My mom made me do this for my first job. I went into a handful of places with my resume. Every one of them turned me away and told me to apply online. Then I would get no reply from anyplace except the ones that were desperate for workers. Fun. Now I just use indeed to apply for jobs.
I parked my truck in a sketchy area of downtown once and this homeless guy came up to me and said for $20 he'll watch my truck and make sure nothing happens to it. I gave him the $20 because I think he was implying for $20 he wouldn't break into it.
History channel never even seems to have actually documentaries on anymore when I look now, maybe one Hitlers Bodyguard episode a day but last few times I looked it had loads of renovation series on
TV tbh. I don't know the last time I watched TV that wasn't my parents already watching something and me watching with them to spend time with them. It's just all shit on every channel.
Depending on who you ask, MTV was never respected. Mainly the underground like Dead Kennedys writing "MTV Get off the Air" saying it's run by "tin-eared paper-brained accountants instead of music fans"
This is how I pictured banks and bank personnel through media representation. Most banks I walk into irl are sad looking establishments about as prevalent as a McDonalds
FICO scores basically automated the main job of a bank manager; so much of it used to be attempting to make judgement calls on loans based on available information, a lot of which required being very invested in their community.
I worked there up until they were bought by Kmart. It was a great job making $25/hr selling vacuums and some appliances. Commissions got cut and I was making minimum wage less than a year after they were acquired. Didn't make that much again at any job until after college.
The day I took my teenage son to buy a blue button-down collared shirt in the mens department only to find they didn’t sell that basic staple of every man’s wardrobe, I knew Sears was doomed.
I am a financial planner. Sears is literally my biggest go-to "Giants fall" example to illustrate the dangers of keeping too much money in one stock. My grandparents bought their fucking house from Sears. My "Christmas list" as a kid was just circling stuff I wanted in a Sears catalog. The tallest building in Chicago, my hometown, was the Sears tower. They were basically amazon before the internet. And then the internet happened....
I was a manager there for 7 years. You can thank Eddie Lamberts stupid ass for the downfall. He ran that company straight into the ground and still got paid out. They couldn't give half a f*ck about the employees. We had a member who had worked there for 47 years. He cheated everyone out of their severance pay. We literally hugged old people every day because they were devastated by the store closing. They had made so many life decisions based upon the products and staff and original store moto. Pretty sad and shitty
People are going to reflexively deny its initial popularity, but Facebook. It even used its exclusivity as its primary marketing tool during its initial launch only for colleges.
I remember the mass exodus from myspace to Facebook and me not wanting to do it because I liked my little html coded background flames over my text and my overly edgey dark themes with music playing from bands so unknown that even I've forgotten them now.
There was a period of time when Facebook was the best way for college students to interact with other college students online... which sounds insane now, but was actually true in its early years.
Facebook was very similar to Instagram back in the day. None of this commercial and advertised video spam, but actual pictures and posts of your friends.
The moment Facebook broke was when it no longer showed you every post on your friends' feeds. The moment it was unrepairable was when they made it easier to share links than to submit original content.
OG Craftsman tools were something else. After he died a few years ago I inherited my father's tool collection, most of which he had inherited from my grandfather in the 70s. Those tools are so much better than anything I've bought for myself. Superior quality.
Former Lowe’s employee here: Craftsman is far and away the brand of tools that get returned the most due to them malfunctioning or breaking. It’s crazy, because my dad still has some craftsman stuff from when it was a Sears brand and they work great
Shipped manufacturing to China but didn't lower the price. Glad I bought all my stuff when it was still USA made (while I was actually working at Sears)
The word “amateur” is derived from the latin word “amator”, meaning “lover”. It’s someone who does what they do for the love of it. Sadly now people use it as an insult.
I feel this one. I crochet, and people are always trying to talk me into selling stuff on Etsy. Most people won’t even pay enough to cover materials. I made a really nice blanket for about $50 worth of yarn and 100 hours of labor. Not even worth my time to try to sell it.
I feel this. I play guitar, and was in bands in high school and college. I have no desire to play live anymore or try to make any money off it. Now I just play for fun and stress relief. People have asked me why don't I make a YouTube channel or something, maybe make some money off it. Because that sounds stressful and not fun. And honestly I'm not THAT good. I don't think many people wanna watch me jam to an eclectic playlist
Agreed, I wrote/edited/produced an entire album and a short film just for myself no-one else, and made a board game for my family. People can't understand why I'm not interested in making them about views or money.
Dude I identify with this so fucking hard man. My dream has been to make my own music my whole life. Im a few years into the process. Its been both pain and rewarding. But I don't necessarily have the grind mindset and that's okay. I just want to get my ideas made as they come. Yet there's so much pressure from the external world to make a "brand" and so much focus on the business aspect of it. I just want to make music, even if it's just for friends or family, or even just for myself. Yet I get pulled into this feeling that I am a failure at it because im not trying 24/7 to propel myself to performing it on stage at Coachella. I know it's my passion to do with what I want, but that pressure is undeniably always there. Every fucking YouTube tutorial channel has some kind of "business" aspect to it that they push on you. So lame
Also, "investing" in hobbies. Magic is a fucking joke right now because they'd rather sell to whales that'll buy up their stock of sealed product and sit on it. Magic has always had an investing side, but rarely has it been the quiet part out loud. It's bled into other games; the collectible and gaming market isn't for the people passionate about it any more. It's for the people who want to make money off of it.
