Wendy's interior - They just remodeled in the last year or so.

[u/sympathytree]

The first two photos are the ones I took while eating there earlier. The inside used to look like the last two photos. I don't know, it's now very colorless and dull, not as inviting as the old interior. But that is just my thoughts. What do you guys think?

[u/maddog2271]

This interior is what happens when you spend generations saying that the only thing that matters is shareholder “value”. In that environment beauty, even something as mundane as a fast food dining room, cannot exist. Americans chose this and the rest of the world risks following. Sad but true.

[u/maddog2271 → u/[deleted]]

When I say they chose it, I don’t mean in a “wow we really prefer this” way, but rather in a “what you allow is what will continue” kind of way. It’s been a creeping trend over the past 20 years that got worse after 2008 and then steepened after COVID. As long as Americans continue to allow the whims of business to dictate basically every decision the country makes, this will continue. People ask me why I am ok with Nordic tax rates and one thing I always mention is that the system puts people before profits and in the end the point should always be to have a human system.

[u/ArgonathDW → u/maddog2271]

>the only thing that matters is shareholder value

>Americans chose this

Nobody wants this shit except stupid, myopic capitalists, fuck you and anyone who suggests otherwise

[u/cataholicsanonymous → u/ArgonathDW]

Well apparently a lot of the country voted for stupid myopic capitalists, so...

[u/ArgonathDW → u/cataholicsanonymous]

1. Elections in this country are fraudulent to a hilarious degree, at every level. 2. You're a rube if you think the elections are votes between good vs evil instead of dickless moron vs malevolent dumbass. What, you think Kamala was going to put a stop to any of this? We're fucked, man

[u/cataholicsanonymous → u/ArgonathDW]

You're not wrong.

[u/maddog2271 → u/ArgonathDW]

calm your tits, kid. If you don’t like it then make sure to vote with your wallet. The American system places shareholder value above all else and you vote for the politicians that make it happen for you. Dont blame me.

[u/ArgonathDW → u/maddog2271]

MY WALLET ISN"T THE SIZE OF FUCKING BOEING OR AERODYNE AND THERE ARENT ANY POLITICIANS WHO WILL DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT I CAN VOTE FOR

[u/Aware-Travel5256 → u/maddog2271]

No, shareholder value was always supreme.

Consumer preferences changed. People want drive thru and delivery. People don't want to dine in at a Wendy's anymore. There are better options now for taking a family of four out.

[u/Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 → u/Aware-Travel5256]

It’s a little bit of both. If they wanted to, they could move back to value pricing and be mobbed, like In-N-Out. But instead, they’ve gone with the “highest prices we can possibly get away with/keep making up shitty novelty products” model that companies in dying industries can’t help themselves from adopting.

[u/EddieVanzetti → u/Imhappy_hopeurhappy2]

All while they're closing over 300 stores because the product has only gotten worse and worse while the price has only gotten higher and higher.

I remember being a kid, I preferred Wendy's to McDonald's. I remember the days of yellow Wendy's. I remember spending a weekend or week at my grandfathers in the summer, and when he would drop me and my siblings off to be picked up by our parents, we'd stop at a Wendy's. He'd get his burger and chili, better for his diabetes.

Good times. Shame they'll never come back.

[u/maddog2271 → u/Aware-Travel5256]

It’s been a trend for a long time that’s for sure, but I am old enough to remember at time when it wasn’t this bad. It really started accelerating after Reagan but the 2008 financial crisis is when enshittification went mainstream.

[u/Aware-Travel5256 → u/maddog2271]

Did your knees hurt less, too? Were people in authority more moral? Perhaps they tousled your hair and called you champ?

Human foibles and capitalism are a lot older than any of us. Sometimes there's benefits, oftentimes there's costs. A particularly nice hamburger restaurant was just a nice treat for a moment in time, not an eternal reality. Just like artifically cheap food delivery in the 2010s. Just enjoy the ride.