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Story time. In 2001 when the bubble was bursting we had a business deal with one of the trendy dot-com's. Because their office was across the street from us we

Story time. In 2001 when the bubble was bursting we had a business deal with one of the trendy dot-com's. Because their office was across the street from us we had a lot of in person meetings, and they always had us come to their far more swanky office. Along with free drinks and food we always left with the pile of merch they shoved into our hands. It got to the point where my self and several co-workers had boxes of their crap at our desk. They were in a consultant role. They often told management nonuse and made our lives hard on good day and miserable on a bad one. To say we could not stand them would be an understatement. Then it happened, the news came down that there would be a massive layoff (ahh fucked company was great). I grabbed my perch box, and a coworker and his merch box and dressed as many homeless people as we could, head to toe in their gear and had them sit out side their main office door. Folks were streaming out of their office, boxes in hand with a bunch of homeless people dressed in their march. That line in the sand between funny and asshole, I laid down and made a sand angel in it that day.

abuehrle 4y ago
Because homeless people wearing their company’s merch, in your minds, would further degrade the company’s image? Or something else? I’m an anonymous internet stranger, but I invite you to think about what you’re actually saying, and whether it reflects true views you wish to hold.
- bombolo 4y ago
  When my company changed name the last time, they actually told us to destroy any merchandise we might have. No donating. I actually keep wearing them. I don't have much anyway.
  - SilasX 4y ago
    Similar issue with that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO who only wanted "cool kids" to be seen in his clothes, so someone made sure to give donated A&F clothes to the homeless: https://www.businessinsider.com/man-gives-abercrombie-to-homeless-people-2013-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/man-gives-abercrombie-to-hom...
  - labster 4y ago
    Remember that gift we gave you because we’re such a great company to work for? Yeah, we’re going to need you to destroy that. And come in on Saturday.
- ilyt 4y ago
  Joke police arrived I see. But yeah it's truly horrible that homeless people got some clothes with logo of now-dead company, how horrible for them!
  - 1970-01-01 4y ago
    Probably were tipped off by the fashion police.
  - tehwebguy 4y ago
    > Joke police arrived I see. Was there a joke? I didn’t get it either!
- jjoonathan 4y ago
  You are missing GP's specific grievance and how it relates to his revenge. You are welcome to find schadenfreude distasteful, I wouldn't even disagree, I'm not even sure GP would disagree, but I'd ask that you join me in an empathy exercise first so that you can at least understand what you are wagging a finger at. Let's walk through a fictional scenario. Imagine that you are on a team that is overloaded and behind schedule -- not because you suck, but because management is a bit green and has let their expectations run considerably ahead of reality. In a misguided attempt to help, management goes out and buys some highly paid consultants without vetting them (management is a bit green, remember?). The consultants frame you as incompetent and themselves as saviors, but in actual fact they consume time and money and contribute nothing of value. They turn out to be a liability, not an asset. Management doesn't understand this and doesn't want to understand it so the consultants stay hired. Those consultants earn more than you, are worse than useless, and yet still have the gall to go behind your back and talk shit about you. Assholes! This is the headspace in which seeing the consultants lose their job feels like long overdue