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Canadian Bureaucrats Don't "Think Different"

Posted by kdawson on from the sense-of-design dept.

owlgorithm writes "Apple's new store in Montreal has three parking meters on the street in front of it. The city is in the middle of a campaign to reduce downtown parking. In Apple's ever-conscientious attempt to improve design, they offered to reimburse the city for the parking meters and their revenue if the city would remove them. Answer: Non — because 'We've never done it before, so we can't.'"

3 of 427 comments (clear)

  1. You know it's a Slow newsday when ... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    SlAshDot Guffaw Dept.

    You know it's a Slow newsday when "We've never done it before, so we can't." by Montreal burros constitutes news because it includes Apple.

    Certainly they can't be ... nooooo ... can't be ... they're suggesting they've never accepted money to change the way something is done or not done? What next, Gérald Tremblay caught on camera stating he's giving up his Treo?

    Next up: Microsoft's Power bill - 10,000 PC's running at the same time, is Redmond driving global warming?

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    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Have a store employee continually feed meters by winkydink · · Score: 4, Interesting

    problem solved

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    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  3. Cue the anti government rants! by greg_barton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I can hear it now:

    "When you join government, you get st00pid!"

    "Bureaucrats can't see past their own red taped noses!"

    It's not confined to just government, folks. Business has it's fair share of inefficiency and stupidity. My favorite example of this was when I had a long contract at a Fortune 500 company away from home. They paid for an apartment for me to live in, but I saw no reason why I should expense my meals, even though it was allowed. My reasoning was, "I'm going to eat whether I'm here or at home. Why should they pay for it." This saved the company a few thousand dollars over six months. At one point, though, I wanted to expense something odd: boarding my cat for the weekend while I traveled. My reasoning was, "I have no friends here who would take care of the cat, unlike at home, so the company should pay." The refused, saying it wasn't justifiable, even though it was only $50 or so. After that I expensed all of my meals. :)

    To add insult to injury, the entire 3 year long project I was involved in was shelved and started over soon after that, wasting around $60 million. This wasn't the first (or last) time I saw a business waste millions of dollars. I think of these things any time a libertarian says, "Business can do things more efficiently!"