Minor things that bother you

[JayhawkCO]

The only thing I don't like on my burger is mayonnaise. And I prefer the onion raw, not grilled unless I'm getting an onion burger obviously.

Mayo for a Goober Burger is good eatin'.

I've been coming around to mayonnaise more and more, but I'm still not a huge fan of it. Two other foods I can't stand are tomato juice or sour cream. Oddly enough, I do love tomatoes.

I don't like tomato juice on its own, nor raw tomatoes, but will drink the hell out of a nice, spicy Bloody Mary.

Yeah, if it's spicy, I could probably do it. I do it. Enjoy spicy foods and drinks.

Lots of horseradish, lots of A1/Worcestershire.

[Bruce]

I prefer my burger to have its full complement of toppings (though pickles are something I omit on occasion, they're usually too squeaky).

But ice in drinks is something I definitely avoid. Heard one too many horror stories about seldom-cleaned ice machines full of mold or other gunk. Plus, you're getting slightly more drink for your dollar this way.

[1995hoo]

I prefer my burger to have its full complement of toppings (though pickles are something I omit on occasion, they're usually too squeaky).

But ice in drinks is something I definitely avoid. Heard one too many horror stories about seldom-cleaned ice machines full of mold or other gunk. Plus, you're getting slightly more drink for your dollar this way.

I remember in the old days when McDonald's had a button for each size cup so they'd fill automatically, you didn't get extra soda if you said "no ice" because it just filled up to the preset amount. The empty space in the cup? "That's where the ice is supposed to go."

[kphoger]

I prefer my burger to have its full complement of toppings (though pickles are something I omit on occasion, they're usually too squeaky).

But ice in drinks is something I definitely avoid. Heard one too many horror stories about seldom-cleaned ice machines full of mold or other gunk. Plus, you're getting slightly more drink for your dollar this way.

Like |Max Rockatansky|, I prefer lots of toppings on my burger.  But there is a point at which the raw veg can turn an otherwise-hot sandwich into a mostly-cold sandwich, and I don't want a burger that makes me think "this is cold".  So there's a limit.  I don't like ketchup in general, but it's not bad if there's also mayonnaise.

Burgers are my favorite thing to put hoisin sauce on.  Ever tried it?

As for ice machines, I've personally been someone cleaning the black mold out from an ice machine.  At work.  And I still use ice from the machine.  But I do avoid any black specks I see...

[GaryV]

As for ice machines, I've personally been someone cleaning the black mold out from an ice machine.  At work.  And I still use ice from the machine.  But I do avoid any black specks I see...

The coke kills it.

[kphoger]

As for ice machines, I've personally been someone cleaning the black mold out from an ice machine.  At work.  And I still use ice from the machine.  But I do avoid any black specks I see...

The coke kills it.

Usually, I'm putting it in water from the tap.  Does tap water kill mold?

[ZLoth]

No pickles or onions on my burgers, but strangely, onion rings are aok. I still miss this pile of sin...



But, there are some good substitutes. Although this is just ok...

[jeffandnicole]

My Mother-in-law will order a burger plain.  Bun and burger - that's it.  No lettuce, no tomoto, no ketchup, no anything.  It kills me to see someone pay $10+ dollars for a burger that plain.

[Max Rockatansky]

When I was in high school, my younger sister made a really big deal about driving her to Burger King to get a cheeseburger.  She was being a real snot about and continued on by coping an attitude with the counter cashier at the restaurant.  She ordered a cheeseburger but didn't check the takeout bag before we returned home.  Turns out they actually gather her a couple buns with a piece of cheese.  I thought it was hilarious and refused to take her back.

[1995hoo]

My Mother-in-law will order a burger plain.  Bun and burger - that's it.  No lettuce, no tomoto, no ketchup, no anything.  It kills me to see someone pay $10+ dollars for a burger that plain.

If she's paying for it and she likes it that way, I fail to see the problem. Similar to a certain well-known national figure who likes his steak well-done with ketchup. He's paying for it, so he can have it however he wants it. Makes no difference to me.

[hbelkins]

Coinstar -- I've seen Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Apple/iTunes gift cards available. I'm sure now that Google Play and gaming cards are also available.

Burgers -- The only vegetable matter I want on a burger is maybe lettuce. No pickle, no tomato, no onion (unless I'm eating at White Castle or one of those Hardee's western bacon cheeseburgers such as pictured upthread.) For condiments, mayo is Satan's semen. I will only eat mustard, or mustard and ketchup, on a burger as far as traditional condiments go. Occasionally I will eat A1 or 57 steak sauce on a burger, or BBQ sauce, but that's it. I'm a plain and simple burger eater.

