The Swamp

SmashBurger is a very good fast food burger IF YOU EAT IT THERE. The plastic container that steams it on the way home is an idiotic choice.

Smashburger is OK if it's all you have. Chances are, there's something better close by. The ones here do beer pairings with a local brewery, so that's nice.

I think 3x longer with the chip is an overestimate, at least if you know what you're doing. Which you really should by the third or fourth time you use it. I've used mine about that many times and last night was the first night I realized immediately that the place had a chip reader and it was just as quick as swiping. Right now, no one knows what they're doing and it's not ever really clear that you have to use it that way. Once it becomes more common, the already nominal difference in time will be unrecognizable.

It takes Target's chip readers like 90 seconds.

mister d wrote:It takes Target's chip readers like 90 seconds.

Not to mention several places near me have the readers on the machine but they don't use them yet, so I invariably do the wrong one at any given store. It's like trying to plug a usb in right side up the first time.

BSF21 wrote:

mister d wrote:It takes Target's chip readers like 90 seconds.

Not to mention several places near me have the readers on the machine but they don't use them yet, so I invariably do the wrong one at any given store. It's like trying to plug a usb in right side up the first time.

Yeah, the majority of place I've seen that have chip-able readers still expect you to swipe. So unless you've been there before, you have to ask or just guess.

Listen, another 30 seconds at Target is a small price to pay to not get hacked again and deal with getting a new c...aaaaand I just got hacked again.

Even with having to type the pin in, CC payment shouldn't take more than 5 secs, unless there's some connexion issue. Cash, OTOH, can be far longer if you're either behind someone trying to get rid of all his pennies (usually happens at the bakery) or in smaller shops without machines spelling out the exact change and after a while you have to help the clerk do the math.

The chip is for security, not speed.

Gunpowder wrote:The chip is for security, not speed.

I can not fathom how it is any more secure. If someone steals my card, it will work exactly the same with a chip vs. a swipe.

devilfluff wrote:

Gunpowder wrote:The chip is for security, not speed.

I can not fathom how it is any more secure. If someone steals my card, it will work exactly the same with a chip vs. a swipe.

This is what I don't understand, either.

A_B wrote:

devilfluff wrote:

Gunpowder wrote:The chip is for security, not speed.

I can not fathom how it is any more secure. If someone steals my card, it will work exactly the same with a chip vs. a swipe.

This is what I don't understand, either.

It's about protecting against something like "Target gets hacked and thieves make off with CC info for millions of customers", not someone stealing your wallet and using your actual card. The chip is supposed to make it impossible (much more difficult, at least?) to replicate a card based on the details from a transaction, whereas bad guys can pretty much get everything they need from one swipe of a regular magnetic strip.

Ah! Ok, that makes much more sense. In that case I think I'd be OK with a little longer transaction.

Yep. Used to get my card info stolen at least annually a few years ago. Hasn't happened yet with the chips.

rass wrote:... whereas bad guys can pretty much get everything they need from one swipe of a regular magnetic strip.

So basically this works until hacking catches up and then another slower method is introduced.

mister d wrote:

rass wrote:... whereas bad guys can pretty much get everything they need from one swipe of a regular magnetic strip.

So basically this works until hacking catches up and then another slower method is introduced.

Yes, technology is always a leapfrog race. Hate to break it to you.

sancarlos wrote:

brian wrote:How'd I miss this thread first time around?

Anyway, this'll suffice as a random fast food thread as well, but I had Whataburger for the first time last week. Pretty damn good. Reminds me a lot of a SoCal/SoNev chain called Tommy's. Next time I'm in Phoenix I'll have to get another burger.

I think both Bronto and TT have posted love for Whataburger in other threads.

it is the truth. in and out can suck my dick.

TT2.0 wrote:

sancarlos wrote:

brian wrote:How'd I miss this thread first time around?

Anyway, this'll suffice as a random fast food thread as well, but I had Whataburger for the first time last week. Pretty damn good. Reminds me a lot of a SoCal/SoNev chain called Tommy's. Next time I'm in Phoenix I'll have to get another burger.

I think both Bronto and TT have posted love for Whataburger in other threads.

it is the truth. in and out can suck my dick.

It's no Shake Shack or Five Guys, but fellatio-worthy? I disagree.

Five Guys may be the single most overrated thing I have ever encountered, in any category. Bone-dry, flavorless meat, absent of any fixings to compensate. And their fries were like frozen ones that had been microwaved.

Of the others, I've only had In-n-Out, which I don't think is quite as great as its reputation, but is still miles better.

Yup. Five Guys is good burgers for people who don't own a grill and would rank Wendy's as the second best burger in the world.

