5 ms·

You’re right, but it’s important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many people drive cars. Some people kill others with theirs, sometimes intention

by borski 5y ago

You’re right, but it’s important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Many people drive cars. Some people kill others with theirs, sometimes intentionally. We should not then assume every person driving a car is on the warpath.

tomcam 5y ago
> We should not then assume every person driving a car is on the warpath. So you’ve never been to Boston
- pjmorris 5y ago
  Or South Florida. A looong time ago, after the business part of a phone interview, I was chatting with a recruiter who'd moved from Boston to South Florida and he asked me 'Is traffic ...different... here?' I gave him Dave Barry's explanation: "Everyone here drives according to the rules of their country of origin." Which reminds me of Sao Paulo. I've never seen more aggressive driving or been gladder that I wasn't driving than in Sao Paulo.
  - psyc 5y ago
    For me it was SE Asia. No rules of the road, only the rules of a school of fish.
- RHSeeger 5y ago
  To be fair, at least some of that is the streets, not the drivers. I was in Boston a while back and I came to a crossroads. There was no stop sign, no light, nothing. I eventually just had to... go. I got to my hotel and I asked about it, and the concierge was like, "oh, its just like that". I asked how people are supposed to know to stop (or not to) and he replied, "you just know". It baffled me because _clearly_ you don't just know.. because I was there and I didn't know. What happens if two people just drive through the intersection at the same time. I get it that crossroads exist like this in the open nowhere. But... in a city? It was mind-boggling to me. Plus... the street layout in Boston was done by throwing pounds spaghetti at a wall and then trying to match the pattern that stuck.
  - tomcam 5y ago
    All true. That and even the kindliest Bostonian suddenly becomes a sociopath once behind the wheel.
    - gumby 5y ago
      On the other hand, the normally vicious Boston cops have true kindness by not enforcing any traffic laws. I remember a cop car pulling over to let us pass one time when my then gf drove the wrong way* down a one way street. And a friend was stopped when driving on the wrong side of mass ave (a divided road with a barrier). The cop stopped us, give us both a stern talking to, and then let us go on our merry way. * She is a physicist and her defense to me was “I was only driving in one direction”
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    >I was in Boston a while back and I came to a crossroads. There was no stop sign, no light, nothing. I eventually just had to... go. I got to my hotel and I asked about it, and the concierge was like, "oh, its just like that". I asked how people are supposed to know to stop (or not to) and he replied, "you just know". It baffled me because _clearly_ you don't just know.. because I was there and I didn't know. What happens if two people just drive through the intersection at the same time. You got there without incident didn't you? Those sorts of intersections get treated like N-way rolling stops in practice. If there's someone who'll obviously be there first everyone adjusts speed so everyone can roll it without stopping. If multiple vehicles arrive at the same time negotiations ensue.
  - pivo 5y ago
    I love my city but I can see how this would be true for non-Bostonians. If Boston is your home you do just know, in the sense that you know other drivers may not know or care so you are on the lookout for them. You just curse those drivers when you think the've done the wrong thing and move on. Still have to say though that this is less of an issue recently. Many fewer missing traffic signs than there used to be. I don't care for it :)
  - leephillips 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
cogman10 5y ago
I agree, I'm mostly advocating caution. Just like if you see a car swerving around in front of you, you might want to slow down and avoid. Sure, they might have just swatted a fly or something, but they also might be drunk. The issue is that cult interactions are crafted to specifically play on social norms. They are HIGHLY manipulative. I'm not saying that you should assume everyone is a manipulator, but you should at least have a little caution while talking to strangers. I had a college roommate that invited me out to pizza with him and another roommate. I accepted (what could be more normal) and he drove. It was a fucking "pesticide salesman" pitch. That was the last semester I roomed with them.
- ghufran_syed 5y ago
  I think most people have too much caution when talking to strangers for the first time. I think one should be careful when taking things further - maybe meet in public for the first few meetings, so you can easily make excuses and walk away if things turn weird. This also makes recruitment much more expensive for these kind of sales / recruitment tactics,
- snvzz 5y ago
  Asking because I couldn't find the answer after some cursory effort, and feel extremely out of the loop. What is a "pesticide salesman" pitch?
  - RugnirViking 5y ago
    indeed, this hackernews page is one of the first page google results for that term. I'm curious!
  - astura 5y ago
    There's an MLM for everything, including Camel milk. Aptive Environmental looks to be the pesticide MLM.
  - cogman10 5y ago
    In my college, one of the more common MLM type things was getting recruited to travel to another state and do door to door sales of alarms and pesticides. With all the hallmark "You'll make a billion dollars!" types sketchiness. All structured as a standard MLM.

