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WrenP-Complete posted:Which company? You mean it was UD who joined with Basquiat? Yeah, UD released the palette and stuff, not MAC. (Unless I read the post wrong, which is a definite possibility.)
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Jun 1, 2017 21:46
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This thread needs a break for a few days.
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Jun 1, 2017 21:47
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Alright, behave yourselves.
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Jun 3, 2017 01:25
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edit: removed pot-stirring callback A new Mexican restaurant opened in my town a few months ago, to some minor fanfare. It supposedly had a good, experienced head chef and specialized in seafood - I was all the way on board. About a week after they opened, the local Facebook pages were full of posts from restaurant employees saying they hadn't been paid. As you'd expect, there was a huge backlash, with hundreds of people vowing never to eat there. A couple weeks after that, the same employees were back on Facebook, saying they'd finally been paid and begging people to stop boycotting because the restaurant was on the verge of closing, and they'd lose their jobs. Some people ate there, the food was good, and things seemed to be headed the right direction. Last week, the building was declared unsafe and shut down due to code violations. I never saw any more about that part of the story, though, because... The next day, a massive inter-agency task force busted the general manager and his wife with multi-kilo quantities of heroin and meth. I don't think they'll be back any time soon. I guess this story is more like "dumb moves in PR," but it's been a real roller coaster watching it unfold.
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Jun 3, 2017 04:39
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Was the owner named Gus, by any chance?
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Jun 3, 2017 04:45
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It did make me think of that, for sure. It probably takes some time to build up a trafficking operation of that scale, probably longer than the place had been open, so was it just a front all along? Were people enjoying the camarones al diablo because there were traces of horse on the shrimp?
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Jun 3, 2017 04:48
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walrusman posted:It did make me think of that, for sure. It probably takes some time to build up a trafficking operation of that scale, probably longer than the place had been open, so was it just a front all along? Were people enjoying the camarones al diablo because there were traces of horse on the shrimp? They probably wanted to open a restaurant to help launder their drug money. We had a similar saga unfold for a bar near my place except it was a coke bust.
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Jun 3, 2017 05:02
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Prokhor Zakharov posted:They probably wanted to open a restaurant to help launder their drug money. We had a similar saga unfold for a bar near my place except it was a coke bust. I live near a pizza place that is always empty. I've seen a few people in there once on a Friday night but other than that it's just dead empty inside all the time. The place has also been open for like 15 years so I'm getting really suspicious that it's a front.
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Jun 3, 2017 05:09
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Mu Zeta posted:I live near a pizza place that is always empty. I've seen a few people in there once on a Friday night but other than that it's just dead empty inside all the time. The place has also been open for like 15 years so I'm getting really suspicious that it's a front. check the basement for hillary's emails
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Jun 3, 2017 10:26
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Mu Zeta posted:I live near a pizza place that is always empty. I've seen a few people in there once on a Friday night but other than that it's just dead empty inside all the time. The place has also been open for like 15 years so I'm getting really suspicious that it's a front. My uncle always made similar claims about Fannie May Candy shops.
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Jun 3, 2017 14:19
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I mean how does a pizza shop stay open if it's empty on Friday and Saturday nights? Granted I don't see it during the day but it's in a really quiet neighborhood. When I look at Yelp reviews it seems a lot of people praise their gluten free option so maybe they survive just on delivery. Mu Zeta has a new favorite as of 14:38 on Jun 3, 2017 |
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Jun 3, 2017 14:34
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Y'know what doesn't have gluten? Heroin. 
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Jun 3, 2017 14:40
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Taeke posted:To shamelessly copy whatever clickbait website that came up on my google search of 'latest marketing fails': Some government agency over here got hit with the same error. Clicking in one of the links on their main page would send you to porn. Apparently nobody checked that the domain was still in thir hands before linking it. Shellception has a new favorite as of 15:39 on Jun 3, 2017 |
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Jun 3, 2017 15:34
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Jun 3, 2017 17:00
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All Sbarro's are cia fronts
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Jun 3, 2017 17:06
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SHY NUDIST GRRL posted:All Sbarro's are cia fronts More plausible than them being a place that sells pizza.
