Sign of the Times, The Apocalypse Is Coming, Rant...

[X350 XJR]

So yesterday I needed to go to the auto parts store which happens to share it's parking lot with the 99 Cents Only store. As the name implies they sell really inexpensive stuff (it actually was at one time literally 99¢ for everything). 99 Cents Only announced last week that they were shuttering all locations and would be liquidating.

There wasn't a parking space to be found, people were circling like vultures trying to find a place to park. For fυck's sake people how much cheaper do you think it's going be be?

Needless to say I did not stay.

End of rant.

Edited: Apr 7, 2024

 

[Evitzee]

That's what inflation does, many people are tight for money. Look at what people have in their shopping carts at the grocery store....it's not filet mignon and lobster.

 

[Meme-Dweller]

I'm more surprised Barnes & Nobles has outlasted 99c Only stores.... but I guess people don't really shoplift books so they stay within their operating margin.

 

[p4ul]

Could have been that everyone was going to the parts store because they heard you were going to be there, just to piss you off.😉

 

[redpcar]

My thoughts exactly. When I heard the $.99 stores are closing and liquidating, I thought: so what? What are they going to do to get rid of $.99 crap? Light it on fire?

 

[Bing813]

Crazy idea………. Maybe everyone buys local again and the empty stores need tenants to sell things and we might put our phones down and talk instead of staring at the internet!!….. plus the dark blue vans will stop driving up and down my street and the money can stay in the community for a change…… but then again I would have to leave my couch and talk to other humans and I would not get that great discount from the monopoly super corporation

🍿

 

[NGO1]

Bing813

Maybe everyone buys local again and the empty stores need tenants to sell things and we might put our phones down and talk instead of staring at the internet

This sounds good on paper. However to find some Dove soap-bars (a common and basic item) at a Target costs me an hour of my life and 10x the cost of the actual item when you factor in gas and whatever random things my daughter finds life-changing at Target.

 

[JwRosenthal]

Dennis Miller had a bit in his late 80’s stand-up about this- the sentiment was two for one sales- two of shit is still shit- the second one doesn’t make it any more appealing.
I have a standing policy with my wife that we do not go to any major shopping destinations (including grocery shopping) from Friday-Monday. And after Thanksgiving all shopping is only necessity through Jan 5th. People have become psychotic when it comes to competing for stuff- my anxiety can’t take it anymore.
It seems like post covid, people have lost their minds- no social decorum anymore, no sense of personal space or hospitality- I think the world has officially broken.

 

[sheepdoll]

The more I think about it was the 13th century must have been a really nice place. I think there are quite a few who would love to return to that level of living in tribal family groups, believing in faeries and cursing the sky.

I like Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court. I love the chapter where the King, the Yankee and the Miller argue over the cost of a meal fit for a king. Everything is in milliot seeds. The miller says his prices are better than those in Connecticut because he charges more. And earns more millot seeds.

My mentor use to say that most people want a 10 dollar pay packet and a nickel candy bar. You can have one or the other, but not both. 20 bucks an hour does not make candy or cheese cost any less.

When I first went to Italy before the Euro, everyone was a millionaire. I think Greece too.

Or as Gilbert wrote and Sullivan set to music. "When everybody is somebody, then no one's any body." And "Up goes the price of shoddy."

... and yes my first reaction was would they have discount going out of business sales. The Persion rug store was always going out of business. Always advertising that on the radio. One could watch it move from one side of the street to the other. Where ever the rent was cheapest.

Now where did I put that Axeminster carpet? The one the dog peed all over. Somehow I suspect it flew away ... Pesky things flying carpets, they never go where you want them to go.

 

[JwRosenthal]

We can all wax nostalgic about things were better when- but then we need to ask- better for whom? The13th century fυcking sucked! I think anymore from the 13th century would sell an organ to have indoor plumbing (potable water on tap and the poo leaves the premise with a single flush) self-sustaining heat and a thumb prick on a rusty wire won’t kill you now.
Even the mid-late 20th century with all of its modern ammedites sucked for a great many people (won’t get into the politics of that).
Hindsight is 20/20, let’s hope we aren’t longing for 2024 in 3 years.

