Zabimaru
Full Member
Always amused and bemused
Posts: 241
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Post by Zabimaru on May 24, 2009 9:33:38 GMT -5
I was just reminded of something that happened here in Sweden a few months ago. It was pretty amusing to me, so I thought I'd give a very late retelling of the events for people in other parts of the world.
A company that gives directory assistance here started to expand their services a while back. They are one of the big players in the business, but to gain an even larger segment of the market they've started offering more than phone numbers and addresses. And at the beginning of the year they started saying that they'll answer any question sent to them via a text message.
A priest decided that it would be interesting to know what would happen if you ask them about Jesus, so he took out his cellphone and wrote the short question "Who is Jesus?"
He got a reply that said "Jesus is a character in the made up stories of Christianity. The fairytale says that he lived 2000 years ago and could walk on water and stuff."
Naturally, the priest was pissed off by this reply. Now, I've never thought that there is any point to pissing of regular, good and honest Christians, so I would probably have given a more diplomatic answer even though I agree with the answer he was given. But even though I think they were unnecessarily confrontational I think the aftermath was very entertaining.
The priest complained about this. I don't know if it was he who contacted a newspaper, but either way they picked up on the story and contacted the president of the company, asking for his comments on the matter.
This is where I would expect the real diplomacy to come in. This is where I expected the president to apologize for the reply given and say that the person who wrote it will get a talking to. But no, there was none of that, instead he took it right over the top and into the realm of very funny.
When asked for a comment on the reply that the priest got, he laughed and said that it was a "fucking great answer." When asked about his position on the matter he said that he's a rational atheist and that every sane person knows that Christianity is a fairytale. He said "our answer is correct and everybody knows this" and when told that 2 billion people disagree he just said "well, some people are crazy."
I'm amazed and amused by the complete and utter lack of diplomacy from the head of a large corporation. But it's very refreshing to see someone stand his ground and say exactly what he's thinking instead of pandering to people.
Of course, it may still have been a calculated move. I'm guessing that with the high percentage of non-believers in this country the stunt gained more business for them than what they lost.
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Post by SimSim on May 24, 2009 9:47:02 GMT -5
That's pretty funny. Something like that would make a huge stink here. Guess there wasn't much of a backlash?
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Zabimaru
Full Member
Always amused and bemused
Posts: 241
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Post by Zabimaru on May 24, 2009 9:54:39 GMT -5
That's pretty funny. Something like that would make a huge stink here. Guess there wasn't much of a backlash? No, not much backlash at all. It was mentioned a few times after that newspaper article, but it was mostly people like columnists joking around about the whole thing. I guess that the president of the company can count himself lucky that he's not living among a lot of fundies  |
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geekysock
Junior Member
Wait...what?
Posts: 80
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Post by geekysock on May 24, 2009 16:03:39 GMT -5
I've gotta know what company. I want to make sure to patronize them as often as possible.  |
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 24, 2009 16:47:51 GMT -5
If I were the president of that company, I wouldn't even bother with all of that. When I was asked for comments, I would have just said, "People shouldn't ask questions if they aren't prepared for an answer that they may disagree with. This isn't a big deal. It's not like he received an answer calling Jesus dozens of racial slurs."
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Post by wmdkitty on May 24, 2009 17:03:13 GMT -5
Jesus? Funny, the landscaper that does our yard is named Jesus...
