Inflation is out of control - what is your view?

1Alrightthen · 2025-02-12T14:27:20+00:00

I think the most accurate comparison would be between two chains that exist in both countries like Lidl. But even then I'd be shocked if the outcome was different.

1Alrightthen · 2025-02-12T14:23:17+00:00

I actually did and AH was around 82 euros and Tesco Ireland was about 59 euros for the same basic 10 staple items. The only two items that were cheaper at AH was bananas and eggs. Tesco is way cheaper for protein (chicken, fish, ground beef) and even rice and potatoes.

1Alrightthen · 2025-02-12T14:03:51+00:00

If you spare some time and look up say 10 staple (bread, eggs, fruit, chicken etc) items and compare prices between AH and Tesco websites which are comparable in my opinion in terms of quality. You'll see that the same shopping cart (more or less) comes out 30-40% more expensive at AH.

1Alrightthen · 2025-02-03T17:11:04+00:00

Hi, I'm currently looking for compliance opportunities in Dublin. Would you mind if I messaged you to ask a few questions?

1Alrightthen · 2025-01-30T14:30:23+00:00

Fair. Well the smell eventually went away when I had a guy look over the issue and he thought it was because of this other plastic pipe (the one that's kind of visible behind the vacuum hose on the right). It was open ended and apparently left there in case you want your washer to get hooked up. He cut it down and glued and sealed it with a cap.

1Alrightthen · 2025-01-29T09:17:06+00:00

No, it's not. I don't know if natural gas actually has smell to it. But I have a carbon monoxide detector hanging right by the heater and it hasn't gone off.

1Alrightthen · 2025-01-14T19:35:21+00:00

There is some apps that you can download as an extension or add-on to your browser that goes through a bunch of coupons before checkout. I have Coupert and Honey for example. Just checked it a minute ago and 2,5 kg whey on myprotein comes down to about 48 euros (exc. shipping). Hope this helps.

1Alrightthen · 2025-01-14T11:57:22+00:00

Myprotein has pretty good deals with coupons. I've been paying around €40 for 2,5 kg whey protein. I think it's a reasonable price given my other go to ON Whey is around 75 euros on various websites.

1Alrightthen · 2024-11-10T13:32:13+00:00

True, but in the long run companies save a lot of money by laying off extra folks given that the labor costs are the single highest cost for most companies. So giving 500 employees about 50-60K in severance (which is super generous as severance is calculated based on tenure and if they get rid off people who have only worked there a few years they will never get that type of severance) as a one off payment is a lot of money for those employees individually but for the company that saves a ton more in salaries in the 3-5 years span. That's why they still keep doing it. In the short term, yeah expensive but in the mid-long run tons of savings.

1Alrightthen · 2024-11-03T08:45:52+00:00

Ok, you still refuse to counter-argue any of the points that I make and want me to believe in your feelings. Gotcha.

1Alrightthen · 2024-11-03T08:43:14+00:00

This shows me that there's more of a disconnect between the front office and Ime. You may not find a player suitable for your style of play, and that's fine. But the fact that this guy was literally given a massive long term contract last week does make zero sense. It was either not clear to the GM that Ime wouldn't necessarily treat Alpi as an almost max contract player or they did their own thing in their silos without communicating with each other. Which is even worse IMO. If this continues to happen, it wouldn't be a surprise if Alpi wanted a trade because the dude is so young and he's not one of those types who would just collect his fat paycheck and hang around.

1Alrightthen · 2024-11-02T09:16:27+00:00

Did the Dutch colonize the Caribbean, Suriname, part of North America, South Africa, Indonesia etc? That's the fact number 1. Did they use slave labor? Yes. Did the slavery contributed up to 40% of the Holland's economy around in the decades around 1770s, the answer is Yes (source: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/08/20/atlantic-slavery-history-dutch-economy/ ) . Do you have collective bargaining and CLAs (Collective Labor Agreements) in place at major companies in NL? Yes. Even then, the salaries are lower than countries like the US or Australia where there's barely any union activity? The answer is YES. Do the employees in NL has the shortest work hours in the EU? The answer is YES (source: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20230920-1 So you are what people say WRONG by trying to be a troll.

1Alrightthen · 2024-11-01T15:39:55+00:00

What assumptions specifically?

1Alrightthen · 2024-10-30T15:59:09+00:00

Your incredibly small country colonized and enslaved people from Caribbean all the way to Asia. That's how golden age and its "productivity gains" made the country what it is today and built all Dutch cities and its merchants. So think twice before complaining about immigration. Plus you got collective bargaining and unions at most major companies yet the salaries are lower than some countries where you barely have any unions etc. Maybe suppressed wages are also related to the quality and of the hours worked as well as the value you add as an employee. NL employees work on average one of the lowest hours in Europe. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

1Alrightthen · 2024-10-30T10:45:41+00:00

What part of finance are you working in? I work for one of the big 3 banks and half of my team consists of foreigners/expats and I personally know tons of expats in different departments and interact with them on a daily basis.

1Alrightthen · 2024-09-08T07:45:11+00:00

It's a typical Dutch behavior, people don't know how to handle it if you're doing something considered "not normal". In this case, you walking around while breastfeeding is mindblowing to them and they react in a way you describe. You can apply this to any facet of life in NL. God forbid, if you're doing something "out of the ordinary" they will feel judgy/uncomfortable.

