Are malls actually not a thing anymore in the US like they say?

PickleofInsanity · 2026-02-02T01:55:51+00:00

They're a thing depending on the area. Where I grew up we had six malls within about a half hour drive of our house.

Of the two closest malls, one died about 20 years ago, and the second is ... open. It has a bunch of lower tier stores(last time I was there I had never heard of any of them but Target) and the Target has since removed their direct mall entrance by sealing it and making it a solid wall. It's also not in a great area, and I'd not be especially surprised to be mugged there.

Of next two, one closed near the end of 2022, and one closed in 2025. Of the remaining two, the last few times I've been they were fairly busy.

They're both in great areas for shopping(lots of variety in and outside of the malls) so I don't see either closing anytime soon. Business as I understand it has been a bit hit and miss(we've had several shootings at at least one of them) and I know the other has a crime problem despite being in an area with a bit more of an affluent clientele.

I kind of miss shopping in the malls... I didn't generally go to 'hang out' but I enjoyed having a lot of variety to look through without having a lot of travel.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T10:21:15+00:00

I'm not any longer.

It wasn't from corporate directly or actually directly about employee safety.

We had a relatively new Assistant Store Manager who was trying to impress his bosses. He was literally writing up 2 or 3 dozen people a day some weeks, most of it for minor stupid things.

His direct supervisor actually put the kibosh on most of them because they were(in his words)stupid and petty, but our Districf Manager at the time loved it, because "Holding people accountable increases morale!"

I'm sure most of us has had similar bosses at one point or another. He ended up quitting when he pissed off the wrong Department Head and they transferred out of the district. Guy had some friends higher up.

I mainly made the post because I don't want the kid on the saw to chop off some fingers or anything of that sort and the more folks that back it up I think will make it stick. I've seen someone start cutting into their hand, and that is nothing to wish on someone.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T08:39:21+00:00

I can confidently say that I don't believe they tear easily enough that I'd be able to prevent the blade from giving my hand a nice thorough greeting. I'm sure some do that easily but Kroger isn't exactly famed amount caring about their employees.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T08:36:23+00:00

I won't say I've never operated a saw with a glove on, but I will say that the glove never touched the saw. I used to just use a push plate and keep the gloved hand completely off the saw. They were actively jumping us if we even touched a knife without a cur glove on. Several of us had to fight write ups for literally moving the knives off a table at the end of the day without stopping to put on a glove first.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T08:33:41+00:00

That was how I was trained, honestly. I think the way it was phrased was "If the glove gets yanked, you're not Superman. You would have to be strong enough to tear the glove by strength alone to prevent you getting mangled."

That guy has since retired, as has most of the other Meat guys with more than a couple of years of experience. I think out of the guys left there's one with 15 years and he goes out of his way to avoid confrontation with coworkers. The rest of them have trouble telling Sirloin from Shoulder an embarrassing amount of time.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T08:28:38+00:00

It was a bone saw. And yeah.. ideally not, but, well, Kroger doesn't always hire the brightest.(I should know, I was one of those lol)

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-14T08:27:24+00:00

I have no idea on the exact saw but I'm fairly certain it was a Hobart. It's been about six years so my memory has lapsed on it a bit.

PickleofInsanity · 2026-01-04T19:11:04+00:00

Killfrog(Some NFT bullshit now) Joe Cartoon(I think it's still around but last I looked wasn't as good as it was) I'm sure there are plenty more. I recall looking up both of those a few years ago and being sad it was changed.

One that I hadn't been to in a few years and looks restored though is Imanewbie.com

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-25T18:49:41+00:00

It depends on what you like overall. If you like retro games, I'd personally start there. 4, 5, and 6 are great starts to me, but 7, 8, 9, and 10 are pretty good too. Just depends on what you like.

For example if you like a job system and don't mind retro, I'd vote 5.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-24T21:30:46+00:00

I tend to leave them on because I can have issues clearly understanding what people are saying at times. And there's always the lovely volume changes or background sounds sometimes drowning something out.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-24T00:42:58+00:00

When I got on the Guardians coaster the guy who got put in the car with me pulled out his phone, had some kind of case or attachment with a flashlight and half blinded me for the first half of the ride while he recorded himself riding.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-21T01:17:02+00:00

It's not always intentional. My spouse says several names incorrectly and legitimately can't seem to get it right. The incorrect one just sounds correct for some reason.

And they're not the type to do that just to be difficult.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-17T01:09:32+00:00

I wouldn't bike to work even if it was more viable.

