Yes, I realize that. But consumers who are borrowing money should still know that without a signed contract from the lending institution - NOT just the dealership - then you don’t actually have the money.

All that said, who the hell thinks it’s a good idea to leave a car dealer when you don’t have your money approved? That seems like essential financial literacy. I know, I know, Americans all live under a mountain of suffocating debt and don’t have the ability to even save enough to cover a week with no income. It all…

When I got my mkVII GTI I used dealer financing because they were offering incentivized rates, and offered a discount on the sticker if I went through them. I did come with credit from my bank, but only as a backup. After I paid enough to the dealer’s bank I refinanced the remainder through USAA at a drastically lower…

How can you have a sandwich so particular that it has a name, without it having even the most remote semblance of standardization? This makes zero sense.

Look. If Lonestar 9-1-1 gets away with what it gets away with in terms of its Austin/Central Texas geography (not that it does, but never once has Gam-Gam asked me about the volcano near the airport, so I assume the olds take it as gospel) then I’m fine with there being mountains in Boston.

If you’re honest with yourself, you know it tastes bad (god, the aftertaste) and is bad for you, and you pay more for the experience. On the other side of the coin, I made some truly stellar black bean burgers the other night.

Until Texas bro-dozer bros stop vandalizing charge points I can’t see myself having ONLY an EV. Even the most hardcore EV fanatics will confirm the amount of planning necessary to travel any distance that requires multiple charges along the way is pretty pucker inducing. Will the charge point work? Who knows until you…

Back in the day, Walmart would even take stuff without a receipt! But yes. As long as you had a receipt they’d always take the return. If you still had the original packaging they’d usually resell it as an “open box special” so that was the key to getting it on the shelf at Bud’s. But this was in the 90s. Nowadays…

If Americans are feeble-minded enough to just follow anyone that gives them a rage boner, then it’s a perfect plan.

We used to have a “Bud’s” in an old Walmart location. Bud Walton was Sam’s brother, so this was a salvage store specifically for Walmart. A friend of mine figured out that they would almost always resell returned electronics, so he’d buy something at Walmart - a VCR, a stereo, a Walkman, what have you - and return it…

If you look at current consumer research, you realize that food manufacturers aren’t so much in competition with each other as they are with entirely different industries.

I’ve noticed a lot of fast-casual laces that purport to be “chefier” than your usual fast food joints are going overboard with salt. Just watch YouTube chefs - they’re going HARD against the unseasoned food by literally lobbing multiple teaspoons of sea salt into every recipe. Salt is good. Salt is a flavor enhancer.…

Because they have done the analysis and determined now is not the time to jump on the bandwagon?

People get excited about the weirdest things. Yeah, it’s a great place to stop on a road trip, but I’m not going there just to get gas, and certainly not a meal. You think a Costco parking lot on Saturday afternoon is suicide on pavement? Try Buc-ee’s at any given time on any given day.

She was sort of a local bigwig and brought in huge church youth groups, so the owner kowtowed to her every whim, from free food to taking “offensive” songs off the jukebox.

The customer was the secretary for the biggest baptist church in town and they always brought in huge youth groups every Wednesday night. And of course the owner would only schedule like three people so we’d be buried in tickets in the kitchen for several hours. On school nights. It was fun.

I’d love to know if it covers induction ranges even if you have an electric cooktop now. We bought a house with a relatively cheap (but new-ish) cooktop that I HATE. I want induction but can’t justify spending $1500+ on a new appliance. This might soften the blow.

We’d experiment in the kitchen for fun. Hawaiian burgers (Canadian bacon, pineapple, and sweet & sour sauce), Monte Cristo burger (burger with no veggies dipped in onion ring batter and deep fried), etc. and would happily customize menu items for polite customers, I can’t imagine working in food service these days. I…

I can still remember the customer who would always come in and every single time complain about something to the owner, then demand free food, which she’d oblige. Knowing they’d complain regardless, often coming around the the front counter to yell directly at the kitchen staff, we started intentionally ruining her…

“In related news, American consumers are absolute morons... Let’s go to Phyllis Krinkly at the 2nd Street soup kitchen to talk with a man who just paid $155,000 for a 2023 Dodge RAM TRX after rolling in more than $60,000 he still owed on his 1-year old Ford Raptor. Phyllis?”