The second you try (or get the opportunity to) make money off of your hobby, it starts to ruin it. This is a privileged thing to say, because it's what many people dream about and don't even get to try.. but it's true.
And when you push back on the monetization conversation the look of withheld confusion that flushes over their face is just ubiquitous. Passion does not have to equal money.
I used to live in Kitchener-Waterloo for 9 years. RIM practically built that city. Not literally of course, but they brought in so much money to an otherwise relatively small double city, and so much employment. Their downfall was tough, but by then KW had become a mini silicon valley, with most big tech companies having offices and incubation labs there. Google is the biggest of course.
Landline telephones. The house phone used to be a vital link to the outside world. It’s how you’d talk to friends and family far away, interact with businesses, call for help in an emergency, etc. But once junk calls were allowed to spiral completely out of control, the phone became a nuisance. As someone I saw said a while back, a Gen Z person would sooner jump on a live grenade than accept an incoming call from an unknown number… and that’s in the context of mobile phones, which don’t get nearly as much spam. Wired phones are almost completely useless today.
Unless you live in Florida after a hurricane. I don't have one anymore because it does become a useless expense if they're not used frequently, but having one after very inclement weather was a handy thing.
Modern Wells Fargo is not the same as stagecoach driving, Wild West Wells Fargo. Norwest Bank acquired Real Wells Fargo in the late nineties, but kept the Wells Fargo name as it had better brand recognition. All of the recent scandals have occurred since the takeover, in the Bank Formerly Known as Norwest.
I’ve worked in banking for over 20 years most of it in back office functions dealing with mortgage compliance. I spent stints with BofA and Wells Fargo, both had their major issues, BofA’s came mostly from being too big and lacking clear lines of leadership. So policies would be put in place because someone in leadership thought it would be easier or more scalable etc. and then we’d fall on our face because we couldn’t keep up with regs and would have to scrap it/change it. Wells Fargo on the other hand, leadership had the same challenges of being too big etc. but the culture was to wring every last cent they could out of a customer, decisions were made specifically to screw the customer and get all they could from them. Wells is an evil company and every time I see them get fined (which is pretty frequently) I smile because I know they deserve it.
It really sucks as my parents had his records. We grew up listening and quoting them. I still do but now I occasionally sigh and feel disappointed. I can’t say “oops” because the skit is embedded into my brain.
"The book of records used to be feats of amazing skill and talent, now it has records like 'who can put the most clothes pins on their face' all you have to do to beat them is have a bigger face"
I was watching an hbomberguy video on Tommy Tallarico (another one for the once respected now a joke pile), and in it he pointed out how the company basically says you can have a world record if you can buy it. And since it costs 10,000 smackers just to get there offical there, not incurring hotel costs and all that jazz, pretty much only there rich can hold w world records
Hasn't it been proven to be a big money sham anyway? Where people can pay to have a World Record, even if they're an autocratic country like Turkmenistan? I think John Oliver did a dit on them and how great they are for image washing.
I recently learned that they have special records that people can pay to have Guinness work with them to create a unique record for a marketing stunt and part of it is that Guinness won't judge anyone trying to break it in the future so it effectively remains the buyer's
The thing that blows my mind is that this is the same Guinness as the beer. It’s literally a marketing tool for them and gained prestige as THE record-keeper. So the whole ‘how many eggs can you fit in your asshole’ type of record makes a lot my sense in the context of drunken Irishmen.
One of the funniest things ever will always be that Little Ellen kid's show being announced literally the same year as her mistreatment of backstage co-workers coming out. This was after it was announced that three seasons had been made and four seasons were in production.
Back in the '80s, there was a respected local NBC-affiliate news anchor in Cincinnati who had once been the city mayor. He came to our school to give a speech on homelessness after he did a story in which he spent a week on the streets to see what it was like. That man's name? Jerry Springer. Yes, that Jerry Springer.
Frank Darabont directed the first season. He’s the same guy who directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Anyway they ended up firing him due to budget disagreements, AMC wanted him to reduce the episode budgets while producing more episodes. They also ended up firing some of the actors who sided with Frank. Kind of a shame because I think the first season was amazing
I still can't get over the fact that they were the walking dead. Like, virtually every second house in America has a bicycle in it, and they're still huffing it on foot.
Unfortunately, education, facts, and Subject Matter Experts. Everyone thinks they are an expert because they can google something. Regardless of their conformation bias, everyone thinks they are an expert until reality fails their self made degree or expertise. The Dunning-Kruger effect has made the previously stated skill sets a joke.
Apologies if this has been mentioned, but my husband who is 15 years older than me told me that he remembers when Bravo was a network that focused on arts / educational programming and indie films 🤯
Journalists, and no this isn't some right wing fake news thing. Consumerism has turned hard-hitting journalism into clickbait bullshit because that's the only way they can turn a profit anymore. There's still real journalists out there but no new ones are being born, very sad.
This was exactly my answer. There are plenty of good journalists still around, but they don't make money (again not meaning to sound conspiracy nutty most of them are on YouTube supported by Patreon). The entire industry has made good journalists and successful ones two distinct categories because success isn't uncovering a big story, it's generating the most ad revenue.
