Stores and or other places you refuse to do business with

[ContinentalOp]

I've done commercial refrigeration for many years. I've learned that most of the high end restaurants I've serviced have some of the dirtiest kitchen/food prep areas I have ever seen. Not all, but most.

I once worked as a doorman at an upper-scale Chinese restaurant. I'd have to go walk through the kitchen periodically. Always felt a little slimey after doing so. Turned me off from Chinese food for a while.

 

[GypsmJim]

My wife once walked into a Victoria's Secret store and asked if she could be fitted for an Erin Go Bragh. She said they scurried around for quite a while to see if they had any. She also asked if they carried Freudian slips, but after searching they informed her that they were out of stock. She said it was all very frustrating.

She doesn't go there any more.

John

I don't like too many posts, but this one had me snorting beer thru my nose.

 

[Absalom]

Obviously, it's a free country, and the nice thing about a largely free market is that you have choices where to take your business and why.

However, I limit my businesses to avoid to first-hand experiences, such as bad service, unhelpful attitudes, or unreasonable prices. I also don't blame a local franchisee or local employees for corporate policies. And I certainly place no stock at all in "enemy lists" conveniently prepared for me based on internet scuttlebutt.

Boycotts can be effective if they are highly organized, have a specific goal and wide popular support. Folks who harrump about never patronizing some business for some perceived offense remind me of my old friend John. Decades back in the printed age, must have been the 80s, he cancelled his local newspaper subscription over their editorial stance, probably on gun control. The editors were apparently unimpressed; the only practical effect was that John was without a paper. The reason I remember this is that we used to make fun of him for always buying single papers when something was happening; he probably ended up giving the paper more money than if he had just kept his subscription. But hey, he showed'em!

 

[crankyoldlady]

Will never again patronize my local McDonalds since they tacked on a covid surcharge.

They tried to charge me $3.27 for one order of french fries (medium)...no way...never!

 

[Ackley1952]

There is a store that's never made a profit and can't do their job as well as they could 20 years ago . Double the revenue and half the work load. Yet they stay in business . I know a lot of their employees and can guarantee the problem is in management. They are not required to or capable of breaking even. I'm not going to mention them by name but if you need to get something from point A to point B you better cap FEDEX or UPS

 

[johngalt]

I'll just summarize this thread:

I hate everyone

 

[Rustyt1953]

I'll just summarize this thread:

I hate everyone

Cliffs Notes.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

There are specific stores I avoid, but few I boycott.
DICK'S is to me irrelevent. There is an Academy right across the highway from it and they are far friendlier and cheaper.

Seller's Bros. is a grocery store chain in my neck of the woods that opens very early (or did). I do not do business with them. I often entered their store to pick up breakfast after a long night shift. I was in uniform (security). Every time I went in, they always "assigned" someone to follow me. I got to where I actually made it a game at times. One day after 18 hours I was NOT in the mood. I zigged when I should've zagged at the guy trailing me almost ran right into me. I was professional and asked what the problem was. He smiled, shrugged, and said he didn't understand english.

I went to the register and asked the gal working it what the deal was. After speaking to her pal in english, she smiled and said the same thing. Later I found I was NOT the only person this happened to. I never went back in that store and never will. This was in the early 2000's.

I ran into a guy who used to work at that location and was working for another store down the street. He explained to me that (Seller's Bros.) "caters to a specific demographic group" in that area and that people who don't fall into that demographic are "encouraged to do business elsewhere".

Except for picking up someone from the outside of it, I have never set foot in that store again and never will.

 

[ladder13]

I'll just summarize this thread:

I hate everyone

And millennials get a bad rap?

 

[Old 44 Guy]

BofA is the worst bank I ever did business with.

 

[TX-Dennis]

Spatula City.

John

But. but. seven locations throughout the city! How can you not love them.

