Gas stations have also gotten unbearable. I loathe the screen that forces advertising content in front of me while I’m already paying for gas.
Oh yeah this has started happening here in central Illinois and I fucking hate it.
Is this a common practice? I don’t have any of those in the US
Yes, I’m surprised out haven’t seen it. The screen that takes card information will start playing some insufferable advertisement while the gas pumps.
For those who don’t know: one of the physical unlabeled buttons on the side of the screen always mutes it, so just push all of them if some kind stranger hasn’t marked it for you.
Unfortunately the mute button has ceased to exist much of the time
They are all over California.
I’ve seen one in the US, but it was in a small town with only one has station. No need to treat your customers nice if there is no competition, haha
I’ve been seeing it for decades, I first remember bitching about it in like 2004 I think…
Above gas stations? About the only thing that annoys me about them is half the stuff not having a price listed. I guess I’d hate them more if they kept jacking up prices the longer I was a customer. 🤨
Not sure why people would hate gas stations, I hate the gas companies setting the insane prices, but the stations themselves are often just local businesses.
ISPs on the other hand are like abusive partners, they do an awful job until you say you’re going to leave. Then they start begging you to stay and promising to get better. Then they’re good for about a week before starting to completely screw you again.
Yeah, I don’t hate gas stations at all, but fuck ISPs: Greedy fucking thieves.
I wish non-evil convenience stores existed because nothing’s better than the gas station when you’re stoned to the bone
I wish non-evil anything existed. Unfortunately, the world is set up so that only the evil truly succeed.
Food Co-ops are the closest thing I think, or farmer’s markets but those aren’t particularly convenient
Also, the trees that freely offer blackberries in a public park near me.
Nah, I just absolutely hate my ISP. But also loath gas stations whose pumps do advertising you can’t turn off.
Don’t use those pumps
It’s literally (and I actually mean literally) every gas station and every pump where I live
Drive out of town to get gas
Y’know what, I think I’ll just walk from now on
National ISPs like Spectrum/Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and Comcast/Xfinity have an oligopoly. They have divided up America into their own markets and purposely avoid entering each other’s markets to avoid competing with each other. With no competition, they are free to charge as much as possible, avoid providing good support, and can provide suboptimal service (ie, low and asymmetric download/upload speeds, terrible latency). [1] The problem worsens if you live in suburban or rural areas. Of course there are exceptions where coverage overlaps due to sharing infra, but that is rare and possibly priced in.
Gas stations:
- tell me the actual price up front
- can provide enough product for local traffic
- have a real person available to help, standing right there
- give me the opportunity to shop around on price, brand preference, favorite color plug things.
My ISP:
- 10ish mbps when we feel like it
- itll probablly be less than $100, probably
- take it or leave it bub, or gtfo
Don’t forget the random charges for a few bucks that they stick on all the time banking on people not bothering to call and bitch about it because an hour on the phone isn’t worth it for ~$5.
I hate ISP way more than any gas station. In fact I don’t hate gas stations at all. Weird.
Literally the only broadband provider in my area is Comcast. If an avatar of Comcast appeared before me, I would shit on its head. Data cap bullshit assholes
This is a really strange comparison.
who… what?
I’ve never heard any one really complain about gas stations. is the questioned and response worded poorly? I think people hate paying high prices for gas but I’ve never heard any one say they hate gas stations before.
ISP’s tho, every one can agree that they can go gargle an entire warehouses of unwashed dicks
I hated Gas stations so much, I bought a EV car.
I hate Comcast so much
Personally I’ve never had any problems with my isp. Here in Norway, I pay about $50 pr month for 10Gbps up and down. Isp doesn’t care if I selfhost websites or other things with my connection. Just hassle free
My family pays $160/month for a 4Mbps up/ 1 Mbps down internet and landline phone combo that usually tops out at half that speed in practice. It’s amazing much of anything loads out here.
Kinda sad to see how people pay wayyy more for way less. I imagine this issue worsens in countries with more corrupt governments or countries that allow for bigger monopolies of infrastructure people rely on.
Two things bug me about US gas stations. One is the 9/10 of cent thing they persist in. So the gas isn’t $3.29, it’s $3.29 9/10. And of course you know who benefits from the rounding, the retailer. The other thing that bugs me is gas pumps that play ads loudly. Luckily those seem to be getting more rare.
Before it was common knowledge how to mute those screens, I saw a rash of screens & speakers damaged right after the ads started being introduced.
I was always tempted to do that but never gave in to the temptation. Glad to see the less careful gave in and helped us all.