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Jun 3, 2017 17:12
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Mu Zeta posted:I mean how does a pizza shop stay open if it's empty on Friday and Saturday nights? Granted I don't see it during the day but it's in a really quiet neighborhood. It's the same with the abundance of 24 hour donut shops all over southern CA that are always empty. Money laundering.
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Jun 3, 2017 22:15
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Oh, so it's the car wash, then!
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Jun 3, 2017 22:20
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Whatever happened to laundering your money via strip clubs like grampa used to do. Donut shops are just so...boring.
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Jun 3, 2017 22:46
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I never actually thought of that, but it explains why the donut shop near where I used to live always acted so bewildered when I went in there trying to buy coffee.
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Jun 3, 2017 22:52
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:I never actually thought of that, but it explains why the donut shop near where I used to live always acted so bewildered when I went in there trying to buy coffee. Ohhhh, I've had the same thing happen to me. I always thought they were distributors to restaurants or something and didn't do that much walk in business.
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Jun 3, 2017 23:10
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There's an entire block of run down furniture stores with beat up furniture that no one is ever in and have been open for decades in my neighborhood. My roommates and I went into one looking for a couch once and there was one dude in the entire place talking on the phone in the back who never came out front in like 10 minutes. Money laundering is the only thing we can think make sense of.
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Jun 3, 2017 23:15
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Hills has a pet food specifically for old pets and decided the best way to market it was to make it seem like people were loving their old pets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D928ER9WlVU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stB3yewJUpU
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Jun 4, 2017 00:54
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It would suck if they were to imply you're a paedophile. Some things just aren't on.
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Jun 4, 2017 00:55
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My hometown had an ice cream place that was always empty and seemed to actively loathe serving customers, yet remained open for years and years. My whole family is convinced it's a front.
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Jun 4, 2017 02:29
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Henchman of Santa posted:My hometown had an ice cream place that was always empty and seemed to actively loathe serving customers, yet remained open for years and years. My whole family is convinced it's a front. Frozen yogurt place here. Sometimes you might see 3, 4 customers in it. At least the people working it seem friendly. I can't remember, was Los Pollos Hermanos ever shown as super busy? As for the kissing robots, and you call yourselves geeks, the one wearing a faceplate can likely remove it if he wants!
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Jun 4, 2017 03:52
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Cowslips Warren posted:Frozen yogurt place here. Sometimes you might see 3, 4 customers in it. At least the people working it seem friendly. Yeah, Los Pollos Hermanos was packed and very involved in the community. Deserted stores that never go out of business could be a lot of things. Some businesses don't have much overhead or it could be a tax write off. We're kind of used to chain stores that have huge corporate overhead and need a constant flow of customers to stay in business. Small shops can get away with far less.
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Jun 4, 2017 04:01
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One time when I went to Donut Front I asked for a bagel and cream cheese and they gave me an un-toasted bagel and an entire brick of Philly, unwrapped. Never seen "and stay out!" expressed in culinary form before.
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Jun 4, 2017 04:23
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was the bagel at least cut in two
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Jun 4, 2017 05:46
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Tiny Brontosaurus posted:One time when I went to Donut Front I asked for a bagel and cream cheese and they gave me an un-toasted bagel and an entire brick of Philly, unwrapped. Never seen "and stay out!" expressed in culinary form before. You can't say they didn't give you what you asked for. Reminds me of the time I was at a Mexican restaurant and asked for queso, and indeed they brought me back queso. A big plate of shredded cheese.
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Jun 4, 2017 08:31
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Our local lovely mall had a store that we were all utterly convinced was a front. It was called 'Top Shopping USA' and stocked the following: A shelf of knock-off Yankee type scented candles with scents like 'Flowers' and 'Cookies' (they even looked like Yankees complete with labels that looked nearly identical from a distance) A shitload of some generic hotel-type brand washing machine soap. Just lots of little identical bottles lined up on random surfaces. A single rack of t-shirts with Cyrillic lettering and cheap looking cartoon characters. A few that were just big animal faces. Maybe 15 shirts total. Two frying pans hanging on one wall. The store was only ever staffed by one or another lone Asian women who were obviously crushingly bored. Whenever anyone walked in (an incredibly rare occurrence) they would look up in obvious shock and alarm, staring until the person left. I'm almost certain they didn't speak English. This store was open for two and a half years.