I remember when every Blizzard release was the hypest shit ever and they practically manufactured pure gold on a consistent basis. D3 had a bit of a rough start but even that was a good game. Man have they fallen.
Just started playing StarCraft II and must admit I was thinking how cool the video tie ins with the game were so unique and cool. Like, moving from the Bridge to the Cantina to the Lab to buy/upgrade your stuff (I'm only on the Raynor story, so far). IDK, I just got the impression they game was made with a lot of creativity and love for the experience. I've not played any other Blizzard game, so maybe I'm just clueless...
Honestly I feel like in the past 6, years, especially in the past 2 to 3 years since the pandemic, people as a whole of all backgrounds, ethnicities, political views etc, have had a massive decline in trust and faith in many societal institutions and perceived people of power and prestige, as well as each other as human beings. This is a major part of what's leading to our world seeming so much more fractured and unstable and I think it's only going to get worse.
In Antiquity, the collapse of institutions and confidence in politics went along with the switch from republic to empire. People who lived in the time of Augustus did not even realize it at the time - they still were citizens of the Roman Republic, SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome. It took a while for them to realize things had changed. I fear the same is upon us and in thousands of years, when they read the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, they will read of the early 21st century the same way we read of the early 1st century: “At that point, democracy was already gone, but few realized it.”
From an American perspective, it opened my eyes to both the lack of competence and lack of clear communication channels within our institutions. Even setting aside all of the national problems - local governments don't have a coherent way to communicate information. We don't have cable and there isn't any kind of local newspaper, so when the mask mandates were rolling out, you had to proactively check the county and city Facebook pages to see what you were supposed to do at any given time.
Yes, faith in almost all institutions is declining. It’s happened to me personally for sure. I am much more cynical of pretty much all institutions. But part of that could be growing up, because in the last 6 years I was becoming an adult.
Working in the educational system. Being a teacher still sounds worthy of respect, but working as one is a joke. Kids are free to do whatever they want, you're barely allowed to punish bad behaviour in any way, school politics stop from changing anything, parents always blame you etc.
I feel so bad for teachers. Their job is one of the most important in our entire society, yet they get paid scraps and saddled with all kinds of bullshit from politicians.
In my wife's district teachers can't (well, she can because she has the "training") restrain students who are destroying their room or threatening other students unless death is likely to occur.
I blame administrations for throwing teachers under the bus instead of backing them up. Its all an extension of the business world doing that with front line employees: management throws all the ground level folks under the bus to appease customers, even if they're being completely ridiculous, because we think we have to make everyone happy.
As a high school teacher, I can confirm this 100%. We're not allowed to tell kids to put their phones away, for fuck's sake, because it "could be construed as hostile".
It was actually Daffy that calls Elmer this in "What makes Daffy Duck". Bugs has only used nimrod in reference to Yosemite Sam. There does seem to be a Mandela effect going on though bc a lot of ppl attribute it to Bugs
It’s funny how both of the details of your post are wrong but you still get the point across. Nimrod was a biblical name from the Old Testament. It was not Roman. And it was Daffy that calls Elmer Nimrod, not Bugs.
Not Rome. It is not a Roman name. It's a biblical name in the Old Testament. The name entered various cultures via Judaism, Christianity (Ge'ez) or Islam, but not Roman.
More like companies being loyal to employees, providing a good wage, raises, benefits, pensions etc. Why should employees stay out of "loyalty" when companies aren't loyal or acting in their best interests? It's a JOB. The entire idea of loyalty to a job is a joke.
I would love to go back in time and see if stars in the golden age of Hollywood worked to try to keep their private lives private and maintain some dignity, or of it’s always been like it is now. I think one huge difference now is that back in the day you had to have some sort of talent or skill like dancing and singing to become famous. Now people become famous for being… famous.
Honestly, House of Cards showed they could challenge HBO for level of quality. Now they have a reputation for buying good scripts and pulling the plug before the shows get too expensive.
It really pisses me off when netflix labels anime a "netflix original" when they just have the rights to stream it and it's not even their own content.
OSHA. Not even their fault either. There's been so much lobbying against them that the red tape is so insane that they can't effectively regulate workers exposure to toxic chemicals.
I’ve been in healthcare for 23 years. When I started the doctors ran the show. Now it’s just a bunch of suits sitting around all day having meetings about meetings and making decisions they don’t know shit about. The running of hospitals and clinics needs to go back in the hands of the people that know what’s up.
My pcp billed my insurance $2k for my annual appointment and she didn't even hold a stethoscope to my chest-- just refilled my meds and ordered blood work (the blood work was billed separately). I was pissed because they were obviously ripping off my insurance which makes my premiums go up, so I called and apparently it's their policy to bill an extra appointment for each prescription refilled, to bill for ordering bloodwork, and then they bill again for the actual appointment. Less than 10 minutes with a doctor and they billed 5 appointments. I can't believe it's legal.
