Maybe we can also talk about products we'd buy again. I bought a North Face backpack 10 years ago before I went to college and I still have it now. The thing has been absolutely thrashed and has held to together amazingly well. I know North Face is often looked as uncool in some circles, but I find their stuff durable.
Good call. Arcteryx gear. Friend of mine has an Arcteryx jacket he picked up for $40 in a warehouse clearance sale 18 years ago and it's been through...18 years in a climbing gym, travels all across the country climbing and working conventions, and regular wear from November - March in a gross grody environment. No holes, no rips, no snags even. And warm as hell. He wore it when he came to visit in February (right after a snowstorm) and even though it looks super light, it held up. If you're looking at outdoor gear - Arcteryx all the way. Yoga pants (shut up boys) - if you can find a pair of pre-2011 Lululemon groove pants on Ebay - fight to the bloody last second to pick them up at all costs. I've got a pair from '10, and they're fucking bomb proof. None of that see through mess, no pilling, no snags, and they have the diamond gusset.
Yuuuup. Now you know - there is a high correlation between the Merchant Copy being on top and waiters that care about your existence. You can't unknow now. And related, but slinking towards Reservoir Dogs territory - if I order water with ice, drink all the water, and chew through all the ice, and no refill in that time period - that's getting it down to 10% territory. If a company or business is trying really, really hard via marketing for me to buy something, I won't. If their product was good they wouldn't have to spend so much money and effort on marketing. Unless it's Coke, because ordering "Rum and whatever shitty Coke substitute you have [pepsi?]" doesn't fly at a loud bar.
Does this mean that when customers accidentally take the top signed copy off with them I can automatically give myself 15%? It's too bad your server can't assign random numbers to your shitty behavior and/or mistakes.
Well there's your problem...you bought a backpack from an eye wear company. Seriously though, that is shitty. As far as the glasses, what style were they? I'm assuming the kind you bought are different than those available (gascan, halfjacket, etc) through their government sales page. I'll second the nod to North Face. They get a shitty 'corporate man' rep, but everything I've bought from is damn near bullet proof. If you do damage something they will fix it. I broke a zipper on my ski jacket when I ripped off an old lift pass wicket and they fixed at zero cost to me. I dropped it off at one of their stores and they repaired & mailed it back to me no questions asked. I have a couple Camelbak bags and I can't kill them. I've had a BFM bag for ten years that shows very little wear and its gone everywhere with me. While there's a few improvements I'd like to make on it, I've yet to find a better bag to replace it with. Speaking of discount deals, if you're military (including veterans), police/fire, or a government agency employee you really should be a member of Promotive http://www.promotive.com and GovX http://www.govx.com/.
I'll agree that if your water is not being refilled that there are probably other things, when it comes to your service, that are being overlooked. But merchant copy vs. customer copy? Now that's just a dick move, and a way for you to feel better about yourself for saving 50 cents. If you get that caught up in the minutia of your dining experience, then you are probably a barrel of laughs during lunch/dinner.
I have worn Oakley for a decade and have 2 of the Kitchen Sink backpacks, I have never had an issue with quality or customer service... Until recently. The latest pair of glasses are so fragile that I am returning them, the smallest of a drop would break them. I am looking at switching to Costa glasses. The only real brands I boycott are foreign vehicles, and some domestic as well. It's General Motors or nothing for me.
Given the recent problems with GM, you may well stick with them and face nothing soon thereafter... I would tend to 'boycott' foreign vehicles, but it is really difficult now to determine if a vehicle is 'domestic' versus 'foreign' made. A lot of American cars are assembled in Mexico, and many foreign ones are assembled here. There's a whole slew of regs which determine whether or not you can say a car is 'made in the USA' - and it usually isn't as clear cut as one would think. All kidding aside, I tend to like the idea of buying American, but it can get very difficult in certain products. I'd even pay a bit of a premium if I knew something was truly American made.
Generally as long as there is one signed copy it is valid whether or not it says merchant or customer. Though some places print out the customer copy without an area to sign for some reason, but if you just sign it at the bottom it is acceptable. From what I heard it only comes into play really if you dispute the charges. That's the only reason for signing it to show later that if the charges were disputed you did sign it at the time. Pro tip - If you're ever in a situation where you are basically being strong armed into paying (i.e. your car is about to be towed and they are clearly overcharging because they got you by the short hairs) sign the receipt and write underneath your signature "under duress".