[vdeane]

Putting lettuce, tomato, and onions on hamburgers. I just like cheese and ketchup.

Same.  I'm actually curious how lettuce, tomato, and onions became standard to put on just about everything that goes between two pieces of bread in restaurants.  I've never seen people put them on burgers at backyard grillings, but when eating out it's standard for some reason.  Likewise, many hot sandwiches have them standard even though you'd never have tomatoes with chicken wings, for example.

When I was in high school, my younger sister made a really big deal about driving her to Burger King to get a cheeseburger.  She was being a real snot about and continued on by coping an attitude with the counter cashier at the restaurant.  She ordered a cheeseburger but didn't check the takeout bag before we returned home.  Turns out they actually gather her a couple buns with a piece of cheese.  I thought it was hilarious and refused to take her back.

Careful ordering a burger with nothing on it.  Although I would think that cheese is a something...

[Rothman]

The only thing I don't like on my burger is mayonnaise. And I prefer the onion raw, not grilled unless I'm getting an onion burger obviously.

Mayo for a Goober Burger is good eatin'.

"All right, folks, this one goes out to my two bestest friends in the whole world: Patrick and this big peanut guy!"

[mgk920]

Meanwhile, the 1913 penny, adjusted for inflation, is 32 cents, so by that logic, everything smaller than a quarter should be discontinued.

The official figures on 'inflation' are sadly laughable at best.  IMHO, realistic figures work best at about 110:1 inflation between the end of the gold standard in 1933 and now.  Thus 'one cent' in 1913 is about $1.10 in 2025 money.

Mike

[Rothman]

Meanwhile, the 1913 penny, adjusted for inflation, is 32 cents, so by that logic, everything smaller than a quarter should be discontinued.

The official figures on 'inflation' are sadly laughable at best. 

I actually laughed a lot more at this statement than I ever have at the CPI.

[Scott5114]

^^^^

Another option might be the Coinstar machine at the grocery store, if they have one. While those machines charge a fee, every one I've ever used gives you an option to avoid the fee if you take your payment as a gift card instead of as cash. So, for example, if they offer an Amazon gift card, I'll typically take that option because I figure I'll order something from Amazon soon enough. (I haven't used one of those machines in a while, though, because telecommuting means I just don't accumulate many coins anymore.)

Yeah, but the point of doing it this way is to specifically put the coins in savings, not to spend them.

....

That's true, you did make that point in your earlier comment and it didn't really register with me at the time. Maybe you could get yourself a small coin-rolling machine. I used to have one. It was battery-operated and sat on one end of the kitchen counter. You put coin rolls in the respective four slots (it rolled pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters) and you just dumped the coins into the top of the machine. Worked reasonably well, but it eventually broke and I never replaced it. Don't remember where I got it. Most of the ones I saw online just now when I did a Google search look more elaborate and more expensive than what I had. There is no way I spent more than $20 for the thing.

I've had a lower-tech version of that since the late 90s:



When it gets full, I can just slide a roll down in there and pull it out with all the coins in it. It's very simple and does the job well. It is not really that hard to sort the ten or whatever coins I have when I get home, so I am fine with this solution if a free coin-sorting machine isn't an option.

But if you get an Amazon GC, just put the cash you would have spent on Amazon into savings, no?

The point is to not spend the money at all.

If I wait until I'm making a purchase I would have to make anyway, then the disappointment in having less money due to the purchase overrides the dopamine hit that the deposit gives me, which eliminates the fun of saving. Also, there's no guarantee that at the time I'm spending the card that I'll have the money available to transfer to savings.

I think there is a very tiny dragon inside my brain that is calling the shots on this one.

[Scott5114]

The banks are doing you a service by taking away your coins in exchange for a more convenient form of money. It's only reasonable that they charge you.

I am also doing the banks a service by giving them the coins they need to service their commercial customers without them having to put in an order to Brinks or whoever.

Remember how for like a year after the pandemic, there was a coin shortage because non-commercial customers weren't depositing coins?

The casino where I worked the cash cage for six years welcomed loose coins, as we had both the equipment to process them efficiently and the need for them (penny slots really love to generate random-ass amounts that require lots of loose change to pay out).

[Scott5114]

My Mother-in-law will order a burger plain.  Bun and burger - that's it.  No lettuce, no tomoto, no ketchup, no anything.  It kills me to see someone pay $10+ dollars for a burger that plain.