Many people outside NYC don't realize he was sliding into "joke territory " before 9/11. While he was credited with cleaning up the city, his personal life was falling apart to the extent his second wife at the time found out he wanted a divorce by seeing a news report on TV
I’ve seen a friend go down this hole too. He’s definitely gonna be the next big thing…and spent the money for it. Not gonna lie he had some top tier equipment but zero personality
Yeah it was “better” before deregulation. But a ticket from NYC to LAX in 1975 cost like $2000 in todays money. That same ticket now is like $300. If you want to fly like it’s still 1975 then that’s business or first class which is 2-5x as expensive.
All those Civics classes about checks and balances… hahahaha. I remember when they talked about how important it was to vote to have voices heard and representation, but they kinda skipped over the part about the elected politicians really only representing the lobbyists and special interests.
There was a huge barrier before of a very long and steep learning curve, mastering film is no easy task. Back then even if you mastered the darkroom you still needed a good eye. I knew a lot of crappy photographers that understood the technical side as well as anyone could but lacked other skill sets like creativity or having a good eye and you could see that in their work.
When my wife and I were planning our wedding, we started talking about wedding photographers. I said “Oh, a friend of mine is a wedding photographer!” She visibly cringed.
Shopping malls, in general. Having worked at different businesses in different malls in different cities, I had seen the decline of malls and what those spaces meant.
The US Postal Service. A decades long campaign to smear their reputation coupled with legislation designed to cripple the service has turned them from the reason Santa Claus isn't institutionalized in Miracle and 34th Street to a comedians punching bag. And yeah, last time I went to the post office the service was terribly slow, but they had one window open in a building with five windows. Seemed kind of understaffed.
"starve the beast" strategy showing itself to be effective yet again. Take an effective public service, reduce funding so the service suffers, argue how the public service is ineffective, replace with private enterprise, raise prices, and profit at the cost of everyone else.
Netflix, I remember being able to rent any movie and get it in the mail but now they're canceling shows with high ratings and making sub par ones to "compensate"
I think Mike Tyson said it…”social media has made people way too comfortable with saying whatever they want and not getting punched in the face for it” a lot of assholes hide behind a computer screen and say horrible stuff. I really try to take the approach of only interacting/saying things online that i would say in person
The local TV news. Used to be where you would learn about what is going in your community both good and bad. Now it's just the local weather mixed in with whatever talking points Sinclair wants to make. Oh and the occasional interview with a local business person that is totally not just a big commercial for the business.
Walking in to a workplace to inquire about a job in person.
Construction union contractors can still be like this and I prefer it this way but for everything else I understand.
My mom made me do this for my first job. I went into a handful of places with my resume. Every one of them turned me away and told me to apply online. Then I would get no reply from anyplace except the ones that were desperate for workers. Fun. Now I just use indeed to apply for jobs.
McAfee antivirus
All the OG anti-virus software really
I parked my truck in a sketchy area of downtown once and this homeless guy came up to me and said for $20 he'll watch my truck and make sure nothing happens to it. I gave him the $20 because I think he was implying for $20 he wouldn't break into it.
Go watch the documentary on the guy that created the software, John McAfee. It's called Running with the Devil and man is it a wild ride.
Norton too.
The History Channel, The Learning Channel, MTV...
"I remember when Bravo used to air Operas" - Jack Donaghy
TLC now (unofficially) stands for Terrible Life Choices (or with a few of their stars, Touching Little Children).
The history channel should be renamed the conspiracy channel
Food Network too. It used to be educational and fun, now it’s just nonstop competition.
History channel never even seems to have actually documentaries on anymore when I look now, maybe one Hitlers Bodyguard episode a day but last few times I looked it had loads of renovation series on
TV tbh. I don't know the last time I watched TV that wasn't my parents already watching something and me watching with them to spend time with them. It's just all shit on every channel.
Depending on who you ask, MTV was never respected. Mainly the underground like Dead Kennedys writing "MTV Get off the Air" saying it's run by "tin-eared paper-brained accountants instead of music fans"
Comedy Central has also gone way downhill from a few years ago. I think it's mostly The Office reruns now.
The food pyramid
How dare you. I am enjoying 6-11 servings of bread every day, thank you very much.
True. Found out the Canadian Food Guide was originally created as a rationing plan during WW1.
Bank managers. They used to have serious power in local communities. Now they have to be glorified customer service reps a lot of the time
I’m in banking and I’ve never really thought about it that way, but it’s so true.
This is how I pictured banks and bank personnel through media representation. Most banks I walk into irl are sad looking establishments about as prevalent as a McDonalds
FICO scores basically automated the main job of a bank manager; so much of it used to be attempting to make judgement calls on loans based on available information, a lot of which required being very invested in their community.
I’m a branch manager at a credit union and this feels very accurate
Sears.
I worked there up until they were bought by Kmart. It was a great job making $25/hr selling vacuums and some appliances. Commissions got cut and I was making minimum wage less than a year after they were acquired. Didn't make that much again at any job until after college.
They used to sell
The day I took my teenage son to buy a blue button-down collared shirt in the mens department only to find they didn’t sell that basic staple of every man’s wardrobe, I knew Sears was doomed.
I am a financial planner. Sears is literally my biggest go-to "Giants fall" example to illustrate the dangers of keeping too much money in one stock. My grandparents bought their fucking house from Sears. My "Christmas list" as a kid was just circling stuff I wanted in a Sears catalog. The tallest building in Chicago, my hometown, was the Sears tower. They were basically amazon before the internet. And then the internet happened....
