'Fight Club' for kids."
- mrbaryonyx
An Angry Rant for Caillou
"That f**ker basically teaches kids how to whine about s**t because, 'It's not fair.' What's not fair is parents having to listen to their kids behave like that lollipop-looking piece of s**t."
"F**k you, Caillou. You better hope I better never see your a** in the streets."
- Sammichface
Piper from 'Orange is the New Black'
"I don't know, the other characters point out her character flaws. How superficial and manipulative she is. And then they go into her family dynamics to show why she is the way she is."
"It's the same with all the other characters. It's just at the beginning, we are meant to believe she is somewhat different from the other prisoners because of her background, but the show shows she is actually much the same."
- No_Marsupial_8574
Emily from 'Emily in Paris'
"I don’t just find her annoying, I truly do not like her. She is a deeply toxic person."
"It’s not just that she is spoiled and treats people around her like they are just for her own personal benefit, it’s how she does not care about the pain and problems she inflicts."
"She seems regretful about being found out or getting consequences for her actions, but not about her actions themselves. It’s always 'I can explain!' after she has had plenty of time and situations to come clean about something and, well, explain… but always only a last resort after lying and covering up."
"She is very manipulative and spins all situations to be about her or to her benefit. She plays the victim when she can and only apologizes to gain back control of a situation, but never really seems to try and change her behavior."
- ecalicious
Joel Goodsen from 'Risky Business'
"There's a setup, in the beginning, that Tom Cruise is in some business class where they're supposed to come up with some business idea. Then his parents go away for the weekend."
"Cue that famous scene. Tom Cruise, the protagonist and high school student, orders a sex worker. They turns out to be a man. But that man gives him another number to call and he finally gets a girl, and they bang."
"Something happens where Cruise now needs money. He and the sex worker he's 'befriended' decide to start a brothel in his parents' house. A brothel that caters exclusively to Cruise's high school friends. They make the money they need and then some. Parents come home none the wiser."
"We end with Tom Cruise back in the business class failing the assignment because he was busy doing the whole child brothel thing but ends with a voice-over where he's proudly saying how much money he actually made."
"Turns out he actually was a businessman!"
- MurderDoneRight
Rory Gilmore from the 'Gilmore Girls'
"Whiny, narcissistic, cheated on multiple boyfriends and with a married man..."
"In hindsight, it's not a surprise she turned out how she did with everyone powdering her @ss from day one of the show."
"The way she collapsed because one whole person told her she wasn't cut out for the career she wanted was proof of that. In any other show, that would be the point where the protagonist digs deeps to remember why they wanted that dream or realize their talents were better suited for something else."
"Instead, Rory trashes a boat, quits Yale for half the year, moves in with her grandparents because Lorelei put a foot up her a** for once, and then spun her wheels for the next decade after graduation, doing nothing of note while thinking her farts smelled of roses."
"Mitchum did absolutely nothing wrong, and boy was he ever vindicated in the sequel."
- Shirogayne-at-WF
Both of the 'Gilmore Girls'
"I think people miss the real point of the show, at least to me. You can have all the intelligence, money, and opportunity to succeed in life but your choices are what dictate outcomes."
"Rory and Lorelei are both victims of their own choices. I feel like the revival completed that circle."
- Loocha
Nate from 'Ted Lasso'
"I would have said Nate from 'Ted Lasso,' but the show caught my vibe and turned him into the antagonist."
"I hope he doesn’t get a redemption arc."
"The writers are gonna have to do some next-level s**t if they want me to ever like Nate again."
- Polarexpress07
Cade Yaeger from 'Transformers'
"Cade Yaeger from the newer 'Transformers' movies. Was Sam a good main character? No. Not at all. But d**n, Cade is horrible."
"In his first, let's say, 10 minutes on screen, we learn that he doesn't pay for his house, his electricity, he doesn't pay his employee, he is a s**t inventor, overly protective of his daughter, and is all around an a**. And he only gets worse."
- RangerPeterF
Jax Teller from 'Sons of Anarchy'
"Jax Teller from 'Sons of Anarchy.'"
"Dude’s son straight up got kidnapped and his wife got injured to the point she couldn’t perform surgeries because his stepdad put a hit out on her, and it STILL wasn’t enough for him to leave his dumb motorcycle club."
"His wife begged him to leave for their safety and he wouldn’t... she tried to leave on her own with her children and he stopped her. Then she ends up getting murdered by his psycho mom..."
"The dude was a straight-up piece of s**t."