 

[redpcar]

I'm just living for the weekends 😉

 

[Pastorbottle]

JwRosenthal

We can all wax nostalgic about things were better when- but then we need to ask- better for whom? The13th century fυcking sucked! I think anymore from the 13th century would sell an organ to have indoor plumbing (potable water on tap and the poo leaves the premise with a single flush) self-sustaining heat and a thumb prick on a rusty wire won’t kill you now.
Even the mid-late 20th century with all of its modern ammedites sucked for a great many people (won’t get into the politics of that).
Hindsight is 20/20, let’s hope we aren’t longing for 2024 in 3 years.

A bit like all the crap about the paleo diet, back the your average lifespan would’ve been @ 25…….sounds real healthy to me!

As for the 99c store, well that’s a concept that’s doomed to failure, you start out with a shop full of total shit, and due to inflationary pressures you end up with an empty shop because you can no longer replenish the stock.
They just don’t make total shit like they used to!

Edited: Apr 7, 2024

 

[Scarecrow Boat]

X350 XJR

There wasn't a parking space to be found, people were circling like vultures trying to find a place to park. For fυck's sake people how much cheaper do you think it's going be be?

As silly as it may be, I'm actually curious how many of those shoppers have an online store of some sort where they will try to flip for a profit.

 

[sheepdoll]

I spent many weekends at ren fairs where people 'live in the simpler times.' I think this era is the greatest, because I can have the best of that. Then come home to indoor plumbing and a hot shower.

What I think people long for is cheap labor. I also noticed that they all want to play king, queen or better the lady or knight Barron who had all the power. Or else they want to pay the dirt peasant the saucy whore. And revel in ignorance. Looking for the thrill of the moment. I remember when someone told me the richest folk back then were the ones who literally shoveled shit. Called Night soil. Makes the flowers grow.

Wonder if there was less than a billion people in the thirteenth century. Lots of new lands to conquer. None of this pesky new world stuff (Or if you were in the new world it was perfect waiting for the gods to arrive from the clouds on the horizon.) China inventing everything. Must have been heady times.

Too bad the 14th century had to come along and ruin it all with plagues and such. The 15th century is where things really took a tumble. After that we are pretty much into modern times.

Ironically mine was he generation who had the moon, then threw it away. Turned out to be rather boring. No martians to conquer, so that will probably go the same way.

Was listening to a baseball game on the TV. An advert came on which used one of the five marketing words. And it really jumped out at me. New improved brighter comfort. I think it was comfort. There are a lot of options for the 5th word. None of this is good for society. Do we really want to be relaxed? Does this product fulfill your desire? Should I stock up on toilet paper?

ironically ren fairs are now so last century. Even the victorian and civil war stuff papers over that there was a longing for cheap labor. See the Beauty, ignore the smell.

I still think Steve Jobs had his brain frozen. Einstein and Babbage had their brains pickled. All in the name of science. Eventually things probably will return to the status quo. Just ask Spartacus. What really is the meaning improved? Did he really improve things? then why did Caligula and Nero come along. These guys only ruled for what like 4 years? I think there was a fear Gaius Julus Caser (No 5 or 6) was going to go all Egyptian and have his brain and heart pickled. (Even if the soul was in the heart. Brutus made sure of that.)

Disney would plus things. Can the word improved be placed in front of anything. Is CocaCola *new?* Did it really contain opiates or other stimulants? The leaf of the coca plant. Oil of hemp?

Brighter. Is the future brighter? The past colorful?

Will the post office deliver my watch parts this week?

 

[Pastorbottle]

When you see “new and improved formula/recipe/packaging “ you know it translates to “new and improved profit margins!

 

[pdxleaf]

My daughter’s newly remodeled kitchen in the house she is renting (done by landlords).

[Rant part deux]

 

[Pastorbottle]

pdxleaf

My daughter’s newly remodeled kitchen in the house she is renting (done by landlords).

[Rant part deux]

That looks like the landlord figured they were a handyman, I’m of the opinion that one should need a license to enter a hardware store!

 

[Evitzee]

Pastorbottle

When you see “new and improved formula/recipe/packaging “ you know it translates to “new and improved profit margins!

You mean like the new 3861 vs the old 1861? Or the new white dial vs the old black dial?

 

[Foo2rama]

Thank god! 99 cent stores are not a good thing.

 

[ErichPryde]

sheepdoll

I like Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court.

Twain had a lot of great observations in that book... I haven't read it in a while but it's a favorite.