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World's Worst PR Guy Gives His Side

First time accepted submitter Narnie writes "Follow up to Tuesday's story of a PR rep's lack of professionalism. Kyle Orland provides a follow up interview with Paul Christoforo after a simple email chain escalated into internet infamy. N-Control official response to Paul Chrostoforo's actions can be found here. Kotaku.com even has a whole section devoted to covering the entire ordeal. I for one found myself caught following the news releases and in awe of the combined load forced on penny-arcade's servers from Slashdot, Reddit, Digg, Kotaku, and other news sites covering the story."

576 comments

  1. Still continues to be an asshole by InterestingFella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better."
    Referring to the email thread that started the whole mess, Christoforo said that he didn't know who he was talking to in his initial, flippant response to Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik.

    "I didn't know who that guy at Penny Arcade was," he admitted. "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better. PAX is a great show. What he does is what I've been idolizing since I was a kid. It's admirable he's put that together. He has a lot of connections, ones I want too."

    He just doesn't get it. You should treat people, especially your customers, good no matter who they are. He still isn't sorry for what happened, he is "sorry" because someone famous caught him.

    And he wasn't caught at bad time either like he says now. There's many similar stories about how he treated customers for a long time.

    1. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by plover · · Score: 2

      At least we know he's honest at least this one time. "I'm sorry I got caught" is obviously true. "I'm sorry for being a hostile, juvenile dickweed who never learned English grammar, spelling, manners, customer service skills, the Golden Rule, or basic human communication skills" is expected, but is impossible to figure out if it's true or not.

      --
      John
    2. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by ShakaUVM · · Score: 4, Funny

      >>He still isn't sorry for what happened, he is "sorry" because someone famous caught him.

      Right. He's like a bully who is "sorry" after some kid he was picking on turns out to be a jiu-jitsu black belt, and chokes him unconscious.

      Sorry. Replace 'like' with 'is'. He IS a bully shedding alligator tears after being exposed for who he really is.

      To me, the hilariously painful bit of the story was the bully's poor command of the English language. TFA has a typo, his company is not "Ocean Marketing". It's "Ocean Marketting". ;) Two t's - at least that's how he he codified it on Twitter.

      I honestly love it when the Internet does this kind of stuff. I remember the great exposés back in the day over how hard it was to cancel AOL and so forth.

    3. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 1

      Michael Vick comes to mind. He was only sorry for being caught.

    4. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by LateArthurDent · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He just doesn't get it. You should treat people, especially your customers, good no matter who they are. He still isn't sorry for what happened, he is "sorry" because someone famous caught him.

      What's fascinating to me is that most people who are really only sorry to have been caught know better than to tell everyone that's why they're sorry. You know, they're smart enough to fake having learned a lesson.

      He honestly believes the reason everyone is pissed off at him is because he mistreated Mike Krahulik, not the customer. I actually feel sorry for the guy, who truly believes somebody's worth is dictated by how much power they have. He says, "I want to have connections Mike has, I want to have the power to destroy people like he destroyed me. Look Mike, I respect your power, I know my place is beneath you, and I'd never have overstepped my bounds had I known who you were. You don't need to be angry at me, I know my place, honestly. I was just putting that nobody in HIS place, you have to agree he's beneath me."

    5. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1

      This guy is clueless... anyone with half a brain would not hire this fool as a PR rep.

    6. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Xeno+man · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "He has a lot of connections, ones I want too." - Paul Christoforo referring to Mike Krahulik

      Yup, still a big asshole. Paul still considers your worth by who you know. Thinks Mike helped make Pax by knowing a lot of high up people. Doesn't think your important unless you know someone else who is. Anyone who still has business relations with this guy really need to seriously evaluate what he's doing for you.

    7. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is literally textbook asshole behavior. His boss should read "The No Asshole Rule," fire this guy, and learn how not to hire assholes.

    8. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by trout007 · · Score: 5, Funny

      In Michael Vick's defense he was a big Pokemon fan.

      --
      I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    9. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better."

      Referring to the email thread that started the whole mess, Christoforo said that he didn't know who he was talking to in his initial, flippant response to Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik.

      "I didn't know who that guy at Penny Arcade was," he admitted. "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better. PAX is a great show. What he does is what I've been idolizing since I was a kid. It's admirable he's put that together. He has a lot of connections, ones I want too."

      He just doesn't get it. You should treat people, especially your customers, good no matter who they are. He still isn't sorry for what happened, he is "sorry" because someone famous caught him.

      And he wasn't caught at bad time either like he says now. There's many similar stories about how he treated customers for a long time.

      ^ So very much this. Not only is he only sorry because he got caught, but he basically stated "I only treat customers or people I interact with on a professional basis with respect if I know they are big"

      And that there are multiple instances of this guy's behavior. I used to work with one guy who submitted his email chain with this guy as over the same issue.

      http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/4212/article/ocean-marketing-has-terribad-track-record/

    10. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by bfandreas · · Score: 1

      I read this thing and he still is an idiot. "He has a lot of connections, ones I want too."
      Yep. Also his bad moment lasted for a couple of weeks.
      He is a marketeer so hot-air comes with the job as does pulling the blinds over our eyes. That specific type of professions only seems to come in shades of brown. Now he faces the music and can't cope with it being played in brown note minor.
      The only thing where I agree with him is that whoever pulls his girl and son into this is a grade one anus. Ostracism is one thing but we stopped writing the names of the whole family on the shard. Same goes for those idiots who neg-repped the Avenger on Amazon. Now it is virtually impossible to find out if this contraption is either good, interesting or funky enough to warrant the price tag. Thanks for peeing into the pool assuming it's only you. Now we are all doomed.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    11. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He honestly believes the reason everyone is pissed off at him is because he mistreated Mike Krahulik, not the customer.

      He probably got that part right... Lots of people know about it and got pissed off about it because Mike jumped in the FFA.

    12. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by LateArthurDent · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He honestly believes the reason everyone is pissed off at him is because he mistreated Mike Krahulik, not the customer.

      He probably got that part right... Lots of people know about it and got pissed off about it because Mike jumped in the FFA.

      That's how we found out there was something to be angry about, yes. Nobody is denying Mike indeed has the power and the connections that the customer didn't have. That's why the customer copied his correspondence to the press guys, so they could use their influence.

      That said, that's also why nobody (who isn't a psychopath) cares that Mike was mistreated. Mike can take care of himself. We're angry at his bullying of the guy who couldn't, and happy that Mike stood up for him.

    13. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by ElKry · · Score: 1

      He's like a bully who is "sorry" after some kid he was picking on turns out to be a jiu-jitsu black belt, and chokes him unconscious.

      Sorry. Replace 'like' with 'is'.

      So... "He's is a bully [...]"?

    14. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am amazed his other accounts haven't dropped him. This is a PR guy? He obviously has no PR skills.

    15. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by sqlrob · · Score: 2

      He's psychopathic, not schizophrenic.

    16. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by frisket · · Score: 1

      "If I had known..."

      He just doesn't get it. You should treat people, especially your customers, good no matter who they are.[...]

      It isn't just that. It's that he appears to be only semi-literate and none too bright (but that may be a part of the act). But WTF were Avenger thinking, hiring someone to sell stuff on the net who admits he doesn't know much about it?

      Hmm. Maybe thinking is too strong a term to apply to Avenger: doubtless it was their marketing people who hired him, and one marketing droid is much like another.

    17. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He's sort of an interesting case: He has a boorish disregard for others, and a sense of grandiosity bordering on full-fledged delusion; but he shows none of the low, animal cunning that one would expect from somebody who has managed to worm their way into an actual position of responsiblity and contact with the public....

      The world is full of boors, narcissists, assholes, and general scum; but the ones that make it to positions of visibility usually have some sort of compensatory traits(many of them also vices; but still). This guy doesn't seem to. No glib lying, no superficial charm, just some really hollow name-dropping and chest thumping about unit sales, in an email exchange prompted by the fact that their supply chain is sucking right now...

      That is what befuddles me. Does this guy have charisma indistinguishable from magic in person? Was he 'roid raging when he wrote those emails? Are the standards of freelance PR flacks so pitifully low that they can't even afford unemployed English majors who have at least mastered sentence construction?

      It doesn't surprise me that he is a bad person, that is quite common, especially among marketing weasels. What confounds me is that he is so utterly bad at being a bad person. This situation seems like it would have been smooth-talk 101 to walk away from at, at most, the cost of a $10 credit to an enthusiastic customer. Instead, he managed to score frontpage mockery on the who's-who of gaming websites, make some n00b mistakes on twitter, sockpuppet from an email address linked to some hilarious posts about his attempts at muscle building, and generally snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the jaws of the bystanders, and anywhere else it could be found. Where do they get people like that?

    18. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Homr+Zodyssey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree that people shouldn't be threatening his wife and kid ... whether that's actually happened remains to be seen. It's a claim that the jerk repeatedly made, but he's proven himself to be untrustworthy.

      However, I don't have a problem with people flooding his wife with friend-requests on facebook. At least they've made her aware that her husband's an asshole at work, and not the genius he has probably snowed her into thinking he is.

      Same thought-process for the device on Amazon. N-Gadget would have never taken notice if they hadn't seen this hitting them in the bank-account. The fact is that they hired an asshole. Either they were too incompetent to be able to determine he was an asshole, or they thought it was a good idea to hire assholes. Their former marketing firm (The Hand Media, I think?) pulled out because this guy was an asshole. They told N-gadget the guy was an asshole. So, the obvious conclusion is that N-Gadget thought it was a good idea to hire assholes. Ruining their product's ratings on Amazon is one way to teach them that it's not okay to hire assholes.

      Hopefully, N-Gadget will serve as an example to other companies, and the general quantity of assholes being hired will go down across the board. I've had more than one gig ruined because the bosses thought it was a good idea to hire an asshole, so I feel like I have a stake in this.

    19. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by joggle · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would guess that he's a sociopath given his grandiose view of himself, can't do any wrong, lies constantly, is always the victim, etc. However, most sociopaths aren't that stupid. I've only ever known one personally, and he was brilliant--which is a hell of a lot worse than a guy like this turkey.

    20. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by gman003 · · Score: 2

      And he wasn't caught at bad time either like he says now. There's many similar stories about how he treated customers for a long time.

      I think "alive" is a bad time for this guy to be caught, myself.

    21. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by JeffSh · · Score: 1

      He has the typical east coast bravado and dismissive atitude. I don't mean to stereotype EVERYONE from Boston/New York area, but that whole area is infused with people who are just mean. The only way they are equipped to work with other people is through a method of communication that involves a complete lack of tact and understanding.

      Ok that is not entirely fair, but it is fair to say that the east coast is where I usually find people like this. Pushy, dismissive, self centered etc.

    22. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by repapetilto · · Score: 1

      Maybe hes an actor?

    23. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Dripdry · · Score: 1

      I know it's the internet, but why persecute the guy anymore than is already happening? If thinks you have to know people in order for people to be nice to you, there isn't a lot of self-respect/self-worth going on there. On the other hand, I know a few very "interesting" people who sleep in any one of their five houses, very soundly, and they most certainly don't give a shit about anyone that doesn't have connections, so maybe this is just the norm and we're fooling ourselves that you're worth anything unless you know someone or can produce something useful to someone. The internet certainly works that way. Don't contribute? Not visible? Not worth anything.

      --
      -
    24. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Millennium · · Score: 1

      Yeah, this. Professionalism isn't about what you do when it matters: it's about what you do when nobody important will know or even care about it. In other words, basic personal integrity.

    25. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by bfandreas · · Score: 2

      I don't blame them for falling for this guy. I've seen it happening at my own company where the owners fell for gass bags like this one. Repeatedly. Basically if you talk the right talk(like this guy) you will get an business account with any small business. Now I have a very senior position with my company(basically I'm number 3 in the hirarchy) and I got this position because I know and play the BS game very well. It takes one to recognize one. Difference is I'm a techie and never will be more than that no matter how much responsibility you pile upon me. And even I know that if you don't do right by your customers you will not have any. BS lands you the gig, but BS won't keep it.
      Bullshit is power. The world runs on BS. It makes me sick how easy it is to pull the blinds over peoples eyes in a first impression scenario. And it fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction how much effort it takes to keep this first impression up. BS lands you the gig but honesty and integrity and hard work keeps it. If you get an account by grandstanding then you have entered a personal obligation to actually deliver what your customer needs(not necessarily what he thinks he wants). It IS a matter of honour.
      It's not N-Gadget who were his customer but N-Control. And they cut the ties before it hit their bank account. Their disclaimer and reaction is so competent and thourough that I strongly suspect they got a highly competent PR company to sort this out within minutes of this going viral.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    26. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by 517714 · · Score: 1

      Management material!

      --
      The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
    27. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by operagost · · Score: 1

      I love when people say these things. It gives you an excuse for not forgiving anyone.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    28. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by TheCarp · · Score: 2

      Sure but, who needed to wait for his appology to see that? Its true, normal people sometimes power trip, sometimes snap at someone and say unkind things. All true but...this guy comes right out over the top. Look at his response to being called a douche about his noise complaint video:

      "LOL Thanks for the Free PR I know the Editor N Chief of Kotaku , IGN , Engadget I’ll be meeting them at CES . The noise complaint was for people high up on the food chain in a corporate world of real estate you have no clue about."

      Who the fuck talks like that anyway? Oh you insulted me so I am gonna lean on claims of people I know and inflate my ego to put you in your place? Really? What does that tell you about his ego? Honestly his emails from that point just ooze "pretender to the throne".

      I mean, its one thing to meet someone famous or well known in a community and tell the story. I enjoy telling the story of the time at the Sci-Fi con I ran into RMS and got to partake in a live 2 am hallway debate between him and a bookseller about copyright (and how the objectivist swooped in and interjected an argument about altruism so clueless that both RMS and the bookseller tag teamed him until RMS just got tired of it and left in search of better entertainment... ROTFL at least I assume he was an objectivist, I can't imagine anyone else saying "But thats altruism!" as if showing that something was altruism was the same as saying it must be wrong or is impossible)

      Anyway.... thats my RMS story, I tell it because it amuses me. Another story, came to me by way of my wifes' late grandfather. He has a friend who knew a famous actor and used to get together with him for lunch. They were not old long time friends, they met on the set of a movie where his friend was working doing catering or some such. Anyway, one day they met and a number of people who had heard about these meetings showed up. I forget who the actor was but, he was furious at the invasion of their private time, and more so felt betrayed that his friend had told people where they meet.

      In short, nobody likes to feel used. When this guy says "I know so and so", he is really saying "I have a relationship that I can exploit". Which is to say "I don't care about these people either, except in what they can do for me". I mean, its one thing to find out about an issue and come in with "I know so and so, let me talk to them for you" for a specific issue. It is quite another to threaten to abuse your relationships to your own benefit.

      Frankly, after that, his "apology" is exactly what I would expect.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    29. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by EdIII · · Score: 1

      You're being too harsh. There are very very few marketers that know anything about the product they are selling in depth.

      How does an IT person or engineer hire a marketer?

      It's a lot harder than you think. You lack the knowledge and skills to even evaluate that person and the only thing you can really rely on is the sales pitch and some referrals. Possibly a background check.

      He must have had "connections" that he bullshitted with somebody else and made a good sales pitch to Avenger.

      The ol' fake-it-till-you-make-it approach has nailed quite a few businesses with bad people ultimately delivering poor quality product.

    30. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. The pathological narcisists I've been unfortunate enough to encounter were brilliant too... if that's the word we can use. Psychopaths disguise their glibness and at least appear to be saying and doing the right things, this guy is too aggressive, witless and charmless to fit the MO.

      If being a massive twat were a condition in DSMIV, the definition would probably read "Paul Christoforo".

    31. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And on top of it, if you read the interviews, he's convinced he can spin this so he comes out on top and the better for it. That he's still convinced "There's no such thing as bad PR."

    32. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      I agree with sociopath, psychopath is totally over the top for this guy.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    33. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by jvillain · · Score: 1

      Yup. The guy still sounds like a total douche bag. I'll apologise to the gut that can hurt my business but not to the customer. Then I'll turn around and attack the guy that can hurt me any ways. Nice.

    34. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Come visit sunny Sacramento California, you'll find the same shit. I know people from both the Bay and SoCal, and both groups say they have never met such a bunch of dishonest, unreliable, rude, and generally jerky people. Despite having about 30+x the population to look for them in.

    35. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Restil · · Score: 1

      That's what he SAYS... And we all know that he NEVER exaggerates or distorts his facts in any way. It's quite likely that any clients who were already uninvolved in this mess would like to remain uninvolved and aren't likely going to be sending out press releases that they've had a "reorganization" of their "marketing team". I'm sure that once the dust settles there will be several more of his clients who will decide to change their strategy in such a way that it no longer involves him without making a scene about it.

      -Restil

      --
      Play with my webcams and lights here
    36. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, the actual clinical definitions are anything but clear or universally adopted throughout medicine and science.

      In any case, "Psychopath" fits this case to a Tee.

      One of the founding researchers on the subject was Hervey Cleckly. His book, The Mask of Sanity is essential reading. And bloody interesting, too.

    37. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by fwarren · · Score: 1

      I think Mike said it very well. Most of us internet geeks were people who were bullied as kids and young adults. We don't like bullies.

      What ha happened here is someone just like me or Mike, donates their skill to take on a bully. So one guy is able to use his skills to did out this guys profile on MySpace. Someone else uses their skills to determine his website is plagiarized. Now multiply that by hundreds.

      Then add in all the people that like to see a rumble.

      I can't speak for Mike but I understand being willing to let it all burn down to take out a bully. I told my kids about being an outsider. How those on the inside make themselves feel better and more in by picking on those they consider on the "outside". I told them if i ever caught them doing it, they would wish they were never born. Decent people are decent, to people inside and outside their peer group.

      --
      vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
    38. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Wow what a jerk... Really he has no idea how to act at all.
      The line that gets me is this.
      "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened. I've dealt with thousands and thousands of customers with similar complaints, they were all asking the same question. "
      I want a list of his clients! I want to make sure that I never do any business where I might run into this jerk.

      "Yet while admitting he handled things badly, Christoforo said he also felt the situation could have been different if Krahulik approached the situation differently.
      "He called me a bully, but he was being a bully ... especially when he emailed me out of the blue, saying 'That's f***ing s***ty, you're banned from PAX,' I was like 'Who the f*** are you? That's how you introduce yourself? ... I dont want to call him out, but he could have gone about that a totally different way, he could have said, 'Hey, I run the show, that email was a little unprofessional, if you don't do something to apologize I don't want you at my show.' But he just came at me and said, indirectly, 'Hey, f*** you, you're banned from PAX.' Is that what you'd call professional? I wouldn't."