by borski 5y ago

tomcam 5y ago

> We should not then assume every person driving a car is on the warpath. So you’ve never been to Boston

pjmorris 5y ago
Or South Florida. A looong time ago, after the business part of a phone interview, I was chatting with a recruiter who'd moved from Boston to South Florida and he asked me 'Is traffic ...different... here?' I gave him Dave Barry's explanation: "Everyone here drives according to the rules of their country of origin." Which reminds me of Sao Paulo. I've never seen more aggressive driving or been gladder that I wasn't driving than in Sao Paulo.
- psyc 5y ago
  For me it was SE Asia. No rules of the road, only the rules of a school of fish.
RHSeeger 5y ago
To be fair, at least some of that is the streets, not the drivers. I was in Boston a while back and I came to a crossroads. There was no stop sign, no light, nothing. I eventually just had to... go. I got to my hotel and I asked about it, and the concierge was like, "oh, its just like that". I asked how people are supposed to know to stop (or not to) and he replied, "you just know". It baffled me because _clearly_ you don't just know.. because I was there and I didn't know. What happens if two people just drive through the intersection at the same time. I get it that crossroads exist like this in the open nowhere. But... in a city? It was mind-boggling to me. Plus... the street layout in Boston was done by throwing pounds spaghetti at a wall and then trying to match the pattern that stuck.
- tomcam 5y ago
  All true. That and even the kindliest Bostonian suddenly becomes a sociopath once behind the wheel.
  - gumby 5y ago
    On the other hand, the normally vicious Boston cops have true kindness by not enforcing any traffic laws. I remember a cop car pulling over to let us pass one time when my then gf drove the wrong way* down a one way street. And a friend was stopped when driving on the wrong side of mass ave (a divided road with a barrier). The cop stopped us, give us both a stern talking to, and then let us go on our merry way. * She is a physicist and her defense to me was “I was only driving in one direction”
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  >I was in Boston a while back and I came to a crossroads. There was no stop sign, no light, nothing. I eventually just had to... go. I got to my hotel and I asked about it, and the concierge was like, "oh, its just like that". I asked how people are supposed to know to stop (or not to) and he replied, "you just know". It baffled me because _clearly_ you don't just know.. because I was there and I didn't know. What happens if two people just drive through the intersection at the same time. You got there without incident didn't you? Those sorts of intersections get treated like N-way rolling stops in practice. If there's someone who'll obviously be there first everyone adjusts speed so everyone can roll it without stopping. If multiple vehicles arrive at the same time negotiations ensue.
- pivo 5y ago
  I love my city but I can see how this would be true for non-Bostonians. If Boston is your home you do just know, in the sense that you know other drivers may not know or care so you are on the lookout for them. You just curse those drivers when you think the've done the wrong thing and move on. Still have to say though that this is less of an issue recently. Many fewer missing traffic signs than there used to be. I don't care for it :)
- leephillips 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

cogman10 5y ago

I agree, I'm mostly advocating caution. Just like if you see a car swerving around in front of you, you might want to slow down and avoid. Sure, they might have just swatted a fly or something, but they also might be drunk. The issue is that cult interactions are crafted to specifically play on social norms. They are HIGHLY manipulative. I'm not saying that you should assume everyone is a manipulator, but you should at least have a little caution while talking to strangers. I had a college roommate that invited me out to pizza with him and another roommate. I accepted (what could be more normal) and he drove. It was a fucking "pesticide salesman" pitch. That was the last semester I roomed with them.

ghufran_syed 5y ago
I think most people have too much caution when talking to strangers for the first time. I think one should be careful when taking things further - maybe meet in public for the first few meetings, so you can easily make excuses and walk away if things turn weird. This also makes recruitment much more expensive for these kind of sales / recruitment tactics,
snvzz 5y ago
Asking because I couldn't find the answer after some cursory effort, and feel extremely out of the loop. What is a "pesticide salesman" pitch?
- RugnirViking 5y ago
  indeed, this hackernews page is one of the first page google results for that term. I'm curious!
- astura 5y ago
  There's an MLM for everything, including Camel milk. Aptive Environmental looks to be the pesticide MLM.
- cogman10 5y ago
  In my college, one of the more common MLM type things was getting recruited to travel to another state and do door to door sales of alarms and pesticides. With all the hallmark "You'll make a billion dollars!" types sketchiness. All structured as a standard MLM.