Sure, the occasional customer gets into a cycle for credit card debt and ends up paying big interest. That’s not where credit card companies make their money though. There’s a fee for the merchant to process each transaction, that’s the main revenue source. Then if we’re talking about a store card, they get the ability to track your purchases everywhere you use that card, and use that info to do better marketing, merchandising, and just generally get better at selling people stuff. It’s nice to make a buck when people buy things from your store, but it’s even nicer if you can make a buck when people shop elsewhere too.

Common to get a big discount on the first purchase. That way it looks something like “just take 5 minutes to sign up here and you’ll get $30 off your purchase today”. I feel bad for the staff that have to push it, which gets me frustrated because I just want to buy my things and go, so I end up being rude to them.

I think part of the solution is to add some regulation that say that you should be able to close the account in the same way you open it. Let me sign up, get the $30 discount, pay the bill, close the account, and have them delete my personal information so I can do it over again next time. Few people doing that and it won’t be worth the effort for business to process everything.

Not too immediately. Take 3 steps back/towards the nearest exit, that’s where you want the extinguisher. Not right next to the stove that’s going to be on fire when you need to get to the extinguisher.

Keep in mind that a standard ABC extinguisher isn’t rated for grease fryers. If it’s just the fat needed to sautee something you’re good, but for an actual deep frying fire you want something in class K.

I always took a light jacket with lots of pockets. In line, transfer all your things to the jacket and put that through the scanner. After security transfer everything back and pack the jacket.

Looking for commercial type products and checking the website for parts/manuals can go a long way. Doesn’t always guarantee that those parts will still be available in a decade or two, but it shows the company at least making an effort to support those products. You’re paying up front though, that commercial product can be 5-10x the cost of the equivalent consumer model. Heck, sometimes people still buy those consumer models because it’s a lot easier to justify a $100-$200 price tag every, even if you expect to replace it every few years than $1000+ up front.

This is the real answer to me. Often, the premium version is still out there but people go for the budget version anyway. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. When we can furnish a whole room for what a couple pieces used to cost, that’s a win for a lot of people even if some of those items wear out prematurely. It also depends if we’re talking about a mostly mechanical and utilitarian item, vs something that relies on modern software ecosystems. Toasters haven’t changed much in 40 years, but a 10 year old cell phone is pretty much useless, possibly not working at all with current network technology. Durability is less important when an item becomes technologically obsolete anyway.

Except that the gospel of Mark specifically states that it wasn’t fig season. Why did Jesus even look for the figs when he should have known they were out of season. Why then curse the tree when it was just doing what fig trees are supposed to do? Guess Jesus can be an ass when he’s hangry.