      Really? You idiot. Being professional means NEVER losing your cool with any customer or in any business communications ever! Anything you say in writing can come back so never write anything stupid. Christoforo is just clueless.
      However to the Super Jerks of the Internet. DO NOT THREATEN PEOPLE, AND FOR GOODNESS SAKES NEVER THREATEN ANYONES SPOUSE OR CHILD !
      That is far higher on the evil jerk scale than what Cistoforo did.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    39. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 1

      GREAT post.

      +1 Well Written

    40. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Exoman · · Score: 1

      When I was a kid, someone once told me something I never forgot: "No matter how 'bad' someone thinks they are, one day they're going to run into someone who is much more 'bad.' If they think they're the baddest guy around, that will be a *very* bad day for them."

      Seems Christoforo used to think he was the baddest guy around.

    41. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol I remember the AOL thing. I used AOL in the early 90's before it went to a flat fee. I wrote a script (for a shareware app) that allowed almost free IM, since you could receive in the free area of the site and then just jump "on the clock" long enough to squirt out the IM. To jump back to the free area, the fastest way was to load the cancellation screen since it was small, with hardly any info.

    42. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think perhaps his wife should explain it to him. Probably right after he tells her he screwed himself out of a job, she can explain that it was not just his job but his career, and any home of employment in the PR/Marketing world.

    43. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 1

      This is the most awesome thing in the history of forever. My good sir, you win forever.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
    44. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by gVibe · · Score: 1

      So what you are really trying to say is...the Internet does not make you anonymous, you can't hide if someone really wants to find you, and just because someone's Online Nickname says Bill Gates - does not mean you are really talking to the famous Bill Gates.

      --
      Keywords for the NSA overthrow oppressive regime true believers marathon Manhatten the financial district blueprints I
    45. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by HiThere · · Score: 1

      Reports are that it is good if...

      It's designed for someone with malformed hands, or so I remember. If your hands are normal, it's probably not what you want. If you've got problems, you might look it over and see if you think it would help.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    46. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      As the saying goes, "Give a man enough rope and he'll hang himself." From what I can see this guy has been given plenty by the Internet community. The guy just doesn't get it. He is the quintessential a**hole and every response he makes--even his apologies--demonstrates that.

      "It hasn't affected my business yet," he said. "Clients have brought it up, but they've mainly laughed about it. I haven't lost any clients."

      A humorous gaff and life goes on eh?

      "He called me a bully, but he was being a bully ... especially when he emailed me out of the blue, saying 'That's f***ing s***ty, you're banned from PAX,' I was like 'Who the f*** are you? That's how you introduce yourself? ... I dont want to call him out, but he could have gone about that a totally different way, he could have said, 'Hey, I run the show, that email was a little unprofessional, if you don't do something to apologize I don't want you at my show.' But he just came at me and said, indirectly, 'Hey, f*** you, you're banned from PAX.' Is that what you'd call professional? I wouldn't."

      "How unreasonable of Mike to call my actions out? I thought you were part of the "old boys club" of business. F* the customer and laugh all the way to the bank. How can you seriously take the side of the customer? Sure, I insulted your web site and your show but seriously? You're going to ban me from PAX for that? That's not professional, old boys club remember?"

      "Not that I don't have respect for anybody, but if someone's badmouthing me or being a little punk or being a jerk, they don't deserve respect," he said. "You can't expect to go up and say 'Hey you piece of s***,' and expect respect. Send an email, introduce yourself. ... I trust everybody until they give me a reason not to respect them. I'm not a tough guy, not a bully, but at same time not going to take s*** if it's uncalled for.

      Asking for an update on the expected delivery date must have been a good reason...

      Not to put anyone down, but I don't know what kind of lives these people have. ... Ultimately it doesn't affect the way I think about anybody. I don't have any hate or bad will for them, but it's a little bit sad that they didn't have anything better to do than attack me."

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    47. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He said he has a two month old kid. He's probably massively sleep-deprived and what empathy he has is probably focused on his post-partum wife and his child.

    48. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The most amusing aspect is that it's e-mail. You know, that thing you can walk away from and take a breather if you're not in the best of spirits?

      You don't fire off a rough draft of a reply if you're having a bad day. That's just plain retarded.

    49. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't admit ever being an AOLer if I were you.

      Being smart enough to game AOL's billing system, but stupid enough to continue using AOL makes you a special kind of _idiot_ savant.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    50. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry, but what the hell??

      Usually, people who are that dickish, are that way because of shit that happened to them. They may not even know it, but it's usually the case.
      It could just as well be, that he had a dad that had such strict rules of power, and always abused his children. E.g. "I rape you in the ass, because I HAVE THE POWER AND YOU DON'T".
      And now when he has some power, he does the same.
      In which case he's just as much a poor sucker who is fucked up, and his way of being fucked up turned out to be a behavior others hate.
      Which means he needs therapy. Meaning: Some intense experience of how it's actually smarter to be nice if you happen to be in power, as that gains you followers and hence even more power.
      Not kicking him down like a dog even more, strengthening his self-harming views.

      Do you want to call me a psychopath now, for saying that?

      Maybe it's because I think more about the questions of life than the average Joe, but I have learned, that the more somebody goes against your views on life, the more important it is, to understand him. Because it always, and without exception turns out that in his exact situation, you (being him) would have acted exactly the same. And that there is no such thing as a "guilty person", an absolute right/wrong or a good/bad. It's all relative (especially "good" and "bad"), and everybody acts like that because from his p.o.v., it's the right thing to do. Period.

      So maybe you should research why you like to call people who try to understand "bad" people "psychopaths". As you will find some interesting things about yourself in there.

    51. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their disclaimer and reaction is so competent and thourough that I strongly suspect they got a highly competent PR company to sort this out within minutes of this going viral.

      Sadly, it was likely Paul in PR mode. He's a long standing partner of the inventor of the gadget. At this point though I'm not sure who actually invented it and why, because for all of his faults (including non-existent customer relation skills) Paul seems to be highly competent in pushing shit. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the "school teacher enables disabled kids to play video games" is a marketing invention as the controllers are actually marketed towards gamers.

    52. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you

    53. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by million_monkeys · · Score: 1

      I agree that people shouldn't be threatening his wife and kid ... whether that's actually happened remains to be seen. It's a claim that the jerk repeatedly made, but he's proven himself to be untrustworthy.

      Knowing what you do about the internet, is there really any doubt in your mind that people on the internet threatened his wife and kid?

      However, I don't have a problem with people flooding his wife with friend-requests on facebook. At least they've made her aware that her husband's an asshole at work, and not the genius he has probably snowed her into thinking he is.

      Odd thing to say given your previous statement. How many of those requests do you think came from people who really wanted to be her friend? Flooding her facebook with requests was harassment, pure and simple. You think harassment is OK, but threats go too far? The line separating them is pretty thin. And neither one would qualify as civilized social interaction.

      N-Gadget would have never taken notice if they hadn't seen this hitting them in the bank-account. The fact is that they hired an asshole. Either they were too incompetent to be able to determine he was an asshole, or they thought it was a good idea to hire assholes. Their former marketing firm (The Hand Media, I think?) pulled out because this guy was an asshole. They told N-gadget the guy was an asshole. So, the obvious conclusion is that N-Gadget thought it was a good idea to hire assholes.

      They hired him because he rattled off a list of places where he had "contacts" that would get their product in stores, magazines, and websites. They saw a potential to make a lot of money from that. No doubt they recognized that he was an ass, but the lure of money is pretty strong. If this incident hadn't happened and his "contacts" had worked out, they'd be congratulating themselves on the smart decision to keep him around.

      Hopefully, N-Gadget will serve as an example to other companies, and the general quantity of assholes being hired will go down across the board.

      We can hope. I doubt it will be a major change, but small steps in the right direction are good too.

    54. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by scot4875 · · Score: 1

      I think the case with Vick was more that he came from a background where dogfighting was a normal thing to do. When you grow up around it and just accept that "this is what people do," you're less likely to step back and take a critical look at it. It's obviously an extreme case, but I'm sure everyone has events in their life where they realized that what they were doing wasn't "normal," or in some cases, acceptable.

      --Jeremy

      --
      Jesus was a liberal
    55. Re:Still continues to be an asshole by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      At least say north east please, not all us east coasters are that way :)

      This guy would fit in perfectly on the Jersey Shore show.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  2. "Lack of Professionalism" by Dega704 · · Score: 1

    is quite the understatement.

  3. Let me rephrase that by Bardwick · · Score: 5, Funny

    I never would have stolen that car if I knew I was going to get caught so it's not really my fault.

    1. Re:Let me rephrase that by sheehaje · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't compare him to a car thief. A dick, yes, but not exactly a criminal.

      Actually, I thought a lot about this. My first thoughts when I read the penny arcade e-mail chain was this guy needs to be strung. And I even had some of his rationale of "you don't know who you're fucking with!"

      Then it hit me. As much as this guy is being a douche and is on a very high ego trip, the mob mentality of the Internet is going to ruin him.. For nothing more than having a very bad day. It's something that should be looked at.. I'm all for putting someone in their place, and this guy should be fired. On the other hand, the press this gets means this guys life is over. At least his online life... Has the Internet Mob Mentality become the modern day witch hunt?

      In any case, the customer reigns high and mighty, and any response to them needs to be very carefully weighed, cause the internet hath fury.

    2. Re:Let me rephrase that by InterestingFella · · Score: 5, Informative

      It wasn't a bad day. There's been numerous blog posts dating back to beginning of 2011 on how he treated customers and they are equal to this case. Just in this case it finally got picked up and spread. Hell, the guy still isn't sorry for how he threated customers, he is sorry for the fact he got caught.

      And no, his life isn't over. Nor IRL or online. It's just how you handle the backlash. At the moment he isn't doing very well, but only because he cannot stop his ego trip and humble down.

    3. Re:Let me rephrase that by Nursie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "the mob mentality of the Internet is going to ruin him.. For nothing more than having a very bad day"

      Several days really, if you see the email chain, and a repeating pattern shown on a few other sites.

      this guy should be fired. On the other hand, the press this gets means this guys life is over. At least his online life... Has the Internet Mob Mentality become the modern day witch hunt?

      He runs a one-man PR firm, and has shown himself utterly unsuited for such a task. I'm sure he's not the only one, but ruining that firm is really not a bad thing. He'll have to find something else to do.

      And it's not a witch hunt because you have the evidence right in front of you. A witch hunt is where you don't have any and you look for scapegoats anyway, surely?

      Also I get the feeling this would go away a lot faster if he had actually admitted he had been a jerk, instead of repeatedly blaming anyone and everyone around himself.

    4. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      To an extent I agree with you conceptually, but not really in this particular situation. The mob mentality of the internet definitely has a tendency to crucify people before the facts have even been established which is definitely a problem. But here, the guy brought this on himself. He can claim it was "just a bad day" but previous examples of poor behavior combined with his non-apology point to that not really being the case. More likely, he's just an asshole.

      But more to the point, saying his "life is over" is definitely an exaggeration. The internet never forgets, but people forget pretty quickly. Yea, he'll likely never work in PR again, but the fact is that's because his actions show that he has no business working in that industry. Yea, he'll suffer a lot this week, and be dealing with the fallout for at least a year or two, but, well, actions have consequences, and sometimes we have put on our big boy hats and deal with that. But he'll get another job, and if he works hard and acts like something vaguely resembling a human being he can definitely bounce back. If he doesn't, it will be because he's learned nothing from this whole ordeal (and his non-apology suggests this may very well be the case) and continues to treat people like shit whenever he thinks he can get away with it. And if he does that, he was going to fail at life whether all this happened or not.

    5. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a professional, you're not entitled to having bad days. Get a day off, or stuff yourself with round pink pills that make you not care, or go shout in the toilet, whatever. It's your fucking job, deal with it.

      Imagine an automechanic who's having a bad day, so he fucks his client's car over with a wrench. Whoopsie, the client is a big automotive dealer, poor automechanic is SoL and has to learn a new profession as there's noone who wants to work with him now.

      It doesn't really take internet to get your career ruined, internet just makes it easier, faster and more profound.

      Morale is: don't be a dick. Even any fast-food manager could teach him that proper response would have been "We're terribly sorry. You know what, as you're our valuable customer we'll throw in a free extra to compensate" and everything would be alright. But he didn't get even over the burger-flipper "Meh, I'll spit in his meal" level.

    6. Re:Let me rephrase that by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2

      If you read the emails then you should realize this wasn't a witch hunt and if it were, there was actually a witch to hunt.

      Had the emails he sent to Dave been kept to the subject at hand IE when the orders will ship, why it's taking so long and the like, he'd still have his career bad day or not. No matter how bad your day is, you can not afford to piss off one customer by treating people like this. No matter if it was done to whom it was, or if it were some random 12 year old.

      A professional doesn't conduct business in that manner. With that said, yes this guys career should be finished he is exposed for what he is. The sad thing is that this will probably further his career more than him doing PR alone would do.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    7. Re:Let me rephrase that by ImprovOmega · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sociopaths cannot be given second chances. They only get better at getting away with it and are practically impossible to reform. They must be utterly ground into dust as early as possible in their sociopathic little lives (preferably at first offense) to purge society as a whole of their pestilence.

    8. Re:Let me rephrase that by Dishevel · · Score: 2

      The internet is not the problem.
      If the guy had done this once, then after getting caught on it admitted that he had had a bad day and treated a customer in a way in which no customer should be treated this would have turned out differently.
      He still would have been fired. And probably would have had a hard time staying in PR. As it should be.
      But the way he has handled it means that he is getting infamous as a douche. This is what he is doing to himself.
      Just because it used to be that you could be a total ass and treat people like shit then change company name and move to a new city and all would be well does not mean that is how it should have been. It was only like that because it was harder to track.
      Now you are known for who you are. This is good.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    9. Re:Let me rephrase that by ohnocitizen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is a witch hunt when the target is a small bully as in this instance. Take a large bully, like Verizon, who consistently does awful things to their customers, and you just don't see the same effort, vitriol, or results. It is the weak banding together to go after the mildly more powerful, while the truly powerful continue to act as they please.

    10. Re:Let me rephrase that by Mista2 · · Score: 2

      They dont call it a global village for nothing you know. Small minded mobs rule in villages all over the world.

    11. Re:Let me rephrase that by Millennium · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wouldn't go quite that far. But like many people (perhaps even more so), a sociopath has to be allowed to hit rock bottom in order to build back up. That's the only way to get the message across: when the ego becomes too big of a barrier to get around, the alternative is to smash it.

      Infinite second chances are often thought of as the compassionate thing to do, the way to enable people to break out of the cycles that are destroying them. Sometimes this is even correct. Quite often, however, it's an enabler only in a much darker sense: the thing that lets people stay in their destructive cycles, rather than the thing that lets them break out.

      In any case, this is not going to ruin his life. It may precipitate some major changes, including some that in his current state he would rather not happen, but that's not ruin: a grand inconvenience, but nothing fatal.

    12. Re:Let me rephrase that by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There was a story a while back about a guy who was pretending to be a girl on Craigslist, trolling for sex, getting guys to send their names and pictures, and then posting them online. That sucks. That has the potential to ruin lives.

      This guy? Meh. He was a dick, and now his bad behavior has been publicly exposed. This will hurt his career, but his career deserves to be hurt. The Internet will be vicious with him, but the Internet has a short attention span. I bet there won't be much harassment 6 months from now. If I had to place bets, I'd bet that his guy will even land on his feet and still have a career in PR after this. There are lots of stupid people to hire him, and incompetence doesn't stop companies from hiring people into very high positions.

    13. Re:Let me rephrase that by dmbasso · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If he doesn't, it will be because he's learned nothing from this whole ordeal (and his non-apology suggests this may very well be the case) and continues to treat people like shit whenever he thinks he can get away with it. And if he does that, he was going to fail at life whether all this happened or not.

      And he said:
      "I could have nipped this all in the bud by being a little nicer. You never know who knows who, and lesson learned."

      Lesson definitely not learned. It is his character, he'll be an asshole for life. Sad thing is his son have a good chance of following his father's footsteps, joining the uncountable assholes of the world. That's life...

      --
      `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
    14. Re:Let me rephrase that by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

      Most car thieves are professional, prompt, intelligent...

      Yeah I wouldn't compare him to a car thief either. A car jacker? Maybe.

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    15. Re:Let me rephrase that by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This guy's life isn't over because he had a bad day, his life is over because he can no longer hide from how big of a douche he is... If you are having a bad day you can a) ignore emails and calls, b) reply tersely to emails and calls, or c) reply with hubris and hostility to emails and calls. He chose C, and not many people who aren't huge douchey assholes would do the same. Now, everyone knows his rap and I have to say that in this case (but not every case) the "mob" on the internet did the world a favor. This guy deserves to have a very very shitty reputation, as he had many MANY opportunities to not be a complete dick but chose instead, to be a complete dick.

      His "bad day" was the one where he got caught, called out, and summarily e-persecuted for it.

    16. Re:Let me rephrase that by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Funny

      Morale[sic] is: don't be a dick.

      Wheaton's law strikes again!

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_Wheaton#Wheaton.27s_Law

    17. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't compare him to a car thief. A dick, yes, but not exactly a criminal.

      Actually, I thought a lot about this. My first thoughts when I read the penny arcade e-mail chain was this guy needs to be strung. And I even had some of his rationale of "you don't know who you're fucking with!"

      Then it hit me. As much as this guy is being a douche and is on a very high ego trip, the mob mentality of the Internet is going to ruin him.. For nothing more than having a very bad day. It's something that should be looked at.. I'm all for putting someone in their place, and this guy should be fired. On the other hand, the press this gets means this guys life is over. At least his online life... Has the Internet Mob Mentality become the modern day witch hunt?

      In any case, the customer reigns high and mighty, and any response to them needs to be very carefully weighed, cause the internet hath fury.

      You don't get it either. The customer does not reign high and mighty and you don't need to weigh your response to them any more than you need to hesitate between being a douchebag or not in any given situation. No intelligent and respectful person will be a douche to anyone. You can respectfully disagree with the customer and you don't have to recognize that he/she is right even if you are in denial of reality, but never be a douche to anyone.

      The guy fully deserves what he is already getting and it's not even enough. Internet infamy doesn't have enough reach. I surely hope that his future prospective employers will google his name before making any hiring decisions. His next job should be something that will provide him with a humbling experience, to bring out some humility out of him if there is still some left.

      But he is 38 years old. That's 38 years of making other people's lives miserable and feeling good about it. At 38, I highly doubt he is reform-able, it's like expecting the religious right to suddenly have an epiphany and stop hating gays. After a certain age, some people are just set in their ways.

