In an attempt to boost morale after a year that saw stock prices fall from $48 to less than $9, and staff reductions from 4,200 to a little under 2,000, and with rumors of at least 800 more layoffs in mid-April, the management of my company decided to hold random drawings to pass out such gifts as:

$25 gift certificate to a local grocery store;
boom boxes purchased three years ago for a failed promotions effort (possible warranty issues here); and
a few $200 gift certificates to Wal-Mart.

The results were interesting.

Several of the "winners" were laid off in January and, thus, no longer work for the company.

One of the winners died a couple of months ago.

No word yet on how they intend to handle this, but I will keep you posted.

The point being????

Originally posted by Al Dyer
The point being????The real winners are the ones who still have jobs?:vfunny:

Excellent Thread Topic! :thedeal: I hope we see some good posts on this topic. I'll second by posting this from the Common Sense thread http://www.business2.com/dumbest/

Sounds Dilbertian !

I look at it as a way to learn what to watch out for... And as a way of highlighting some 'failure modes'.

The problem with Dilbert cartoons is... Well, there isn't one as far as I can tell. If anything they highlight many realities we have become desensitized to in real life.

Several of my favourites are:

<center>http://16949.com/ubb/Consult_2.gif

and

http://16949.com/ubb/Telephone.gif

and, having worked many contract jobs, there is this...

http://16949.com/ubb/Contractor.gif </center>

BRoyal,

Can't seem to win one today!:eek: Is your post, as indicated by the title, a condemnation (of sorts) of your company's attempt to try a stupid trick on it's employees, or just a comical look at company stupidity? Then we can go from there.:ko: :smokin:

Well, energy, I guess if you're going to dissect everything there's a 'logical' reason for everything. I didn't think this was started as a serious thread per se. Maybe I was wrong.

So get on with it. Logically explain the cartoons above and then you can start on the 101 examples of business stupidity in the link above.

Originally posted by Marc
Well, energy, I guess if you're going to dissect everything there's a 'logical' reason for everything. I didn't think this was started as a serious thread per se. Maybe I was wrong.
So get on with it. Logically explain the cartoons above and then you can start on the 101 examples of business stupidity in the link above. Rather than interpret Dilbert, because they are funny, I just want to attempt to explain why I thought BRoyal was sending a different message.
Unlike the link that shows 101 Stupid Business Moments, I read “Tricks” to mean that the company, in offering these tremendous prizes, was committing a deliberate act of deception, a ploy, a ruse, a hoax, a swindle, a trap, a scam, a joke and/or a fake. (compliments of Thesaurus). While some of the 101 Business Stupidest moments may have been initiated because of deception, like Enron, most were just plain stupid.
I also got the impression that what this company did wasn’t viewed as funny, as much as deliberate.

The choices of prizes, viewed by themselves as objects of scorn or ridicule, re-enforced my interpretation that the company was viewed as something other than comical. Of course, I may be absolutely off target. Wouldn’t be the first time. If I got it wrong, I apologize to BRoyal for my poor sense of humor. It's weird because it's usually my sense of humor that tends to get me in doo doo. :vfunny:


:ko: :smokin:

For the sake of readers outside North America (and North Americans who live in caves), there is a late-night TV host named David Letterman who used to (maybe still does? It's been a while since I've seen him) do a sketch called "Stupid Pet Tricks". Note that "trick" in this case is one of the meanings NOT in the afore-mentioned thesaurus.

At least that's what I thought of when I saw the title of the original posting...

:thedeal:

I expect that one of the conditions for the drawing was that they needed to be present to win!!!:vfunny: If it goes along with the 101 list then the unclaimed prizes went to management.
:biglaugh:

Originally posted by Bruce Epstein
there is a late-night TV host named David Letterman who used to (maybe still does? It's been a while since I've seen him) do a sketch called "Stupid Pet Tricks". Note that "trick" in this case is one of the meanings NOT in the afore-mentioned thesaurus.
At least that's what I thought of when I saw the title of the original posting...
:thedeal: Finally understanding the North American remark, you join the forces that find my interpretation off base. And, you may be right. You're analogy of a dog doing tricks, another meaning, reminds me other another type of trick that gets turned on the street corners of any large metropolis. I guess we just have to wait for BRoyal to weigh in.:ko: :smokin:

Just to be VERY clear, the expression "to live in a cave" is meant in its (relatively well-known) figurative sense, that is, someone who for one reason or another is unaware of an event, an aspect of popular culture, etc.

