in search of the least evil.

[unbibium]

Many people think Wal-Mart is the most evil nationwide retail chain. Which one is the least evil?

Which is the least evil national fast-food chain?

Which is the least evil record company?

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Least evil national fast-food chain: Wendy's

There's lots of un-evil record companies.

[pootrootbeer.livejournal.com]

I consider Target to be head-and-shoulders above the competition as far as retail megastores go, but I don't know if they're evil or not. They're generally clean and well-organized, which is close enough for me dammit.

All fast food chains are evil.

There are a lot of record companies that aren't evil, but they're mainly tiny two- or three-man operations and not part of the RIAA cartel. Least evil major-ish label? Probably Rykodisc.

[fenchurch.livejournal.com]

Target has my vote for non-evilness.

And Chipotle is the non-evil king of burritos.

Can't answer the record co question tho.

[underwhelm.livejournal.com]

You know Chipotle is a subsidiary of McDonalds, yes?

Which isn't to say their burritos aren't delicious.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

Well, then McDonald's might become less evil if their least evil subsidiary does better.

[fenchurch.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm aware. But they don't seem to be run like a McDonald's, their menu is not like McDonald's ("This month only! New Chippurito Carne Assada Milkshake! Only $1.99!"); and the atmosphere is way better.

Which is not to mention the thousand times better that Chipotle is over their owners. And if they ever become more like them I will be very sad indeed.

[doubleonad.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Chipotle is goodness.

[jarai.livejournal.com]

I'll go with Target, Long John Silvers (mmm, chicken planks), and 4AD.

For some reason, I can think of quite a few other "non-evil" fast food places. I'd agree with Wendy's being one of them. I'd also put Rally's and Taco John's on that list.

[treylis.livejournal.com]

Not so sure about the others, but, Wendy's is probably the least evil fast-food joint.

[ernunnos.livejournal.com]

Retail: I'd also say Target.

Fast food: In 'n Out Burger. There was an expose of practices in the fast food industry that came out a couple of years ago, and they were the only one the author didn't totally rip on. In fact, he used them as an example for other companis to follow. It's still a fast food burger, but apparently they're a lot more strict about the kind of meat and produce they use, and better in their treatment of workers.

Record company: Naxos (http://www.naxos.com/). They only do classical and jazz, but they do a good job of satisfying a very picky specialty audience at a budget price, keeping a lot of otherwise hard-to-find stuff in print.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

Thanks for supporting your argument in those last two cases.

But why Target?

[ernunnos.livejournal.com]

Same reasons others have cited. They're clean, good customer service.

Oh, and they don't try to run their customers' lives the way Walmart does.

[pootrootbeer.livejournal.com]

Yahbut he said NATIONAL fast food chain. Are there even any In 'n Outs to the east of the Rockies yet?

[atillathehung.livejournal.com]

I don't have an opinion on non-evil retailers, but I'll vote for Quizno's in fast food. They offer healthier food and don't appear to treat their employees like galley slaves. And they're successful as hell, so something must be going right.

I agree with ernunnos that In-N-Out deserves some props, too.

For record company, I'll go with Metal Blade.

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

QUIZNOS?!? (note interrobang)

I suppose it depends on what your definition of "evil" is: evil to employees, evil about ingredients (or source of merchandise,) evil towards customers... Quiznos sells 3-inch sandwiches for the same price as a Togo's or Subway 6-inch sandwich, and they have fewer choices for meats and toppings. I'm sorry, but toasting the bread is NOT THAT GREAT. Subway is probably evil on the ingredient front, since many people I know report nausea or diarrhea immediately after eating at Subway (has something to do with their food-handling procedures, apparently.) I prefer Togo's out of the three, but I dunno if I can say they are the least evil fast-food place of all. they're ok, though. I did used to work for them, and their employee relations weren't spectacular, just average.

In-N-Out seems pretty good, but then there's that whole proselytizing thing. still, they're not too annoying about it. worst thing about them, I guess, is that they will fix your burgers in a number of special ways, but they keep this a secret. you have to use special code words, like "animal style".

for retail, Target seems ok, I suppose, although it's basically the same stuff you find at K-Mart and similar places, so they are probably tied in with the usual exploit-third-world-workers protocol so popular with retailers. probably the least evil places would be close-out retailers, like Dollar Tree/98cent Clearance, or what MacFrugal's changed their name to. still not great, but at least they are just reselling other retailers' castoffs, which sort of reduces waste *and* gives customers a bargain.

for records, I haven't researched it fully, but I like Rhino, at least as far as big names go. the best are still independently-own tiny labels, of which there are now hundreds, thanks to low CD production costs. for example, SuperArt Media and Crunchpod Media are two local noise/experimental labels I like. the RIAA labels have always been evil, but it's the recent explosion of tiny independents that are making the RIAA turn even eviler lately -- they have really outlived their usefulness and are in their deaththroes.

[atillathehung.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm...maybe it's just my choice of meals at Togo's, but they always wind up costing me more than Quizno's. And their iced tea sucks, too. That means a lot to me!

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Subway is nasty and Togo's isn't much better. Togo's used to be decent, 10 years ago. Quizno's is at least edible.