      He may not be a car thief, but he is a plagiarizer, i.e. intellectual property thief, and to me that's as bad as being a car thief, because both cost money.

      Some people also sympathize with the controller manufacturer that hired this guy, but I don't think the company deserves any of it either. They were the ones who hired him and even wanted to start another business with him as a partner. This indicates that they approved of his style and behavior, so they deserve the fallout.

    18. Re:Let me rephrase that by wiedzmin · · Score: 2

      It is a witch hunt when the target is a small bully as in this instance. Take a large bully, like Verizon, who consistently does awful things to their customers, and you just don't see the same effort, vitriol, or results. It is the weak banding together to go after the mildly more powerful, while the truly powerful continue to act as they please.

      Give it time, give it time... *looks at Sony*

      --
      Bow before me, for I am root.
    19. Re:Let me rephrase that by Soluzar · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'm pretty sure "Dave" would have still been upset even if the explanations were handled properly. No amount of explanations could actually erase his grievances. He would probably still have got angry and rude in his response. I'm not here to defend Mr. Christoforo. He was dismissive and unprofessional in all of his emails, but "Dave" was the first to resort to "SHOUTING", swearing and personal insults. If Mr. Christoforo had better people skills and greater professionalism he would have shrugged this off, but even so it makes one thing abundantly clear to me. There is no 'good guy' in this story; there are only 'bad guy' and 'worse guy'.

    20. Re:Let me rephrase that by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Given his reasoning in favor of ethical behavior "must be nice to people, because they might have friends more powerful than me and mine", he's an ethical lost cause. You Just Don't turn your back on somebody who thinks that the only reason not to stab you is because they might be punished.

      The best we can hope for is that this unexpected blowup will inspire a degree of caution verging on paranoia, and he'll be rendered relatively innocuous by fear of possible punishment. Ideally, somebody should introduce him to a particularly nasty fire-and-brimstone religion. If somebody is actually so depraved that they act only through fear of power, the notion that power that could crush them like a bug is watching at all times can be quite useful....

      I, for one, can only wonder how he managed to get married and spawn.

    21. Re:Let me rephrase that by mk1004 · · Score: 2

      I think you've just described the majority of people in Congress.

      --
      I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
    22. Re:Let me rephrase that by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As a professional, you're not entitled to having bad days.

      This goes double because email isn't exactly an immediate medium. It is utterly trivial to delay responding to a given email(or even fake an out-of-office if you simply must have more time).

      In situations where you can't escape and you have somebody physically in your face, right now, some risk of snapping inevitably exists. Some people bear up better than others; but it can happen. Flipping out over email, though, is flipping out even after you've had the benefit of choosing how much time you need to calm down, drafting as many revisions as you need, and knowing for certain that this text is on the record... Everybody has a breaking point, and a sufficiently bad situation can push you to it; but email is far lower pressure than most situations.

    23. Re:Let me rephrase that by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Aren't sociopaths supposed to be glib, charming, and expertly manipulative? This guy seems to have the 'narcissistic disregard for others' and 'delusional grandiosity' covered; but the entire situation is an utter clusterfuck of how to absolutely and unbelievably fail a fairly trivial customer-service brush-off task.

      I'm certainly all for grinding him into the dirt, scum aren't exactly a limited resource; but he doesn't seem to fit the pop-psych sociopath profile all that well....

    24. Re:Let me rephrase that by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Aren't sociopaths supposed to be glib, charming, and expertly manipulative?

      no, only the successful ones are. They learn this as a coping mechanism.

      There are still plenty of primary psychopaths who are just rotten assholes.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    25. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ugh, check the facts, it went like:

      I noticed the updated info on the webpage, and I don't understand why there is absolutely no benefit given to those like me who have already ordered, and paid their money. You've had my money interest free for nearly two months, yet now ANY new order will get $10 off....meaning I should just cancel my order for 2 controllers, get my money back, then re-order.

      Things happen in manufacturing if your unhappy you have 7 days from the day your item ships for a refund. You placed a pre order just like any software title the gets a date moved due to the tweaks and bugs not being worked out and GameStop or any other place holds your cash and im sure you don't complain to activision or epic games so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I'll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself. Have a good day Dan.

      In other words:
      Dave: "Not only you didn't deliver on promise for pre-order, you're now selling them cheaper. I feel cheated" (hint: it's usually other way around, as pre-orders are cheaper and served first because they're partially funding the early operations)
      Paul: "Well, screw you then, I'll go pawn your controllers. Put on your big boy hat, crybaby"

    26. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the customer reigns... then how are megacorporations getting away with murder and larceny?

    27. Re:Let me rephrase that by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

      That'll teach you not to pirate movies!

    28. Re:Let me rephrase that by _0xd0ad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Customers are allowed to be grumpy, especially when a thing that was promised is taking longer than was promised.

    29. Re:Let me rephrase that by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's your fucking job, deal with it.

      The only people with fucking jobs are porn actors.

    30. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Dave" was the first to resort to "SHOUTING", swearing and personal insults. If Mr. Christoforo had better people skills and greater professionalism he would have shrugged this off, but even so it makes one thing abundantly clear to me. There is no 'good guy' in this story; there are only 'bad guy' and 'worse guy'.

      Yep. I read the exchange and the only difference between them is that "Dave" put on an act of being mature and polite before resorting to childish invective.

      Still, I expected to read Christoforo's side of the story and come away with some sympathy for his POV, but no. He really doesn't understand why everyone is so pissed at him.

    31. Re:Let me rephrase that by Peristaltic · · Score: 1

      I, for one, can only wonder how he managed to get married and spawn.

      Sadly, there has never been a shortage of women (or men) that seem to seek out abusive partners, for whatever reason. I've never been able to figure it out.

    32. Re:Let me rephrase that by Spectre · · Score: 3, Funny

      [...] Hell, the guy still isn't sorry for how he threated customers, he is sorry for the fact he got caught. [...]

      That has to be the best typo and/or Freudian slip I've seen in a while!

      --
      "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
    33. Re:Let me rephrase that by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He's a typical douche that decided to go into marketing because he wanted to feel important for only knowing people and not actually doing anything of real importance. Marketing people are more often than not total tools, but this guy gets the dick badge for taking his over inflated ego out on a customer.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
    34. Re:Let me rephrase that by Peristaltic · · Score: 1

      No offense, but I've come to believe that maybe we should go that far, with sociopaths, that is. In my experience, sociopaths rarely change, and they cause so much damage over a lifetime that it isn't such a stretch classifying them as a pestilence. Having a big ego is a different thing entirely.

    35. Re:Let me rephrase that by ohnocitizen · · Score: 1

      I am legitimately not sure whether it included the same level of infamy and attack at play here. This guy's linkedin was posted, his personal info, people dug into his work to find and report errors. Was this done with Sony executives?

    36. Re:Let me rephrase that by g0bshiTe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Customers can and will be grumpy, but as having been a complaining customer for things in the past both grumpy and otherwise I have found that when complaining you get much further being polite about it. After all the person on the other end of the phone is the one who has to put up with me, it's not their fault I'm calling yet they will get the brunt. I try to keep this in mind and cut them some slack.

      @Soluzar, you are correct they are both in the wrong.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    37. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I hate to steer things this way... but you mentioned ethics. Isn't that pretty much the Judeo-Christian view as well? "must be nice to people, or I'll get punished by God".

    38. Re:Let me rephrase that by dwillden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We'll never know because from the beginning there was NO attempt by Christoforo to explain anything. First the kid emails saying "Hey the promised delivery date was two weeks ago, what's up?" and he gets "17th" as the entire response with no explanation at all. That was when the PR dude's failure began. Customers can still be grumpy, but had PR dude said "I'm sorry, manufacturing and shipping delays outside our control have greatly impacted our efforts to provide you with your purchase. We are now expecting to be able to begin shipping tomorrow the 17th." This scenario would have played out entirely differently. But no First PR dude tries answering a very legitimate question/complaint with a number, then his next response is gibberish "whither", and then he just lashes out at the by now very rightfully angry customer.

      PR dude failed at his very job title PUBLIC RELATIONS. No amount of blame goes on the customer at all, the company had collected his payment immediately and had by that point been holding (or even spending) his payment for two months with nothing in return, not even any shipping updates. Compare this to my online shopping experience this Christmas, one item I ordered was back ordered, the company let me know it was delayed. Then they let me know when it was expected. Then they let me know when it shipped, and they didn't charge my card until after it was delivered. That is how you handle business like this, you don't charge for the item and then sit with zero updates for two months, going past the promised delivery date with still no information. Mr Christoforo failed totally and deserves the response he's getting.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    39. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You missed a part:

      Yes it can be used with xtend play if you remove the stand and no one is allowed to cancel and re order if we catch anyone doing it we will simply just cancel your order all together and you can buy it retail somewhere else.

      So, a) no benefit of getting it first for preorder - whole shipment is late, b) no benefit of getting it cheaper for preorder, c) don't like this? Take your money (after we keep them for interest until the shipment arrives and _then_ we process your refund) and go someplace else, while I spit on your back.

      All in all, lost money, lost time for this correspondence, lost Christmas present.

      I'd be rather pissed off too.

    40. Re:Let me rephrase that by Xeranar · · Score: 1

      The problem with this line of thinking is that in the world of email and delayed responses we have wonderful amounts of time to think of how we're going to respond. Nobody is going to get upset if Ocean Marketing took a day to respond to his email, it was practically expected. Instead of responding though with a well-thought-out answer about how they aren't here and that the production is slow and how sorry they are this guy blathers about he needs to man up on top of it all. It wasn't a healthy response in person let alone with time to think about it.

      The internet did good this time by exposing what a repugnant ass this character was. His career isn't ruined though, I'm sure some marketing firm will love his bull-headed approach and will snap him up at double the salary.

    41. Re:Let me rephrase that by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      He resorted to that after the bad email. Not a swearing and so on email, but "put on your big boy hat" and "Maybe Iâ(TM)ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself".

      Everything until that point had been civil... Everything up to that point has been a private email exchange.

      All the guy had to do was not be evasive in a reply, give the customer an expected shipping date and say "sorry for the delays but it is outside our control at the moment".

      And instead of replying instantly with "put on your big boy hat" take a little while to see if they can extend the $10 off offer to new orders they are currently running to this particular customer (or if you are the one who makes the decision just do so).

      His greviances would have been erased then and there. In fact the only thing the customer seems annoyed with at the time is that there's a $10 off offer to new orders, but it isn't going to apply to his even though it hasn't even shipped to him yet.

      And yes he entered the deal and has no right to $10 off. But after getting the run around and then seeing that most people would ask if they could get it too.

    42. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about all of those secretaries and male interns at republican political offices?

    43. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, not a car thief. More like a valet whose job it is to park cars for customers, but who when returning the car manages to lock the keys inside and says to the customer "Not my problem. Good luck getting them out of there. And go ahead and complain to my boss about it. I've got connections. You're screwed."

      He was in public relations for !#%!% sake. He was supposed to interact helpfully with the customer. A PR person can do their job by spending their days polishing turds for the management of the company, or they can listen to what a customer says, put themselves in that position, and say "Yeah, you're right. Not offering $10 off to all the people that pre-ordered is lame." Then they can go to the management and make the same point on the customer's behalf. Blowing off a customers legitimate concerns, which ranged from both the unexpected delay of the product and a bad discount deal, is not the way to do PR. Even if they can't do anything themselves, at least they should be trying to communicate to their boss that a customer is deservedly pissed off, and probably other people will be too, so maybe something should be done about it. Bragging that the customer can't expect help even if they complain elsewhere isn't the way to handle it.

      This isn't mob mentality. This is a business treating their customer like !#%!%, and the word getting around faster than would happen ordinarily to a business. Yeah, hassling his family over it is not appropriate, but this guy clearly doesn't understand the internet or public relations. If the fact that news about bad service gets around fast on the internet makes PR people and businesses more cautious when dealing with customer complaints, GOOD.

    44. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would go that far.

      Primary psychopaths do not have the same brain structures that real humans enjoy and struggle with. They do not reform. They cannot reform. Ever.

      They only learn how to become better psychopaths.

      Psychopaths feed on us, destroy us and they fight, lie and manipulate in order to preserve their own egos. That's it. That's all they're good for. They need to be utterly wiped out.

      We can start with much of our government.

      This Paul creep is a bottom rung, garden variety psychopath. The dangerous ones are those like George Bush, who was so clearly psychopathic it made me wince to watch him fool so many people with his charm. But he screwed up his words and bore many of the same stupid behavioral traits this Paul guy does. I wonder about Obama, though I suspect he's more a split personality or something along those lines. Another variety of head case with a different Latin name.

      Honestly. That we don't enforce mandatory psyche evaluations for public representatives is the dumbest oversight humanity has ever crippled itself with.

      The first society to solve this problem will be the one which lasts for tens of thousands of years and travels to the stars, etc.

      Us? We're letting the psychopaths rule and burn the whole of creation to the ground. Go humanity!

    45. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here let me help you figure it out.

      Money.

    46. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's called screwing around on the job.

    47. Re:Let me rephrase that by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 1

      Tough cookies.

      Customers can be assholes. PR professionals cannot. Customer Service Representatives cannot.

      Dealing with angry customers goes with the territory, especially if you go around making promises you can't keep, and even more especially when those failed promises mean your customers won't have your product, which has already been paid for, in time for the holiday season.

      --

      People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
    48. Re:Let me rephrase that by Millennium · · Score: 1

      Whoa; psychopaths aren't "real humans"? They need to be "wiped out" and/or silenced? We're talking about a metaphorical abyss, to be sure, but are you certain you haven't perhaps been staring into it a little too long?

    49. Re:Let me rephrase that by pkulak · · Score: 1

      And what if his life is ruined? Plenty of people lose their jobs and have their lives destroyed every day who aren't complete assholes. I'm happy about the job opening this created. I'm not worried about the person who lost his job.

    50. Re:Let me rephrase that by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 5, Informative

      I just looked at his twitter....

      Holy crap, it was not just a bad day...

      @tonycline How does it fel to be a ginger that no one loves or wants.

      OK ENOUGH! Just fuck off already u god damn fucking gaming cunts. Boo Hoo I yelled at a customer big deal. Ge over it

      @TrafficKidPT I don't need a degree I'm just naturally smart.

      Look at all these gamers. Bunch of fucking losers, everyone in the biz makes fun of you fucks. All the sites you like laugh at yuo.

      Penny Arcade is for autsitic preteens that can handle good entertianment. I'm suprised you can even read at all.

      @threetimestrue Bullshit, I'm a hot commodity. Everyone will pay to have my services after this. Because I'm a survivor.

      @IamPter Don't make me come over there and smack the dick out of your mouth sunshine.

      @ChibiUFO No Pax = Penis Addiction Experts. Cause they love dick

      That's all from just TODAY.

      Riiiight.. bad day.

    51. Re:Let me rephrase that by UncleTogie · · Score: 2

      Agreed wholeheartedly. I've had clients in my face, screaming.... and have never reacted like Paul did. At most, I excused myself for a few moments to make sure I was composed.

      When the error's on your end, suck it up and get ready for some unhappy people.

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
    52. Re:Let me rephrase that by mcneely.mike · · Score: 0

      As far as this guys life being over, no: you'll probably see him on a reality tv show with some girl named Snarky and some asshat named 'The Constipation'. And he'll make money.

      Vomit.

      --
      soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
    53. Re:Let me rephrase that by mug+funky · · Score: 1

      to be honest, having a 2 month old at home during the christmas rush is more than a little stressful.

      this guy's biggest problem is anger management. even if he read back his emails to himself with his "douchebag filter" enabled, this would not be a problem.

      the fact that he can type up such incoherent rage to a customer and actually hit "send" amazes me. he needs a punching bag in the office or something.

    54. Re:Let me rephrase that by Alex+Belits · · Score: 0

      I hate to steer things this way... but you mentioned ethics. Isn't that pretty much the Judeo-Christian view as well? "must be nice to people, or I'll get punished by God".

      Yes, however isn't Judeo-Christian view on ethics morally bankrupt for this very reason?

      --
      Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
    55. Re:Let me rephrase that by mug+funky · · Score: 3, Interesting

      it's likely that religion is so successful because it deals with arseholes effectively.

      reason and empathy doesn't cut with some people, and the fear of being fucked up for eternity by a malevolent power that sees your every move can be a good substitute for reason and empathy, at least in these cases.

      of course, the rest of this religion stuff is not much use.

    56. Re:Let me rephrase that by Soluzar · · Score: 1

      I won't even pretend to have sympathy for Mr. Christoforo. I just don't believe this story should be represented as Mr. White-Hat vs Mr. Black-Hat. I took my first read of the story and saw one black hat and one mid-grey.

    57. Re:Let me rephrase that by randomencounter · · Score: 1

      I have heard that Sony executives have indeed had their personal details published and been subject to a similar degree of exposure for actions their company has taken.

      Being adults and professionals, however, they do not whine on the Internet about how unfairly they are being treated.

      --
      Forget diamonds, copyright is forever.
    58. Re:Let me rephrase that by Soluzar · · Score: 1

      I do believe I said that I'm not here to excuse Mr. Christoforo. I did say that this was a case of 'bad' and 'worse'. For the sake of clarity, I would see Mr. Christoforo as 'worse' for the exact reasons you specifed.

    59. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably the only people with "you will get screwed" written in their contracts.

    60. Re:Let me rephrase that by Cyberllama · · Score: 1

      He may not be a car thief, but he is a plagiarizer, i.e. intellectual property thief, and to me that's as bad as being a car thief, because both cost money.

      I was with you before that, but . . . what? That is some weird logical gymnastics, my friend.

    61. Re:Let me rephrase that by forkfail · · Score: 1

      Since when is it requisite to be nice and polite to people who are bending you over and screwing you without lube, while telling you how nice they are?

      --
      Check your premises.
    62. Re:Let me rephrase that by orichter · · Score: 4, Funny

      And Congressmen

    63. Re:Let me rephrase that by Boronx · · Score: 1

      It'll take psychopaths to get rid of all the psychopaths.

    64. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He may not be a car thief, but he is a plagiarizer, i.e. intellectual property thief, and to me that's as bad as being a car thief, because both cost money.

      I was with you before that, but . . . what? That is some weird logical gymnastics, my friend.

      I agree, I questioned my own words as I wrote them but was too lazy to think of a better way to express myself. What I meant was a very specific thing, i.e. if I hire a worker to write content for my site, that worker costs me money and my own time as well, so if some other company wants to benefit from our work, I want them first to ask my permission and not just silently lift our content. If anything, it cay tarnish my own company because it will be difficult to tell who copied who.

