Lately, my spouse and I went out to do some Christmas procuring. We additionally grabbed some lunch whereas we have been out, introduced dinner dwelling, rented a film, and acquired a sport to play the subsequent day. It ought to have been a chill weekend, however it wasn’t. In 2023, due to grasping billionaires and big, shitty firms, shopping for absolutely anything is a horrible expertise.
As human beings studying the web in 2023, I’m positive you all are properly conscious of how shitty it’s today to purchase…something. So this publish isn’t supposed to level out some hidden reality or reveal some new a part of the world you weren’t conscious of. As an alternative, I’m simply drained and needed to guarantee you all that, sure, it’s dangerous on the market, it’s getting worse, and all of it sucks. It sucks a lot.
Buying on-line or on the retailer is horrible
First, even earlier than we headed out to purchase some presents and different objects, I used to be on Amazon making an attempt to get another gift-shopping performed. I hate Amazon. However as a rule, out right here within the Midwest, it’s the one possibility for some particular objects. Nonetheless, it sucks. Utilizing Amazon now, in 2023, is like operating by a maze of entice doorways and pretend objects. Is that basically a PS5 controller within the particular coloration I need? Or is it one of many many fakes and dropshipped imposters? You need to verify the vendor and the value and hope that what you order truly arrives and isn’t broken earlier than it will get to your home. Or stolen off your porch.
Maybe, like we did, you resolve to say “Fuck Amazon!” and go to native shops or brick-and-mortar supercenters to select up your objects. Good luck! I appeared on-line for a selected merchandise and located it in inventory at a retailer in my space. But after I acquired there, the merchandise I’d been advised was in inventory was…not in inventory. After I requested one of many only a few overworked employees members on the retailer concerning the merchandise, all of them appeared far too busy and drained to reply with something greater than “Perhaps subsequent week?”
Ultimately, we did discover a few of our objects, however our trials and tribulations weren’t over, as we then found, like normal, that a lot of the checkout strains have been closed. The Goal we have been at had round 20 of them, however solely two have been open. Two employees have been being pressured to take a look at and cope with a whole lot of Christmastime consumers. It was not going properly.
So we went to self-checkout, solely to find lengthy strains attributable to some machines not working. One particular person was answerable for managing the machines and all of the folks utilizing them. It was additionally not going properly.
And to be clear: none of that is the fault of the overworked, underpaid employees desperately making an attempt to make a dwelling whereas being yelled at by Karens for coughing or not smiling sufficient. Don’t take away from this exasperation that I’m mad on the employees at Taco Bell or Goal or something like that. I’m mad at their bosses and everybody above them who’re slowly squeezing us all right into a paste that they’ll scrape off of their boots and throw away as soon as we run out of cash.
Anyway, as soon as we acquired out of the shop we made just a few extra journeys. And it was the identical story. Shops felt naked, with most objects relegated to on-line retailers, whereas overworked staff who’re anticipated to take care of far an excessive amount of directly did what they might as vacation consumers descended on them like ravenous predators.
Shopping for anything sucks, too
Throughout all of this, we stopped to seize some lunch at Arby’s. We discovered, nonetheless, that the road on the drive-thru was 20 automobiles lengthy. So we went someplace else: an area Taco Bell that’s normally not too busy. And it wasn’t, fortunately, however inside I discovered one particular person operating the place. Not solely is that this harmful, it’s a horrible strategy to handle a quick meals joint. We went to order our meals, however their programs at that location have been down and we didn’t have money on us. The one employee instructed we use the app to purchase the meals and pay that means. The long run fucking sucks.
After we acquired dwelling, we tried to observe a film. But it surely wasn’t obtainable on any streaming providers so we’d must lease it, regardless that Roku and different web sites mentioned in any other case. So we determined as a substitute to observe a film I already owned however that we hadn’t watched, solely to study that Vudu was down that night time for some motive.
After I went to observe the movie on YouTube utilizing my Moviesanywhere account, it had been disconnected for safety causes. So we mentioned fuck it and opened MAX to observe a cooking present we get pleasure from. However that particular present wasn’t loading for us, even when the whole lot else labored. It’s nice paying for apps that by no means work!
Ultimately, we gave up, opened YouTube, and watched some random nonsense. Whereas we did that, my spouse tried to purchase a sport on Xbox, solely to be confused by all the varied editions and bundles. And after I helped choose the best one, the app crashed and we simply went downstairs and used the console to purchase it anyway.
It’s wild how horrible it’s to purchase something as we speak. All of us have much less cash than ever and firms have greater than ever, and but, they nonetheless demand even extra. And now, they don’t even thoughts how transparently clear it’s in 2023 that each one they need is that cash. They don’t care about their employees, their clients, or the procuring expertise in any respect.
As an alternative, we’re pressured to hop by increasingly more hoops, as costs rise and the straightforward act of shopping for one thing turns into more durable and shittier with every passing month.
At this fee, I think about by round 2025 or so I’ll must spend $200 on a small quick meals order made by one one who maintains a thousand robots making the whole lot in a tri-state space.
I say, fuck that. Let’s outlaw billionaires, take their cash, and make this world a greater place earlier than all of us get crushed by the wealthy. That sounds a lot better to me.
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