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Jun 4, 2017 08:57
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The best is when you go to the donut shop, and they obviously have to have the display racks full of baked goods or its too obvious its all front, and when you order a few donuts they chuck in extra donuts and donut holes like crazy because wtf do they care its just less stuff they have to throw away.
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Jun 4, 2017 09:36
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I've always heard that high-end dry cleaners make the best fronts. You hang up a bunch of suits so it looks busy, you keep the prices sky high to scare people off, and you have it run by an elderly Asian man who keeps track of all the transactions in a hand written ledger. In the off chance you get any actual customers come through, you just tell them you're all booked up.
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Jun 4, 2017 09:48
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On the front thing my favourite joke in Austin Powers is that by the second movie Number 2 is making more money legitimately that most of Dr Evil's schemes ever would make annually. In the time it takes for Dr Evil to hold a monument ransom for 30 billion dollars Number 2 has probably earned 40 billion in good investments alone.
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Jun 4, 2017 10:03
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Ziv Zulander posted:I've always heard that high-end dry cleaners make the best fronts. You hang up a bunch of suits so it looks busy, you keep the prices sky high to scare people off, and you have it run by an elderly Asian man who keeps track of all the transactions in a hand written ledger. In the off chance you get any actual customers come through, you just tell them you're all booked up. Any business that deals primarily in cash is good for laundering. Dry cleaners, taxi services, restaurants, used car dealerships. Used car dealerships are particularly good because, if you want to make even more dirty money, you can run a chop shop out of it too. Gyro Zeppeli has a new favorite as of 10:27 on Jun 4, 2017 |
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Jun 4, 2017 10:24
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Red Metal posted:was the bagel at least cut in two
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Jun 4, 2017 10:30
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Gyro Zeppeli posted:Any business that deals primarily in cash is good for laundering. Dry cleaners, taxi services, restaurants, used car dealerships. The ultimate front is of course a casino or gambling establishment, because you not only get to take in cash you can easily pass it out too.
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Jun 4, 2017 11:28
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Pizza shops always look dead because the vast majority of orders are take out (or delivery). If you go in when they offer their lunch special, which is almost always 2 slices and a soda for an absurdly low price, you'll probably bump into a decent amount of people.
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Jun 4, 2017 13:25
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Ziv Zulander posted:I've always heard that high-end dry cleaners make the best fronts. You hang up a bunch of suits so it looks busy, you keep the prices sky high to scare people off, and you have it run by an elderly Asian man who keeps track of all the transactions in a hand written ledger. In the off chance you get any actual customers come through, you just tell them you're all booked up. I read Goodfellas a while ago, which is about Harry Hill's time in the New York mob. It sounded like most of the front businesses were legit in the sense that you could actually go in and get your stuff dry cleaned or hire a cab or whatever if you were a guy off the street who didn't know any better, it's just that there was also a constant flow of wiseguys laundering money. At least one tattoo shop in my city is a front for a bike gang, which works perfectly because bikers are covered in tattoos, they're cash-only and who can say how much a tattoo should cost?
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Jun 4, 2017 14:08
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It just keeps happening, American Airlines Called Cops on Double Amputee After Forgetting His Wheelchair, Lawsuit Says As the American Airlines plane full of passengers looked on, two law enforcement officers escorted Michael Mennella — a double amputee with no feet — down the aisle and into the airport. They told him he was under arrest for extreme intoxication. But soon enough, the officers realized Mennella was sober. He'd simply hobbled down the aisle to ask for a drink on a flight that departed Miami without the wheelchair the airline had promised him. That's what Mennella, a businessman traveling for work, claims in a new lawsuit that's sure to fuel more anger at airlines for horribly mistreating their passengers. "As demonstrated by police-administered field tests, and as revealed in an official field report, Mr. Mennella was not intoxicated," says the suit, filed in federal court in Miami. "Instead, he was an innocent victim of AA's brutish misconduct." In an emailed statement, American Airlines declined to comment on the specifics of Mennella's case but said it is committed to providing a positive and safe travel experience to all of its customers and looks forward to addressing his concerns. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/american-airlines-called-cops-on-double-amputee-after-forgetting-his-a-wheelchair-lawsuit-says-9383726
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Jun 4, 2017 15:08
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