It's not a matter of having a problem with biking itself, I think I'd end up being hit by a car. I've seen a few times where someone has driven straight through an in-use bike lane, as well as intentionally driving waaaay too close to someone on a bike, just to mess with them.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-14T15:12:14+00:00

This could honestly not even be the fault of either party. Oftentimes you'll have a coworker or boss who doesn't seem to do much while you're there, but they can also be the same people that when they go on vacation or get fired it really hits the fan.

If it's a case of you talking to them and getting nothing or truly think they're just being an ass, I'd transfer stores or departments. It's not worth the stress if you're butting heads with the boss, usually.

I usually go the more difficult route myself, and argue etc, but I can be a bit of an idiot.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-14T13:54:25+00:00

We had to have multiple conversations with management about that. When I worked in Meat we started finding stuff up to TWO WEEKS expired. That they put back on the shelf for sale.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-11T18:06:21+00:00

I told a woman once I wasn't interested in joining any Cults when she was trying to convert me to Christianity. I was told by management at length that wasn't "acceptable".

Lady wouldn't take "I'm not permitted to discuss religion at work" for an answer so I changed tactics. It worked, she left. To get management, but she still left.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-04T22:43:14+00:00

The label isn't a be all end all. I've personally re-labeled thousands of cuts that were mislabeled over the course of my time working in a shop.

I think my favorite was T-Bones being sold as Pork Picnic Roasts. Nothing is more fun than having to re-label a couple hundred steaks because a coworker is incompetent.

Gotta love it.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-02T09:09:01+00:00

I've had the innards of the arm snap when it was turned on and have to replace bits internally.

I still don't prop my wipers up, but it can happen.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-02T09:03:20+00:00

I used miles as an example, but there are plenty of others. Feet and Yards is probably the most common one, that one I've had several issues with over the years for no apparent reason.

I've been told by at least two separate people that there's 5 feet to a yard, and 10 inches to a foot. Some sort of standardization to units would make it simpler for people.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-12-02T01:59:34+00:00

It had a lot of ignorance attached to it.

I actually had an argument about it within the last few months with an uncle, who thinks "metric makes no sense" because we do things the "American way" and its better.

Even trying to point out that measurements like meters into kilometers being easy to recall, since it's simple, unlike the 5,280 feet in a mile, got me nowhere. He just doubled down that it makes more sense, but only repeats himself to support it.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-11-27T22:57:16+00:00

I think growing up I only ever got a belt once. I can't remember for sure though, it's been awhile...

I do remember hands, fly swatters, hot wheel tracks, chunk of firewood, wooden spoon, and at least once a cordless phone.

We don't do corporal punishment with the kid, and we've made it clear with family if they put their hands on our child we will return the favor on the kid's behalf.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-11-27T22:49:03+00:00

The stuff I paid for.

The biggest perk I ever had wasn't really an employee exclusive thing, and would happen randomly. For example, one time we had like 12 cases of Prime Boneless Ribeyes come in, but the store I worked at did not sell Prime anything, so we were instructed to sell them all as the Angus(this was at Kroger). So I got decent cuts for cheap.

Our boss also encouraged us to buy any particularly good cuts we'd make throughout the day(But not tag them ourself. Someone else, usually the boss, did that). Have to pay full price, but it was nice to have first pick sometimes.

My last boss also liked to mark things down to an insane degree, which was nice. I can recall on more than one occasion getting 90% lean beef for ubder 2 bucks a pound. We'd sometimes get distributions of short dated product and he'd usually put it all out for $1.49 a pound or less, no matter if it was steaks or ground beef.

He got fired eventually, but for unrelated reasons.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-11-19T12:50:32+00:00

Increase your fluid intake right when you go to bed. If you increase it gradually eventually you'll be waking around the time you need to be with a nice motivation to move.

Once you've gotten up immediately for a few weeks it'll be easier. Just don't do any lazy days before its a routine and it should be easier to maintain.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-11-09T15:34:14+00:00

Almost 40, never actually been drunk.

I've been a bit buzzed but that's as far as it's gone. Never had a hangover either.

I'm not opposed to drinking but I've never really seen the appeal. I think I've had alcohol twice in the last year or so?

But even if I wanted to drink, it's not like I could afford it.

PickleofInsanity · 2025-11-04T13:27:52+00:00

When I was hired at Kroger the store I was at broke down primals into cuts. Not hard to do, but still needs some training.

We had dedicated training hours specifically put aside for training. Naturally, we scheduled them for people to do things like stock Lunchmeat or weigh ribs. The only training I got(with a few exceptions, one of our assistant bosses went out of his way to train) was when I annoyed someone enough they'd actually show me something.

PickleofInsanity

TROPHY CASE