For me, there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke, and one toy for my kids that was a huge sparkly styrofoam mess waiting to happen, so I threw it out rather than curse anyone else with it.
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The tree comes from the pagan solstice celebrations
Yep, from Rome to Rīga, they used to mark the death of nature with plants that refuse to die. Later, they started decorating them to symbolise the blossoming or the harvest of the year’s last feast.
Source: school education from the last pagans of Europe.
I like the plot twist that the sister is pagan
Alcohol bottles (were full, now empty and in recycling, not trash)
Hooray for recycling!
My partner and I got scratch ticket packs for eachother for $38 total. I lost every ticket she won 20 dollar so we are starting the year 18 dollars short.
Don’t buy scratch tickets.
I was in line at a convenience store the other day, when the person in front of me bought a dozen or so scratch tickets. Normally, I wouldn’t have gave it a second thought, people gamble. But what made it stand out to me was that the person made the cashier just immediately scratch the QR code square and scan the ticket. Like, the person didn’t even touch the tickets. Just handed over the money, and made the cashier do the work. Not only that, but the cashier didn’t even bat an eye; as this seemed like a normal occurrence to them. And the person in front of me didn’t win anything, they just walked away with nothing.
So not only was it extremely sad to see this person, who is clearly addicted to gambling, waste their money. But, seeing how the industry has made it so easy and fast for someone to piss their money away was quite disgusting. These people don’t even play the game on the cards now. They just scratch off the code and scan it. Just sad all around.
In Norway the profits are used to fund local football clubs for kids and such. It does not need to be exploitative and bad.
Yeah they are always a loss overall but since we didn’t buy other gifts this year it was just to have a little chance at winning.
Sometimes it’s the dreams that are worth the price.
We call them a “stupid tax” but infrequently buying them is pretty harmless. I don’t mind group lotto either it can be fun to buy in and run the numbers out over a course of a few months. There’s some charity lottos I’ve done before.
Why not? They’re fun and benefit numerous good causes, such as services for elderly citizens and low-cost prescription medication programs. No one of stable mind really thinks they’ll get rich, but it’s nice to win a few bucks here and there.
Even though some of the money goes to good causes, taking advantage of people who are addicted to gambling is not cool.
Now, that’s not to say that every single person who has ever bought a scratch ticket is an addict, but the whole thing is designed to take advantage of those who are not in their right mind.
I’m so happy to be in a wealthy community with very few gambling addicts these days.
I sold lottery tickets in a very very poor community and I swear they’d blow everything they had and then try to bum the clerk to keep going.
The difference is absurd too. I would sell 3-4k (that’s low too) in lottery tickets every day in a poor community. In a wealthy community I rarely sell 100 dollars in tickets in a day.
I know a man who would be living like a king if he wasn’t addicted. He retired from a pretty high position in the military and then the post office. Every time he gets his money he spends the first 4 days of the month spending at least 4k on tickets. His wife makes him keep just enough to live in their tiny beat up house and take care of the terribly mentally ill adult children (all in their 40s).
Gambling addiction is so crazy to me, I could never tell if anyone was addicted though at the counter. I used to work at a pharmacy with a lotto machine so that probably determined customers a bit. The older retired ladies coming in with their pouches was kind of charming and they weren’t very big spenders overall, they seemed to just enjoy organizing and managing it all.
Slot machines in casinos really affect me in a depressing way though, seeing rows of people just pressing buttons over and over while they stare at the machine I find disturbing.
I’m in Virginia and about 6 months ago I had some guys pop on here trying to get me to install those slot machines. They told me how much money the store could bring in, blah blah blah. I told them I’d rather die than sit here with people drooling and throwing their lives away. I’d feel like shit for every penny it brought in. Funny thing is, not long after they came in with the big pitch, the machines were outlawed haha. They were trying to do a quick dump before the law changed, the assholes.
Fortunately my uncle (the owner) is very religious and principled about such things.
He sells the tickets, but he has little things in place these days that keep the hardcore gambler away. No purchases on credit or debit cards, standing and scratching is considered loitering.
When I was 18, I worked in a convenience store. I was behind the counter with my manager and some lady decided to throw a few bucks at some dollar scratch tickets. I was behind silly and put my finger on the middle one and said it would get her at least five dollars. She laughed and took them out to her car. A few minutes later she came in looking like she saw a ghost. She asked how I knew and I just told her that I guessed. She won exactly five dollars on the ticket I pointed out.
As someone working in my family’s gas stations for the last two decades, this is something that happens at least a few times a month for me.
9 times out of 10 the big winners have sat and played on a roll until it hits something and they move on to the next making it nearly impossible for an average, non addicted customer to get anything. The gambling addicts will spend 200k to win 10k and jump up and down like the 10k winner is going to change they life.
Customers who always share their winnings, I point them to the ticket that hasn’t hit in awhile. Customers who aggravate me and bounce in front of people like someone pissing themselves at a slot machine, I lie and tell them a ticket hasn’t hit even if it has. It’s probably wrong, but my thinking goes that the longer a particular ticket has gone without hitting, the closer it is to a winner. Someone smarter than me can probably call me an idiot on that one.
