Quote:
Originally Posted by popewiz
Honestly, I'm ok with not having Applebee's and Chili's in the city...
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Maybe they're not going to help anyone develop an "educated palate," but those high-volume chain restaurants have generated many a tuition payment, rent check and bag of groceries. While I was in undergrad, I waited tables at a lot of places like that - places I wouldn't be at all interested in eating at now. (I wouldn't refuse if invited there by someone, it's just not what I'd choose.) I remember having to frequently go inside the bank rather than using the ATM because you can't cram an envelope stuffed with $100 in fives and ones into that little slot. I certainly wasn't getting money like that from my minimum wage on-campus jobs.
If it weren't for the presence of places that some of us find too suburbanesque, there would be a whole lot less money in circulation to be be spent at the independent coffee shops, the intown boutiques and locally-owned restaurants, "fancy" or otherwise.
(I'll leave aside the weak, gimmicky "young women in low-cut/short/tight clothes as part of the furniture" aspect of sports bars.)