      As for copyright at large, I am against patent-trolls and granting patents for trivial things. Same goes for the entertainment industry, I am against someone copying my work and then presenting it as their own, but it shouldn't be illegal to download digital content if it doesn't hurt anyone.

    65. Re:Let me rephrase that by mobby_6kl · · Score: 2

      Well, to be fair to the guy, maybe his bad day is... ever day?

    66. Re:Let me rephrase that by plover · · Score: 2

      he needs a punching bag in the office or something.

      Yep. Then he needs to climb inside it, and hire Mike Tyson.

      --
      John
    67. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ....and chicken inseminators.... (ac cause i won't take credit for that free association!)

    68. Re:Let me rephrase that by grainofsand · · Score: 1

      Always and forever. Politeness goes a long way even in the face of those "screwing you without lube".

      Being polite is not hard at all regardless of the situation.

      --
      A dream is good. A plan is better.
    69. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I, for one, can only wonder how he managed to get married and spawn.

      Women love assholes.

    70. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you're sure that's _his_ twitter, still?

    71. Re:Let me rephrase that by TheABomb · · Score: 1

      You forgot Congressmen.

      --
      MSIE: The world's most standards-complaint web browser.
    72. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Married to the mayor of Boston, I hear.

      That is always the kind of sentiment that makes me wonder just what kind of people some of those fire-and-brimstoners really are. If the only reason you don't go out raping and murdering is that you think an invisible guy in the clouds is watching (rather than, y'know, because you consider it morally wrong to do so), then there's just something wrong with you.

    73. Re:Let me rephrase that by Terrasque · · Score: 2

      Have a read at his twitter account...

      From there (posted some hours ago):

      I didn't know who the dude was at Penny Arcade - I really didn't do anything wrong, and my reputation is ruined forever.
      ---
      Basically, what Gabe did is this If you were in a bar, drinking and hanging out with a bunch of people and in that group of people was one guy that you didn't know was a mixed martial arts champion. He knows he can kick the shit out of anyone in that bar and you happen to pick a fight with him. He doesn't tell you what he is you take a swing at him and the next thing you know you have a broken jaw and you're on the way to the hospital.
      ---
      I talked to four or five thousand people before I talked to this kid. None of them went viral. Before Sunday my reputation was impeccable - it was as clean as the most expensive diamond. Now it's just trash, and that bothers me.

      Still feel sorry for him? I feel sorry for his family (which also seem to be harassed, which is really sad), but him? No.. Not the way he's still acting.

      --
      It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
    74. Re:Let me rephrase that by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's not his Twitter account - that's from OceanStretagy (note swapping of e and a), a parody account set up and by now, well documented as such. His own account went from OceanMarketting( yes, spelling error included) to OceanStratagy (yes, another spelling error, unbelievably) to OceanDeepSea. Not that his genuine account didn't have a continuation of his abusive mannerisms - just nothing as blatantly aggressive as this stuff.

    75. Re:Let me rephrase that by Fjandr · · Score: 2

      Dave's emails were all civil and reasonable. Even though the aggravation was clear in what he wrote, he was very polite for someone not only being jerked around, but openly insulted by Christoforo.

      As for Mike, he is neither customer nor PR in the exchange. His response was solely because Christoforo dragged his company and expo into the conversation to use as a weapon, and he had every reason to be uncivil (while still remaining far more civil than Christoforo).

    76. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm, OceanDeepSea... guess he decided to stick with words less than 6 letters long.

    77. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hahaha, he really thinks that's a fitting analogy? Yeah, me too, but not the way he does. The guy deserved the broken jaw completely, and yes, he deserves every bit of this notoriety for being a complete ass. Be an asshole long enough and eventually it's going to come back and bite you.

      So, Paul: Try not picking fights and taking swings at people; you won't eventually run into someone who's a MMA champ and have your ass handed to you. Because while you're pondering why life is so cruel that this time you got sacked, everyone else is cheering that finally you got the sacking you've been building up in your negative karma bank for a long time.

    78. Re:Let me rephrase that by cavebison · · Score: 1

      Has the Internet Mob Mentality become the modern day witch hunt?

      Yes and no... the problem is that a witch hunt, or a lynch mob, is, traditionally, a single mob. The internet is made up of a whole rash of mobs and individuals who will jump in as it pleases them.

      Some think amusing commentary is great, some think threats are appropriate, some want to trash a FB page. Responses are very fragmented. At least in the good old days you could spot the mob and get run out of town. Now there's nowhere to hide.

      Still, the upside is internet mobs have a short memory. He will be back in a years' time and hardly anyone will be concerned anymore. "Hey, wasn't he that guy... SQUIRREL!" I don't think his life is over. People will have better other things to think about.

    79. Re:Let me rephrase that by dcollins · · Score: 1

      "First the kid emails saying "Hey the promised delivery date was two weeks ago, what's up?" and he gets "17th" as the entire response with no explanation at all. That was when the PR dude's failure began... PR dude failed at his very job title PUBLIC RELATIONS."

      Just to roll it back another step, but he probably can't feasibly do any more explaining than that because he's apparently set himself up as the sole employee of a company that allegedly does marketing, public relations, business deals, and customer support... and it's really just him alone (likely unknown by the business partner), dealing with hundreds of customer support emails and phone calls on a daily basis, with no organized system to do it whatsoever. So judging from all his other messages which are similarly misspelled, incorrect grammar, no caps, and sentence fragments... responses on the order of "17th" are quite likely all he has time for (on average) throughout the day.

      Of course, that's his fault, too, because he's a scam artist who's convinced a company to give him a job that he has absolutely no capacity to follow through on. And the end result is that he's writing 32-bit support replies, intensely frustrating customers, and still bitching and moaning that he's being harassed and bullied with the unmanageable amount of work that he's brought on himself.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    80. Re:Let me rephrase that by dcollins · · Score: 1

      From Wikipedia (Psycopathy) -- "It should be noted that not all psychopaths are smooth charmers. Often due to poor upbringing, some lack the necessary social grace and education to impress people. Such psychopaths tend to rely more on intimidation, coercion, and violence to get their way.[48]"

      The footnote refers to "Hare, Babiak. Snakes in Suits. pg 39"

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    81. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Said from someone who's never managed customers. The sad thing is it's the angry customers who get the better deal 99.99% of the time. They're the ones who will bitch about it to everyone the meet for the next month. You'd think that people would right them off, but they don't. They just remember what they've heard about a company/product.

    82. Re:Let me rephrase that by WNight · · Score: 1

      Religious people can't be moral.

    83. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry man, but did you really write "Whoopsie"? ;)

      I think the morale is: Treat people how you expect to be treated yourself.

    84. Re:Let me rephrase that by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      Is he really that busy, sitting on his thumbs waiting for a shipment to come through customs, that he can't take the time to write one, single, polite form letter and blast it to everyone who's ordered that item informing them of the delay before they get annoyed and ask about it?

    85. Re:Let me rephrase that by BrokenBeta · · Score: 1

      and when they have already taken your money for it

    86. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a follow-up to the parent, he was just as much of a douchebag when he was contracted out by a different company. He never should have gone into marketing/sales/PR/support.

    87. Re:Let me rephrase that by Timex · · Score: 1

      I was going to comment to this article and say pretty-much what you just did.

      It's one thing to be confident in what you do. That's fine. It's quite another thing to be cocky to a fault, and that's where Christoforo is.

      If you think about it, we all have "bad days", but we don't have that many. Christoforo still isn't fully convinced that he did anything wrong, and that's where his problem lies. He has to realize that people need to be handled with respect, even if they are in the wrong. There is no justification for berating anyone, no matter what connections either side may have. From what I've read of the email thread, I think Christoforo was in the wrong from early on. Instead of realizing his mistake and addressing the real problem (timing of delivery of a product that was already paid for), he let his ego get in the way and it only made matters worse.

      Instead of issuing an apology and learning a lesson, he still seems belligerent over the matter. He has a lot of growing up to do.

      --
      When politicians are involved, everyone loses.
    88. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I, for one, can only wonder how he managed to get married and spawn.

      Narcissists can be very charming. They know how to act nice when someone has something they want - but this was not the case with "Dave."

    89. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoa; psychopaths aren't "real humans"? They need to be "wiped out" and/or silenced? We're talking about a metaphorical abyss, to be sure, but are you certain you haven't perhaps been staring into it a little too long?

      Nope. Unless you've failed to notice the events of just this past couple of years, (Gulf oil disaster, Fukashima, economic collapse, on-going war, etc.), the psychopaths of the planet are actively engaged in wiping us out.

      We are at war already. You don't have to be formally notified, you know. Only people with consciences offer such graces, which is the whole problem.

      Psychopaths are not human. (I define "human" as a being capable of compassion and the ability to function in a society without the ever-present need to sabotage it). Psychopaths are sharks wearing masks. They are a social disease vector. Actually, they are worse than sharks, because sharks don't actively destroy their own environment.

      This isn't the same thing at all as Hitler wanting to get rid of all the Jews. Jews are human. (Though there are psychopaths among them as well, no doubt).

      If you don't want to wipe out the psychopaths, then that's fine. I don't have any blood lust. I just want them out of the pilot's seat. Put them in jail. We already do that with plenty of normal people, (heck, debtor's prison is a reality again in modern times, thanks to the psychopath). Psychopaths need to be identified and removed from power. I don't really care what is done with them so long as they don't continue enslaving and killing everybody.

      And don't let a bunch of stupid TV bullshit programming sway your thoughts. They cannot be trained to serve society. That's a complete joke, and probably a bit of intentional social programming designed to confuse people. Like those idiots who keep snakes for pets and trick themselves into thinking that their reptile has loving feelings for their owner.

    90. Re:Let me rephrase that by Millennium · · Score: 1

      Nope. Unless you've failed to notice the events of just this past couple of years, (Gulf oil disaster, Fukashima, economic collapse, on-going war, etc.), the psychopaths of the planet are actively engaged in wiping us out.

      Um, no. No, actually, the overwhelming majority of them are not; they may be psychopaths, but they are not as stupid as that. A few do indeed harm humanity at large, or even just the people around them, and they can be dealt with as they do what they do. Until they do wrong, however, they deserve punishment no more than anyone else who has done no wrong. They have no interest in warring with us, and we should have no interest in warring with them.

      I also can't help but notice that you're lumping accidents in with deliberate acts. That smacks of conspiracy theorism.

      Psychopaths are not human. (I define "human" as a being capable of compassion and the ability to function in a society without the ever-present need to sabotage it).

      That's an awfully convenient definition: any person who has a trait you don't like isn't human. Isn't that something psychopaths do?

      If you don't want to wipe out the psychopaths, then that's fine. I don't have any blood lust. I just want them out of the pilot's seat. Put them in jail.

      In other words, silence them because of what they might do, based on a particular outlook and worldview. That's only slightly less unconscionable than killing them outright. The worst thing about democracy is that everyone gets a vote, but that's also the best thing about it, and there's really no way around it. If you don't want the possibility of silencing anybody, then you must not allow the possibility of silencing anybody.

      And don't let a bunch of stupid TV bullshit programming sway your thoughts. They cannot be trained to serve society.

      If the current political/economic structure is run by psychopaths as you seem to believe, then I'd be forced to call the modern lifestyles it has made possible prima facie evidence that not only can psychopaths be trained to serve society, but that they actually do a pretty darn good job of it once so trained. The trick is in ensuring that society has ways to harness that particular mindset and put it to work in ways that have a positive impact.

    91. Re:Let me rephrase that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my god.

      You have absolutely no idea about the subject you're broaching, do you?

      Seriously, you need to hit pause on your ego, (Arguing to 'win' in order to preserve the illusion of you're dominance or whatever, rather than arguing to determine the true nature of reality?? Ugh.), and you need to do some heavy research into the matter, because you are right now utterly wrong about. . , well, everything. Just start with Cleckley. The Mask of Sanity is a quick read, and one of the founding documents in the study of the phenomenon.

      Let's get started. . .

      Um, no. No, actually, the overwhelming majority of them are not; they may be psychopaths, but they are not as stupid as that. A few do indeed harm humanity at large, or even just the people around them, and they can be dealt with as they do what they do. Until they do wrong, however, they deserve punishment no more than anyone else who has done no wrong. They have no interest in warring with us, and we should have no interest in warring with them.

      You're making the classic assumption that psychopaths think the way you do. They do not. A pathogenic bacteria or virus is not technically at war with its host either, but they still do what they are designed by nature to do. It still behooves the host to try to remove the infection.

      I also can't help but notice that you're lumping accidents in with deliberate acts. That smacks of conspiracy theorism.

      Holy shit. A) The term "Conspiracy" has been co-opted to ridicule people who point out that corruption exists and wish to see it prevented. B) Accidents like the ones I mentioned would have been prevented if psychopathic negligence hadn't been allowed to occur in the first place.

      That's an awfully convenient definition: any person who has a trait you don't like isn't human. Isn't that something psychopaths do?

      I barely know where to start with such a statement.

      First of all, I was very specific. The trait under discussion is not just 'any trait' as you blithely suggest. Some people naturally smell really bad, and I don't like that, but they're still human.

      The trait we are talking about here is the Inability to Empathize. It is, in essence, the defining quality which makes a psychopath a psychopath, and all the other problems are rooted on that foundation.

      And yes, absolutely, if you do not have the ability to empathize, you are little more than a biological machine.

      And yes, psychopaths do certainly use the tactic of trying to dehumanize their victims, but they are doing so on false grounds. They are trying to dehumanize thinking, feeling HUMANS, and they use lies and manipulations to do so, usually based on differences in culture or skin color. By VERY stark contrast, I am pointing at medical facts which nobody denies exist, and which are directly responsible for all manner of destruction and chaos visited upon human populations.

      Do you see the oh-so-subtle difference? Are we quite clear?

      In other words, silence them because of what they might do, based on a particular outlook and worldview. That's only slightly less unconscionable than killing them outright. The worst thing about democracy is that everyone gets a vote, but that's also the best thing about it, and there's really no way around it. If you don't want the possibility of silencing anybody, then you must not allow the possibility of silencing anybody.

      This is dogmatic parrot-speak which fails to take into account the existence of psychopaths. Democracy and the legal syste

    92. Re:Let me rephrase that by eugene+ts+wong · · Score: 1

      I appreciate the car analogy...thanks! ;^D

    93. Re:Let me rephrase that by Maritz · · Score: 1

      I don't believe I know any psychopaths or sociopaths, sociopaths (I believe) are the way they are largely due to early life experiences. Psychopaths are different, they're wired up that way - I obviously don't advocate being cruel to them but I wouldn't want one in my life, ever, under any circumstances.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
    94. Re:Let me rephrase that by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      The problem with Verizon is that AT&T is no better, T-Mobile wishes it had a decent network, and Sprint works nearly nowhere. There is no choice in wireless, and Verizon is the best of the bunch. If people had other choices, Verizon wouldn't be able to survive while adding more and more fees for things they have been encouraging people to do for years...
      http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/29/1337224/verizon-adds-2-charge-for-paying-your-bill-online

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    95. Re:Let me rephrase that by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      I really LOVE how he is still only sorry because someone famous called him out on being an ass.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  4. Don't by bonch · · Score: 0

    Don't give him any more publicity. This interview is weird, profanity-laden, and arrogant. The douchebag loves attention and "connections".

    1. Re:Don't by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      >>The douchebag loves attention and "connections".

      Hey, don't mock his connections, okay?

      Turns out he knows the guy at the door of the convention center.

    2. Re:Don't by mcsqueak · · Score: 1

      >>The douchebag loves attention and "connections".

      Hey, don't mock his connections, okay?

      Turns out he knows the guy at the door of the convention center.

      You mean those little old ladies that are super nice and ask to see your badge? I don't know who works at the "convention center" in Boston, but in my city it seems to be mostly staffed by retiree-aged people.

    3. Re:Don't by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Vegas? Those little old ladies must see the craziest sort.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  5. Lack of character shines through.... by jholder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Looking back, Christoforo is still a little shocked that what he thought would remain a private email conversation got blown into an Internet event the way it did." This show a blinding misunderstanding of the Internet. I always act/write/post/upload and assume anything i send to anyone could end up in the faces of the planet. To not do so invites this kind of idiocy. The measure of the man is that he acted the way he did because he thought he was acting 'in secret'. People who act this way are not the kind of people I trust to work with me reliably.

    --
    -- John
    1. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honestly? In the ancient days BI (before internet), a rude written response from a company would be in a local newspaper within a printing and might be caught up by wider area papers. In places where one side can legally record a phone conversation without announcing that it is being recorded, bad PR phone conversations get sent to radio stations.

    2. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This show a blinding misunderstanding of the Internet.

      Especially since the guy claimed "I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls and before it was the internet". You'd think somebody who wwebsite as on the internet for that long would know that anything has a chance of blowing up at any minute for any or no reason whatsoever.

    3. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo · · Score: 2

      Please don't popularize that, I truly don't want to see "wwebsite" get into the English dictionary as our newest verb.

      --
      "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
    4. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, it's already started.

      https://twitter.com/#!/GEICO/status/151720116357308416

    5. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Bucky24 · · Score: 0

      only one party to a phone call needs to be aware that it's being taped in this state.

      Whooaaa really? I did not know that, and I shall be using this fact to my advantage.

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    6. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Geico is already using it.

      +1 internets for their PR person being up on current events.

    7. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I'd like to know is what happens when someone calls someone in another state. Which laws regarding recording calls apply, those in the receiver's state I hope?

      Under the false assumption that laws are actually coherent and rational, each participant's right to record the call should be determined by their state laws.

    8. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Karzz1 · · Score: 2

      I cannot attest to the correctness of the GPs original statement. I can, however, say that you will probably want to research any legal advice you get on /. (or the internet as a whole) *before* putting it into practice ;)

      --
      Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
    9. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Bucky24 · · Score: 2

      But.. But... This is the internet! No one would lie on here.
      You're probably right. If I could afford a lawyer there are many questions I would ask.

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    10. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by 1729 · · Score: 4, Informative

      And since this is Slashdot and a lot of us presumably live in California it's worth mentioning that barring a warrant only one party to a phone call needs to be aware that it's being taped in this state.

      Nope, that's wrong. California is a two-party consent state:

      "without the consent of all parties to the communication..."

    11. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Toonol · · Score: 1

      And since this is Slashdot and a lot of us presumably live in California it's worth mentioning that barring a warrant only one party to a phone call needs to be aware that it's being taped in this state.

      Same in Oregon, and a handful of other states. It's cheap and easy to record all your phone calls; I helped a friend do that to collect evidence on a vindictive ex-wife.

    12. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by UncleTogie · · Score: 1

      This makes me wonder if there are exceptions.