I will sometimes do this if the meat is flavorful enough that I don't care to have other things on top of it.

Depending on the restaurant there may be room to save money if she's savvy about it. Burger King has the Whopper Jr., which has all the same toppings as the Whopper, as well as the "hamburger", which comes with just pickles, ketchup and mustard, and is therefore cheaper. The same bun and burger patty are used for both sandwiches, though. So if you're going to order a plain burger, you can save money ordering a hamburger because it is exactly the same as a plain Whopper Jr.

[J N Winkler]

Same.  I'm actually curious how lettuce, tomato, and onions became standard to put on just about everything that goes between two pieces of bread in restaurants.  I've never seen people put them on burgers at backyard grillings, but when eating out it's standard for some reason.  Likewise, many hot sandwiches have them standard even though you'd never have tomatoes with chicken wings, for example.

I have had homemade burgers on a reasonably regular basis (though we broil the patties instead of grilling them), and generally eat them with red onion, tomato, dill pickles, and Dijon mustard.  The fresh and pickled vegetables set up a nice taste and texture contrast.

[ZLoth]

The point is to not spend the money at all.

If I wait until I'm making a purchase I would have to make anyway, then the disappointment in having less money due to the purchase overrides the dopamine hit that the deposit gives me, which eliminates the fun of saving. Also, there's no guarantee that at the time I'm spending the card that I'll have the money available to transfer to savings.

I think there is a very tiny dragon inside my brain that is calling the shots on this one.

There is a site called CamelCamelCamel which is good for tracking the price history of an item to see if it is a good deal, and also set an alert for when a price hits a certain level. I've had items that fell on the category of "gee, it would be nice to have" sit on that list for over a year before it hit the price I wanted.

[kphoger]

I'm actually curious how lettuce, tomato, and onions became standard to put on just about everything that goes between two pieces of bread in restaurants.  I've never seen people put them on burgers at backyard grillings, but when eating out it's standard for some reason.

I've seen those exact toppings at backyard grillings plenty of times, as well as a jar of pickle slices.  Occasionally, the onions are grilled too, or else 'grilled' in the kitchen in a skillet before being brought outside.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

2 standard restaurant practices that I have to tell them not to do
1) Putting ice in drinks. It melts and dilutes the flavor
2) Putting lettuce, tomato, and onions on hamburgers. I just like cheese and ketchup.

I mean, these are things that would only annoy me if I ask and they don't do it right. The act of simply asking for it, or having to ask for it, doesn't bother me.

[Scott5114]

The point is to not spend the money at all.

If I wait until I'm making a purchase I would have to make anyway, then the disappointment in having less money due to the purchase overrides the dopamine hit that the deposit gives me, which eliminates the fun of saving. Also, there's no guarantee that at the time I'm spending the card that I'll have the money available to transfer to savings.

I think there is a very tiny dragon inside my brain that is calling the shots on this one.

There is a site called CamelCamelCamel which is good for tracking the price history of an item to see if it is a good deal, and also set an alert for when a price hits a certain level. I've had items that fell on the category of "gee, it would be nice to have" sit on that list for over a year before it hit the price I wanted.

The problem with this is that it results in the money being spent, not being in savings.

[ZLoth]

The problem with this is that it results in the money being spent, not being in savings.

Here we go again...

The response is... "it depends". Spending a little bit of money for preventative maintenance is better than putting off a report until it's really expensive. Spending a little bit more of money for a better quality product that lasts longer instead of the cheapest product that doesn't last as long. And, I have found that it is cheaper for a product to go on sale than having to pick it up on rush and expedited shipping. Which reminds me... I need to order some filters for my air conditioner in preparation for the twice-yearly preventative service instead of purchasing it through the servicer.

Now, don't think I'm discounting savings and living debt-free. Living in debt is stress factor, and fortunately, the only "big debt" I have is my mortgage, even if it means that I have to drive around in a 2013 car until that is paid off. I do save for my retirement, and I had to dip into my savings to pay for some recent medical procuedures.

Now, if you have a local library, please check it out. Some libraries, in addition to lending out physical books, also have digital services available such as audiobooks, e-books, and streaming media (e.g. Kanopy).

[Scott5114]

Are y'all trolling me with the refusal to understand "I want the bank account balance to be higher than before the transaction happened and I don't want to spend the money" or have Americans huffed the capitalist glue so severely that the tube is stuck up our collective nostril now?

Maybe I just want to have something in the bank in case my car breaks down or something. Jesus.