 

[pasound]

Cheaper Than Dirt - prices are ridiculous!
Optics Planet - they owe me for a return from years ago and never processed it.
Dicks - everything
Microsoft - for foisting this spyware laden **** W10 OS on us, with no choice but to go to go to Apple (equally spyware laden), or Linux, which we can't use for everything we need.

 

[ContinentalOp]

Spatula City.

John

Bad Twinkie wiener?

 

[ChillyDog]

Rural King and I really liked that store.... but when the plandemic started they had a sign up no kids under the age of 16 due to covid.....

Star bucks..... never liked fancy over priced coffee... What ever happened to coffee with a splash of milk and sugar.. Just like beer and all the (honey nut crunch) flavors???? Give me an Iron City!

Dick sporting goods..... they wont sale a long gun to anyone under the age of 21.... Our kids can join the Military, fight and die for our country at 18, but can't walk in Dicks and buy a shotgun to small game hunt.

Cheaper than dirt, they price gouged right off the bad...

 

[swsig]

My #1 place to avoid is Chipotle.

First visit. Mrs swsig and I found the food to be mediocre and the "music" so loud, we had to eat outside on a Texas summer day.

Second visit. A year or so later, a friend of Mrs. swsig wanted to meet there for lunch. The food was mediocre, and they both got sick.

Third visit. Several years pass, and another friend of Mrs. swsig wanted to eat there for lunch. Mrs. swsig tried to dissuade her, but she insisted. The food was mediocre, and they both got sick.

Fourth visit. Another year passes, and Mrs. swsig and I are in Kansas City visiting our son and his family. They all want to go to Chipotle. We protest, telling them how bad it is. They insist anyway, saying the one they go to is great, so we go. This one serves alcohol, and against my better judgement, I order what Chipotle claims to be the world's best margarita. It had no discernible flavor, and no discernible alcohol. It was basically melted ice, and was BY FAR the worst margarita I've ever had. The food was still mediocre, but at least, in a minor triumph, nobody got sick.

No one is ever going to talk either one of us into going there again, no matter what they say.

Chipotle also has had several instances of widespread food poisoning. It's amazing that they're still in business.

 

[GRIZZLYBEAR]

Cheaper than Dirt
Starbucks
Dick's
General Motors all kind of lies about bail out payback
Levis

 

[Chukar60]

I'll do business with anyone that has a product I like/use at a fair price that arrives in a timely manner. I don't care what they do with my money once they get it. Some companies have very well known positions that I disagree with, but they probably wouldn't like a lot of things I do with my money either. If you want to go down that rabbit hole of evaluating every position on every issue of every entity involved in producing a particular product, be my guest. You may never emerge, and you'll certainly find money of yours being sent to causes you despise. I have neither the time nor the inclination, and in the end, it doesn't matter to me at all. Quality, price, and efficiency matter.

I agree with Muss on this.
Do as you see fit with your money. You earned it and the right to spend as you see proper.
However, if you think your abstention and that of the relative few who join you are affecting the big company financially, you are delusional.

Turn the table if you own a business. Who would you not accept a job or a sale from? If you are honest, your list will shrink faster than wool in the dryer.

I own my own business and the rules are simple. Here is the service and the price. Terms are net 30.
If a customer can accept what I am offering, I don't care who they voted for, contributed to or slept with.
I want their money, not their social approval.
They chose me to provide a superior service at a fair price with reasonable terms. That is all that matters.`
Any other consideration is mental tiddlywinks.

 

[LVSteve]

Dick's...once I'd taken delivery of my fire sale/Galyan's takeover 686-6 at wholesale.
Cox Cable for TV service. They expect me to organize my vacation time around their schedule. As the paying customer, that dog don't hunt. I have to suffer them for Internet as the only deal in town.
Toyota. Their leasing practices beggar belief.
Cheaper than Dirt, 'nuff said.

 

[Aggie1906]

AARP Long time member: they billed me for annual dues three times in the same year! Preying on old folks is not nice. Probably got the idea from the magazine subscription guys.

 

[JJEH]

Add Fisker to that list. Love his designs, not the radical political agenda he supports and depends on...