- ssitchy
Noah from 'The Notebook'
"You're supposed to watch it and be like, 'Yeah, Ryan Gosling is the better man, and Rachel McAdams needs to leave that swine James Marsden for him!' when in reality Ryan Gosling's character is a total f**king weirdo, and James Marsden's character is just like a regular dude who treats her well and isn't evil or anything."
- Shigidy
Oscar from 'Shark Tale'
"He's a lying, self-serving, womanizing, ego-filled waste of space who uses everyone else for personal gain and nothing else."
"It's actually impressive that the 'hot fish' he's after is an incredibly shallow gold digger, but manages to be a better person simply because she directly tells him that's who she is. She's still trash, but she's honest trash."
- mark-five
Mark from 'Rent'
"I love 'Rent,' but as I get older, the more ridiculous it gets. Mark is a rich kid who has parents that love him but he runs off to cosplay as someone who is poor to make 'films,' which is really just him pointing his camera at poor people all day."
"He doesn't think he should have to pay rent to Benny because they were friends and he let them stay for free for a long time and he thinks that should just last forever?"
"Then he finally gets a job but quits because it was 'selling out.' Ughhhh."
- UniBrow4o9
The Silly Rabbit from 'Trix'
"The kids from the Trix cereal commercials. All the rabbit wants to do is eat some cereal, but the kids won't let him just because he's a rabbit. Racist pr**ks."
- Goldensandslash15
While there's a lot of entertaining material here, it's a clear reminder that some pretty unlikeable characters have been created for leading roles, and they're often distastefully masquerading as likeable ones.
With advances in tech replacing jobs previously worked by humans, we're living in advantageous yet very frustrating times.
Cab drivers in major cities bemoaned the shortages of customers who have become more inclined to order rideshare services that are conveniently accessed by phones.
Many public transportation hubs like train stations are also starting to see fewer ticketing agents as vending machines and virtual tickets have become more prevalent.
The transportation industry is just one in which our generation is seeing a diminishing workforce. Will it all be worth it or are we essentially moving too fast?
Well, that depends.
Because there are plenty of industries that are more sinister in nature that shouldn't be around anymore.
Curious to hear examples of the toxic industries that have taken advantage of consumers for far too long, Redditor filetemyoung asked:
"What industry do you hope won't exist in 10 years?"
Good riddance to some of these!
Bye To "Alternative Facts"
"24 hour media outlets masquerading as 'news.'"
– Nati2de
Downright Text Book Thievery
"The F'kers that make college text books $2,000 dollars!"
– Honest_Plant5156
Justice
"Scam call centers."
– whypussyconsumer
No More Monthly Charges
"Everything as a subscription. As a tech worker I understand why this is so popular but god do I hate it."
"Edit: Some subscriptions can genuinely offer amazing value to consumers. My problem is the mass adoption of subscription on products and services that have no business being a subscription. Those that exist solely so companies can make more money off of you. Not everything should be a subscription."
– iHazRice
No More Tricking Students
"Third party student loan 'consultants.' I used to work as a federal student loan collector for a Department of Education contractor. I have horror stories about borrowers who were purposefully deceived by these people, the worst of whom was someone who thought a consolidation she paid for completely eliminated her obligation."
"What these legally grey a**holes do is trick people into paying to have free paperwork done on their behalf. Sure they have the tiny fine print disclosures, but they're extremely predatory and make me sick. Imo getting rid of them could be legislation worthy, given that they interfere with federally owned debts."
– dr3dg3
The following industries led by avarice and greed can be blasted to obsolescence.
Money-Making Schemes
"MLMs/Pyramid schemes"
– Special22one
The Toxic Middlemen
"Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Look them up."
"They’re basically bloodsucking middlemen that sit between hospitals and health insurers. Supposedly created to control prescription drug costs and manage formularies, but they actually drive prices up. One of the many terrible causes of high medical costs in the states."
– tc273
"The concert ticket mafia. (TicketMaster / StubHub / LiveNation). F'k them."
"ETA: I know those entities aren't really an entire industry. They basically have the market monopolized, though."
– cerberuss09
And when it comes to the exploitation of children or animals, Redditors hoped the following industries were gone as of yesterday.
It's Abuse
"The Troubled Teen Industry."
"Look up Nexpos video on Elan school and you’ll see what I mean. Abusing minors for money shouldn’t be an industry."
"Edit: didn’t realize this would get so much traction, so if you’re interested in helping advocate against TTI, head over to r/troubledteens and join our little crew!"
– Coastal_wolf
Kids On Media
"Child modeling and anything to do with children being publicized on social media."
