Slashdot Mirror
Aeron Chairs As Stupidity Barometers
McSpew writes: "This article at Salon describes how much startup venture money went to buying $700 Aeron chairs. Personally, I think Aerons suck. I'm sitting in one now and my back is killing me--I can never get this damn chair adjusted right, or to get it to stay in a configuration close to comfortable for very long. The wonderful high-tech mesh fabric acts like sandpaper and wears holes in my pants. I honestly miss the boring chair I had at my last job. Am I the only person who hates Aerons?" Aerons are stylish, but not everyone finds them the comfortable work chairs they're supposed to be. Here's one that looks truly comfortable.
ironic dont you think that it was posted by tim
wasnt he the man who bought slashdot and took it public
hmm investors
dont like them but their money buys lots of sweet toys like cowboyneals chair (-;
regards
john jones
True, but spending $700 on chairs when perfectly acceptable ones can be had for a fraction of that price
a) wastes money that could be better spent elsewhere; and
b) indicates the sort of attitude towards money that should have had investors running for cover
Cheers,
Tim
It's official. Most of you are morons.
regardless, the aeron will work for people who are 1) of average size, 2) select the right size of aeron (there are three - maybe you should look into the large version?), 3) want to maintain proper posture while being comfortable and 4) will put the time and effort into adjusting it. i never said it was the end-all be-all of good chairs.
the "sweaty-ass" is a product of sitting in a warmish room in a well cushioned chair for far too long. not sitting on my legs or feet - just sitting. i know people of all different body shapes that experience it. it seems to be a factor of the environment, the chair and the way you sit. obviously, if you're giving your skin some room to breath (like, for example, sitting on the aeron's mesh), you shouldn't have any trouble. if it's parked in a cushion and can't get air too easily, it's more of a problem.
anyway, yes, i know that people are different. that's why the aeron is such a good chair - you can customize it to fit you. yes, it won't work for everybody. but with proper time and effort, it can work for a majority i'm sure. i'd venture to say that more people would find a properly adjusted aeron comfortable than would your standard $70 office chair.
Every once in a while I like to masturbate a new word into my vocabulary, even if I don't know what it means.
You could. But the chair will have a longer useful life than the dual Athlons. In fact, one really good chair might last several computer lifespans before it needs replacing, so I consider an Aeron to be a bargain by comparison.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Everyone here agrees that the chairs are less a cause and more a symbol of the .com fall from grace, but it's more important to evaluate why the money was spent in the first place.
It seems to me that the relitively young executives who recieved hundreds of millions in Venture Capital - since they didn't have to really earn it - failed to value it properly, perhaps due to youtht and inexperience (certainly not the fase for all) and perhaps simply due to market conditions which presented the delusion that money grew on trees, since there was no incentive at the time to make a proffit. Let's look at that for a minute. It's the CEO's responsibility to manage a company for success, usualy determined by it's stock price. The market seemed unconcerned with profit, or even revenue so why should the CEOs. Why not buy $750 chairs for every employee? It's not like we need to spend the money on technical infastructure, or support or production, after all the market thinks we're doing just fine. Look at our stock price! (circa July 1999).
My point is, while the blame for the fallout can be placed on CEOs who allowed their companies to make frivolous use of VC, they were only responding to the market, which told them they were doing fine. I blame stock analysts who started gaining celebrity status by whowing up on CNBC with wild preditions which were of course self-fulfilling prophecies, particularly in light of the tremendous number of uninformed indevidual investors - willing to follow anyone who stood up to lead - that flooded the markets durring those years.
Come on, we can't blame the chairs.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
Why is it so difficult to believe that other people's experience is different than your own?
I've never in my life experienced anything remotely like "sweaty ass". Perhaps you had all your previous chairs adjusted wrong?
I doubt it. More likely, you have a very different body type and behavior from me. I'm tallish (6'3"), and the back of the Aeron bit into my shoulder blades, for example. It gives no neck support whatsoever, so is tiring over long periods, and the armrests didn't come up high enough that I could rest both elbows on them without slumping my shoulders, stressing the muscles in my upper back. You can't sit cross-legged in the damn things without a cushion - that sandpaper material shreds your ankles. Do you get the idea? I'm different from you, and no amount of fiddling with ergonomic levers will change that.
No amount of nice furniture at work can suffice for sucky management and purposeless tasks.
Give me a job where I feel like I can make a difference, am contributing to the company, and am recognized for that contribution and I'll stand-up to work.
Chairs mean nothing.
My Aeron is fantastic. As another poster pointed out, you can't just sit down and expect miracles. You've got to adjust it to your own body. Not that I'm claiming they will work for everybody. I just know that my whole office has one, and everybody seems to like them.
If you've got ergonomic issues, it's critical that you get the problems fixed. Otherwise you're looking at life changing permanent damage to your back, hands, or whatever. I've just been through hand therapy, and believe me, nothing scares me more than the thought of losing the use of my hands. I'm a programmer, systems administrator, and piano player. My hands are a critical part of my livelyhood. Plus I want to be able to pick up my kids someday!
Check out www.tifaq.org. It's a great resource on general ergonomics, as well as a central place to find things like chairs and keyboards and pointing devices.
This is the best and most expensive ergonomic chair you can buy, period.
Carl G. Jung
--
"With one breath, with one flow, You will know Synchronicity" -La Policia
Sounds like these companies spent tens of thousands on Chairs, when they should have spent it on...Oh I don't know....Maybe Advertising?
Disclaimer - IANSWLMP - I am not someone who likes marketing people
OTOH, the author has described the chairs as a symbol of decline, not the actual reason (Although it seems to imply one follows the other). Maybe they all failed because of poor business models to begin with, not misspending after setup. Anyone have any idea how many companies bought N amount of Aeron chairs to start with then succeeded?
I don't think I'm very happy. I always fall asleep to the sound of my own screams.
Don't blame the dot.com implosion on these stupid chairs. Chairs are hardly what make or break stupid business plans.
Dancin Santa
I use a Thatsit at home and it's the only chair I've ever been able to sit in for more than 4 hours without it causing be back/ass pain.