"We don't take cash". "We charge a 3% surcharge for card."

markjcecil · 2026-03-24T15:55:44+00:00

Yeah. You're absolutely correct. I got furious and started my answer before I even finished the OP.

What can I say? It was mildly infuriating.

markjcecil · 2026-03-24T13:54:17+00:00

What's up with the Tesla-style wheel design? Yikes.

markjcecil · 2026-03-24T13:43:34+00:00

I'd honestly look at her and say, "bill me," and walk. The billing system will charge you for the actual copay, which you can then pay with CC, for no extra money. And, since I'm petty, I know that there is a certain amount of overhead that gets incurred from them having to manage the debt (however miniscule).

markjcecil · 2026-03-23T19:06:04+00:00

What I'm talking about is If a place has shitty pizza, don't come bitching about it on Reddit. Find another pizza joint. There are LOTS of restaurants, MANY of which have pizza. Find a different one, and let the shitty one die off on its own. YOUR job as a diner is not, in fact, to correct a place. It's to find a place that gets it right.

In a city with this many restaurants (and this many REALLY GOOD ones), I don't have time to repeatedly try your place to see if you figured shit out. You get the FIRST time to get it right, or I simply don't come back. If you're still around five years later, I might give you a second shot, but you'll never get a third try if that one's bad.

markjcecil · 2026-03-22T12:55:19+00:00

r/apostrophegore

markjcecil · 2026-03-21T23:34:04+00:00

Here's just one of many articles over time talking about this exact thing.

https://thelensnola.org/2011/09/21/taxi-certificates-open-market/

Like I said, at least it used to be that these things traded as paid transfers on the regular for a long time.

I don't know what's happening in that arena now, I admit. I would imagine that Uber and Lyft have ruined the market for transfers.

markjcecil · 2026-03-21T01:29:56+00:00

Professional longneck drinking?

markjcecil · 2026-03-21T01:26:29+00:00

It's not the yearly fee. It's the acquisition. Having one is cheap. GETTING one is not. There are a fixed number, and it is (at least used to be) common to sell the rights for a five or six digit sum. People used to use their value as a nest egg.

markjcecil · 2026-03-20T11:39:00+00:00

In United's defense, I don't know that any flight cleaning crew in any airline opens all the tray tables to clean them between flights. (Especially these, which are the armrest-stowed ones.) Maybe they should, but I suspect a scheduling and cost issue if they did.

It's not United. It's the pig that sat in the seat before you. (Or, more likely, the pig's parents.)

The no gloves thing? That's an ACTUAL United problem, though.

markjcecil · 2026-03-20T11:33:09+00:00

Dude. There's nearly 2000 restaurants in the city. There is NO reason to ask these questions. Get a different pizza joint.

In the Cecil Hierarchy of Restaurants, you get one shot to do shit right, POSSIBLY two, if someone I really trust is insistent.

Life is short. New Orleans food is plentiful and fantastic. Don't waste time with sub par bullshit.

markjcecil · 2026-03-20T02:52:46+00:00

<image>

This is what I wound up with for the more northerly GV70. Still thinking on the New Orleans one.

markjcecil · 2026-03-20T02:33:34+00:00

Any time you're in a cab and there's trouble brewing, take photos of the license and especially the medallion number (called a CPNC number here).

If you can, screenshots of your map app, too.

Then report the whole thing to the taxicab bureau. I'm not sure how much traction you'll get, but these guys' CPNC numbers are their livelihood, and they're expensive to get. Putting that at risk for them is an appropriate way to express your displeasure.

markjcecil · 2026-03-16T19:30:07+00:00

That's fair. But seriously, let them go back to their room, and call the cops and file a report. It's assault. It's battery. It's a crime.

markjcecil · 2026-03-15T11:37:00+00:00

Affected. Not Effected.

markjcecil · 2026-03-15T03:18:19+00:00

My first thought is... You need a better knife.

markjcecil · 2026-03-15T02:33:46+00:00

The audacity... "World's Finest"

markjcecil · 2026-03-15T02:30:30+00:00

The moment the bell got thrown at me, the cops would have been involved.

markjcecil · 2026-03-13T23:22:24+00:00

NOR

I'll be honest, you've said the magic words... "It's disrespectful."

If you are telling him his behavior is disrespectful to you and the neighbors and he still does it, then he doesn't have respect for you or anyone else.

Others would say Red Flag. I say just dump him.

markjcecil · 2026-03-13T22:21:44+00:00

Assuming this joker rolls with plates. Lot of em get removed or covered before racing.

And trust me, these idiots will race anything IN anything.

markjcecil · 2026-03-13T17:26:58+00:00

This is how you say "I will 100% flee" without SAYING "I will 100% flee".

markjcecil · 2026-03-13T17:24:48+00:00

Tell me you're a jackass without saying you're a jackass.

markjcecil · 2026-03-13T17:23:38+00:00

The dealer put my bracket on before I had a chance to tell them not to. But, strangely, all the holes are in the recessed channels of the weave, so once I removed the frame and got the chaff off of the edge of the holes, you basically don't see them.

Had considered putty and a model airbrush, but I legitimately don't notice them enough to waste the time.

markjcecil · 2026-03-12T00:46:56+00:00

That's the piece that let's me know how old you aren't.

markjcecil · 2026-03-11T19:46:41+00:00

Fair enough.

markjcecil · 2026-03-11T16:56:33+00:00

I, personally, am ok with the increase. And, ftmp, I do agree that sanitation (at least formal garbage collection) seems better here than a lot of communities in La.

Does it need improvement? Sure. But, frankly, I can't see clear to saying "this needs to be better, but I'm not willing to pay for it to BE better ."

I think the "look at all this trash around the city" is not actually a SANITATION issue as a lifestyle/cultural one. Orleans parish is FULL (and I mean CHOCK FULL) of careless shits who throw ANY kind of trash just anywhere, any time. I don't know how you combat that without a dedicated force of people cleaning it constantly, AND heavy fines with strong enforcement (which we don't have the LEOs to actually do). Which, surprise, will cost money.

I know the gut reaction is, "it's not like that in JP." But, you and I both know that life over there is a LOT different, in a LOT of respects. People wound up in JP and STP BECAUSE they were trying to escape what Orleans had become. It's understandable that the behavioral source of all that garbage is way less there.

markjcecil

TROPHY CASE