      Being mostly deaf, I use IP-relay a lot, and use an IM client to access it. Does the simple act of logging my IMs turn me into a criminal?

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
    13. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by 1729 · · Score: 1

      This makes me wonder if there are exceptions.

      Being mostly deaf, I use IP-relay a lot, and use an IM client to access it. Does the simple act of logging my IMs turn me into a criminal?

      I doubt it. As far as I can tell, the prohibition is on recording; it's legal for one party of a telephone conversation to transcribe the conversation. Also, do people usually understand that they're talking to you over a relay? (I assume your friends do, but I don't know what the protocol is if you were, say, calling your credit card company.) If someone knows they're talking over a relay, then I think you could argue that they've implicitly consented to the transcription. It seems like explicit consent isn't necessary, just notification (i.e., "this call may be recorded..." or a specific beep tone).

    14. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Pentium100 · · Score: 1

      Of course not :), just that the internet is global, and the person who said it may not know the laws in your area. For example, where I live it probably is illegal to record a conversation without warning the other party first, because when I call customer service of the phone company, I get a pre-recorded warning that the conversation will be recorded (I also record it at my end in case the guy/girl says something stupid).

    15. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1

      Incorrect. California is one of the twelve states which requires two-party notification.

    16. Re:Lack of character shines through.... by Coren22 · · Score: 1
      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  6. Keep digging Paul by finkployd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Every time this guy opens his mouth to try to defend himself, he makes it worse. He needs to just stop. We all get that he thinks his mistake was not knowing who Mike was and that it would have been perfectly ok to treat him like crap if he was nobody.

    His apology can be summed up as "Normally I pride myself on knowing who I need to blow and who I can spit on, I made a mistake Mike (points to zipper), may I?"

    (analogy seen on reddit)

    1. Re:Keep digging Paul by Assmasher · · Score: 1

      Thanks man, I needed a good chortle today - LOL... "may I?" LOL...

      --
      Loading...
    2. Re:Keep digging Paul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you do the spitting before or after the blowing? As a likely spitee, I'm very concerned with the order.

    3. Re:Keep digging Paul by bfandreas · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Funny thing is he was at PAX this year and presented the Avenger. There is a Youtube video of him being totally inept. If you get asked if the thing you are selling will be available for PS3 then you don't talk about entering that market. When you talk to customers or interested parties you don't talk to them as you would do to your business account representatives or marketing chums. He comes over barely prepared and unable to stress the good points of the thing he is supposed to sell. Christoforo represents only Christoforo.
      Also attending PAX and not knowing who Gabe is is barely competent. Finding out who he is and saying "He has a lot of connections, ones I want too." is a clear indicator that reality burns up on entry of the atmosphere of planet Christoforo.
      I deal with sales critters on a professional basis. The best ones are the ones who honestly want to do right by their customers. Which requires a bit of empathy. I watched a sales rep of my company giving a potential customer the phone number of the competitions sales rep because they will do better by them. A sales critter at my local electronics shop told me I don't want a G15 if all I want is a good keyboard. Sold me a generic Cherry keyboard for 20 bucks. Both did build a bond with their customer and both generated huge repeat business.
      A masive ego only impresses for the first few moments and needs to be followed up by substance. That substance better not be warm, stinky and brown.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    4. Re:Keep digging Paul by ebombme · · Score: 1

      Funny thing is he was at PAX this year and presented the Avenger. There is a Youtube video of him being totally inept.

      Please post the link so we can all enjoy...

    5. Re:Keep digging Paul by bfandreas · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIAQ4-TBC1A
      YknowwhatImean?
      This is a very brief demonstration to a semi-professional gaming enthusiast journalist. At no point does he demo the thing properly. He comes over like he only had a couple of cue cards and no real concept of how he wants to sell the idea to the punters.
      He misses the heartwarming story of a teacher who came up with the idea to help out a student with a disability. Which would have taken all of 20 seconds of his 2 minutes pitch.
      He didn't show the mechanics behind the thing and how and why it is so customizable. which would have taken one minute of his two minutes pitch.
      He didn't hand it over to the punter so he could at least have touched it for a couple of seconds. The tactile experience is an important factor when you sell physical goods. While the guy was holding a mike he could have held it for at least 30 seconds while Christoforo points out that the thing is optimized for 1st person shooters or talk about plans for the PS3 version or answer questions for future improvements.
      Tap into the PS3 market. Yeah, right. That's the right choice of words when talking to N-Control but a big no-no when talking to punters. That's grandstanding and fairly ridiculous.
      All in all it shows he is no professional. A booth-babe showing her perlies and not saying a word would have done a better job.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    6. Re:Keep digging Paul by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jesus Christ. I've lived in Boston for a long time, and let me tell you, his particular variety of the accent screams "uneducated dirtbag criminal thug". No question.

    7. Re:Keep digging Paul by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      If you have no use for the display, the G15 won't do anything for you. However, if you game, there are great applications for it. I personally find the built in countdown timer very useful.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  7. So he hasn't learned a thing. by Telecommando · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Basically his stance is, "I'm sorry I was a d!ck to someone important. I thought he was just another nobody I could abuse at will."

    --
    Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
    1. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by sunderland56 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yet despite all the drama, Christoforo said he hasn't lost any of his other accounts, aside from Avenger.

      So could someone please dig up the names of his other clients and post them?

    2. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's the Christian message: be nice to people, because the father of the person you just crucified might turn out to be God...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone please mod this comment funny, because this is funny.

    4. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm sure these "other clients" are similar to the Mayor of Boston. This guy has a major superiority complex and narcissism to spare. He's that guy you knew that could do no wrong. He was always a smooth talker (or thought he was) and went into business for himself. Even though his kid could make a better wwebsite his looks like it was slapped together (and it was plagiarized from numerous sources).

      No matter what he does he's always the victim. Look at all of his postings even when he realized who Mike (Gabe) was. He thinks that all PR is good PR and probably thinks he won the lottery. "Forbes, MSNBC, AND Slashdot want an interview!". Anyone that has basic skills of google will never hire him again. Unfortunately other MBAs most likely don't, they'll meet him on the golf course or in the bar and he'll be the smooth talker and get another job that way. Having not learned a thing from this.

      But IANAP (I am not a Psychologist).

    5. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by paiute · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's the Christian message: be nice to people, because the father of the person you just crucified might turn out to be God...

      Much better than "My dad owns a dealership".

      --
      If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
    6. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by jmcdonagh · · Score: 2

      That shit about the mayor is rich! I'm not sure I even believe the Bostonian bit at all. I grew up north of Boston and live in Boston- so unless he moved to New York or another city with a "Little Italy", he is lying. We call the Italian ethnic enclave part of town the "North End". Only a tourist would call it something like "Boston's Little Italy".

    7. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 2, Funny

      TheRaven64 is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.

    8. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by tripleevenfall · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I don't understand the constant Slashdot slurring against MBAs. Yes, I have one. But MBA means you can't use Google now? It means you can't understand anything related to IT in any form? Why do slashdotters use MBA as an interchangeable term for "idiot"?

    9. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

      I believe the term for that guy you are looking for is sociopath.

      --
      I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    10. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's lazy-talk for "corporate middle manager / hiring manager". I agree that the degree confers no (or virtually no) damage; it is the professional environment of the positions that expect and prefer people who have this degree.

    11. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by EdIII · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Correlation does not imply causation

      The vast majority of all sociopathic PHB's are MBAs. Therefore, all MBAs must exhibit the traits of a PHB. Idiot, is just one of the many traits, and quite frankly, one of the most benign.

      It's a logical fallacy, but you have to forgive us. People that have MBAs are largely responsible for all the bullshit in the economy and the continued hell that is IT.

      However, the fact you figured out the EtchASketch we gave you was not a real laptop gives you mad props on Slashdot now. You figured out how to post, and as a non-AC even.

      You hear that Slashdot! Tripleevanfall is a made man now! Nobody fucks with him anymore!

    12. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by EdIII · · Score: 2

      My favorite is, "Never kick a dog before you know its master".

    13. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by h4rr4r · · Score: 1, Informative

      Because 99% of them are idiots.

    14. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by newcastlejon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why do slashdotters use MBA as an interchangeable term for "idiot"?

      Past experience, maybe?

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    15. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the biggest reason is that the old paradigm would be that a person involved in an industry would either on his/her own ideas or through promotion get to a point where he/she would need additional business skill to continue to grow the business. This usually meant either additional education or higher a business person to help with specific business interests, but the people running the shop where still the people with the specific skills in the industry. Now you get business people all the way up and as many of these people only know business they do really stupid things (look at HP these last few years) because they have no grounding in the industry. So if you were something else (programer, engineer, scientist, etc.) before and then got an MBA to help with the business side then I would guess these comments are not directed at you, but if you are pure business then people like you (not saying you) have been known to make some really stupid moves do to their lack of understanding of what the company actually does.

    16. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by V.+P.+Winterbuttocks · · Score: 1

      Lame. I prefer the Jewish message: be nice to people, because the person you just tried to anally rape might turn out to be God, and hail down fiery brimstone on your entire region.

      ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019:1-28&version=KJV )

      --
      I'm the real Vorokrytin P. Winterbuttocks.
    17. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Borland · · Score: 5, Informative

      I don't understand the constant Slashdot slurring against MBAs. Yes, I have one. But MBA means you can't use Google now? It means you can't understand anything related to IT in any form? Why do slashdotters use MBA as an interchangeable term for "idiot"?

      Because most of us are the technical type that clash with management, management with MBAs. Though unfair, you chose a degree that many here consider of low practical value. Our heroes in management are those that never even heard of "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" or "Six Sigma Lean". They got there because they were charismatic, bad-ass techies with a flair for business. And often, we believe that MBA techniques are political window dressing designed to enrich the manager at the expense of the talent. See: Programming Motherfucker, Do You Speak It?

      Oh it's unfair I know. MBAs, Law, PR, and other degrees and their professions grew out of need. But you're on a site that is "News for Nerds." I'm surprised you need an answer as to why there is bias against your degree. Hell, having a degree in general is under attack and probably always will be. We venerate the self-educated genius, not the above average guy that needed someone to teach him or her the basics.

    18. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's because most MBAs, not all, tend to be idiots. Obviously this is a stereotype, but from an IT perspective MBA tends to mean PHB.

    19. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mike (Gabe) is that you?

      MBAs have sold out, they don't get it man.

    20. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Soluzar · · Score: 1

      According to the Trinitarian belief of mainstream Chistianity, there's not a whole lot of difference between 'son of God' and 'God' other than 'roles and tasks assigned.

    21. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is simply a reminder that MBAs are necessarily smart. I know a girl that is working on her doctorate that is simply not a very bright person. She is a classic blonde but knows how to succeed in school.

    22. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't understand the constant Slashdot slurring against MBAs. Yes, I have one. But MBA means you can't use Google now?

      Well, we're lacking research data for Google skills of MBAs...

      It means you can't understand anything related to IT in any form? Why do slashdotters use MBA as an interchangeable term for "idiot"?

      ... but we do have data on FedEx skills:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vx1BTBhg4c

    23. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's because we've known too many MBAs; or worse, worked with them.

      They are the soulless and short sighted people that can make a profit, at least in the short term, but they make that profit pissing away the quality that makes a brand name great. And once they've outsourced the product (whatever it is) to the cheapest bidder and the product is crap now, they show great profits. But then people realize the product is no longer the quality it once was and they don't buy it any more. By then the MBA has moved on to their next venture after eating the soul of a successful longterm business.

    24. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do slashdotters use MBA as an interchangeable term for "idiot"?

      It's like getting your MCSE certification.

      It doesn't mean you're an idiot, but that's the way to bet.

    25. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

      According to the Trinitarian belief of mainstream Chistianity, there's not a whole lot of difference between 'son of God' and 'God' other than 'roles and tasks assigned.

      Yeah. Anytime I hear the Christmas story, I always think of that song, "I'm my own Grandpa." Only, he's also his own dad, great-grandpa, grandson, great-great-great-grandson, etc. It's baby Jesuses all the way down.

    26. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

    27. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by V.+P.+Winterbuttocks · · Score: 1

      Jews don't believe in the Trinity. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

      --
      I'm the real Vorokrytin P. Winterbuttocks.
    28. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because we tend to have experience with management people of the sort that think that a company's product doesn't matter where management is concerned. In my case I watched as we cycled through one manager after another, each our supposed savior and each moving on after a while to allegedly rescue the next victim.

    29. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn it, orgelspieler, I'm a Christian but I laughed my ass off at this comment. Now I'm going to have to watch for lightning bolts every time I go outside, and possible inside as well.

    30. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by ePhil_One · · Score: 1

      "Clients have brought it up, but they've mainly laughed about it. I haven't lost any clients."

      I'm trying to imagine the type of client that laughs about his PR rep being outed as an asshole who abuses their clients and the english language. At best he's been feeding them "his" version of events, and they haven't checked out the well documented reality of it yet. More likely, he's making them up as well since I've not seen anyone else linked to this guy despite the geek-cred bounty currently out on it

      Also note that this is in direct contracts to the articles earlier sentence, (In the SAME paragraph, two sentences before) that he had in fact lost at least one client. Which sort of comes around to the fact that this is a very one sided, pro-Christoforo piece that twists actual events. Dave CC'ing several popular gaming sites with the email thread becomes the sinister Dave got the press involved, sending a lengthy recounting of his frustrations to Christoforo and a number of gaming news outlets, etc. Just an really poorly written article trying to syphon of the fame of this jackass.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
    31. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've got what most folks here (I suppose) would call a "worthless degree" - both undergrad and Master's degrees in accounting. I've taken MBA classes and they're really quite helpful most of the time. The problems that you run into with management and leadership that run their philosophy based on books are generally folks that are simply not cut out to be in management in the first place - no amount of classes will prevent them from, for the most part, being overwhelmed. What MBA classes, and most business degrees, for that matter, try to teach is how to avoid those pitfalls and get an understanding for how the *entire* business functions - not much more.

      One benefit I have in my role as an external auditor is that I can see the entire business from the top down to each department at the day-to-day operations level. It's a fascinating anthropological study, really. I've got to interact on some level with each group to ensure that what the company is reporting financially is accurate and that their controls are in place to the level where the investors and regulators can be confident (yes, this means SOX, and however much you hate doing the work around satisfying the controls, believe me, we're right there with you trying to document that junk - the PCAOB hammer is swift and heavy). With this sort of transparency, you can see that each group thinks of itself as the epicenter of all things in the business - the sort of "without us, nothing would happen in this company!" On a very rare occasion, you'll actually see management of each department develop an understanding that this fact is true of each department. Sales doesn't exist without the folks in legal doing their job, facilities doesn't exist without payroll doing their job, and so on and so forth.

      One thing that frustrates me about reading this site is that, generally, there is not a good business sense exhibited by a great many posters even in relation to their own occupation. A good manager isn't just someone who is a "self-educated genius" or "charismatic, bad-ass techie", but someone who can first understand each part of the business and secondly is able to eliminate the obstacles necessary for their people to be the most effective at what they do. Anyway, that's my $.02. I'll go back to being an "MBA-type" now.

      P.S. If you want to piss off an auditor, ask them if they can do your taxes. They love that joke.

    32. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because, for the majority of MBAs, it is.

    33. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because there are a lot of people that have MBAs that are sitting in jobs they are utterly unqualified for. Because these people have "managerial experience" the businesses they work for believe that they manage technological units without needing to understand the technology at hand.

      This may or may not be true, and I'm sure in some cases where you have a good, dynamic relationship with your technical team, you can manage such a unit just peachy with an MBA and no formal understanding of the technology.

      However in reality, more often than not it feels like these types of leaders make unilateral decisions that have little basis in the realities of said technology.

      It's like the old axiom - those who can't, teach. Just in this case it's those who can't, manage.

    34. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by ThatsMyNick · · Score: 1

      Its not just slashdot, you should check the Fedex MBA ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcoDV0dhWPA

    35. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      Because MBAs (or people in MBA roles) repeatedly attract people with this sociopathic mentality. Yes, engineers, computer scientists, and other intelligent people do get MBAs to supplement their other degree but numerous people just go straight for the MBA with no real understanding of anything else.

      Look at the tops of Eron, Bernie Madoff, and all the big banks. Every single one has exhibited the exact same mentality that this guy has. Even after the destruction of the US economy they all are just sorry they got caught. Look at the videos of them in front of congress. They all have the "What, should I not have done that? Was that wrong?" demeanor. THEN they go back asking to get bailed out. If I managed to lose all of my family's money gambling I'd feel ashamed to go back and ask for more.

      And part of the reason there is a demand for them is pure greed. Greed from investors. It just sets itself up as a limit cycle. Investors demand more short term returns. MBA types give them short term returns at large long term costs. But investors are happy, so they demand more MBA types. Look at the good stuff that came out of the R&D labs back in the day Bell Labs, XEROX Parc, etc that all got cut because some MBA didn't see their immediate value to the next quarter.

    36. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by MetricT · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have a MBA from a top tier school, but I also have a decade of experience as senior sysadmin for a large academic computer cluster and a large chunk of a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, so hopefully I'll have some street cred when I say this.

      I promise you, if Wall Street paid $500k a year to geology majors, you'd see that discipline packed with money-grubbing psychopaths too. You're confusing the body of knowledge, with the people who learn it.

      Yes, I know MBA's who are parasitic, narcissistic sociopaths. I also know MBA's who are good decent people with honest ambition and a desire to make their mark and be their own master.

      Believe it or not, there are nerds in business and politics, just as much as in computers and physics. I happen to enjoy economics, finance, entrepreneurship, and public policy. A MBA allowed me to scratch those itches.

      Saying "MBA's are all PHB's" is like saying IT people are all BOFH's. You're painting with a mighty broad brush.

    37. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Borland · · Score: 1

      You misunderstand me. I'm not doubting the value of education, merely why one would be surprised there is a bias against management on a site such as this one. I have an undergrad degree in English and I am getting a MS in IT. Neither subject is going to cause readers to flock to my doorstep in worship or have academics gasp in awe. And if you sincerely enjoy the subjects a MBA program has to teach -- more power to you. That's one of the best reasons to seek an education.

      My post shouldn't be taken as an assault, but the first MBA poster did ask: Why? I answered with my perspective on why.

    38. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Tharsman · · Score: 1

      I'm sure these "other clients" are similar to the Mayor of Boston.

      I think his other clients ARE the last 5 Mayors of Boston.

    39. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Soluzar · · Score: 1

      Yes. That's why I labelled it 'the Christian belief' - I was offering an alternate perspective, nothing more. :)

    40. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, because when slandering MBA's it always means YOU, right? Its a generalization, and a true one. Get over yourself. Nobody was talking about YOU. The world doesn't revolve around YOU.