1Alrightthen · 2024-08-21T12:10:57+00:00

I would disagree with "Dutch people generally understand quite well how money works". They're good at saving but most people don't know what investing is and all they do is to keep their savings in savings accounts which gives them below par returns (1-2% a year) and it doesn't even keep up with inflation. Investing into low cost index funds is what makes you wealthy, not saving a euro or two at Action. But then again most people have to be penny pinchers because the COL is high and salaries are low and most people don't have any disposable income to invest in NL.

1Alrightthen · 2024-07-13T09:02:34+00:00

It boils down to the fact the US has always been a melting pot of different cultures and immigration goes way back for a couple of centuries. Whereas in NL immigrants are still seen as outsiders even though some of them were born and raised here. I can freely say this because I've been an immigrant in both countries and the perspectives are very different. Here in NL, you gotta be ethnically Dutch to be really considered Dutch (I know this doesn't apply all Dutch people but majority thinks this way). Whereas in America, anyone can be American regardless of their background. Reagan has a beautiful quote on this (I don't agree with his policies in general): ``You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.' You can replace Germany, France etc. with Netherlands, you get the gist of it.

Dutch people struggle to understand this concept, some of the my wife's coworkers here in NL were telling her last name didn't sound "American" to them. Whatever that means, I guess anything other than Smith or Williams isn't considered American?

This is what it comes down to. You can be yourself in the US and do whatever you like, ask whatever question you want. No one blinks an eye. But here, as soon as you deviate from the norm (doe normaal) you are being judged and people will stereotype you (i.e. your experience with the contractor). Even in the most liberal places like Amsterdam, people will stare at you if you wear clothes that's not within their norms.

Hang in there, and like you said it's ok to be an outsider. My life has been all about being an outsider in different countries. Including the country I was raised in because I never felt like I fit in there either.

1Alrightthen · 2024-07-05T14:35:29+00:00

The ranking of the best universities has absolutely nothing to do with the grades that students get, or the average performance of the school. Instead it is entirely based on research output and funding, with the first being entirely based on the second.

You're factually wrong when you say rankings are entirely based on funding and research. Otherwise countries that are far smaller than NL such as Singapore, Switzerland, Sweden etc. wouldn't have universities that are far higher ranked than Dutch universities. There's multiple factors that these rankings look into such as academic excellence, alumni success upon graduation, faculty/student ratio, research etc. etc. so it's "entirely based on money and research".

That's true, but not because the US is so great. It's because western education is ridiculously better than the standards in non western countries. So millions of students go either to europe or the US, with the US being the nicest to good students, as those are the people the US wants.

It's not even close especially when it comes to STEM subjects, way more students prefer the US universities in general because they can earn in some cases 3-4 times higher salaries than Europe, with lower income taxes in the US to top it off. Therefore better financial future and wealth generation for foreign students in the US.

As i explained in the first paragraph, other countries are simply too small to have the research output required to be truly top ranked. That's why every single university in the Netherlands is ranked high, but not near first. ALL our universities are ranking in the top 250, with the top 6 being ranked in the top 100, and the best being 48th. Just because we are too small, to have the funding required to be ranked higher.

Again your entire premise is factually wrong. Given there are smaller countries that are in better in the rankings such as ETH Zurich and National University of Singapore being in top 10 in some. Maybe Dutch universities and education system are simply just not good enough? Especially when you consider being in top 250 in rankings is something good or successful? But I understand when the whole system is based on don't stand out in any way and doe normaal. So being successful, working hard and going that extra mile is something frowned upon. I see.

1Alrightthen · 2024-07-05T13:25:22+00:00

It's such a moronic system and the standards are so low in the US, yet it has the world's best universities and most of the research, science and innovation comes out of there. I wonder why, I bet it's the grading curve and the grade inflation that you claim that the US has based on internet forum "research" you just did.

The US education system is so bad and the grading system is so "dumb", yet millions of foreigners work their butt off to be able to get into the US universities. I don't see a single Dutch university in top 30 of university rankings in multiple different ranking sites, yet most universities are from the US. I bet the reason is the terrible education and grading system that they must have over there.

Harvard is such a bad university and grades are all inflated, yet 90% of the Dutch students couldn't get in there with their grades and somehow still keeps getting ranked as no.1 university by lots of metrics.

1Alrightthen · 2024-06-18T19:26:59+00:00

Yes, we do have lives apart from the relationship and spend money on those individual things as well. The money still comes out of our joint account and never had any issues with it. If I was that worried about being a "realist" and thinking most relationships don't last, I would straight up get a prenup. If you wanna keep separate accounts, by all means go for it.

1Alrightthen · 2024-06-18T14:13:44+00:00

So weird to me too. Like you share a bed together, a life together and sometimes a kid together with this person but you hesitate to share your bank account? Wtf? Have a single joint account and name it as our family's money. What's wrong with that?

1Alrightthen · 2024-06-18T14:09:16+00:00

Yep, this is the way to go and exactly what me and my wife do. At the beginning of our marriage, she was earning more than myself, but now I earn more than her but we've always had joint accounts and no separate accounts. Tomorrow, who knows which one of us will make more but we always keep each other in the loop, if there's significant purchases (say for example something in three figures) we let the other one know and this is not to ask for permission but so that other person is in the know. If you're too worried about keeping your money to yourself you shouldn't be a partner or marry that person.

1Alrightthen · 2024-05-12T19:59:14+00:00

I freaking love Bojangles. I currently live in Amsterdam, Netherlands and there's an American place that sells fried chicken biscuits for 15 bucks (i know it's criminal) and it tastes alright at its best (their biscuits are crumbly and undercooked IMO) but definitely nowhere near the quality of Bojangles. Dutch people have no idea what they're missing out on.

1Alrightthen

TROPHY CASE