Pointing people to winners (which is a total freak thing every time I do) has paid me probably 6k in the last 20 years. If decent folks think you assisted them in their luck, they always want to share in the luck.
I’m sorry I’ve pretty much just sat and typed nothing here. Too far in to back out now. :p
my thinking goes that the longer a particular ticket has gone without hitting, the closer it is to a winner
If the tickets were perfectly random, this would not be true. But they are not really random at all.
In reality, everything about the game has been carefully designed to control payouts and entice the consumer.
À bottle of wine, but it’s now empty.
Hemingway-esque
there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke,
My kids got two or three items each that promptly broke. Into the garbage they go.
I hate the dollar store so much. It’s a waste of money and an environmental train wreck.
And sketchy. Who knows if any particular batch of any particular product was made to safety or quality standards.
Actually they are all the same, and none of them are, that’s why they are all the same. The plan was made before fire codes required updated sprinkler systems or something and since they keep reusing the same plans they all are fire hazards.
A fire fighter buddy of mine was ranting one night and I caught the tail end of the discussion.
I feel like I’m catching the tail end of this discussion. Is this thread still about dollar store products? What plan do you mean?
He’s talking about the physical dollar store ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh ok, that makes sense. Thought he might have meant that at first but second guessed because I only see them in strip malls or other buildings they didn’t build themselves these days but thinking about the aisles does make me think fire hazard now. At least they usually keep the lighters by the cash, though I wonder if someone learned that one the hard way.
I did not receive any Christmas presents this year
Folks finally listened to me when I said “get me something I’ll use every day or don’t bother, it’s wasteful”.
Mrs got me a backscratcher. Best fucking present ever. I’ve used it basically every day since Christmas.
I just tell people not to get me stuff. I don’t want your shitty gifts, I just buy what I want anyway.
So, you got exactly what you wanted for Christmas, no gifts
At the other end of the spectrum: My wife and I made a minimal gifts pact. We each got each other minor crap we needed for around the house. It was perfect. No waste. No extravagance. Just stuff we were going to get anyway.
My wife and I got each other a dishwasher for Christmas…
Okay, was it a shared gift, or do you each have your own dishwasher now? If it’s two, do they match?
Shared gift 😁
Just don’t gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
My family did it and it was honestly amazing (obviously kids should get something if possible).Just don’t gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
We haven’t made it that far yet. I imagine/hope we will eventually.
As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, in Iceland they buy each other books and on Christmas Eve they open the books and everyone sits around reading them.
this is how my family has it set up too, everyone writes a list of some reasonable stuff they’d quite like to get anyways and we just pick a thing from each list while coordinating with each other to not duplicate anything.
Works brilliantly.
My mom got me a sweater, where they accidentally sewed the neck/zipper/ tag part inside out. I’m guessing she bought it online and never looked at it.
My neighbour gave me a TV. To be precise, he rushed it to me unannounced at the exact moment I was leaving to go to a party. I accepted as quickly as I could in an effort to still make my train.
It turns out it’s about 15 years old and I have no use for it. He’s a lovely man but I intend to post it as free to a good home then drop it at an e-recycling station if nobody is interested.
Is it a CRT? Big giant tube tv? They can fetch decent prices.
Nope, just an LCD. It’ll make you feel old but 15 years ago CRTs had already lost majority market share. Sony shut down its last CRT manufacturing plants in 2008.
I know, I’d kill to hear that sweet degaussing zap again.
I think I accidentally threw away a Starbucks gift card someone gave me, because I’ve been unable to locate it since Christmas :(
EDIT: LMFAO the mods removed my reply to the Scrooge below me because I said “I hope you get coal next year” XD
I haven’t opened any Christmas presents yet. We’re having a late Christmas due to crazy schedules for everyone involved.
Not trash, just returned to the shop. HP Smart Tank 580 printer.
Did you buy a brother instead?
I currently have a printer, also HP, but an old one (20 years).
When I’ll finally need a new printer, I’ll be deciding between HP and Brother. I am not sure about Linux support with Brother printers. I heard it’s great, but I need to search more. I know HPLIP works well, but I also heard these new HP printers don’t last long. Then there’s also the thing called HP+ (not to be confused with Instant Ink) that many of those printers have, which REQUIRES HP account AND a connection to internet.
Be a member of the Brother-hood. I have a big black multifunction Brother printer, scanner (even fax, wtf!), and it works on both Linux and Windows. Bought four years ago. It just wants a quiet corner and a wifi connection. I think it’d even print from my Android phone if I tickled it a little, but can’t be arsed now. It’s happy with cheapo ink as well. It also cleans itself and has survived in a definitely-not-an-office environment. If it makes another year I’ll give it a pet name, it deserves one!
HP is a nightmare, I had nothing but issues on my system with HP. Brother is no fuss no install kind of deal. It just appears ready and willing.
Only thing in all of these posts that deserves to be trashed.
The first opened coffee bag. It has been deposited into the trash and or toilet
How was it?
Why do you think it was chucked into the trash and or toilet?
Because it belonged to the trash man?
It was good, even if it was bad we woulda finished it though because coffee is coffee
I’m not much for receiving gifts but I appreciate fancy candies and food items I wouldn’t buy for myself, and I turned most of them in to poop already.
Finished off a thing of oreo caramel with a creamy filling.