      Huh, MBA, actually you fit the stereotype perfectly. If anything anybody ever says can in any way fit some aspect of yourself, then *gasp* they are talking about YOU!! Get over yourself, your lame MBA, and realize there are 6+ billion people on this planet who ARE NOT YOU. VAST, VAST numbers of MBA's fit the mold perfectly. Even if you yourself do not, or THINK you do not, doesn't matter. Typical MBA...

    41. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 1

      I have to agree with this. Several of people I graduated with (networking degree) were so stupid I doubt they could count to 10 without using their fingers. One of the most unintelligent people I have ever had the displeasure of knowing just happened to have an MBA. I'm not saying the MBA made him stupid, but the fact that he was not as smart at my dachshund and was able to get an MBA does not speak highly of the degree.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
    42. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and what exactly happened to the people that did just that? Not much...

    43. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by fruviad · · Score: 1

      Lame. I prefer the Jewish message...

      Perhaps we should just be nice to people because it's the right thing to do, rather than for fear of the repercussions of doing otherwise????

      Just sayin'...

    44. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by V.+P.+Winterbuttocks · · Score: 1

      Because it's the "right thing to do"? They thought anal rape was the "right thing to do".

      --
      I'm the real Vorokrytin P. Winterbuttocks.
    45. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by quibbler · · Score: 1

      Exactly what I was thinking... The "other clients" are obviously not in the know about this guy... How about finding and spreading a little informative sunshine?

    46. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by quibbler · · Score: 1

      I've got an MBA, it's a very useful degree if you actually learn from it- most holders of the degree don't. The education itself can be gained by learning stats, financial statements, and reading a handful of well-chosen business case studies (avoid those Harvard writes, it's a brand now, no real education).

      Generally a (real) MBA is all about minimax efficiency, and making good decisions with imperfect information; values most geeks/engineers hold dear. Poor MBA'ing just like poor engineering is vile.

      (I also did half a JD before hating the toxic, simplistic, reductionist thought process so much I couldn't stand it any longer. Disgusting parasites, lawyers.)

    47. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      I don't understand the constant Slashdot slurring against MBAs.

      Dunning-Kruger effect, they have never had the job, they see you as the roadblock because your the guy holding the stop sign, they can't see the road is still being built just around the next bend.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    48. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by dcollins · · Score: 1

      "Anyone that has basic skills of google will never hire him again."

      Of course, he's already demonstrated willingness to act under a different name -- even when it's another real person:

      http://kotaku.com/5871400/cut-paul-oceanmarketting-christoforo-a-breakhe-probably-just-has-roid-rage

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    49. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe if you kinda just grazed a single Christmas episode on t.v. one day, and even then didn't really get the message fully. But, yes, internet joke is lulz.

    50. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The MBA's who make changes that affect everyone negatively tend to be the psychopaths, ergo they tend to be the stand outs. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I've never seen an MBA who did not enact a policy solely for short term profits, nor have I seen an MBA who did not view IT as just a glorifiedexpensive janitorial service. But I'd love to see examples of MBA's who actually cared about long term survivability and growing staff.

    51. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Wow, that site is awesome. The SAs need a site like that. "I do the computers, you keep the people out of my hair!"...nah, doesn't have the same ring to it.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    52. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by kiwimate · · Score: 1

      Tripleevanfall asked a good question and asked it politely. You ranted back and insulted him. That's why most business people think I.T. guys are dicks - because of past experience.

    53. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by kiwimate · · Score: 1

      Same reason why business people use "I.T. guy" as an interchangeable term for "insufferably rude jerk with no people skills".

    54. Re:So he hasn't learned a thing. by EdIII · · Score: 1

      That's like your perception man.

      First off, I told him that he was right. It was in bold and in the very beginning of the post.

      I then asked him to please forgive "us" for the logical fallacy that he must not understand anything related to IT because he has a MBA.

      Finally, tongue in cheek, I recognized his technical skills and asked the rest of Slashdot to get behind him.

      My post was nothing but supportive and did attempt to answer his question.

  8. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please tell us of all the articles you don't want to read anymore by telling us about them on every article you didn't read to comment on their /. stubs. Do you have a website where like-minded people can find out about all the stories you don't care about so we can not care about them either?

  9. FTG. by Corf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, ftg. His fifteen minutes are up. He deserves nothing more than to be ignored and live in perpetual ignominy until somebody requires a textbook example of how not to treat anybody.

    --
    The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
    1. Re:FTG. by gman003 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dunno, maybe they'll name a psychological disorder after the guy.

      Christoforo's Syndrome - a psychological disorder characterized by pathological lying, shallow affect, a noted lack of empathy and consistent abusive behavior. It is distinguished from Antisocial Personality Disorder chiefly by poor spelling and grammar.

    2. Re:FTG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's already a name for that: "Being a douche"

    3. Re:FTG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After this guy tries to change his name and create a new identity, HR professionals should be taught to include the "Paul Christoforo Clause" in employment contracts, where the prospective employee promises NOT to be Paul...

      Does anyone have a DNA sample of this guy...?

    4. Re:FTG. by dcollins · · Score: 1

      This here deserves modding up.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  10. Notable excerpt by bwintx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "If this didn't get escalated to Penny Arcade, it would have never gone viral like it did," he said. "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened..."

    [Emphasis added.]

    --
    Discussion System prefs link: http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=editcomm
    1. Re:Notable excerpt by dougmc · · Score: 2

      "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened..."

      [Emphasis added.]

      From the point of view of a PR person, this isn't exactly wrong. Setting expectations and such is a key part of doing customer support, and if the customer gets incorrect ideas about what's going to happen, the support person should attempt to bring them around (i.e. control the situation, which is to some degree controlling the customer.) It doesn't always work, but after doing support for a while you get a feel for how to take control of things that are going bad and fix them. Good customer support people "control the customer" (I put it in quotes because it's more "influence" or "calm down" than "control") by discussing things with them, explaining your side, understanding their side, perhaps negotiating with them -- bad ones, well, just look at the email exchange to see one example.

      That said, using the term "control the customer" in an interview why he's trying to explain himself after his really bad customer service was a big mistake -- it's too easy to take out of context, and even in-context it's rather damning after the original email exchange. He'd have done much better to say "control the situation" and even then there's better terms to use. Considering that he should have prepared carefully for this interview, flubs like this speak poorly of his PR skills.

      As it stands, his emails suggested that he treats all his customers like peons to be stepped on on his way to the big bucks, and unfortunately his interview didn't really change that.

      But he is right about one thing -- he's probably been similarly rude to dozens or maybe hundreds of customers like this in the past, and there's thousands of other people out there doing customer support jobs that have treated their customers like this ... and normally the most they get is a talking to by their boss or a lost sale. But this one time, he got so much more, and we all get to watch. Not that this is going to get him much sympathy -- lots of us have been treated similarly by customer service somewhere (or perhaps by somebody in actual power like the DMV, police, IRS, etc.) and we're enjoying seeing him get his.

    2. Re:Notable excerpt by sqlrob · · Score: 1

      That's the closest he's come to admitting failure.

      He was fully able to control the customer, but that requires controlling yourself which he can't manage.

    3. Re:Notable excerpt by Todd+Knarr · · Score: 2

      From the point of view of a PR person, this isn't exactly wrong. Setting expectations and such is a key part of doing customer support, and if the customer gets incorrect ideas about what's going to happen, the support person should attempt to bring them around (i.e. control the situation, which is to some degree controlling the customer.)

      That's not "controlling the customer", or even "controlling the situation". That's what we used to call "being clear and straight with the customer". And if they'd been that, the whole mess wouldnt've happened. If, when the delays happened, they'd've simply told customers what the problems were and what sort of delay customers could expect, the customer never would've been irate in the first place. The whole reason Mike was irate was because Paul was trying to conceal what was happening, convince Mike that things weren't as they really were, avoid discussing the actual problems and basically doing his best to not explain their side of things. That... never ends well.

      I see this with software all the time. The company's behind schedule on a feature, having problems with it, and there's a huge outcry building as customers get angry as they ask when it's going to be available and don't get a straight answer. And finally at a public event someone paints a senior company rep into a corner and forces them to finally come out and say what's happening. And the company reps are always shocked when the expected explosion from the customers fails to happen. The overall reaction is "Well then, why didn't you just say that! We can live with the delay, we just didn't like being jerked around and led to think it'd be happening when it wouldn't.". I've also seen when the company does clearly say "We're having problems, we don't know how long it'll take to clear them up, we don't have a better idea of the release date, and we'll be making an announcement when we do have a solid release date for you.". There's always a few people screaming about it, but the majority reaction is "Knock it off, guys. They've told us what's up, yelling at them isn't going to make it happen any faster.". And yet, despite decades of track record on this, some marketing/PR guys still seem to think that you have to keep the customers in the dark to keep them on the hook.

  11. The Simpsons had it right... by plsenjy · · Score: 1

    To stop those monsters 1-2-3,
    Here's a fresh new way that's trouble-free,
    It's got Paul Anka's guarantee...
    Guarantee void in Tennessee.
    Just don't look! Just don't look!
    Just don't look! Just don't look!
    Just don't look! Just don't look!

    --
    Glad I could help.
  12. I never got why this became so big by elrous0 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The whole thing looked way blown out of proportion to me. So this guy was having a rough spot in his life and was a little brusk and unprofessional in the initial email exchange. Conversely, the guy on the other end was WAY overboard on wanting that controller by Christmas (must be a helluva controller). And things just escalated from there to levels where they both sounded like children. Very unprofessional on Christoforo's part, for sure. But hardly worthy of the massive scorn he's gotten.

    I think he's really just become a stand-in for all this shitty customer service reps we've all encountered (particularly around Christmas). And he's taking the heat for a lot of shit that he had nothing to do with.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      . Conversely, the guy on the other end was WAY overboard on wanting that controller by Christmas (must be a helluva controller).

      Yeah. How dare he want his controller by X-mas when it was advertised to him that it would arrive in early December!? How dare he ask for an update on the ETA. How dare he get upset when the HEAD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS calls him a bitch!?

    2. Re:I never got why this became so big by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you knew how to spell brusque, maybe you'd also know why this became so big. It's about class.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:I never got why this became so big by Spectre · · Score: 5, Informative

      The whole thing looked way blown out of proportion to me. [...] Conversely, the guy on the other end was WAY overboard on wanting that controller by Christmas (must be a helluva controller). [...] Very unprofessional on Christoforo's part, for sure. But hardly worthy of the massive scorn he's gotten.

      The customer hardly went overboard, the company processing the order was in violation of federal regulations (when you place an order online that cannot be fulfilled within 30 days there are regulations that state you must contact the customer notifying them of the issue and providing the option to cancel or alter the order) as well as merchant agreements (both VISA and MasterCard prohibit charging the customer's account prior to shipping merchandise).

      As the customer service representative handling the order, not only was Christoforo "unprofessional" in lacking the ability to communicate in English (or, most likely, any other language), he was openly degrading toward the customer when it was pointed out the company he was representing was operating outside of the rules and regulations that governed their operation. This is an offense worthy of immediate termination at EVERY company I've worked for or had a contract with.

      I've certainly experienced bad customer service, but this goes so far beyond anything I've ever encountered that it is practically unbelievable ... if it weren't a story sourced from multiple reliable individuals and news services, I wouldn't take it at face value ... as it is, yes, this ought to be taught to every jerk trying to party through school toward their MBA.

      --
      "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
    4. Re:I never got why this became so big by twotacocombo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I worked customer service/tech support for seven years. We dealt with good customers, we dealt with bad customers, and we dealt with baaaad customers. Death threats were a weekly occurrence (we worked with people's money). At no point in my career did I ever see or hear anything that even came close to the magnitude of where this guy went with a simple request of 'wheres my stuff?'. This guy took abusing the customer to a new extreme, and he got caught and publicly shamed for it. This case in itself isn't one of those world-changing events, but it's more of a warning to other business people to treat everyone decently and with respect. You never know if the customer you just told to piss up a rope will quietly slink away, or wipe their ass with your reputation for the whole internet to see.

      And for those who say the customer is at all in the wrong here, how so? The guy had been very patient up to this point, and now he's fed up, so he spoke his mind. If the business wants his money, then they do what they need to make him happy. If they decide the benefit of this particular sale has become overshadowed by what ever burden he's placed upon them, then they advise him of such, immediately refund his money, and part ways. There's no need for all this drama. It's not as if the company has been trapped in an abusive relationship that only the customer has the power to end...

    5. Re:I never got why this became so big by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Conversely, the guy on the other end was WAY overboard on wanting that controller by Christmas (must be a helluva controller).

      Or, like many other people buying stuff before Christmas, it was intended as a gift. It is traditional to give Christmas presents at Christmas, so having something turn up in late January is a problem. This is presumably why he checked before ordering that the expected delivery date was early December...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:I never got why this became so big by randizzle3000 · · Score: 1

      How much does anyone want to bet that Ocean Marketting is a one-man shop? Christoforo is also the president according to LinkedIn.

    7. Re:I never got why this became so big by hjf · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Most of the douches that made this story "big" aren't really the kind that would act like they expected this guy to act. I've had my own shop so I "work in retail", face to face, and I'm a short-fused person. I can tell you, people can really get you because they think the "The customer is always right" card is a license to be assholes.

      I had a person throw come in to buy stuff, and when he paid he throw the money on the floor and say "come on now, pick it up. the customer's always right" (it had been escalating actually). I don't know what my face looked like at that time but judging from his expression, the guy almost shat his pants. I walked to the door and opened it. I took what he was buying and said "pick up your money and get the fuck out of here, and don't come back ever again". He tried to say it was a joke and stuff but I didn't care anymore.

      People need to understand two things:
      1) 'The customer is always right' means that a company should look for ways to please the customer. If the customer comes looking for something and you don't have it, you don't tell the customer "oh no X sucks, you need to buy Y". If customer wants X, you get him X. It doesn't mean the customer has a license to treat you like a slave. The salesman/customer service rep/tech support guy/whatever is just another person. And he will give you the same treatment you give him.

      2) You can yell and be mad and do all you want at a "customer service" agent. These guys usually can't do anything about your problem, they're just there to "take the heat". When you get mad at one of those guys, all you do is make HIS life miserable, and you get stressed. No one wins.

      I can assure you, most slashdotters wouldn't last a week. Hell, not even a day, when working for customer service. They would get violent, or just break down to tears. You need a really thick skin, and if you're whining about who's right and who's wrong in a site like slashdot, it just means you don't have what it takes.

    8. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He has a history of this that goes back years, read up on him, he's a real tool. He was way beyond unprofessional to the customer, he was abusive, and during his abuse he name dropped a bunch of industry people who he said fully supported him. The customer then CC'd on the rest of the emails, and that's when Mike/Gabe got involved. I think half a month with no real answers and severely disrespectful behavior from the ONLY person to contact at the company (seriously, ALL the contact info, no matter the route, led back to Christoforos) is more than enough to put up with before the internet equivalent of calling your local news consumer advocate report. And that's not even what happened. Christoforos decided to play "I'm mr-connected-guy" to Mike/Gabe and say that he couldn't ban him from PAX, even when its his own show. That's when things got posted to the internet.

      Guy deserves EVERYTHING he got, by my count he had at least 14 chances to make things right and blew it EVERY SINGLE TIME. He isn't taking heat for anything that he had nothing to do with. And now he still doesn't realize what he did wrong, and isn't sorry that he did it. Only that he got caught doing it.

    9. Re:I never got why this became so big by chispito · · Score: 1

      There is a difference between education, or a knack for spelling, and class.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    10. Re:I never got why this became so big by tys90 · · Score: 1

      Has he been having a rough spot for over a half of a year? See this website, which contained a post about Paul in June http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service

      His interview is a joke. One of his excuses is they caught him on a "bad day". Well, the correspondence that ended up on PA lasted almost two weeks. The guy has a lot of bad days that last weeks/months.

    11. Re:I never got why this became so big by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      There is a difference between education, or a knack for spelling, and class.

      Well, no, education and class are related. It can bump you up a half-notch or so. But in any case, there is a difference between correcting the words with the squiggly red lines under them, and not correcting them.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:I never got why this became so big by geekoid · · Score: 1

      It was promised to be delivered before XMas... so it's not unreasonable to want the controller by XMas. Even that, all he initially wanted was an actual ETA.
      The customer was not out of line in any way.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    13. Re:I never got why this became so big by residieu · · Score: 1

      He was also lying to the customer. On the 16th, he told the customer it would ship by the 17th. Then the next week he admitted that it was still going through customs. There's no way he could have thought they would ship the next day if they hadn't even made it through customs yet. A letter email said it was still shipping from China. He couldn't even be bothered to keep his excuses consistent.

    14. Re:I never got why this became so big by Sancho · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How dare he want his controller by X-mas when it was advertised to him that it would arrive in early December!? How dare he ask for an update on the ETA.

      I agree with you on these points, however:

      How dare he get upset when the HEAD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS calls him a bitch!?

      Well, the customer started the name-calling when he signed off his long e-mail with:

      p.p.s. Welcome to the internet, bitch. That’s how I roll.

    15. Re:I never got why this became so big by xnixman · · Score: 1

      Not really.

    16. Re:I never got why this became so big by nprz · · Score: 1

      It is a one-man shop, and he even got "Marketting" wrong.

    17. Re:I never got why this became so big by xnixman · · Score: 1

      I mean: Nat Rou1ly :)

    18. Re:I never got why this became so big by dcollins · · Score: 1

      "'The customer is always right' means that a company should look for ways to please the customer."

      I think it's false that "the customer is always right". However, what I think it means is larger-company internal dogma, coming from the top, and targeted at the peons on the bottom. In your example, you benefited from it being your "own shop", so you had the wherewithal to draw a line somewhere (including "don't come back ever again"). If you'd done that in a sufficiently large company, you'd probably be ordered by your boss to make an apology, regardless of how outrageously the customer was behaving.

      I agree that the customer in the PR story clearly went uncivil first, and I was aggravated with him first. But having made that cat-scratch, seeing Christoforo supernova in a display of stupidity, obscenity, plagiarized websites, stolen identities, and sociopathy, makes it a story on a different scale.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    19. Re:I never got why this became so big by Bucky24 · · Score: 2

      I can assure you, most slashdotters wouldn't last a week. Hell, not even a day, when working for customer service. They would get violent, or just break down to tears. You need a really thick skin, and if you're whining about who's right and who's wrong in a site like slashdot, it just means you don't have what it takes.

      Agreed. I work in the same room as Customer Service and I have a lot of respect for those guys. They put up with a ton of shit from customers.

