Day: October 6, 2019

Johnnie Does: Dickey’s BBQ

Dickey’s BBQ is a franchised BBQ concept headquartered in Dallas, Texas. They spend a ton of money advertising on cable calling themselves “real, Texas, BBQ.” They had a store in my town….it shut down, re-opened as a Side Burn BBQ, which I aided and abetted in their shut down (RIP). Now they have found a new sucker to re-open the store in the same location! So, without further ado here is the review.

Ambiance: When you walk into the restaurant, they yell out “Welcome to Dickey’s.” I found this weird because no one was there, sans one lady who ordered a large takeout order of sliders for her office.

Lunch rush at Dickey’s

Dickey’s, like everyone else, is trying to copy Moe’s Southwest Grill concept with the whole “Welcome to____” when anyone walks in, very unoriginal. Anyway, after walking in I saw one guy who was assembling the women’s order who was in front of me, the other two workers were just staring at me like I was a co-star in the “Invasion of the body snatchers.” I stood their statue like, jaw jutting out in deep thought “maybe it was a union shop and the other two couldn’t cut the meat?” Did I interrupt their break at lunchtime? Who knows?

Inspiring workplace poster for Dickey’s employees

Finally, Micaela asked what I wanted. I guess the union break was over, so I ordered the $3 pulled pork sandwich. 0/5 Literally I have seen a morgue with more ambiance.

Food: They offer BBQ faire like that found pretty much everywhere. The menu was pulled pork, brisket, chicken, ham (wtf??) ribs, spicy cheddar sausage, and polish sausage. They also offer an abundance of BBQ sandwiches like I ordered, as well as side dishes, salads, and baked potatoes. But as far as this being unique to Texas or anything…it stinks. Like literally there is nothing special about this joint. Why would you advertise Texas in California, a state that literally hates everything about Texas, without it somehow being better in flavor, portion, and quality? 1.5/5

Uninspiring sandwich

I ordered the pulled pork using my coupon for $3 BBQ sandwich. Knowing this was likely a loss leader, I figured I would help them out and order a side of waffle fries for …. yeah $2.50. WOOF. My pulled pork was pulled from a warmer vat (not a smoker or a warmer) and the girl squeezed all the juice with her gloves. She reassured me this is how it was supposed to be made. I was born in the South and I know BBQ, this girl is either retarded or dumb, frankly you can choose.

Cold, dead, French fries too

Overall: Here is the kicker. Remember my coupon for the $3 sandwich? The staff didn’t honor it. I even showed them the digital coupon on my trusty smartphone. Maybe I am blind, but it would stand to reason when someone gets a digital coupon from corporate that the price would be honored. It wasn’t. I was charged the full amount of $6.50 for the sandwich and $2.50 for the side. I paid because, well you cannot fix stupid and I would rather these 3 idiots remain employed rather than collect unemployment. The gal told me she would bring my sandwich and fries out together after my fries were cooked because that way, they were fresh…. bad idea.

One bite is all it took for me to book

The sandwich was cold and dry, and the fries were cold…weird because they were “fried fresh.” The sandwich was somehow worse. It was dryer than dry. Like Mojave Desert dry…I had one bite and a couple of fries. I voiced my disappointment and the crew did not care. I left and when I returned to the office, I had a sleeve of Oreo’s for lunch. 0/5

Oreo Cookies beat Dickey’s any day

This place stinks, it stinks, it stinks, it stinks. Legit Texas BBQ? Yeah, I guess not. I am certain my pulled pork was bought at the Safeway down the way, no chance they have a smoker in shop. The BBQ sauces they claim are homemade? I saw a delivery of sauces with a national name brands on them…not original, sorry. The shop was empty and it’s not hard to see why. The service is god awful and the food is a wild mashup of store-bought microwaved trash. Maybe try being legit and buy a BBQ or a smoker? Southerners everywhere must turn their noses up at this. Microwaved BBQ is what Yankees do!

Once, safely back at the office and stuffed with Oreo cookies, I complained to corporate and soon after, the franchisee called me and asked to have a meeting with me…I suggested maybe somewhere with authentic ethnic food like Taco Bell? He has been begging me to give it another try, and I have declined. He told me they pit smoke their meat every day for several hours, I guess Barney Fife and Col. Klink are minding the smoker? I feel bad for him because the food was bad and his employees stink…almost as bad as the food does. Long and short of it, save your money, because you will either get horrible food, or be overcharged for horrible food.

Jon Taffer

This place stinks….as Jon Taffer would say SHUT IT DOWN!

Johnnie Does

Why Apple Users Shouldn’t Own Smart Home Devices

My wife is fond of quoting Dr. Laura Schlessinger, “Even a bird knows, you have to make a nest before laying an egg.” Truth is that birds seem to have more sense than people. We drag all sorts of stuff back to our nest that we shouldn’t. Sometimes it’s from the local watering hole and sometimes the local Best Buy or whatever vendor of electronic gizmos hits your fancy.

When you put a Google Nest or similar product in your house, you should be wary of what you’re letting thru the front door. Every electronic device in your house is collecting information about you and sending it to others. Here’s a partial list of stuff that is already collecting data on you.

Television
Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and all the other streaming services that you use are collecting information about you, but did you know your television and Blu-ray/DVD plays are too? Have a PlayStation, XBOX, or Nintendo product connected too? Many of these devices and associated peripherals have cameras and microphones and are never truly shutoff even when the power light is de-energized.

Computer
If you own a computer—whether desktop or laptop, tablet, or smartphone—then all sorts of folks all over the world are collecting information on you. They know what websites you visit (even in private mode), what you have installed on you device, where you are—often in real time, where you work, live, send your children to school, shop, and much more.

Folks, the Internet allows the outside world into yours, but the reverse is true as well. The Amish say that Satan travels thru wires, but he went wireless decades ago.

Google Nest Hub Max

The new trend is having mesh networks with smart devices on them. This technology has been available for about a decade, but it has gone mainstream in the last couple of years. Folks, I can understand protecting the perimeter of your property but, I can’t understand why you’d want high definition cameras with microphones in every room in your house.

Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and others have people listening to you and watching you at will any time they wish. Never thought of yourself as the Truman Show, too bad ‘cause you might be.

A Milwaukee couple said hackers broke into their smart home devices and raised the thermostat while blasting vulgar music through the wireless electronics, a report said.


Samantha and Lamont Westmoreland, who purchased a Nest camera in 2018, experienced the shocking breach on Sept. 17, they told FOX 6.
“It gives me the chills just talking about it,” Samantha told the network, describing the virtual intrusion that began when she returned from work to a scorching home with the thermostat set at 90 degrees.


She turned the temperature back down, chalking it up to a one-time malfunction.


But soon after, somebody started speaking through her kitchen security camera.


Then she heard vulgar music coming from the same device.

Couple says hackers took over Google Nest — then raised temps and blasted vulgar music

I can understand the family feeling violated but should their feelings really be the issue here? If the people had watched them without saying something, is that somehow better? By the way, they only found out about this because the watchers decided the reveal themselves, so we don’t know how long they were watched first? Yes, it might have just been kids in this instance, but others know how to cover their tracks better. Folks, nothing would prevent someone from recording something happening in the house and then posting it on the Internet, what then?

Google of course disavowed any responsibility and blamed the family. What else can they do?

The bottom line is, just because it’s on sale at Costco doesn’t mean it belongs in your home. Folks, if you want a system like this to protect your home’s perimeter, you should hire someone who knows more than you do. However, if you want this system in every room in your house then you’re a nut.