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I've railed against the "pay to skip the line" phenomenon for at least a couple decades, since someone figured out it was a way to make more money by providing no more goods or services. Just.... pay to cut the line, and fuck the poors. Brilliant!

Someone else finally noticed the trend. I don't feel like they went quite far enough, in talking about the result of widening the gap between rich and poor, and making the poor's lives just a little shittier, since what little they had (not getting cut in front of, in line), just got sold away.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/business ... index.html

I was in Vegas last week, and I would have paid to cut some lines.

I recently got a credit card for one year (big sign up bonus, but also has large fee, so will cancel) and it came with Clear. Used it at the airport 4 times now, and I like it. Suck it, poors. In all seriousness, it does make the airport travel more predictable, cutting down on the time I had to allocate for security. I can see why frequent travelers would do it.

The bigger issue to me is that lines exist in the first place.

Paying to skip lines is corporate greed.

Although, CNN's piece is divisive saying it's only "the wealthy". It's not exclusive to them. Lots of poors and middle class pay for that shit too. I've been to Disney, Cedar Point, etc. and have seen the people who pay for these passes.

Want this shit to go away? Stop buying it.

I see it as.... There are some places, like amusement parks, where you just want to forget the bullshit of the world for a day. Go, have fun with your kids, and no one around you is harshing your vibe because you're all in it together.

But then because you couldn't afford another G for the fast passes for everyone, so all day long you watch the people who could afford it cut in front of you all day long.

It's certainly a smudge on your mood. And it leads one to think all kinds of dark thoughts. These people suck... The park sucks for allowing it... I'll prolly never afford it... There's nowhere I can go to get away from the suck...

Fuck it. Where's my AR.

Maybe some experiences should be preserved for the good of societal mental health. Maybe we all just need to stand in line together sometimes, and share the suck.

Maybe the wealthy will never begin to wonder why the lines are so long and fix it.

GORDON wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 9:08 am I see it as.... There are some places, like amusement parks, where you just want to forget the bullshit of the world for a day. Go, have fun with your kids, and no one around you is harshing your vibe because you're all in it together.

Amusement parks have been part of the bullshit for the past 20+ years.