I was a manager there for 7 years. You can thank Eddie Lamberts stupid ass for the downfall. He ran that company straight into the ground and still got paid out. They couldn't give half a f*ck about the employees. We had a member who had worked there for 47 years. He cheated everyone out of their severance pay. We literally hugged old people every day because they were devastated by the store closing. They had made so many life decisions based upon the products and staff and original store moto. Pretty sad and shitty
People are going to reflexively deny its initial popularity, but Facebook. It even used its exclusivity as its primary marketing tool during its initial launch only for colleges.
I remember the mass exodus from myspace to Facebook and me not wanting to do it because I liked my little html coded background flames over my text and my overly edgey dark themes with music playing from bands so unknown that even I've forgotten them now.
There was a period of time when Facebook was the best way for college students to interact with other college students online... which sounds insane now, but was actually true in its early years.
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RIP thefacebook.com 2005-2010
Facebook was very similar to Instagram back in the day. None of this commercial and advertised video spam, but actual pictures and posts of your friends.
The moment Facebook broke was when it no longer showed you every post on your friends' feeds. The moment it was unrepairable was when they made it easier to share links than to submit original content.
My choice of college may or may not have been influenced by whether or not they had Facebook at the time.
Craftsman Tools
OG Craftsman tools were something else. After he died a few years ago I inherited my father's tool collection, most of which he had inherited from my grandfather in the 70s. Those tools are so much better than anything I've bought for myself. Superior quality.
Former Lowe’s employee here: Craftsman is far and away the brand of tools that get returned the most due to them malfunctioning or breaking. It’s crazy, because my dad still has some craftsman stuff from when it was a Sears brand and they work great
Shipped manufacturing to China but didn't lower the price. Glad I bought all my stuff when it was still USA made (while I was actually working at Sears)
I would almost rather buy something from Harbor Freight before I buy anything Craftsman nowadays. Same quality at a way cheaper price.
Dr. Martens‘ Boots.
So who used to make them for Dr martens? My husband needs new boots. Lol
Hobbies. I am a hobbyist musician, and will never try to make money off of my music. I simply enjoy creating it with zero expectations.
My partner does this and doesn't realize why it bothers me.
The word “amateur” is derived from the latin word “amator”, meaning “lover”. It’s someone who does what they do for the love of it. Sadly now people use it as an insult.
I feel this one. I crochet, and people are always trying to talk me into selling stuff on Etsy. Most people won’t even pay enough to cover materials. I made a really nice blanket for about $50 worth of yarn and 100 hours of labor. Not even worth my time to try to sell it.
I feel this. I play guitar, and was in bands in high school and college. I have no desire to play live anymore or try to make any money off it. Now I just play for fun and stress relief. People have asked me why don't I make a YouTube channel or something, maybe make some money off it. Because that sounds stressful and not fun. And honestly I'm not THAT good. I don't think many people wanna watch me jam to an eclectic playlist
Stay creative people
Agreed, I wrote/edited/produced an entire album and a short film just for myself no-one else, and made a board game for my family. People can't understand why I'm not interested in making them about views or money.
Dude I identify with this so fucking hard man. My dream has been to make my own music my whole life. Im a few years into the process. Its been both pain and rewarding. But I don't necessarily have the grind mindset and that's okay. I just want to get my ideas made as they come. Yet there's so much pressure from the external world to make a "brand" and so much focus on the business aspect of it. I just want to make music, even if it's just for friends or family, or even just for myself. Yet I get pulled into this feeling that I am a failure at it because im not trying 24/7 to propel myself to performing it on stage at Coachella. I know it's my passion to do with what I want, but that pressure is undeniably always there. Every fucking YouTube tutorial channel has some kind of "business" aspect to it that they push on you. So lame
Also, "investing" in hobbies. Magic is a fucking joke right now because they'd rather sell to whales that'll buy up their stock of sealed product and sit on it. Magic has always had an investing side, but rarely has it been the quiet part out loud. It's bled into other games; the collectible and gaming market isn't for the people passionate about it any more. It's for the people who want to make money off of it.
I started baking and got really good at it and my grandma is always like "you should open a bakery"
Also, most “hustle culture” is just having a second job. The media is like, “You too can get a “side gig” - with UberEats!”
OMG YES!
The second you try (or get the opportunity to) make money off of your hobby, it starts to ruin it. This is a privileged thing to say, because it's what many people dream about and don't even get to try.. but it's true.
And when you push back on the monetization conversation the look of withheld confusion that flushes over their face is just ubiquitous. Passion does not have to equal money.
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I used to live in Kitchener-Waterloo for 9 years. RIM practically built that city. Not literally of course, but they brought in so much money to an otherwise relatively small double city, and so much employment. Their downfall was tough, but by then KW had become a mini silicon valley, with most big tech companies having offices and incubation labs there. Google is the biggest of course.
The competitor of Steve (JOBS)
Landline telephones. The house phone used to be a vital link to the outside world. It’s how you’d talk to friends and family far away, interact with businesses, call for help in an emergency, etc. But once junk calls were allowed to spiral completely out of control, the phone became a nuisance. As someone I saw said a while back, a Gen Z person would sooner jump on a live grenade than accept an incoming call from an unknown number… and that’s in the context of mobile phones, which don’t get nearly as much spam. Wired phones are almost completely useless today.
