9 ms·

An unexpected social trick I learned running out of business cards

41 points by matteoc 11y ago

geophile 11y ago
American Psycho jokes start in 3, 2, 1, ...
- matteoc 11y ago
  In fact I did not mention my business card holder ;-)
- martiuk 11y ago
  Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh, my God. It even has a watermark.
aggieben 11y ago
Interesting and creative, but this guy is reading waaaaay too much into what cards people pick. My guess is that in reality, most people don't give a crap because they're going to put the contact info into their phones and then throw the card away.
- matteoc 11y ago
  The second part is certainly true: cards get thrown away in no time.
- pascalmemories 11y ago
  Coming from Europe, I found it weird in North America that I get asked for business cards all the time but it's been 15 years since I got asked for one in Europe. The US Border is bizarre, I get asked for a card when I cross almost all the time - like it's some sort of equivalent of a passport that proves I'm really on business. They had a sense of humor failure when I offer to email them one, so I stopped doing that and just got some cards so I can give them, and whoever else asks, one.
  - striking 11y ago
    Business cards are a big part of culture in some places. In Japan, it's "an essential part of Japanese business ettiquette."[1] This is true to the degree that a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction was invented. [2] 1: http://www.linguist.com/services-japanese-card.htm http://www.linguist.com/services-japanese-card.htm 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuT2EjdnFU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuT2EjdnFU4
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - resoluteteeth 11y ago
      > This is true to the degree that a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction was invented. This is not at all "a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction." The clip you have linked is labelled as being from "Gigazeus" which is apparently a comedy tokusatsu (like Power Rangers) show. Since I was confused as to why there were other clips with the same person that didn't seem to be from this show, I wasted some time researching this and determined the following: There was a series of dumb comedy tv shows that were supposed to be lessons in how to make people angry. In these shows, this actor (Shinichi Usui) was supposed to be a professor, who demonstrated how to make people angry by disrespecting them. The person who directed these shows then went on to direct the show the clip you have linked is from, and apparently brought on the same actor to do essentially the same thing but as a different character. This was simply a short gag on two different shows directed by the same person that was more about the silly facial expression made by the actor than about the actual destroying of the business cards. I have taken the time to write a reply (to this comment that is arguably only tangentially related to the original link) that is arguably unnecessarily detailed because misinformation about Japan and Japanese TV shows seems to be so prevalent on the internet. In particular, I want to dispel the idea that the very idea of crushing business cards is somehow so shocking to Japanese people (more than it would be in other countries) that there would be a reality show just about someone crushing business cards.
      - 11y ago
- ddebernardy 11y ago
  Nah, they fill rolodexes or end up in a drawer somewhere. They rarely get thrown away. There is something to be said about cards (and arguably their holders) that leave you a not good enough impression to remember them though.
oldmanjay 11y ago
this feels about as charming as a stranger approaching with heavy insistence to show a magic trick no one wants to see
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
mxuribe 11y ago
While i think this social trick is clever, there are circles or perhaps industries where - as some other comments denote - recipients will not keep the cards; opting to simply enter the info into their phones, etc. However, i can definitely see in some other industries that are skewed more towards the social - such as but not limited to real estate, etc. - where this would work as a great ice breaker, or at least a method to keep some conversation continuing. Either way, I think this idea is pretty cool especially for how easy it is to do. Kudos to @matteoc!
egypturnash 11y ago
I use the multi-image Moo cards, and have a bunch of them out on my table at conventions. They're great. Usually taking a business card is a throwaway thing. But when there's a bunch of different images to choose from, some people will get involved in it, and pick an image that they really like. Some people just grab the first one that comes to hand, sure. But some people will spend a couple minutes looking at every single design and picking the one they like. Do you know how precious that is in the environment of a comic book convention? Someone is engaged with my promotional materials, in an environment where every square inch is filled with someone's promotional materials.
- aggieben 11y ago
  I can see the value of that when someone engages in the designs, but I think the engaging thing there is the choice, not the designs themselves. I'd be curious to know if you could create the same effect with cards that are exactly the same, but simply with different background colors.
rooodini 11y ago
@giacecco does something similar, but as a freelance data scientist, each of his business cards shows some graphic of a project he has worked on. He asks people to pick a card, then he tells them about the project they chose. Works really well
- caseysoftware 11y ago
  Now that makes sense and serves to anchor himself in their mind. So now when I find his card days or weeks later, I'm more likely to remember him and what he does. And that's the point. :)
gjm11 11y ago
I assume the author is greatly exaggerating how predictable people are. Otherwise, I'd like to know what happens when he offers his cards to, say, an LGBT programmer working in finance.
- matteoc 11y ago
  That would expose his "dominant" passion and maybe also the mood of the moment ;-)
tudorw 11y ago
I have cards... but rarely with me... if asked I just say, 'No, do you?' Then take their card, if they don't have one we trade email addresses, I have a way to contact them to follow up. I used to hand out a lot, but no one called, then maybe that's just me...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