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Post by Nutcase on May 24, 2009 18:02:00 GMT -5
Of course, it may still have been a calculated move. I'm guessing that with the high percentage of non-believers in this country the stunt gained more business for them than what they lost. A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be kind of disheartening if a move like that led to more paying customers. |
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Post by brendanjd on May 24, 2009 19:13:25 GMT -5
Of course, it may still have been a calculated move. I'm guessing that with the high percentage of non-believers in this country the stunt gained more business for them than what they lost. A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be kind of disheartening if a move like that led to more paying customers. A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be fucking awesome if a move like that led to more paying customers. Fixed that for ya. |
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Post by Nutcase on May 24, 2009 20:09:32 GMT -5
A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be kind of disheartening if a move like that led to more paying customers. A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be fucking awesome if a move like that led to more paying customers. Fixed that for ya. ...because a company that shows that kind of disrespect for users and customers is precisely the sort that should be rewarded. If I had a complaint about unprofessional behavior by the reps, I could look forward to unresponsiveness, or worse, from management. Hurray! |
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 24, 2009 20:40:44 GMT -5
A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be fucking awesome if a move like that led to more paying customers. Fixed that for ya. ...because a company that shows that kind of disrespect for users and customers is precisely the sort that should be rewarded. If I had a complaint about unprofessional behavior by the reps, I could look forward to unresponsiveness, or worse, from management. Hurray! I don't see calling Christianity "fictitious" as being made-up, especially since I really rather doubt they knew WHY he was asking the question. Now, what the president said was most certainly insulting, but I can't exactly disapprove of it, because I sort of agree with the sentiment. In any case, given the choice between this, and the story ending with the guy being fired and made the media's bitch all because he dared question the reality of Jesus, I prefer what happened. To me, the disrespect aspect isn't as important as the daring to tell it like it is one. |
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Post by Nutcase on May 24, 2009 21:02:07 GMT -5
...because a company that shows that kind of disrespect for users and customers is precisely the sort that should be rewarded. If I had a complaint about unprofessional behavior by the reps, I could look forward to unresponsiveness, or worse, from management. Hurray! I don't see calling Christianity "fictitious" as being made-up, especially since I really rather doubt they knew WHY he was asking the question. Now, what the president said was most certainly insulting, but I can't exactly disapprove of it, because I sort of agree with the sentiment. In any case, given the choice between this, and the story ending with the guy being fired and made the media's bitch all because he dared question the reality of Jesus, I prefer what happened. To me, the disrespect aspect isn't as important as the daring to tell it like it is one. It’s not hard to answer the original question in a professional manner: “Jesus is the central figure of the legend on which Christianity is based. He is believed to have lived between the years 3 BCE to 30 CE, and was executed in Jerusalem by order of the Roman governor. Exploits from the latter part of his life are recorded through accounts and letters in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.”The original answer was kind of douchebaggy, and the president’s even more insulting support of that answer was such that it would be difficult to trust his office with any concern. I’m not saying the employee should be fired or even disciplined beyond having to issue an apology, but the corporate office should know better. People who’d buy from a company because its president is an asshole about complaints when he disagrees – well, they should expect crappy service. |
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Post by Haseen on May 24, 2009 21:20:46 GMT -5
I'd love to see that happen in the U.S, just for the *OUTRAGE!!!!* on neoconservative talk radio. And I don't think an off-topic question always deserves a serious answer, nutcase. If I called Sony and asked why hot dogs came in packages of 10 while the buns came in packages of 8, it wouldn't bother me if the guy on the other end gave me a trollish answer.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 24, 2009 22:26:25 GMT -5
Nutcase: I'm almost positive this guy would have flipped shit on "legend on which Christianity is based."
As such, I fail to see why the employee should even have to give an apology.
And if someone was wasting my time with such stupid whining, I would be sorely tempted to be an asshole, as well. I don't know if I'd use the company JUST because he said that, but I certainly do applaud his daring.
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Post by antichrist on May 24, 2009 22:27:31 GMT -5
Well they did say they'd answer any question, they didn't say that you'd like it.
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Post by Art Vandelay on May 24, 2009 23:54:06 GMT -5
A company rep deliberately baited a user and insulted his faith. It would be fucking awesome if a move like that led to more paying customers. Fixed that for ya. ...because a company that shows that kind of disrespect for users and customers is precisely the sort that should be rewarded. If I had a complaint about unprofessional behavior by the reps, I could look forward to unresponsiveness, or worse, from management. Hurray! The user ws deliberately baiting the company. It's not like he was unsure of who this Jesus fellow may be and really wanted to know who he was (according to the bible), the priest was just doing it to see what response he would get. He may not've been deliberately trying to cause a national media frenzy or anything, but he certainly was using the service they provide as it is meant to be used, if that makes any sense. |
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