Unless you live in Florida after a hurricane. I don't have one anymore because it does become a useless expense if they're not used frequently, but having one after very inclement weather was a handy thing.
In India we have landlines bundled with Broadbad. I keep the instrument disconnected because no one has the number anyway.
Wells Fargo
Modern Wells Fargo is not the same as stagecoach driving, Wild West Wells Fargo. Norwest Bank acquired Real Wells Fargo in the late nineties, but kept the Wells Fargo name as it had better brand recognition. All of the recent scandals have occurred since the takeover, in the Bank Formerly Known as Norwest.
Wells Fargo took over the bank where I had my first ever account. I’ll always remember you Wachovia.
I’ve worked in banking for over 20 years most of it in back office functions dealing with mortgage compliance. I spent stints with BofA and Wells Fargo, both had their major issues, BofA’s came mostly from being too big and lacking clear lines of leadership. So policies would be put in place because someone in leadership thought it would be easier or more scalable etc. and then we’d fall on our face because we couldn’t keep up with regs and would have to scrap it/change it. Wells Fargo on the other hand, leadership had the same challenges of being too big etc. but the culture was to wring every last cent they could out of a customer, decisions were made specifically to screw the customer and get all they could from them. Wells is an evil company and every time I see them get fined (which is pretty frequently) I smile because I know they deserve it.
Bill Cosby
A comedian who once prided himself on only using clean comedy became the inspiration and subject of a thousand jokes on ...... well...... rape.
It really sucks as my parents had his records. We grew up listening and quoting them. I still do but now I occasionally sigh and feel disappointed. I can’t say “oops” because the skit is embedded into my brain.
Quora before it turned into the new Yahoo! Answers
Let me answer your question with a long and condescending anecdote about why you're a dickhead.
It's barely even legible with all of the ads (unrelated questions and answers)
Hope StackEschange sites don't go the same road as Quora
The Guinness Book of World Records
"The book of records used to be feats of amazing skill and talent, now it has records like 'who can put the most clothes pins on their face' all you have to do to beat them is have a bigger face"
I was watching an hbomberguy video on Tommy Tallarico (another one for the once respected now a joke pile), and in it he pointed out how the company basically says you can have a world record if you can buy it. And since it costs 10,000 smackers just to get there offical there, not incurring hotel costs and all that jazz, pretty much only there rich can hold w world records
Hasn't it been proven to be a big money sham anyway? Where people can pay to have a World Record, even if they're an autocratic country like Turkmenistan? I think John Oliver did a dit on them and how great they are for image washing.
I recently learned that they have special records that people can pay to have Guinness work with them to create a unique record for a marketing stunt and part of it is that Guinness won't judge anyone trying to break it in the future so it effectively remains the buyer's
The thing that blows my mind is that this is the same Guinness as the beer. It’s literally a marketing tool for them and gained prestige as THE record-keeper. So the whole ‘how many eggs can you fit in your asshole’ type of record makes a lot my sense in the context of drunken Irishmen.
Ellen
One of the funniest things ever will always be that Little Ellen kid's show being announced literally the same year as her mistreatment of backstage co-workers coming out. This was after it was announced that three seasons had been made and four seasons were in production.
Oh this is a good one. Ellen's fall from grace was pretty shocking imo.
"We are a family here" said by anyone who isnt your family.
Nobody in my family would brag about us being a family.
*Any workplace
News anchor people.
Back in the '80s, there was a respected local NBC-affiliate news anchor in Cincinnati who had once been the city mayor. He came to our school to give a speech on homelessness after he did a story in which he spent a week on the streets to see what it was like. That man's name? Jerry Springer. Yes, that Jerry Springer.
Ron Burgundy would like a word.
The walking dead
Frank Darabont directed the first season. He’s the same guy who directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Anyway they ended up firing him due to budget disagreements, AMC wanted him to reduce the episode budgets while producing more episodes. They also ended up firing some of the actors who sided with Frank. Kind of a shame because I think the first season was amazing
I believe some of the best viewer numbers were in seasons 4 and 5. It was during the all out war that people stopped watching
I still can't get over the fact that they were the walking dead. Like, virtually every second house in America has a bicycle in it, and they're still huffing it on foot.
The office of Prime Minister in the UK government. It's been a clownshow for at least 6 years.
The current guy outlasted the lettuce. How’s he doing?
Yellowpages
Unfortunately, education, facts, and Subject Matter Experts. Everyone thinks they are an expert because they can google something. Regardless of their conformation bias, everyone thinks they are an expert until reality fails their self made degree or expertise. The Dunning-Kruger effect has made the previously stated skill sets a joke.
Apologies if this has been mentioned, but my husband who is 15 years older than me told me that he remembers when Bravo was a network that focused on arts / educational programming and indie films 🤯
I remember that too, I'm old now.
Oh yes, and ballet, etc.
Journalists, and no this isn't some right wing fake news thing. Consumerism has turned hard-hitting journalism into clickbait bullshit because that's the only way they can turn a profit anymore. There's still real journalists out there but no new ones are being born, very sad.
“So and so tweeted such and such” is the laziest news writing ever.