41 points by matteoc 11y ago

geophile 11y ago

American Psycho jokes start in 3, 2, 1, ...

matteoc 11y ago
In fact I did not mention my business card holder ;-)
martiuk 11y ago
Look at that subtle off-white coloring. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh, my God. It even has a watermark.

aggieben 11y ago

Interesting and creative, but this guy is reading waaaaay too much into what cards people pick. My guess is that in reality, most people don't give a crap because they're going to put the contact info into their phones and then throw the card away.

matteoc 11y ago
The second part is certainly true: cards get thrown away in no time.
pascalmemories 11y ago
Coming from Europe, I found it weird in North America that I get asked for business cards all the time but it's been 15 years since I got asked for one in Europe. The US Border is bizarre, I get asked for a card when I cross almost all the time - like it's some sort of equivalent of a passport that proves I'm really on business. They had a sense of humor failure when I offer to email them one, so I stopped doing that and just got some cards so I can give them, and whoever else asks, one.
- striking 11y ago
  Business cards are a big part of culture in some places. In Japan, it's "an essential part of Japanese business ettiquette."[1] This is true to the degree that a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction was invented. [2] 1: http://www.linguist.com/services-japanese-card.htm http://www.linguist.com/services-japanese-card.htm 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuT2EjdnFU4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuT2EjdnFU4
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - resoluteteeth 11y ago
    > This is true to the degree that a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction was invented. This is not at all "a show about a Japanese man who crushes business cards to get a reaction." The clip you have linked is labelled as being from "Gigazeus" which is apparently a comedy tokusatsu (like Power Rangers) show. Since I was confused as to why there were other clips with the same person that didn't seem to be from this show, I wasted some time researching this and determined the following: There was a series of dumb comedy tv shows that were supposed to be lessons in how to make people angry. In these shows, this actor (Shinichi Usui) was supposed to be a professor, who demonstrated how to make people angry by disrespecting them. The person who directed these shows then went on to direct the show the clip you have linked is from, and apparently brought on the same actor to do essentially the same thing but as a different character. This was simply a short gag on two different shows directed by the same person that was more about the silly facial expression made by the actor than about the actual destroying of the business cards. I have taken the time to write a reply (to this comment that is arguably only tangentially related to the original link) that is arguably unnecessarily detailed because misinformation about Japan and Japanese TV shows seems to be so prevalent on the internet. In particular, I want to dispel the idea that the very idea of crushing business cards is somehow so shocking to Japanese people (more than it would be in other countries) that there would be a reality show just about someone crushing business cards.
    - 11y ago
ddebernardy 11y ago
Nah, they fill rolodexes or end up in a drawer somewhere. They rarely get thrown away. There is something to be said about cards (and arguably their holders) that leave you a not good enough impression to remember them though.

oldmanjay 11y ago

this feels about as charming as a stranger approaching with heavy insistence to show a magic trick no one wants to see

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

mxuribe 11y ago

While i think this social trick is clever, there are circles or perhaps industries where - as some other comments denote - recipients will not keep the cards; opting to simply enter the info into their phones, etc. However, i can definitely see in some other industries that are skewed more towards the social - such as but not limited to real estate, etc. - where this would work as a great ice breaker, or at least a method to keep some conversation continuing. Either way, I think this idea is pretty cool especially for how easy it is to do. Kudos to @matteoc!

egypturnash 11y ago

I use the multi-image Moo cards, and have a bunch of them out on my table at conventions. They're great. Usually taking a business card is a throwaway thing. But when there's a bunch of different images to choose from, some people will get involved in it, and pick an image that they really like. Some people just grab the first one that comes to hand, sure. But some people will spend a couple minutes looking at every single design and picking the one they like. Do you know how precious that is in the environment of a comic book convention? Someone is engaged with my promotional materials, in an environment where every square inch is filled with someone's promotional materials.

aggieben 11y ago
I can see the value of that when someone engages in the designs, but I think the engaging thing there is the choice, not the designs themselves. I'd be curious to know if you could create the same effect with cards that are exactly the same, but simply with different background colors.

rooodini 11y ago

@giacecco does something similar, but as a freelance data scientist, each of his business cards shows some graphic of a project he has worked on. He asks people to pick a card, then he tells them about the project they chose. Works really well

caseysoftware 11y ago
Now that makes sense and serves to anchor himself in their mind. So now when I find his card days or weeks later, I'm more likely to remember him and what he does. And that's the point. :)

gjm11 11y ago

I assume the author is greatly exaggerating how predictable people are. Otherwise, I'd like to know what happens when he offers his cards to, say, an LGBT programmer working in finance.

matteoc 11y ago
That would expose his "dominant" passion and maybe also the mood of the moment ;-)

tudorw 11y ago

I have cards... but rarely with me... if asked I just say, 'No, do you?' Then take their card, if they don't have one we trade email addresses, I have a way to contact them to follow up. I used to hand out a lot, but no one called, then maybe that's just me...

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]