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    20. Re:I never got why this became so big by hjf · · Score: 1

      Yes, the customer is always right is a phrase that should sound more in the "higher" positions of a company. The mid-term and long-term planning and R&D people.

      A story of how "the customer is always right": I sell YuGiOh! trading cards. They're $25 (in my currency. that's about USD5). People demanded that if they took a few I should give them a discount. The margins aren't really that big to make a significant discount so I checked what other shops were doing. Turns out they sell them for $30 each, or 4 for $100. I started doing the same, and customers were happy that I gave them a (false) discount. That's an example of where "the customer is always right" can get you.

      But salesperson and support guys can't do much about the "the customer is always right" mantra.

      Also, the fact that you'll have to make an apology means how fucked up the customers are. It's not "ok, no big deal" what they think when you apologize. It's a childish "HAHA you asshole. DAMN RIGHT i was right".

    21. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you allow yourself to be provoked by silly things like this, then you really shouldn't be in a customer facing role. There was no excuse for his behaviour.

    22. Re:I never got why this became so big by Homr+Zodyssey · · Score: 1

      I agree that the customer in the PR story clearly went uncivil first, and I was aggravated with him first.

      I disagree. " so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else" was the PR guy implying that the customer was being childish, when the customer was asking legitimate questions up to that point. That is the PR guy "going uncivil first".

    23. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's an example of a false offering. They are rather common. Just go to any bigger department store. They'll offer you discounts off an inflated price.

      Here's what you do if you like the Salesperson...leave, because he's an asshole charmer who will screw you a new one while you think his smiles mean he's doing you a favor.

      Better to find somebody who seems dull, boring and honest.

    24. Re:I never got why this became so big by next_ghost · · Score: 1

      That was pretty obvious from the beginning, wasn't it? Christoforo was way too arrogant for mere corporate drone but at the same time there's no way a big business owner like he claims to be would deal with customers directly.

    25. Re:I never got why this became so big by hjf · · Score: 1

      I tried being dull, boring, and honest. I found that people like being lied to. Weird, but if you ever work retail you will find out yourself.

    26. Re:I never got why this became so big by bfandreas · · Score: 1

      I hear you. While I don't work in retail and don't have to deal with punters like that we are currently in the process of firing an especially unreasonable customer ourselves.
      The customer his hardly ever right. Especially if they wade in with inflated expectations based on half knowledge. In my opinion this is totally ok and the very reason why advising them to your best experience and knowledge will see you through in the long run.
      This Christoforo guy missed a couple of key moments to resolves this in a way that would have made him shine. Apart from the demeanor.
      Dave said he needed one device as a Christmas present. That was an easy way to resolve this. I'd have asked him if this was his main concern and offered him a used/preliminary/beta device soon to be replaced by a brand new one so he would have at least something. It's an easy game of spotting the critical deadline. That's hardly rocket surgery. Also a bit of honesty would have gone a long way. Making promises which are out of your control to fulfill will always generate bad feelings.
      Always assume that your BS will be called and act accordingly. Unfortunately a bit of BS is part of the job.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    27. Re:I never got why this became so big by randizzle3000 · · Score: 1

      Yep, at first I was like, "What a jerk, he's totally going to get fired." Then I saw he was the president of his company.
      Then I was like, "Well he's not going to fire himself, then his company won't have any employees."

    28. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can assure you, most slashdotters wouldn't last a week. Hell, not even a day, when working for customer service.

      Translation: "Oh gee willikers... Making a fancy cup of joe ain't what I'd call customer service! Woe is me. :("

      Pick the money up and get back to work. :)

    29. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've worked in customer service and I don't see how the customer he went after asked for anything unreasonable. All he wanted was an honest answer for where his Christmas present was.

      Nevermind the attitude, or poor email response. I didn't see an apology for the backorder (or lack of communication about it) anywhere.

    30. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And? The prior mail from Christoforos included this:

      "Things happen in manufacturing if your unhappy you have 7 days from the day your item ships for a refund. You placed a pre order just like any software title the gets a date moved due to the tweaks and bugs not being worked out and GameStop or any other place holds your cash and im sure you don’t complain to activision or epic games so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself. Have a good day Dan."

      And even got the customer's name wrong.

    31. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I certainly see your point. I worked tech support and retail for years, and I got really sick of hearing how people would "have my job," and "you people are crooks" among other things. I don't think the customer really got into that territory in this case and Christoforo didn't bother with what we were trained to do, and that is DIFFUSE the situation. I've had people go into ranting, screaming, frothing tirades at me, and I did not start threatening them or being snide with them though, dear God I wanted to. You are totally right that some customers deserve to get kicked to the curb like you did or just given a refund and told their business is not welcome.

      This kind of thing happens every day. I think this one got big just because the guy didn't know when to stop and fueled the anger of the masses.

    32. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the customer started the name-calling when he signed off his long e-mail with:

      p.p.s. Welcome to the internet, bitch. That’s how I roll.

      I don't see how the actions of the customer matter at all. The customer represents himself. The sales rep is representing the company he works for or is contracted with. Put another way, the sales rep is payed to be courteous and respectful. The customer is paying for a product which, in this case, he still hasn't received.

    33. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Selective reading you have there? Go back and re-read and look how says what. The customer was polite from the start and only got a little wound up after the PR dick started insulting him.

      Most of the crap going back is from Penny Arcade's emails after the PR dick started lying.

    34. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if the customer started it, the correct answer to that is to say that you are sorry and invite them to continue when they have calmed down.

    35. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, the customer started the name-calling when he signed off his long e-mail with:

      p.p.s. Welcome to the internet, bitch. That's how I roll.

      That was after these two gems:

      put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else

      no one is special including you or any first time buyer

      Holding 100% of the funds for longer than the card processing networks and Federal Law allows, missing self imposed deadlines while holding funds, not proactively communicating on order status, not being clear on deadlines, not communicating clearly in general with poor grammar, saying he can't have a discount that new orders get when he's been waiting patiently, berating him, threatening to eBay the merchandise, and misspelling his name; I can see why he would flip a shit. That's just no way to treat a customer. IMHO even Dave left out the PS and PPS, I think Paul would still have acted like a fool.

    36. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, hjf, If I had known I was dealing with the owner of the shop, I would have never thrown the money on the floor.

    37. Re:I never got why this became so big by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Christ, this incident must have REALLY struck a chord. I post a VERY mild defense of the guy and I'm immediately modded flamebait and blasted by everyone. I've gotten less heat here for saying Windows is better than Linux. I'm surprised this guy doesn't have a lynch mob outside his apartment.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    38. Re:I never got why this became so big by dcollins · · Score: 1

      Interesting anecdote, thanks for sharing that.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    39. Re:I never got why this became so big by dcollins · · Score: 1

      At best I would call that one phrase "snarky" at best. It triggered from Dave with a V a thousand-word rant, with lots of all-capital sentences, and calling him a "bitch" at the end.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    40. Re:I never got why this became so big by BoberFett · · Score: 1

      Really? You think slashdotters can't handle customer service? I'd be willing to bet that many people around here started their careers on the help desk.

      In my first real job, I was a part time programmer, part time help desk, and I made damn well sure that after every call the customer went away happy. There were even times where I couldn't necessarily help the customer, it was some problem out of my control, and I'd still make sure that I put in the time to make them feel like at least I attempted to help before recommending they call their local PC repair shop to have them fix the OS. I never wanted anyeone to think I was just trying to get them out of my hair. And in return our customers were as loyal as they come. Much larger competitors (we were in the digital legal publishing business, where West Publishing was king, and we were a three man shop in the early days) would lose their customers to us all the time, many times because my customers loved me and the support I provided and would convince colleagues to switch. These were attorneys, people used to getting their way, and they sometimes called up and were downright bitchy. But I never lost my cool with a single one.

      There's simply no excuse for being an asshole to the people who are the reason you even have a job.

    41. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      False. It started with "big boy pants".

    42. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, default attitude for the support when dealing with a paying customer who's got troubles should be "We're sorry" with different implications.

      It's either "We're sorry (, but we're having some difficulties and are working on resolving them)", "We're sorry (to hear that, but it's not our fault and we can't do anything. I'll now politely wind down and finish this dialog)", and even when the client is an ass it's "We're sorry (that you were born an asshole, but I won't call you that until I hang up)"

      The client doesn't know and doesn't care for your troubles, but he has his own and they're incredibly important to him. Support's role is to help him get rid of his trouble if possible, and if not - don't let him bring his troubles over to pile on to company's. Paul's attitude was almost literal "BRING IT ON, BRO", and that's what he got.

    43. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, aren't you whining about who's right and who's wrong in a site like slashdot?

    44. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Said like a true douchebag. You are a fucking asshole.

      I have worked in customer service my whole life, as a tech consultant. EVERYTHING I DO is customer service.

      I've had every sort of angry asshole all over my ass, many many times. I've always been polite, nice, and stated the problem clearly and proposed a solution. To do otherwise means you are not cut out for this type of work. As you clearly are not. If it makes you angry to be treated poorly by upset customers, you need a new job. I've never stressed a minute of my life over being treated poorly, called names, etc. Who fucking cares? I get paid a lot of money to do what I do. I am also very good at it. Who cares what somebody says, complains about, how upset they are, calling names, freaking out, etc.

      Shit man, get a new job and quit being the "victim" of the people offering you MONEY to do your JOB. So the guy throws your money on the floor. You don't take it? Seriously? Isn't that your business? To take money from idiots who want your overpriced crap?

      You sir are a fucking tool. Get over your self, your pride and your smug attitude towards those who offer you a living. Take it like a man, or do something else. Jesus.

    45. Re:I never got why this became so big by mmclure · · Score: 1

      I spent 13 years in Tech Support. I had bad days, but I would _never_ have spoken to a customer in that fashion, even when they were abusive. The proper response to an abusive customer is to push them up the chain so my manager could defuse the situation. The mute button is your friend.

    46. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At best I would call that one phrase "snarky" at best. It triggered from Dave with a V a thousand-word rant, with lots of all-capital sentences, and calling him a "bitch" at the end.

      You're like a football ref who throws the flag for retaliation because he didn't see who started it, except you don't have the excuse of being unable to see who started it. You're ignoring the lengthy sequence of interactions where Paul fed Dave tons of bullshit about the status of the order, and Dave grinned and bore it because he was trying to be understanding. Getting told that you need to put on your big boy pants when you're the one who has been wearing them all along would not feel like minor snark to the recipient.

    47. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not an example of a "false offering", it's an example of marking up the margin on single-item sales and offering volume discounts at close-to-cost. Usually there is a volume discount when you buy in bulk, because it takes more manpower to process 10 orders for 1 item than it does to process 1 order for 10 items, so the price-per-item for 1 is correspondingly higher than the price-per-item if you buy 10. That's pretty typical.

      He was selling the items at close-to-cost already, and people thought they should be getting an additional volume discount; of course he couldn't do that without losing money. He simply raised the price on single items and his "volume discount" was the difference between his original price and the higher price.

      Kinda makes me wonder, though, if some of the "customers" weren't competitors who had noticed him undercutting their prices, knowing that he was probably selling them at rock-bottom price, and asking for volume discounts (knowing he couldn't afford to) in the hopes that he'd raise his single-card prices to match theirs.

    48. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had a person throw come in to buy stuff, and when he paid he throw the money on the floor and say "come on now, pick it up. the customer's always right" (it had been escalating actually). I don't know what my face looked like at that time but judging from his expression, the guy almost shat his pants. I walked to the door and opened it. I took what he was buying and said "pick up your money and get the fuck out of here, and don't come back ever again". He tried to say it was a joke and stuff but I didn't care anymore.

      To me, that still sounds more respectful than Paul's treatment of Dave. And Dave wasn't even trying to be hostile. Full credit to you for keeping your cool under circumstances other people may have thrown a punch.

    49. Re:I never got why this became so big by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 1

      But in any case, there is a difference between correcting the words with the squiggly red lines under them, and not correcting them.

      Does Internet Explorer have spellcheck yet?

    50. Re:I never got why this became so big by dcollins · · Score: 1

      Wow; for some reason your comment generated a whole helluva lot of Anonymous Coward objections. Your point is, of course, demonstrably correct. Regardless of how supernova-crazy Christoforo turned out to be afterwards.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    51. Re:I never got why this became so big by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1) This seems to be a pervasive pattern in his life, not a "rough spot"

      2) The customer stated very clearly he was wanting the controller by Christmas because it was a Christmas present for someone in his life. Kinda ruins the Christmas-present-tradition if it's given in late January. Even though it should've been shipped two months prior.

      3) Yeah, the intensity of the internet flame is almost certainly because of personal experiences with being screwed over by someone who thought they were too "big" to deal with someone who doesn't matter. Don't see how that means he doesn't deserve to lose his career in "social media" based public relations. If anything, this is a natural and very necessary event ending a career that should have never existed in the first place.

    52. Re:I never got why this became so big by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      But in any case, there is a difference between correcting the words with the squiggly red lines under them, and not correcting them.

      Does Internet Explorer have spellcheck yet?

      I wouldn't know, because I don't use Aieeee! Another sign of class.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    53. Re:I never got why this became so big by Sancho · · Score: 1

      Yeah.

      Honestly, I would have fired the customer at that point. There is no need to take abuse, though as one of the ACs correctly point out, the escalation really did probably start with the OceanMarketting (sic) guy.

  13. He's sorry he got caught by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the mother of all non-apology apologies. He's not sorry for the way he behaved--he's sorry he got caught.

    "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better." Really? Please. It doesn't matter WHO was on the other end of that email, you don't act that way. This clown deserves everything he's gotten over the last few days.

  14. Schadenfreude by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Its great, because this guy is getting MASSIVELY screwed right now. I would feel bad for the guy, except that he's a gigantic asshole, and isn't even sincerely apologetic.

    Even then though, I start to feel like maybe this all just got out of hand...

    Then you read the part where Ocean Marketing's website was DIRECTLY PLAGIARIZED from websites like forbes.com.
    Thats it, no more excuses. This man is A CON ARTIST. He has been running a SCAM. He has this coming 100%

    Oh, the lulz.

    --
    GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
    1. Re:Schadenfreude by Tyr07 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yea good, maybe next when some 12 year old beaks off in Halo we can find out who they are and send them thousand of threatening emails and harass them.

      People are threatening his child anyway, what, just going a tiny bit further seems way to much?

      He should be affected professionally, not harassed like this in his personal life. How would you like it if someone thought your post here on slashdot made you a super asshole and decided you deserved a taste of the same medicine? So now you yourself have 7000+ spam threats and phone calls threatening your family.

      That sounds good to you?

    2. Re:Schadenfreude by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 1

      I was referring more to the fallout with his company, how he will likely lose all business and be unable to get any work in PR.

      --
      GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
    3. Re:Schadenfreude by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

      Completely agree with that. His professional career in that field should likely be ended.

      I apologize for misinterpreting what you said.

    4. Re:Schadenfreude by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 1

      Its cool. :) I was ambiguous.
      Yeah, the harassment on the phone and email is going a little too far, especially crowdsourced to penny-arcade. He's such a huge jerk, and he doesn't seem at all to feel bad or even understand what he did wrong, so I'm a little okay with that; he's not being hurt, just constantly annoyed... but after 24 hours certainly that can get excessive. So, yeah.

      But sadly the internet is a big place full of lots of people, and several seem to have gone too far, missed the point, and are being gigantic jerks themselves. Harassing his wife or child is obviously wrong, and threatening them is actually more criminal than anything Christoforo did himself.

      --
      GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
    5. Re:Schadenfreude by Homr+Zodyssey · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Have you read the 7000+ death threats to his family? I've only read that he claims to have gotten them. He's a liar about other things, and so he's not to be believed. Until they are all posted in a publicly available forum, I won't believe him. Even then, I'd eye them with suspicion. He has earned this distrust. Perhaps he should put on his big boy hat and deal with that?

    6. Re:Schadenfreude by jeffmeden · · Score: 1

      The absolute best part of this is the applicability of Wheaton's Law, part of a speech that was ironically delivered *at* PAX, which this guy clearly was "too good" to pay attention to:

      Don't Be A Dick. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_Wheaton#Wheaton.27s_Law )

      Full stop, say no more, we are through. If he knew of this simple rule he might still have a job.

    7. Re:Schadenfreude by Corbets · · Score: 1

      Completely agree with that. His professional career in that field should likely be ended.

      I apologize for misinterpreting what you said.

      You just demonstrated a rather basic skill which Christoforo apparently lacks.

    8. Re:Schadenfreude by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only source of that information, regarding death threats to his family, is the douche himself. He has been outed as a pathological liar and a sociopath. So, if you believe his word on that, or in any issue whatsoever, then you must do it on your responsibility. I don't believe him.

    9. Re:Schadenfreude by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 1

      Haha, Mike K from Penny Arcade even cast doubt as to whether he HAS a wife or child :P Not sure, so I guess I'll take him on the benefit of the doubt that there are death threats. That said, you're absolutely right, so far his MO has been lying and misinforming left and right to try to cover his own ass. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he only got spammed with some internet memes, and he called it death threats to get sympathy. Still, we don't know.

      --
      GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
    10. Re:Schadenfreude by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

      Don't need to believe him.

      Ever seen a something awful phone number flame? People are pretty dispicable, especially when they think they're invisible.

      If you think no one on the internet would care enough or is petty enough to threaten physical violence over a phone call to this guy for this, maybe someone who's had bad customer service before, I don't know, I'd put to question a level naivety in regards to this matter.

      I could be wrong and you might be right, but I find the odds are against you that he didn't receive any threats.

  15. Typical... by AngryDeuce · · Score: 2

    This guy still diesn't get it. He blames everyone else, they were "being a bully" or acting like a "punk or jerk".

    Then there's this gem: "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened. I've dealt with thousands and thousands of customers with similar complaints, they were all asking the same question." Control the customer? When has anyone been able to "control the customer"? Where the hell did he learn to provide customer service? Even in Fast Food they're trained better than that...

    How fucking clueless can someone be? It boggles the mind that this guy actually worked as a professional in any industry, let alone one that focuses on these sort of interactions.

    What an idiot...

    1. Re:Typical... by SJHillman · · Score: 1

      I can see what he meant by "control the customer" - most customer service would call it something like managing customer expectations - but that is the way way way way way wrong way to say it... especially in an interview.

    2. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 5, Informative

      You don't know shit.

      He's just being politically incorrect. He shouldn't have said "control the customer", because it sounds bad. But believe me, there are ways to do it.

      You have no idea the jedi tricks these people can pull on you, and you don't even notice and fall right into their trap. How do you think "social engineering" works?

      Let me teach you a little bit:

      B is the caller, let's say a bank. C is the customer ("victim" if you want a politically incorrect term).

