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There’s a curious passage here about a chandelier which is not as colorful, complaining that “you see how synthetic the crystals actually are.” The crystals ar

There’s a curious passage here about a chandelier which is not as colorful, complaining that “you see how synthetic the crystals actually are.” The crystals are, of course, synthetic. They are always synthetic. They are glass, made by artisans in workshops or by workers in factories, but made using chemical processes nonetheless. The question is whether you are allowed to call them “crystal”. But the author’s reaction is, “Oh, the chandelier is not good enough” rather than any alternative reaction which might range from “oh, of course it wouldn’t be high-quality crystal, my friend isn’t rich” or “oh, what a tacky chandelier” or “why do you even have a chandelier like that in the first place?” Getting high-quality furnishings (fittings, doors, etc) in a house requires you to have an opinion on what quality means for hundreds of aspects of your home. It’s not a problem you can simply throw money at. If you want to throw money at something in your home, there are plenty of suppliers for sinks, countertops, doorknobs, and cabinets that are happy to take your money. They won’t necessarily give you something much better, just something more expensive. The US also is in the bizarre position where land is relatively cheap, and we’re naturally tempted to get massive homes. The author never really returns to the introductory point about microwave meals. If you prioritize high-quality food in your life, you will take the time to learn to cook. If you care about interior decoration, you will spend time shopping for the right furniture. But, ask yourself if you really care about this stuff or if you are trying to keep up with the Joneses. It can be liberating to not care, to buy Ikea furniture and ready-made microwave meals.

teraku 6y ago
As often, the true meaning is in the comments.
leoedin 6y ago
When we were renovating our flat I was really astounded by the lack of quality. Everything sold in the mainstream kitchen and bathroom retailers is flimsy garbage. There's also really nice stuff available. You have to look for it though, and seek out alternative niche suppliers. That means that most people, when they fit a kitchen or bathroom, fit the mainstream crap. It's not even necessarily more expensive to get the nice stuff. Which inevitably is mostly metallised plastic or foil wrapped particleboard, and then after a few years it gets dented or cracked and has to be torn out and replaced. Once you start looking for crap fittings, its everywhere. It doesn't matter whether its a high end apartment or a cheap one - the fittings are equally shit. The only way to defend against it is to specify everything, because the default option for everything from plug sockets to skirting board to cupboard hinges is just crap!
- XorNot 6y ago
  The problem is there's a massive, costly overhead to trying to find quality goods - that's why the mainstream persists. Spend a week drilling through websites trying to figure out any one product - say taps. What's a good tap? What makes a good tap? Are there brands considered good, are they actually good? Can you reasonably get them in your area? After a week or more you might have some idea about any of this. And then the next week you're on to cupboard sliders...and then all of this can't be outsourced because the OP's note - that plenty of people are happy to take your money and do not even slightly better. At which point, "it works for now" becomes more important if that's not your life's ambition.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    Search costs and informational costs are really under-rated by the "free market" evangelists.
    - novok 6y ago
      Which is why sites like the wirecutter, consumer reports, etc are / were very useful. As for this case, I think it's an issue of a large amount of people not being the purchasing deciders vs. the ultimate end user of said stuff. Even if your a homeowner to be, your not going to do a complete reno usually and just leave the house as is for the most part. It's rare to buy something new. It's the enterprise software problem, applied to housing.
    - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
      How do they rate them?
  - siltpotato 6y ago
    I think it took me a year of online goofing to figure out what's it and what isn't in the world of guitar pedals. My pedalboard is only now fixed after so much trial and error and shipping return costs.
  - dennis_jeeves 6y ago
rtpg 6y ago
Counterpoint: many countries in the world have mass-produced housing with good things. This is a _solved problem_ in so many parts of the world, yet not in the US. So much stuff in the US is just really bad. The poetic example is Hershey's, a company that exists based on "how do we make chocolate cheap (and taste much worse)". Random homes in the US have just awful plumbing, terrible doors, busted fridges. It took me a long time to unlearn suspicion of "fresh" fruits & vegetables after moving away from the US. Not to say that mass producing stuff on the cheap is a bad thing! Like people need stuff. But loads of other countries have gotten to mass production and still meet some bar of quality. But like even decently fancy LA apartments had worse plumbing than a $300/month student apartment in France. My US school notebooks all had that crappy letter paper. Everything just feels bad and busted. I don't know if it was always like this, or if things are getting worse. My best guess is that things are getting better in other countries but not in the US.
- sneak 6y ago
  I think the main cultural difference between countries is what is improving and what isn't. While the US still has terrible HVAC, interior doors, subdivisions, and hasn't figured out bidets, you can click a few times on your phone and someone will, beginning within minutes, drive a whole-ass automobile 30km to go get you a freshly prepared high cuisine meal. Alternately, you can have a computer monitor or HDMI cable delivered in a couple hours. Even before the pandemic you could have 100% of a grocery trip same-day delivered to your doorstep. The USA optimizes for immediate reward for consumption choices, and nowhere else on the planet comes very close (with the possible exception of some superdense places, which are themselves fairly rare).
  - rtpg 6y ago
    “Nowhere comes close” is a very strong statement. It doesn’t really hold up that much. Very quick delivery of stuff is pretty normal across Asia. You can also get stuff done when you need it. And, yknow, Airbnb etc all exist outside the US as well. And Uber Eats. There’s some lead time of a couple of years, I guess.
- readflaggedcomm 6y ago
dmingod666 6y ago
Quite literally, throwing money down the sink..

teraku 6y ago

As often, the true meaning is in the comments.

leoedin 6y ago

When we were renovating our flat I was really astounded by the lack of quality. Everything sold in the mainstream kitchen and bathroom retailers is flimsy garbage. There's also really nice stuff available. You have to look for it though, and seek out alternative niche suppliers. That means that most people, when they fit a kitchen or bathroom, fit the mainstream crap. It's not even necessarily more expensive to get the nice stuff. Which inevitably is mostly metallised plastic or foil wrapped particleboard, and then after a few years it gets dented or cracked and has to be torn out and replaced. Once you start looking for crap fittings, its everywhere. It doesn't matter whether its a high end apartment or a cheap one - the fittings are equally shit. The only way to defend against it is to specify everything, because the default option for everything from plug sockets to skirting board to cupboard hinges is just crap!

XorNot 6y ago
The problem is there's a massive, costly overhead to trying to find quality goods - that's why the mainstream persists. Spend a week drilling through websites trying to figure out any one product - say taps. What's a good tap? What makes a good tap? Are there brands considered good, are they actually good? Can you reasonably get them in your area? After a week or more you might have some idea about any of this. And then the next week you're on to cupboard sliders...and then all of this can't be outsourced because the OP's note - that plenty of people are happy to take your money and do not even slightly better. At which point, "it works for now" becomes more important if that's not your life's ambition.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Search costs and informational costs are really under-rated by the "free market" evangelists.
  - novok 6y ago
    Which is why sites like the wirecutter, consumer reports, etc are / were very useful. As for this case, I think it's an issue of a large amount of people not being the purchasing deciders vs. the ultimate end user of said stuff. Even if your a homeowner to be, your not going to do a complete reno usually and just leave the house as is for the most part. It's rare to buy something new. It's the enterprise software problem, applied to housing.
  - readflaggedcomm 6y ago
    How do they rate them?
- siltpotato 6y ago
  I think it took me a year of online goofing to figure out what's it and what isn't in the world of guitar pedals. My pedalboard is only now fixed after so much trial and error and shipping return costs.
- dennis_jeeves 6y ago

rtpg 6y ago

Counterpoint: many countries in the world have mass-produced housing with good things. This is a _solved problem_ in so many parts of the world, yet not in the US. So much stuff in the US is just really bad. The poetic example is Hershey's, a company that exists based on "how do we make chocolate cheap (and taste much worse)". Random homes in the US have just awful plumbing, terrible doors, busted fridges. It took me a long time to unlearn suspicion of "fresh" fruits & vegetables after moving away from the US. Not to say that mass producing stuff on the cheap is a bad thing! Like people need stuff. But loads of other countries have gotten to mass production and still meet some bar of quality. But like even decently fancy LA apartments had worse plumbing than a $300/month student apartment in France. My US school notebooks all had that crappy letter paper. Everything just feels bad and busted. I don't know if it was always like this, or if things are getting worse. My best guess is that things are getting better in other countries but not in the US.

sneak 6y ago
I think the main cultural difference between countries is what is improving and what isn't. While the US still has terrible HVAC, interior doors, subdivisions, and hasn't figured out bidets, you can click a few times on your phone and someone will, beginning within minutes, drive a whole-ass automobile 30km to go get you a freshly prepared high cuisine meal. Alternately, you can have a computer monitor or HDMI cable delivered in a couple hours. Even before the pandemic you could have 100% of a grocery trip same-day delivered to your doorstep. The USA optimizes for immediate reward for consumption choices, and nowhere else on the planet comes very close (with the possible exception of some superdense places, which are themselves fairly rare).
- rtpg 6y ago
  “Nowhere comes close” is a very strong statement. It doesn’t really hold up that much. Very quick delivery of stuff is pretty normal across Asia. You can also get stuff done when you need it. And, yknow, Airbnb etc all exist outside the US as well. And Uber Eats. There’s some lead time of a couple of years, I guess.
readflaggedcomm 6y ago

dmingod666 6y ago

Quite literally, throwing money down the sink..