cosmic justice. They didn't just pass you on the racetrack of capitalism, they sliced your tires as they went by -- but now they are spinning out. Is it so very wrong to enjoy the sight? Suddenly, an evil idea tugs at the back of your mind: you have some of their merch. You could commemorate the occasion. So far, they have been the bad guy... but now it's your turn. ---------- I tend to agree with you and find the revenge part distasteful, but only due to the collateral damage. I'm sure there were people working for Highly Paid Consultant Company who didn't deserve to lose their job, walk out, and see a living extrapolation of themselves into homelessness and failure, and the homeless don't deserve to be used as props representing failure. However, the asshole consultants this was targeted at? I tend to suspect that if I were to learn all the details I'd agree with GP that they earned this one. As you might have guessed, I've experienced something akin to this story myself, except that the asshole consultants in my story got away scott-free. In both cases they got to keep their ill-gotten gains. It's not like the money was clawed back, so the scales still tip in their direction. If it's wrong to occasionally indulge in fantasies of karmic justice... then today, I'm in the wrong. Thanks for sharing, GP.
- throwawaylinux 4y ago
  Do you believe that homeless people do not face negative stereotypes and discrimination and suffer from poor image in society? Perhaps take some time out to reflect on that mindset some day.
imwillofficial 4y ago
This story is hilarious. Homeless people got clothes, a terrible company got dragged. Ethical sand angel confirmed.
davesque 4y ago
Nice, so you demeaned the homeless in an attempt to demean people who had just lost their jobs. Good for you.
- 1970-01-01 4y ago
  It's possible the demeaning is all in your head
  - davesque 4y ago
    Time to get spiritual. For some reason, your comment made me think of an interesting conversation I had while I was on a walk once with a friend of mine who is a Chan Buddhist monk. We were walking by a hotel in Boulder, CO called the St. Julian. I had always hated that place since it was one of the first large development projects that came in and started to change the feeling of the downtown area. That and they had rejected me as a job applicant. I related all this to him and mentioned that I liked to "get back" at them by regularly walking in and using the lobby bathroom. He looked over at me with a severe expression and said, "You may as well have been pissing in their mouths." I suppose that's the point in the parable where I was "enlightened." My friend's meaning was that, by acting spitefully and vengefully, I wasn't doing myself or anyone else any favors. I think the same could be said of OP's story.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - skinnymuch 4y ago
      Your thing appears to be petty and unimportant. Allowing the status quo to exist under a parasitic all encompassing economic system does nothing for material dialectics. Unhoused people sometimes have nothing not even clean clothes. Let's move on with the bravado of civility and help the marginalized as much as possible. Let's leave spiritualness in this case with general liberal ideals.
      - euroderf 4y ago
ctur 4y ago
I don't think you are anywhere near that line. Using human beings as part of a punchline is pretty much the opposite of funny. Trying to rub something in the nose of people who were laid off is rather tacky, too.
artsytrashcan 4y ago
[flagged]
litiholofan 4y ago
[flagged]
hitekker 4y ago
Your story apparently hits too close to home for some folks. Many of us worked for companies that gave our swag and spouted kool-aid. Some of us even drunk it and owned it. I personally know more than a few engineers who can't imagine becoming homeless. The moral concern around your story seems like a red herring for upper-class anxiety around BS jobs in a world of low growth.