– AdCharming4503
Puppy/Kitten Farms
"This and even pet stores that actually sell animals from these mills. My home state of Maryland is the second behind California in banning pet stores from selling animals from puppy/kitten mills."
– LoveStoryGaming
I remember hearing about a small-town photographer who had been working for the local paper for years and was let go without warning.
The manager allegedly informed him that the staff were told to snap photos for the paper using their smartphones. It was a cost-cutting measure, but poor guy had no warning and was devastated.
While the photography industry has been adversely affected as well due to the proliferation of smartphone snapshots and Instagram, it's sad to see happen–whereas many of the examples listed above make more sense to see relegated to history.
People Explain Which Industries They Think Are The Legal Versions Of Organized Crime
Frightening as it is to consider, organized crime is still running rampant all over the world.
Helping them get away with it is the fact that these criminal organizations operate other businesses, up to and including laundromats, restaurants, casinos, and real estate, to cover up what they're really up to.
Of course, organized crime isn't always what we see in films and tv shows.
Indeed, many people believe that several businesses are, in fact, variations of organized crime.
Managing to swindle customers out of money completely legally.
Possibly even more frightening than anything we would ever see on The Sopranos.
"What industry do you consider to be legal, organized-crime?
You Can't Believe Everything You Read...
"Yelp."
“Advertise your business with them to increase engagement and gain positive reviews, but when you stop advertising, they suppress positive reviews and promote negative reviews."- SafetyMan35
Must Have Made Them An Offer They Couldn't Refuse
"Cable TV companies that have eliminated the competition in an entire town."- Pserotina·
"ISP's/Cable providers."
"They are almost literal monopolies who try their best to pretend they are something else to get legal protections they don't deserve."- aerfgadf
bored news anchor GIFGiphyBeware The Fees...
"Lobbying, H&R Block, TurboTax, paid health insurance."- alexan45
Getting A Prescription Isn't As Easy As It Used To Be...
"Pharmacy benefit management, the root cause behind why it is impossible to get honest and transparent drug pricing."- btvaaron
There's Probably A Reason You Have To Re-Fill Them So Frequently...
"Printer inks."- Ewok2744
Ink Printing GIF by Epson EuropeGiphyWhere To Even Begin?
"US health insurance."
"United Health Care posted $5B in profits in the third quarter last year."- SurferRosa85
"As a Metlife customer service representative: insurances."- xdaysawayfromhppnss
Paid Religion Is A Definite Red Flag...
"The Church of Scientology."- SuvenPan
church building GIF by South Park GiphyWhere There's A Will...
"Civic asset forfeiture."- Philo2389
Taylor Swift Would Agree...
"TicketMaster."- SuperousMaximus
"See The Pyramids Along The Way..."
"Anything based around an MLM."- AllTheWeedz
Talking Season 3 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphyBeing In Debt Is Always A Risk...
"Pay day loans."- kopackistan
Talk About Insider Trading
"Politicians Trading Stocks."- AggravatingSample586
Big Money...
"The online gambling industry."
"The offline gambling industry too."- twinsunsspaces
Country Music Poker GIF by Jon PardiGiphyMore businesses are just a facade for illegal activities than we might realize.
And even more, legitimate businesses are getting away with activities that by all accounts should be illegal.
People Reveal Their Biggest Dealbreakers When Dining Out At Restaurants
Eating at restaurants is usually great: you get awesome tasty food that you didn't have to cook for yourself.
Not every restaurant is created equal, though, and everybody has those one or two things that are just total dealbreakers when it comes to dining out.
Redditor jobokar asked:
"What’s a dealbreaker for you at restaurants?"
Nobody Likes A Sticky Table
"If the table is sticky and it gets stickier after they wipe it."
- kissingdistopia
"Was so frustrating at one place I worked at. When the varnish starts to wear off, it gets sticky especially when humid. Losing tabels to it and them not fixing it really sucked."
- Bbols23
Bad Salsa
"if you go to a mexican/tex-mex spot and the chips and salsa are terrible just pack it up and leave, nothing will get better."
- thejamielee
"I just don't know how you mess up salsa. Like if you can't combine tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice with some peppers you should be out of business.."
- BaaBaaTurtle
"It’s a good metric for restaurants taking shortcuts and not putting a simple from-scratch component together."
- badlilbadlandabad
"There are plenty of good enough premade salsas you can buy. If they don't even do that, it means they don't care."
- -gggggggggg-
I Can't Even Hear Myself Think
"Loud music. I've been in restaurants before where I can't hear myself think, let alone hear people opposite me talk."
- Philcycles84
"On top of this, an over abundance of televisions."