This was exactly my answer. There are plenty of good journalists still around, but they don't make money (again not meaning to sound conspiracy nutty most of them are on YouTube supported by Patreon). The entire industry has made good journalists and successful ones two distinct categories because success isn't uncovering a big story, it's generating the most ad revenue.
Blizzard, the video game company.
There is no Blizzard anymore. Only Activision wearing Blizzard's corpse as a skin suit.
I remember when every Blizzard release was the hypest shit ever and they practically manufactured pure gold on a consistent basis. D3 had a bit of a rough start but even that was a good game. Man have they fallen.
I would say more like EA, you know back in the day when they would actually sell us full games
Just started playing StarCraft II and must admit I was thinking how cool the video tie ins with the game were so unique and cool. Like, moving from the Bridge to the Cantina to the Lab to buy/upgrade your stuff (I'm only on the Raynor story, so far). IDK, I just got the impression they game was made with a lot of creativity and love for the experience. I've not played any other Blizzard game, so maybe I'm just clueless...
Flying. People used to dress up. Flight attendants were highly regarded. The food was actually pretty good.
Honestly I feel like in the past 6, years, especially in the past 2 to 3 years since the pandemic, people as a whole of all backgrounds, ethnicities, political views etc, have had a massive decline in trust and faith in many societal institutions and perceived people of power and prestige, as well as each other as human beings. This is a major part of what's leading to our world seeming so much more fractured and unstable and I think it's only going to get worse.
In Antiquity, the collapse of institutions and confidence in politics went along with the switch from republic to empire. People who lived in the time of Augustus did not even realize it at the time - they still were citizens of the Roman Republic, SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome. It took a while for them to realize things had changed. I fear the same is upon us and in thousands of years, when they read the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, they will read of the early 21st century the same way we read of the early 1st century: “At that point, democracy was already gone, but few realized it.”
From an American perspective, it opened my eyes to both the lack of competence and lack of clear communication channels within our institutions. Even setting aside all of the national problems - local governments don't have a coherent way to communicate information. We don't have cable and there isn't any kind of local newspaper, so when the mask mandates were rolling out, you had to proactively check the county and city Facebook pages to see what you were supposed to do at any given time.
Yes, faith in almost all institutions is declining. It’s happened to me personally for sure. I am much more cynical of pretty much all institutions. But part of that could be growing up, because in the last 6 years I was becoming an adult.
Working in the educational system. Being a teacher still sounds worthy of respect, but working as one is a joke. Kids are free to do whatever they want, you're barely allowed to punish bad behaviour in any way, school politics stop from changing anything, parents always blame you etc.
I feel so bad for teachers. Their job is one of the most important in our entire society, yet they get paid scraps and saddled with all kinds of bullshit from politicians.
In my wife's district teachers can't (well, she can because she has the "training") restrain students who are destroying their room or threatening other students unless death is likely to occur.
I blame administrations for throwing teachers under the bus instead of backing them up. Its all an extension of the business world doing that with front line employees: management throws all the ground level folks under the bus to appease customers, even if they're being completely ridiculous, because we think we have to make everyone happy.
As a high school teacher, I can confirm this 100%. We're not allowed to tell kids to put their phones away, for fuck's sake, because it "could be construed as hostile".
The Name "Nimrod"
It was actually Daffy that calls Elmer this in "What makes Daffy Duck". Bugs has only used nimrod in reference to Yosemite Sam. There does seem to be a Mandela effect going on though bc a lot of ppl attribute it to Bugs
It’s funny how both of the details of your post are wrong but you still get the point across. Nimrod was a biblical name from the Old Testament. It was not Roman. And it was Daffy that calls Elmer Nimrod, not Bugs.
It a
Not Rome. It is not a Roman name. It's a biblical name in the Old Testament. The name entered various cultures via Judaism, Christianity (Ge'ez) or Islam, but not Roman.
Staying at a job out of loyalty.
You stay loyal to jobs that take care of you.
More like companies being loyal to employees, providing a good wage, raises, benefits, pensions etc. Why should employees stay out of "loyalty" when companies aren't loyal or acting in their best interests? It's a JOB. The entire idea of loyalty to a job is a joke.
Most celebrities tbh
More like the very idea of celebrity
I would love to go back in time and see if stars in the golden age of Hollywood worked to try to keep their private lives private and maintain some dignity, or of it’s always been like it is now. I think one huge difference now is that back in the day you had to have some sort of talent or skill like dancing and singing to become famous. Now people become famous for being… famous.
Netflix originals
Honestly, House of Cards showed they could challenge HBO for level of quality. Now they have a reputation for buying good scripts and pulling the plug before the shows get too expensive.
Definitely. It was all but guaranteed to be amazing television at first, but now there's only a hit once in a while
It really pisses me off when netflix labels anime a "netflix original" when they just have the rights to stream it and it's not even their own content.
The American Presidency does NOT hold the same esteem it once did.
“When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. I’m beginning to believe it.”
OSHA. Not even their fault either. There's been so much lobbying against them that the red tape is so insane that they can't effectively regulate workers exposure to toxic chemicals.
The Russian military
How do you stop a Russian tank?
True.
Healthcare! I've been in it 20 years it's changed so much. It's a joke. I'm in USA so....it's just gotten more corporate.
