5 ms·

Title reminds me of a coworker I had that would rip up and throw away a newspaper after he was done reading it so others wouldn’t get for free what he had paid

Title reminds me of a coworker I had that would rip up and throw away a newspaper after he was done reading it so others wouldn’t get for free what he had paid for.

newsbinator 5y ago
That's a fascinating personality trait. Was it part of a larger pattern?
metalliqaz 5y ago
Yikes. He must have been popular at happy hour. /s If I worked with him I'd bring in the same paper every day and leave it in the common area near his desk.
miles 5y ago
Was his name Ebenezer by any chance?
silisili 5y ago
Yikes. If there were truly no other reason than that, I'd see it as kinda petty. But perhaps there's something more to the story? There are a lot of little reasons that could make it more reasonable. Were people fighting over it? Was a person or people walking by his desk waiting for him to finish, or worse, asking if he was finished? Or digging in his trash can? Or worse, assuming he was finished and taking it off his desk? All of these would be rather annoying things I could see leading to that. I remember when I worked in a grocery with a deli, we used to give away or heavily heavily discount fried chicken at close time. Eventually more and more people started crowding around at closing time, clogging the area, arguing who was there first, etc. What was a logical nice choice turned into the owner saying screw it, throw it all away every night. An outsider would say it's wasteful or mean, but seeing it happen gave a good context. Anyhow, in your example, I think it's reasonable anyone depending or expecting said paper to chip in. Maybe rotate days, offer a buck here or there, buy coffee, whatever. Or ask the company to buy a few copies for everyone.
- Dylan16807 5y ago
  > An outsider would say it's wasteful or mean, but seeing it happen gave a good context. A context with a dumb solution. How about reducing the discount?
  - silisili 5y ago
    I'm not sure that's fair, but perhaps I painted the wrong picture. This is a small grocery deli - there'd be anywhere from a zero to maybe 10 or 15 pieces max. I only likened it because of the newspaper example - it's just not much. Spending any amount of time above zero on studying and solving the problem just isn't worth it.
- mypalmike 5y ago
  Expecting everyone to chip in on the newspaper is reasonable in the same way many antisocial behaviors are reasonable.
  - silisili 5y ago
    Not sure I understand, but think it's the same point I was trying to make. But honestly, an office spending 10 or 20 bucks on multiple daily newspapers is the correct answer, as it's miles cheaper than having the tension that OP described existing.
rpmisms 5y ago
That's just silly. If I've used something as much as I'm going to, it has no sentimental value to me, and I'm not planning to resell it, why would I not give it away?
- Talanes 5y ago
  Yeah, if anything I prefer that someone else read it after me, because then it feels like my purchase had more value.

Title reminds me of a coworker I had that would rip up and throw away a newspaper after he was done reading it so others wouldn’t get for free what he had paid for.

newsbinator 5y ago

That's a fascinating personality trait. Was it part of a larger pattern?

metalliqaz 5y ago

Yikes. He must have been popular at happy hour. /s If I worked with him I'd bring in the same paper every day and leave it in the common area near his desk.

miles 5y ago

Was his name Ebenezer by any chance?

silisili 5y ago

Yikes. If there were truly no other reason than that, I'd see it as kinda petty. But perhaps there's something more to the story? There are a lot of little reasons that could make it more reasonable. Were people fighting over it? Was a person or people walking by his desk waiting for him to finish, or worse, asking if he was finished? Or digging in his trash can? Or worse, assuming he was finished and taking it off his desk? All of these would be rather annoying things I could see leading to that. I remember when I worked in a grocery with a deli, we used to give away or heavily heavily discount fried chicken at close time. Eventually more and more people started crowding around at closing time, clogging the area, arguing who was there first, etc. What was a logical nice choice turned into the owner saying screw it, throw it all away every night. An outsider would say it's wasteful or mean, but seeing it happen gave a good context. Anyhow, in your example, I think it's reasonable anyone depending or expecting said paper to chip in. Maybe rotate days, offer a buck here or there, buy coffee, whatever. Or ask the company to buy a few copies for everyone.

Dylan16807 5y ago
> An outsider would say it's wasteful or mean, but seeing it happen gave a good context. A context with a dumb solution. How about reducing the discount?
- silisili 5y ago
  I'm not sure that's fair, but perhaps I painted the wrong picture. This is a small grocery deli - there'd be anywhere from a zero to maybe 10 or 15 pieces max. I only likened it because of the newspaper example - it's just not much. Spending any amount of time above zero on studying and solving the problem just isn't worth it.
mypalmike 5y ago
Expecting everyone to chip in on the newspaper is reasonable in the same way many antisocial behaviors are reasonable.
- silisili 5y ago
  Not sure I understand, but think it's the same point I was trying to make. But honestly, an office spending 10 or 20 bucks on multiple daily newspapers is the correct answer, as it's miles cheaper than having the tension that OP described existing.

rpmisms 5y ago

That's just silly. If I've used something as much as I'm going to, it has no sentimental value to me, and I'm not planning to resell it, why would I not give it away?

Talanes 5y ago
Yeah, if anything I prefer that someone else read it after me, because then it feels like my purchase had more value.