4 ms·

I feel for the poor staff in those retail stores trying to work out what this product was that wasn't scanning while you've got a customer at your register gett

by cube00 6y ago

I feel for the poor staff in those retail stores trying to work out what this product was that wasn't scanning while you've got a customer at your register getting more annoyed by the second.

chrisseaton 6y ago
People who do pranks like this don’t care how it negatively impacts on other people. Also think about all the additional work the PR people were forced to do to clean up.
- tpmx 6y ago
  Yes, those poor, poor Waggener Edstrom PR people. It's about time someone like you took a stand for them - they surely can't fend for themselves.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    Creating a mess and leaving it to other people to clean it up. It's littering. Even if someone is paid to clean up your litter, you shouldn't litter in the first place.
    - function_seven 6y ago
      I think the disagreement here is that this is litter in the first place. My take is that PR overreacted. They thought it was a mess, and they thought they needed to do Serious Damage Control or whatever. But they were wrong. This was a well done hoax. A more competent PR team would have leaned into it and showcased how Microsoft isn't just a cold corporate monolith. That it has a humorous side, or is more "human", or whatever. I hope shenanigans never dies.
- caslon 6y ago
  Ah yes. Jokes. Such a great evil. You'd think the whole world is owned by the 1990s Microsoft, or Oracle: boring, lifeless and monotonous. Probably beige, too. I can assure you, this wasn't within the top-ten of most annoying things that a retail worker would have to deal with in a day; it's minor and harmless, and the people who really cause trouble for retail workers wouldn't be in a position to buy every Microsoft product on a whim, either.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    Why add to anyone’s workload at all to suit your own amusement?
    - caslon 6y ago
      It doesn't actually add to a retail worker's workload; retail workers (in the United States, anyway) are paid by the hour, and at any given moment will be forced to do something. Filling it with a laugh is a step up. Your problem is/should be with capitalism, not with a joke.
      - snowwrestler 6y ago
        Whether or not one is being paid, it sucks to have no idea how to fix the problem for an annoyed customer. It’s just not a pleasant experience.
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        An employee can have an hour dealing with normal customers, or dealing with customers aggravated because the box they found on the shelf won't scan. Which would you prefer? By the way the worse option is only there for the amusement of some rich engineer you've never met and earns 10x what you do plus can afford to spend his work time making your work time more hard. Doesn't sound as great now, does it?
        caslon 6y ago
        I've done both! I don't know if you've been to America, but this is every hour of every day for employees in American retail. Something funny is a stark improvement over "normal" customers, because the rich customers don't get aggravated as much. Your average poor customer wouldn't spring for a random product by Microsoft immediately after seeing it on the shelves, and your average well-off customer would figure out what was going on. The difference in stress between the two makes one extremely easy to deal with (since not having some stupid flavor-of-the-month cereal seems much less like a big deal for someone whose active attention isn't being consumed solely with figuring out how they're going to pay for everything). Unfortunately, wealth makes a big difference: richer customers are just able to not sweat the small stuff.
hedora 6y ago
Yeah; not sure how to work around that. They could have put a common, inexpensive SKU on it. Perhaps for a pencil or something known to be at stock at the retailers, and also likely to have loose inventory controls. (So, they end up with 10 extra pencils when they do inventory at the end of the month; not exactly a disaster for anyone involved.)
- laurent92 6y ago
  Yes, maybe the sku of a coffee cup, with a coffe cup inside, just to be able to be legally off the hook in an awesome way.

by cube00 6y ago

I feel for the poor staff in those retail stores trying to work out what this product was that wasn't scanning while you've got a customer at your register getting more annoyed by the second.

chrisseaton 6y ago

People who do pranks like this don’t care how it negatively impacts on other people. Also think about all the additional work the PR people were forced to do to clean up.

tpmx 6y ago
Yes, those poor, poor Waggener Edstrom PR people. It's about time someone like you took a stand for them - they surely can't fend for themselves.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  Creating a mess and leaving it to other people to clean it up. It's littering. Even if someone is paid to clean up your litter, you shouldn't litter in the first place.
  - function_seven 6y ago
    I think the disagreement here is that this is litter in the first place. My take is that PR overreacted. They thought it was a mess, and they thought they needed to do Serious Damage Control or whatever. But they were wrong. This was a well done hoax. A more competent PR team would have leaned into it and showcased how Microsoft isn't just a cold corporate monolith. That it has a humorous side, or is more "human", or whatever. I hope shenanigans never dies.
caslon 6y ago
Ah yes. Jokes. Such a great evil. You'd think the whole world is owned by the 1990s Microsoft, or Oracle: boring, lifeless and monotonous. Probably beige, too. I can assure you, this wasn't within the top-ten of most annoying things that a retail worker would have to deal with in a day; it's minor and harmless, and the people who really cause trouble for retail workers wouldn't be in a position to buy every Microsoft product on a whim, either.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  Why add to anyone’s workload at all to suit your own amusement?
  - caslon 6y ago
    It doesn't actually add to a retail worker's workload; retail workers (in the United States, anyway) are paid by the hour, and at any given moment will be forced to do something. Filling it with a laugh is a step up. Your problem is/should be with capitalism, not with a joke.
    - snowwrestler 6y ago
      Whether or not one is being paid, it sucks to have no idea how to fix the problem for an annoyed customer. It’s just not a pleasant experience.
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      An employee can have an hour dealing with normal customers, or dealing with customers aggravated because the box they found on the shelf won't scan. Which would you prefer? By the way the worse option is only there for the amusement of some rich engineer you've never met and earns 10x what you do plus can afford to spend his work time making your work time more hard. Doesn't sound as great now, does it?
      - caslon 6y ago
        I've done both! I don't know if you've been to America, but this is every hour of every day for employees in American retail. Something funny is a stark improvement over "normal" customers, because the rich customers don't get aggravated as much. Your average poor customer wouldn't spring for a random product by Microsoft immediately after seeing it on the shelves, and your average well-off customer would figure out what was going on. The difference in stress between the two makes one extremely easy to deal with (since not having some stupid flavor-of-the-month cereal seems much less like a big deal for someone whose active attention isn't being consumed solely with figuring out how they're going to pay for everything). Unfortunately, wealth makes a big difference: richer customers are just able to not sweat the small stuff.

hedora 6y ago

Yeah; not sure how to work around that. They could have put a common, inexpensive SKU on it. Perhaps for a pencil or something known to be at stock at the retailers, and also likely to have loose inventory controls. (So, they end up with 10 extra pencils when they do inventory at the end of the month; not exactly a disaster for anyone involved.)

laurent92 6y ago
Yes, maybe the sku of a coffee cup, with a coffe cup inside, just to be able to be legally off the hook in an awesome way.