We need a definitive chain burger ranking. Rank the top 5. 5 points for 1st place, 4 for 2nd, etc. Must be a chain with enough locations to be at least regional, no Mr. D's artisinal around the corner burger joints allowed.

Cook-Out. If in NC or more recently the southeast that is the best. Value has to count for something. $1.39 for regular sized "small burger" with full slice of onion, 2 cross cut pickles, lettuce, mustard, ketchup. Cheese cost extra and I dont get it an it doesnt need it. Taste like grill burgers. The whole block at Northside Drive and 14th street smells like tailgate. Like 30 of the best milkshakes in Atlanta. Fresh fruit or candy in a full fat cup. Less than 3 bucks or maybe 3.25.

#1.

Gunpowder wrote:Yep. Used to get my card info stolen at least annually a few years ago. Hasn't happened yet with the chips.

Strange. 23 years and counting, never had my card info stolen...

As far a 5 Guys, you can get anything you want on the burgers. I order mine all the way with grilled jalepenos. It isn't better than home grilled, but smokes fast food joints like a fatty blunt.

I agree that Cook Out is great.

I don't understand the Five Guys complaints though. You guys must have gone to a fucked-up Five Guys. I've never had a bad burger there. The fries can be hit or miss, but at least they give you a million of them.

I've gone to three different ones thinking that was the issue. It wasn't.

Also, is "candy in a fat full cup" regional slang or do they actually hand you a massive cup filled with M&Ms?

Yeah, I must have had the absolute worst Five Guys burger ever made, or else it's just not that good. I guess I could give it another shot, but it will probably be a while since I only have a burger every few months and there's this place in my town called Lexie's Joint and their burgers taste like Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, came in your mouth.

Shirley wrote:
I don't understand the Five Guys complaints though. You guys must have gone to a fucked-up Five Guys. I've never had a bad burger there. The fries can be hit or miss, but at least they give you a million of them.

With you here. I've never had a bad burger from there. Haven't had it in forever though. There's a local joint here called Boogie Burger that is the tits.

I've never had a bad burger at five guys. And the dry meat comment is completely out of my experience.

The best chain burger I've ever had was at Cheeburger Cheeburger.

The most impressive thing about In and Out is how overrated it is.

It may be overrated, but In-n-Out is a consistently good fast food meal, at least in my experience.

mister d wrote:Also, is "candy in a fat full cup" regional slang or do they actually hand you a massive cup filled with M&Ms?

Little bit of both. Meant to type full fat cup in the sense that they are thick and im sure use real milk and ice cream. I prefer fruit in my shake but the kids get cherry and chocolate and its not chocolate powder and not chocolate chips but chunks of chocolate mixed with (I presume) actual cherries. Not sure whether its the maraschino or real ones but I would liken it to a Cherry Garcia milkshake. Another guy got caramel and its not flavoring or even syrup but chunks of caramels. Yum. My pineapple and banana are almost impossible to digest through a straw and its for the better. Not massive cups. Average size but thats about what you need. Im sure theres 1000 calories in there anyway.

mister d wrote:

rass wrote:... whereas bad guys can pretty much get everything they need from one swipe of a regular magnetic strip.

So basically this works until hacking catches up and then another slower method is introduced.

Right, if you can't eradicate a problem forever in one move, why even try to address it?

Gunpowder wrote: Right, if you can't eradicate a problem forever in one move, why even try to address it?

That's Hillary's pitch

It's a very common theme in politics. "Well then what about this?". Oh, the entire problem wouldn't be fixed? Yeah, let's just sit around and leave everything the way it is then, I guess.

Gunpowder wrote:Right, if you can't eradicate a problem forever in one move, why even try to address it?

That kind of depends on whether chips are an actual potential fix.

HaulCitgo wrote:Not massive cups. Average size but thats about what you need.

Rush wrote:I'm there

Supermarket, so close enough...

Guy in front of me in self check-out. His total was $14.07. He took a folded wad of one dollar bills out of pocket, and one at a time, after carefully unfolding each one, fed 14 of them into the register interface. Then he checked his pockets for change, came up empty, and then added a 15th single.

Then...

What's the statute of limitations on free refills? Like, if I went to Five Guys for lunch and I'm really craving another Vanilla Coke, can I go back in there with my cup a couple hours later or are you fucked as soon as you leave the establishment?

Jerloma wrote:What's the statute of limitations on free refills? Like, if I went to Five Guys for lunch and I'm really craving another Vanilla Coke, can I go back in there with my cup a couple hours later or are you fucked as soon as you leave the establishment?

You can't be serious.

Yes, once you leave the premises you are SOL.