Probably. I have a friend that works for AT&T and the rules and procedures they have to follow is completely insane. And, unfortunately a lot of places now either don't take cash at all(some parking garages) or heavily discourage the use of cash by relegating you to a special register. A month back I took the girlfriend clothes shopping at Century 21. They had 10 registers open, 8 of them were debit/credit only. And, of course they had the slowest cashiers at the two cash registers. Had I been shopping for myself I would have just left for the hassle they caused of making relegating me as a second-class customer because I had the audacity to pay with cash...but, since I was with the girl and we just spent 4 hours going through everything in the store I stayed.
I won't buy Lululemon. I was researching it one time since people had raved about their product. Then I came across an article about the founder. The guy that started the company is racist and doesn't even try to hide it. He named the company Lululemon because he said it was funny watching Japanese consumers try to say it. Plus a whole bunch of other stuff. Guy sounds like a real dick. I know, my $100 purchase really hits them where it counts, and I don't think I've ever even commented on how I feel about it in real life to anyone, but it's just something I won't do. There are plenty of other yoga products out there that work just as well for me.
He should be staked down and run over feet-first by the world's slowest steamroller. He blames breast cancer on "Chain-smoking power women" and his fucking first name is Chip. I fail to see why a guy who hates women as much as he does would make clothes for them. Hell, it's hard to find a single clothing magnate out there that isn't a total asshole. Even if American Apparel's clothes DIDN'T make you like a lost reject from the special needs yacht club, I would not put a single nickel in Dov Charney's rapist pockets.
I get this. I really do. Except - when people take stands like this, I wonder if the reason they're taking the stand is because the offender is so vocal. Chick-Fil-A, for example, are owned by 90 year old homophobic bigots who are also heavily Christian. Is being a homophobic bigot but selling a superior product that isn't full of soy and pseudo food better or worse than NOT being a homophobic bigot, but selling low quality, slow poison, preservative and chemical ridden pseudo food? I consider the latter a much more pervasive and powerful offense than the former. The world is starting to recognize that the former is an outdated, dangerous, and WRONG way to be. They're just doing it while stuffing their gullets full of trans fats, HFCS, and soy they purchased from the fast food joint down the road.
I avoid shopping at big hardware stores when possible but have a particular hatred for Home Depot. What a worthless box of shit. They are the reason why I prefer to buy tools and lumber from suppliers who don't employ worthless mouthbreathers who are absolutely clueless about what they sell, and don't sell increasingly shitty quality products too. I bought a pair of Nike track spikes once and they were falling apart within one season of running in them. No thanks, I will stick with Asics. I worked at a Culver's for a couple years in high school and seek them out today because everyone is friendly, the food is great, ingredients are fresh and real, and they are spotless from back to front. Cleanliness was taken very seriously.
How else would I know if he wasn't so so so vocal in so so so many things? Stephen Colbert did a funny piece on it. I can't find it on youtube, so I'll link it: <a class="postlink" href="http://uproxx.com/tv/2013/11/stephen-colbert-lululemon/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://uproxx.com/tv/2013/11/stephen-colbert-lululemon/</a> Also, the founder of Campus Pride now considers himself a friend of the founder of Chick-Fil-A and wrote an article about it. I'm not posting that trying to change anyone's minds as I don't really care, but you don't hear much about that in the media. I wanted to add that I also won't watch Woody Allen movies. For me it started when he married Soon Yi and the excuse was that it was okay because she was adopted. I felt that belittled all the adopted people out there that their relationships with their parents weren't real, after all, they're adopted. It's not like they are REAL biological kids. That would be SO different. I didn't like that.
Hates women just loves Dat Ass. I don't shop at Dicks because they capitulated to fear mongering after Newtown and stopped selling the black rifle (not sure if they've went back on this or not don't really care). Plus they over price the shit out of everything. I'll just buy dirt cheap Chinese made hunting gear from Wal Mart thank you.
I have a Canada Goose jacket. Overpriced and trendy, yes, but it's gotten me through -40 weather, and it's made in Canada, unlike a lot of things. I also have a Mystery Ranch backpack. If you don't mind spending a bit extra, or having a relatively heavy backpack, you're unlikely to find something as comfortable or durable. They're made in Montana and from what it seems they treat their employees well, with a living wage and decent benefits. When it comes down to it, you can either complain about the cost of domestically made goods, or about the lack of domestic manufacturing jobs / crappy Chinese made goods, but not both.