abuehrle 4y ago

Because homeless people wearing their company’s merch, in your minds, would further degrade the company’s image? Or something else? I’m an anonymous internet stranger, but I invite you to think about what you’re actually saying, and whether it reflects true views you wish to hold.

bombolo 4y ago
When my company changed name the last time, they actually told us to destroy any merchandise we might have. No donating. I actually keep wearing them. I don't have much anyway.
- SilasX 4y ago
  Similar issue with that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO who only wanted "cool kids" to be seen in his clothes, so someone made sure to give donated A&F clothes to the homeless: https://www.businessinsider.com/man-gives-abercrombie-to-homeless-people-2013-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/man-gives-abercrombie-to-hom...
- labster 4y ago
  Remember that gift we gave you because we’re such a great company to work for? Yeah, we’re going to need you to destroy that. And come in on Saturday.
ilyt 4y ago
Joke police arrived I see. But yeah it's truly horrible that homeless people got some clothes with logo of now-dead company, how horrible for them!
- 1970-01-01 4y ago
  Probably were tipped off by the fashion police.
- tehwebguy 4y ago
  > Joke police arrived I see. Was there a joke? I didn’t get it either!
jjoonathan 4y ago
You are missing GP's specific grievance and how it relates to his revenge. You are welcome to find schadenfreude distasteful, I wouldn't even disagree, I'm not even sure GP would disagree, but I'd ask that you join me in an empathy exercise first so that you can at least understand what you are wagging a finger at. Let's walk through a fictional scenario. Imagine that you are on a team that is overloaded and behind schedule -- not because you suck, but because management is a bit green and has let their expectations run considerably ahead of reality. In a misguided attempt to help, management goes out and buys some highly paid consultants without vetting them (management is a bit green, remember?). The consultants frame you as incompetent and themselves as saviors, but in actual fact they consume time and money and contribute nothing of value. They turn out to be a liability, not an asset. Management doesn't understand this and doesn't want to understand it so the consultants stay hired. Those consultants earn more than you, are worse than useless, and yet still have the gall to go behind your back and talk shit about you. Assholes! This is the headspace in which seeing the consultants lose their job feels like long overdue cosmic justice. They didn't just pass you on the racetrack of capitalism, they sliced your tires as they went by -- but now they are spinning out. Is it so very wrong to enjoy the sight? Suddenly, an evil idea tugs at the back of your mind: you have some of their merch. You could commemorate the occasion. So far, they have been the bad guy... but now it's your turn. ---------- I tend to agree with you and find the revenge part distasteful, but only due to the collateral damage. I'm sure there were people working for Highly Paid Consultant Company who didn't deserve to lose their job, walk out, and see a living extrapolation of themselves into homelessness and failure, and the homeless don't deserve to be used as props representing failure. However, the asshole consultants this was targeted at? I tend to suspect that if I were to learn all the details I'd agree with GP that they earned this one. As you might have guessed, I've experienced something akin to this story myself, except that the asshole consultants in my story got away scott-free. In both cases they got to keep their ill-gotten gains. It's not like the money was clawed back, so the scales still tip in their direction. If it's wrong to occasionally indulge in fantasies of karmic justice... then today, I'm in the wrong. Thanks for sharing, GP.
throwawaylinux 4y ago
Do you believe that homeless people do not face negative stereotypes and discrimination and suffer from poor image in society? Perhaps take some time out to reflect on that mindset some day.

imwillofficial 4y ago

This story is hilarious. Homeless people got clothes, a terrible company got dragged. Ethical sand angel confirmed.

davesque 4y ago

Nice, so you demeaned the homeless in an attempt to demean people who had just lost their jobs. Good for you.

1970-01-01 4y ago
It's possible the demeaning is all in your head
- davesque 4y ago
  Time to get spiritual. For some reason, your comment made me think of an interesting conversation I had while I was on a walk once with a friend of mine who is a Chan Buddhist monk. We were walking by a hotel in Boulder, CO called the St. Julian. I had always hated that place since it was one of the first large development projects that came in and started to change the feeling of the downtown area. That and they had rejected me as a job applicant. I related all this to him and mentioned that I liked to "get back" at them by regularly walking in and using the lobby bathroom. He looked over at me with a severe expression and said, "You may as well have been pissing in their mouths." I suppose that's the point in the parable where I was "enlightened." My friend's meaning was that, by acting spitefully and vengefully, I wasn't doing myself or anyone else any favors. I think the same could be said of OP's story.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    Your thing appears to be petty and unimportant. Allowing the status quo to exist under a parasitic all encompassing economic system does nothing for material dialectics. Unhoused people sometimes have nothing not even clean clothes. Let's move on with the bravado of civility and help the marginalized as much as possible. Let's leave spiritualness in this case with general liberal ideals.
    - euroderf 4y ago

ctur 4y ago

I don't think you are anywhere near that line. Using human beings as part of a punchline is pretty much the opposite of funny. Trying to rub something in the nose of people who were laid off is rather tacky, too.

artsytrashcan 4y ago

[flagged]

litiholofan 4y ago

[flagged]

hitekker 4y ago

Your story apparently hits too close to home for some folks. Many of us worked for companies that gave our swag and spouted kool-aid. Some of us even drunk it and owned it. I personally know more than a few engineers who can't imagine becoming homeless. The moral concern around your story seems like a red herring for upper-class anxiety around BS jobs in a world of low growth.