Further, I was NOT referring to any one particular individual or even any class of individiuals other than as specifically mentioned in my post.

:truce:

Understood. If you watch Cooking Live with Emerill, the wife does, he goes even farther. He says "for those of you that may just have landed on this planet.......". Where's BRoyal? He started this thread. Maybe back in the cave?:vfunny: :agree: :smokin:

Sorry about the confusion. It was the Letterman thing. The only excuse is the day was long and I was tired. To those confused by the title, I apologize.

Sorry about the confusion. It was the Letterman thing. The only excuse is the day was long and I was tired. To those confused by the title, I apologize.
I'm afraid this doesn't clarify the issue. I'm still confused. What's 'Letterman thing'?:confused:

Atul,

david Letterman is a popular late night TV host who is known for his weird sense of humor. Like throwing TV's out the window to see what an eight story drop will do to them. He also has wierd animals on that do weird stuff, like stupid animal tricks. I don't watch it, I live in a cave with Home Box Office. (Paid TV)
:ko: :smokin:

Oh, I see!

... the expression "to live in a cave" is meant in its (relatively well-known) figurative sense, that is, someone who for one reason or another is unaware of an event, an aspect of popular culture, etc.

Energy, I too am a cave dweller like you, judging by my ignorance of things of late ! :bigwave: :vfunny: :biglaugh:

Originally posted by Atul Khandekar

I'm afraid this doesn't clarify the issue. I'm still confused. What's 'Letterman thing'?:confused:

It's been so long since I saw the Letterman skit that I'm still having trouble making the connection, too. Unless the company just wanted everybody to laugh so they did this stupid trick to amuse the employees. If it was just a plain screwup, a mistake, it was just stupid with no trick implied. Maybe Bruce can refresh my memory on just what the stupid dog thing was. He obviously got the joke. maybe it is Dilbertian, like you thought. I'm soooo confused. :rolleyes: :ko: :smokin:

Originally posted by energy
"for those of you that may just have landed on this planet.......".

And the universe radio station howdy :
"good morning to intelligent life forms everywhere, and to everyone else, keep banging the rocks together guys"

Actually, David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" was where owners of pets would write in and tell the Letterman staff of stupid tricks they had taught their pets - and the staff would choose a few and fly them to the show and on the show the people would have their pets perform. Most were really pretty nifty 'tricks', but of course if you're not into pets the tricks may seem pretty useless (read stupid). The show segment was one of those things that 'caught on'. They did instant replays and such and it became a funny part of the show to many people. I haven't watched Letterman in several years and can't remember any of the tricks the pets did off hand, but just about everyone in the US has at one time or another seen one of the stupid pet tricks. This is thought (by me) to have been Letterman's takeoff on Johnny Carson's (remember him?) visits by a zoo employee (now and again) with different animals. Letterman took the serious and added some humour.

One of Letterman's other 'signatures' (what I would venture to say he's most known for) is his 'Top Ten Reasons...." listing which was (is?) on every show if I remember correctly.

> david Letterman is a popular late night TV host who is
> known for his weird sense of humor.

To say the least. I used to like him but I've tired of talk shows and television in general.

Oh Grand Cheech Wizard,

Excellent recollection of the David Letterman's show. Can you please make the connection between it and BRoyal's post regarding the company trick so that Atul and I can go back to sleep? I suspect we turned BRoyal around through the grand inquisition process. Like, the post had an intent and then the originator saw it in the mirror and said "It was the Letterman thing". Just one of those things that, occasionally, gnaw it you. Well, maybe just me! I'm not to bright. Not to point fingers, but another early response was "What the point?" This, from a seasoned veteran who, like me, looks at the post and sees something else beside the text. Bring it on, my Sage. :ko: :smokin: :agree: