If the assumption is about whether I've been vegan longer - it's statistically almost certain, but I did qualify myself. If the assumption is that the behavior is off-putting, we can look at our respective up/downvotes.

> And thats 27 years of no exceptions?

Define "exceptions". I don't have a personal purity test. I'd eat meat every day if it meant ten omnivores went vegan in my place. So if my order is screwed up in a minor way - e.g. I forget to specify no egg in my bibimbap - I'll pull out the big pieces, but it's not helping animals to throw away the food instead of eating the tiny egg bits.

Perhaps more importantly - I don't ask everyone who baked cookies whether their sugar was made with bone char, and I don't avoid beers/wine who might have been fined with isinglass. But: I used to. Until a vegan friend mentioned that they didn't, because it makes veganism look impossible. I'd rather be 99.5% vegan if it causes someone else to become 99.5% vegan instead of being 100% vegan and someone else 0% vegan.

This approach works. I can say with certainty that multiple people became vegan with me as the primary influencer, and far more folks who will eat vegan food who previously didn't.

You want some vegan propaganda that actually works? Learn to cook vegan food that doesn't use ingredients they're not comfortable with (even tofu) that tastes amazing. Back in the 90s commercially available vegan cookies sucked because the market was filled with health nuts. I changed a lot of minds about vegan food being "too healthy-tasting" by making unhealthy vegan foods.

I've almost certainly been vegan way longer* than you and I'm downvoting this.

It's off-topic but that's almost secondary.

This behavior doesn't win people over, because it's annoying. If anything it reinforces the "annoying vegan" trope.

I appreciate the effort you're putting in, but I think it's best directed elsewhere.

*a bit over 27 years.

That is my exact thought process in an unfamiliar station, yes

The trick is to orient yourself to the subway you just got off of. Were you on a northbound train? Great, the direction the train left in is north.

Like other commenters, I also love this place. However, it definitely lost a lot of its magic when it started catering to the tourist crowd.

Thirty years ago, you could get cheap bulk candy here. I once needed a very large amount of Runts - they had a 25lb bag. 5lb Hershey bar brick, they had you. They had bulk dried fruit, halvah, Turkish delight, chocolate fruit cordials. All of that is gone to make room for more novelties like "Bitch Pills".

That said, they haven't ditched the collection of antique games and toys, and the current owner has the same distinct voice his father did, so still top tier nostalgia.