"Sports bars are fine, but there should be some separation between them and restaurants.
- CarrieFisherStevens
Don't Invade My Personal Space
"Tables packed closely together to the point where you might as well just be sitting with the strangers next to you."
- jimcol
"I ate at a restaurant where it was like school cafeteria seating. Multiple parties sat at the same table. Haven’t been back."
- LittleRileyBao
"I got bad news for you. You're going to HATE eating out in Europe and Asia"
- CousinSkeeter89
"I got sat across from a stranger at a 2 seat table once at a busy restaurant in Japan. Definitely one of the more uncomfortable dining experiences I've had."
- SerbianSh*tStain
Pizza In Venice
"I sat at a table with a Japanese woman and her daughter in a pizza restaurant once during Carnevale in Venice. She spoke no English and I only spoke a few words of Japanese. It was one of the most delightfully memorable meals I have ever had and the pizza was to die for! Would I have wanted to share a table with strangers in a U.S. restaurant? Probably not. But it’s different in Italy. That wasn’t the only restaurant on that trip where I sat very close to and conversed with strangers, and it was a great experience."
- Catwoman1948
Odor Is Key
"The smell when you walk in. If you can smell sewage, mold or excessive bleach or ammonia when you walk in over the food, turn around."
- DarthGayAgenda
"Holy sh*t, there are places like this where you live?"
- icelandichorsey
"I've been to places like that in every US state I've eaten in except Utah (but only because I've only been to a single McDonald's there). The excessive bleach smell is especially telling because the only way that happens is if they dump the stuff by the bottle everywhere. The GM at my last job was like that. She believed the smell of bleach meant clean and used a lot on everything."
- DarthGayAgenda
"If a fish restaurant smells like fish, don’t eat there."
- BowwwwBallll
But How Much Does It Cost?!
"No prices on the menu. If I’m going to spend money, I want to know how much I’m going to spend. Just tell me the steak is $40 for f*ck sake."
- indigoassassin
"Yeah what’s up with that? I’m trying to find a nice (er) restaurant for me and my wife’s anniversary. Everything in the 'nice' category doesn’t include prices. I feel like if I call the restaurant to ask, they’ll say something like 'if you have to ask, don’t eat here.'"
"Even if I had a million in the bank, I’m not going to eat somewhere that’s a total wild card."
- mr_blanket
You Staff Are People Too
"Owners being rude to staff in front of guests"
- LittleBlackBird0191
"Though, you’re in for a treat if owners being rude to guests in front of staff"
- Chickenmilk_
"Only if the guests deserve it."
"Managers being rude to entitled a**holes to protect their staff makes me fall in love just a little. Owners being a-holes to guests who have reasonable questions or complaints, less so."
- moratnz
Am I Invisible?
"If they just ignore you for 10 minutes. Even if you are (too) busy at least acknowledge you've seen me and will get to me."
- domin8r
"Or when they take your drink order and then disappear for 35min."
- curmudge
"I once stood at the cash register of a Dennys in Redding for 20+ minutes. We were the only ones standing there. After trying to flag down a staff member I left 30 bucks and took off."
- OCSupertonesStrike
Can They Really Make All Of Those Things Well?
"I’m from UK so maybe not relevant but HUGE menu with loads of variety. If they can just master 5 or 6 dishes they will taste far better that the 50 different options that the kitchen has to offer."
- Stokehall
"Yep, Gordon Ramsay calls this out on his restaurant makeover shows. Except for Chinese, they prepare a few ingredients in a million ways."
- RoboKat70
"I’m with you on this. There’s a little place near me who has at least 50 different things on the menu, maybe more. The food is always overpriced sh*t, most of it tastes like it came from the freezer section of the grocery store because a lot of it probably does at that point."
- mamasamsquanch
"I'm a chef and I can tell you, it definitely is mostly frozen. Depending on how many staff there are, usually Any menu over 20 or so items is a red flag. Ain't nobody got time for all that prep. 15 or less is a good sign."
- CautiousCollection5
Maybe Don't Lie To Your Customers
"We had a chucks roadhouse open up and they sent out “too good to be true” coupons in the mail (4 surf and turf meals for $25). It was just to get people to their tables and ordering, then they say “those aren’t valid, we sent out a retraction” (they didn’t). On top of all that they have an “honest to goodness fee” of 4% on every bill lmao"
- funghi2
"That sounds like a great way for people to never go back there again. After getting swindled like that I would never go back, tell all my friends to never go there and leave a terrible review on google."
- donscron91
While tasty food you don't have to cook is definitely awesome, maybe be careful where you're getting it from.