More bullshit every day, I swear. They’ll hire a dozen admins but then cut those providing patient care and wonder why the ER wait time is 6 hours.
I’ve been in healthcare for 23 years. When I started the doctors ran the show. Now it’s just a bunch of suits sitting around all day having meetings about meetings and making decisions they don’t know shit about. The running of hospitals and clinics needs to go back in the hands of the people that know what’s up.
My pcp billed my insurance $2k for my annual appointment and she didn't even hold a stethoscope to my chest-- just refilled my meds and ordered blood work (the blood work was billed separately). I was pissed because they were obviously ripping off my insurance which makes my premiums go up, so I called and apparently it's their policy to bill an extra appointment for each prescription refilled, to bill for ordering bloodwork, and then they bill again for the actual appointment. Less than 10 minutes with a doctor and they billed 5 appointments. I can't believe it's legal.
Rudy Giuliani
Many people outside NYC don't realize he was sliding into "joke territory " before 9/11. While he was credited with cleaning up the city, his personal life was falling apart to the extent his second wife at the time found out he wanted a divorce by seeing a news report on TV
I remember watching him on 9/11. It was a moment.
Kevin Spacey
CONTENT CREATORS.
I’ve seen a friend go down this hole too. He’s definitely gonna be the next big thing…and spent the money for it. Not gonna lie he had some top tier equipment but zero personality
The news
Better Business Bureau ... it's essentially a rebranded Chamber of Commerce, not some independent agency intent on ensuring good practices.
Air travel
Nowadays it's just Greyhound at 20,000 feet
Yeah it was “better” before deregulation. But a ticket from NYC to LAX in 1975 cost like $2000 in todays money. That same ticket now is like $300. If you want to fly like it’s still 1975 then that’s business or first class which is 2-5x as expensive.
The three branches of US Govt.
All those Civics classes about checks and balances… hahahaha. I remember when they talked about how important it was to vote to have voices heard and representation, but they kinda skipped over the part about the elected politicians really only representing the lobbyists and special interests.
Will Smith
How to fuck up your life, career, and reputation in 30 seconds or less.
[удалено]
There was a huge barrier before of a very long and steep learning curve, mastering film is no easy task. Back then even if you mastered the darkroom you still needed a good eye. I knew a lot of crappy photographers that understood the technical side as well as anyone could but lacked other skill sets like creativity or having a good eye and you could see that in their work.
When my wife and I were planning our wedding, we started talking about wedding photographers. I said “Oh, a friend of mine is a wedding photographer!” She visibly cringed.
“Shopping mall brands” like Macy’s, JC Penny, and Sears
Shopping malls, in general. Having worked at different businesses in different malls in different cities, I had seen the decline of malls and what those spaces meant.
The US Postal Service. A decades long campaign to smear their reputation coupled with legislation designed to cripple the service has turned them from the reason Santa Claus isn't institutionalized in Miracle and 34th Street to a comedians punching bag. And yeah, last time I went to the post office the service was terribly slow, but they had one window open in a building with five windows. Seemed kind of understaffed.
"starve the beast" strategy showing itself to be effective yet again. Take an effective public service, reduce funding so the service suffers, argue how the public service is ineffective, replace with private enterprise, raise prices, and profit at the cost of everyone else.
Not taking sick days when you are actually sick. Used to be looked at as great dedication, but is now looked at as irresponsible/liability.
It can also be viewed as people being backed into a corner, where they don't get sick days and if they don't work, they don't get paid.
Live Strong Bracelets. Didn’t pan out to well later on.
Netflix, I remember being able to rent any movie and get it in the mail but now they're canceling shows with high ratings and making sub par ones to "compensate"
“Research”
"Experts" too. A lot of times they're just highly opinionated people with no real expertise
DND/Wizards of the Coast After the new OGL came out all respect for that game and company went away.
As someone who doesn't keep up with anything, but does occasionally play D&D, what the fuck happened?
In ten days, the pathfinder subreddit gained over 60k followers.
They had already primed our anger with the insane Magic the Gathering anniversary pack prices.
COMMON DECENCY.
I think Mike Tyson said it…”social media has made people way too comfortable with saying whatever they want and not getting punched in the face for it” a lot of assholes hide behind a computer screen and say horrible stuff. I really try to take the approach of only interacting/saying things online that i would say in person
Me lmao
I feel ya on this one... I used to highly respect myself/brain, but nowadays, I feel more on the joke side :/
Phrenology. Hopefully homeopathy is next.
I legit saw a supplement advertising its main ingredient as having been proven effective via the Medieval Doctrine of Signatures.
The local TV news. Used to be where you would learn about what is going in your community both good and bad. Now it's just the local weather mixed in with whatever talking points Sinclair wants to make. Oh and the occasional interview with a local business person that is totally not just a big commercial for the business.
The American Political system
American politics has always been a circus, you just weren't paying very close attention until the clown showed up.
Facebook
The emmys
Levi's blue jeans.
Kanye? At least to Kanye fans.
I've been watching New Girl for the first time and this really stuck out to me.
I feel that way about Chris Brown as well. I refuse to listen to him
Remember when MTV used to play music?
Remember that song from 20 years ago about how MTV used to play music?
Sears
Lance Armstrong
My parents telling me that if you want a job, “You gotta go in there in person if you want the job!”
American made products.