      B: Hello?
      C: Good day sir, is this John Doe?
      B: Yes, who's this? --"yes" #1
      C: This is X from Bank Y, do you have a minute? -- it's more than a minute, but if i say "a minute" i'm more likely to get your attention
      B: Um...okay? --didn't say yes, try again
      C: Excuse me? I can't hear you?
      B: Yes, I have a minute --- "yes" #2
      C: Oh very good. Just a minute, I'll check the computer...ohh it's slow today, it's one of those days, how is your day? -- fake slow day to get him into small talk
      B: I'm doing fine
      C: Oh it's so good to hear you're having a good day, it's been crazy here! --show him how good he is, and how bad you are, so he'll feel sorry for you
      B: Oh i see, yes, it's been good --great, you got him on a positive mood!
      C: OK, here we are.. let me check, are you John F. Doe, yes? - ask with yes, not "right". you want him to say "yes", not "right
      B: Right -- try again
      C: Excuse me? I can't hear you
      B: Yes, I'm John F. Doe
      C: Oh ok, and your address is 123 Fake St.?
      B: Yes. --good
      C: And your date of birth is 12/23/55?
      B: Yes ---ooh man, we're on a roll!
      C: Oh OK, everything sounds right. So, let me tell you about the deal we got for you: because you've been a great customer to us, we're offering a new *whatever* blah blah blah

      then you explain how much he's gaining from this "deal", why he wants it, etc.

      Why did i make such an emphasis on getting a YES answer? Because ultimately you're going to ask him if he wants, say, a new credit card. You want him to say "yes", not "right", "uh-huh", "OK". You need a "yes". So you ask him a lot of questions that will get him saying "yes", so he's more willing to say "yes" later on.

      THAT's how it works. THAT's what "controlling" a customer is. When you get a call from some sales person you say "I'm not interested" and hang up right away. The moment you let them speak, they get into your head. They have all sorts of tricks to get even the most "uninterested" person in buying things they don't want or need. This has been true for decades. They have teams of psychologysts to understand people, and millions of hours of conversations to learn from.

    3. Re:Typical... by equex · · Score: 1

      This is Telemarketing 101. We learned this on the first training day. Nothing new. It's called the 'Positive Response' trick.

      --
      Can I light a sig ?
    4. Re:Typical... by Dripdry · · Score: 1

      The above poster is right, however I'd venture to say that developing a healthy sense of logic and willpower isn't necessarily bad either. Some of us are business to help people as well as make a living, so getting shut out because so many are shady makes it awfully tough, especially when the worst offenders are often the most charming and convincing. I worked in a sales office where they taught ALL of this stuff, hammered it into us. If you didn't learn and excel you were pushed out, and they presented the stuff in such a way as to seem justifiable. I couldn't sleep at night thinking about doing this to people, whatever excuses I heard. It was demoralizing, and it got me pretty depressed over a short period of time. The scary part is that this was in finance, getting people to handover hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars with sub-par advice backing up the recommendations. WATCH OUT: Most financial people I've met start in a sales office, and most learn the same techniques. They only float if they can perform these tasks without batting an eye. Having dealt with assigned clients after they got essentially swindled by a coworker, and talking to people who are fanatical about defending clearly erroneous financial advice... it's no wonder our financial system is in such disarray.

      --
      -
    5. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 2

      Yes.

    6. Re:Typical... by repapetilto · · Score: 3, Informative

      That gave me a headache... You mixed up the caller and customer.

    7. Re:Typical... by Theaetetus · · Score: 1

      THAT's how it works. THAT's what "controlling" a customer is. When you get a call from some sales person you say "I'm not interested" and hang up right away. The moment you let them speak, they get into your head. They have all sorts of tricks to get even the most "uninterested" person in buying things they don't want or need. This has been true for decades. They have teams of psychologysts to understand people, and millions of hours of conversations to learn from.

      The Force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded. The rest of us, not so much.

    8. Re:Typical... by demonbug · · Score: 2

      You don't know shit.

      He's just being politically incorrect. He shouldn't have said "control the customer", because it sounds bad. But believe me, there are ways to do it.

      You have no idea the jedi tricks these people can pull on you, and you don't even notice and fall right into their trap. How do you think "social engineering" works?

      Let me teach you a little bit:

      B is the caller, let's say a bank. C is the customer ("victim" if you want a politically incorrect term).

      B: Hello?
      C: Good day sir, is this John Doe?
      B: Yes, who's this? --"yes" #1
      C: This is X from Bank Y, do you have a minute? -- it's more than a minute, but if i say "a minute" i'm more likely to get your attention
      B: Um...okay? --didn't say yes, try again
      C: Excuse me? I can't hear you?
      B: Yes, I have a minute --- "yes" #2
      C: Oh very good. Just a minute, I'll check the computer...ohh it's slow today, it's one of those days, how is your day? -- fake slow day to get him into small talk
      B: I'm doing fine
      C: Oh it's so good to hear you're having a good day, it's been crazy here! --show him how good he is, and how bad you are, so he'll feel sorry for you
      B: Oh i see, yes, it's been good --great, you got him on a positive mood!
      C: OK, here we are.. let me check, are you John F. Doe, yes? - ask with yes, not "right". you want him to say "yes", not "right
      B: Right -- try again
      C: Excuse me? I can't hear you
      B: Yes, I'm John F. Doe
      C: Oh ok, and your address is 123 Fake St.?
      B: Yes. --good
      C: And your date of birth is 12/23/55?
      B: Yes ---ooh man, we're on a roll!
      C: Oh OK, everything sounds right. So, let me tell you about the deal we got for you: because you've been a great customer to us, we're offering a new *whatever* blah blah blah

      then you explain how much he's gaining from this "deal", why he wants it, etc.

      Why did i make such an emphasis on getting a YES answer? Because ultimately you're going to ask him if he wants, say, a new credit card. You want him to say "yes", not "right", "uh-huh", "OK". You need a "yes". So you ask him a lot of questions that will get him saying "yes", so he's more willing to say "yes" later on.

      THAT's how it works. THAT's what "controlling" a customer is. When you get a call from some sales person you say "I'm not interested" and hang up right away. The moment you let them speak, they get into your head. They have all sorts of tricks to get even the most "uninterested" person in buying things they don't want or need. This has been true for decades. They have teams of psychologysts to understand people, and millions of hours of conversations to learn from.

      Lol, sounds like a "customer service" idealized script (though you mixed up B and C). Now the reality:

      C: "Good day sir, is this John Doe?"
      B: "This is him, what's this call about?"
      C: "We are offering a special deal for our best custo..."
      B: "No thanks, I'm not interested." *click*

      Try your BS tricks of trying to get me to repeat my answer or not answer my question and I'll just hang up sooner.

      No way in hell I would confirm all that information on a cold call anyway, and no way I would stay on the line that long for an unsolicited call in any case. But then, I've long since lost any feeling that I need to be polite to marketeers - I don't waste time being overtly rude or insulting to the poor souls staffing the call center, but I do end the call quickly so they can move on to the next victim.

    9. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 1

      Yeah I realized that after i hit submit. I really need to double check.

    10. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 2

      Keep telling yourself that, kid.

    11. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 1

      Yes. That's exactly what I do.

      But i have a friend now working on that. He says it works. And I guess it does -- if it didn't work, they wouldn't spend money on it.

    12. Re:Typical... by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      Why the hell did you say "B" meant bank and "C" meant customer and then in the dialogue used "B" for customer and "C" for bank? It took me about 5 minutes (and several mental seg faults) to straighten that out.

    13. Re:Typical... by equex · · Score: 1

      I'd like to point out here that I do not work in telemarketing anymore :D It's over 10 years ago!

      --
      Can I light a sig ?
    14. Re:Typical... by jesseck · · Score: 1

      You know, I think you've blown my mind... it sounds like the Customer/Vicitim called the Bank to sell/scam the Bank's employee. Did I read this right? Or, better yet, maybe you offer credit cards to salespeople who call you (in this case, the bank).

    15. Re:Typical... by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      That's exactly it - you don't feel like you should be polite to cold-calling marketers. They're after the people who do feel like they should be polite. Get a polite person saying "yes" enough times, and eventually you have a sale.

    16. Re:Typical... by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      No, it's a bank calling a customer to try to sell them on adding $premium_feature to their current service. And he got "B" and "C" mixed up. Paste into a text editor and do a global search-and-replace of "B:" -> "Customer:" and "C:" -> "Bank:" to make it readable.

    17. Re:Typical... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oooh, so ‘controlling the customer’ means ‘lying to the customer’, you mean?

    18. Re:Typical... by hey! · · Score: 1

      Well, it *is* about controlling the customer *within the limits of what can feasibly be done*. Unfortunately, that starts with controlling yourself.

      A successful interaction between two parties is one where both parties believe they can get what they want out of the other party, and thus each side feels a measure of "control". That means letting objective value govern your behavior, not instant emotional gratification. Getting *personal* turns the situation into a struggle which inflates costs and offers no satisfactory outcome for either party -- at least not since they outlawed dueling.

      When the other guy gets personal first, self-control *feels* like an injustice to yourself, but in fact it's a way to obtain the most favorable outcome for yourself. In this case, given that the customer wanted the product, he might well be content to receive his widget late at the cost of nothing more than a sympathetic and informative response to his query. Even after the initial bungle he was telegraphing that he'd be happy with some kind of token response -- an apology and one of those T-shirts you were going to give away at CES might have done the trick.

      When faced with a hostile customer, it's not easy to keep your cool and do the right thing. That's why we had to invent the word "professionalism" to describe a level of self-control, level-headedness and foresight that not everyone can achieve.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    19. Re:Typical... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost scary the sheer fact that a conversation like that DOES even work. It could be that I'm paranoid and skeptical, but to date I have yet to fall for anyone selling me shit like that. Unless it's something I'm specifically looking to get, any offers or deals that are put forth to me are summarily shot down.

      On the plus side though, if it's on the phone and it's a number I don't recognize, I start out saying 'hello' in a russian accent. If it turns out it's someone I know, they know why I did that. If it's a sales pitch, I continue on in a russian accent, screwing with them for a while, wasting their time and yammering on about aliens, or technology being evil, or whatever idiocy comes to mind.

    20. Re:Typical... by White+Flame · · Score: 1

      There is a strong selection bias here. Your friend spends a lot of time with people where it works, and very little time on people who just hang up.

    21. Re:Typical... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But then, I've long since lost any feeling that I need to be polite to marketeers - I don't waste time being overtly rude or insulting to the poor souls staffing the call center, but I do end the call quickly so they can move on to the next victim.

      I like giving a few quick wishy washy almost inaudible 'yes' answers to get them talking, then just put down the phone and go back to browsing the Internet or whatever. Sometimes they'll keep giving the hard-sell spiel for minutes. Gets it over fast for me and wastes their time, the best combination!

    22. Re:Typical... by hjf · · Score: 1

      Um no, I mean "works" as in "you actually get enough customers that you can pay the telemarketers and other costs".

      Companies wouldn't be bothering you for no reason. If they keep calling you is because they get money from those calls (from those who don't hang up, of course).

    23. Re:Typical... by White+Flame · · Score: 1

      Right, you are agreeing with me.

      Consider junk mail and spam. There are ridiculously low sub-1% positive responses on those, yet that's enough to make it worthwhile. What's the conversion rate on unsolicited phone sales?

      It's the same thing with any sort of sales tactics: Just because something works on enough people to make it profitable does not mean that that's what commonly works on everybody, or even most people. It only means that there is a large enough sliver of people who fall into it to make it profitable. The selection bias trains the sales people to think that the majority of people can be swayed in such a way, but the numbers show the opposite.

    24. Re:Typical... by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Normally when anybody calls to sell something, they dial my cell and I get angry at them for it, I immediately tell them what I think of them and of their company. Then I get them to tell me they will stop, only then I hang up.

    25. Re:Typical... by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

      Except here's the thing:

      This guy has proven, incontrovertibly, that he has no fucking aptitude WHAT SO EVER at public relations, customer service, marketing, being a decent human being, etc. and so on.

      You and everyone else trying to say that he was just being blunt about "control the customer" are missing that.

      Yes, real professionals in the field absolutely do know how to manage a customer's expectations and, to some extent, their mood and responses. This guy is just a bully, and I believe he meant the term literally - he wanted to control the customer as in beat on him until Dave with a V was cowed, backed down, and meekly took what this guy felt like giving him.

      I think this guy might have one time tried to read a book on sales, saw the term "call control" or "customer management" and didn't bother reading past that, assuming that it just meant "beat the shit out of people to get what you want."

      Seriously, don't be naive - there's literally zero evidence that this guy has any clue what he's doing, or in fact that he's even a decent human being. None.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    26. Re:Typical... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But why is the customer trying to get the guy from the bank to sign up for a credit card?

    27. Re:Typical... by dcollins · · Score: 1

      Actually, just recently I've started to use this as a low-risk opportunity for negotiation/assertiveness practice for myself (a tiny bit "Boiler Room"-esque, perhaps). The last call where I went "no.. no... no" to the same question about 6 times I felt was not bad exercise. Also scratches my curiosity about exactly how long their script is before they hang up on me.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    28. Re:Typical... by nothings · · Score: 1
      [citation needed]

      (That it WORKS, not that people try it.)

  16. Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail! by bWareiWare.co.uk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not to be clinical here but a thousand times as many people now know about the Avenger then before.
    If the product dose what it is design to, most of its target market (including Dave) won't be put off by a 1 month delay or a poor choice of PR firm. The whole fiasco is almost certainly a net positive for the product's sales.

  17. The First Law of Holes by Torqued · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone needs to tell this guy about the First Law of Holes: "When you find yourself in one, stop digging!!"

    1. Re:The First Law of Holes by Kjella · · Score: 2

      I think he's going for the "or dig really, really far and you'll come out on the other side" alternative. Which works even less in the abstract sense than the literal one.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:The First Law of Holes by TBedsaul · · Score: 2

      Christoforo's Law: "When you find yourself being a hole, stop talking!".

    3. Re:The First Law of Holes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After reading the back story - I then took your post as: The First Law of A$$ Holes.

    4. Re:The First Law of Holes by mitzoe · · Score: 2

      Or "the biggest ones start with A."

    5. Re:The First Law of Holes by drussell · · Score: 1

      Or Chief Wiggum...

      "No, no... Dig UP, stupid..."

    6. Re:The First Law of Holes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Second Law of Holes is we do not talk about holes.

  18. He could, but probably won't, make a fortune. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A lot of PR people are assholes. I think, in many cases, it helps. If this guy was smart, he could turn this into a ton of money. But, based on this follow up interview, it doesn't seem like he is positioning himself to do that. I almost think he needs to hire a PR person that is an even bigger asshole, but who is also smarter, to turn this enormous flash of notoriety into something more lasting.

    1. Re:He could, but probably won't, make a fortune. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I found rather amusing is how he references his age in one email as an appeal to authority re: his maturity, or more specifically the immaturity of the customer. Thirty-Eight ... 38 ... he is THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD and now we know he is apparently married with a 2mo son. Lets put that into a little bit of context shall we:

      If you are in your late 30', take a look at yourself (I personally fit into this bracket) ...
      If you are younger than 35, consider friends/co-workers, maybe even parents, who are in their late thirties ...
      If you are older than 45, consider you friends/co-workers, maybe even children, who are in their late thirties ...

      Now take a look back at Mr. Christoforo ... comical isn't it. Really it once again proves the rule that anyone who feels the need to announce how $adjective they are really are quite the opposite.

  19. A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

    We may want to insult him for the way he treated a customer, as we're all customers are one point or another so it hits a nerve. But let's face it, a lot of people who are disgusted with him aren't any better.

    Everyone started to flame him, spam his email accounts, call him and threaten him and his wife? I mean they even brought his two year old son into this.

    It's a shame day not only for him and the way he treated a customer, but for the rest of us on the internet as well for the way we responded to him.

    This really has been blown way out, people should leave him alone and maybe not use him as a business as punishment, but not threatening phone calls etc.

    1. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Agreed.

      He fucked up *professionally* so he should suffer *professionally*. His family did not vouch to be brought into this and his personal life should not suffer as such. I hope he never gets work in PR or customer relations ever again but that doesn't mean he wouldn't do good work as a debt collector or some other form of douchebaggery bully scheme.

    2. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 2

      No, he brought his son into it: "Your sites amateur at best my son could put together a better site than yours and you run PAX ??"

      I think everyone should keep hammering at him. His arrogance is there because all his life he thought he could get away with it, it's time he and others like him learn that they can't. And my impression of the guy is that he has no redeeming values -- nothing to say one can stand his a-holeness because he has something else to give. (E.g. Jobs.) So he deserves all the lack of sleep he's going to get.

    3. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wife works there. But the kid should be not be pulled into this.

    4. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If he's an "AngryPimp" and his wife works for him?!?!?

    5. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Everyone started to flame him, spam his email accounts, call him and threaten him and his wife? I mean they even brought his two year old son into this.

      I would agree with you, if not for the fact that there is zero evidence that anyone, let alone "everyone" (here come the Hyperbole Police, coming to take to to Exaggerationtraz) has made any threats to him or his family, outside Christoforo claiming that they have.

      Considering this guy is a class-A lying, egomaniacal asshole, I would suggest taking any claims he makes with a very large amount of NaCl.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    6. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Tyr07 · · Score: 2

      Wait, because of a couple of comments, you're saying his entire family deserves to be threatened with physical violence?

      Maybe I'm interpreting what you said wrong, but it sounds to me like being a douche in an email warrants violent threats against children.
      If that's how this world works, then what, next time some customer is a complete douche to me for absolutely no reason, I have the right to threaten their family with physical violence now?

      Just because he mentions his son using it to insult someone else doesn't mean you have the right to insult the child back. His kid did nothing and knows nothing of what's happening. Would you punish all kids for their parents?

    7. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

      If there are no phone calls threats etc to his family, then what I said doesn't matter at all.

      But let's think about it, it's the day of the internet, people can make anon calls. We've seen the worse of the worse on the internet.

      I really don't put it beyond people's capability to make a threatening phone call including his family, in fact I would almost guarantee it would happen.
      Maybe I just don't have a lot of faith in humanity but it doesn't seem far fetched at all. I'm sure people have done it for far less.

    8. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by YouWantFriesWithThat · · Score: 2

      is there any evidence that anyone "involved" his wife and son? the only place i read that was in his email, and he is not very credible...

    9. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      I really don't put it beyond people's capability to make a threatening phone call including his family, in fact I would almost guarantee it would happen.

      You're probably right in that, and I'm not saying that doing so is OK at any time for any reason, but A) that doesn't excuse Christoforo's treatment of the customer, and B) I'm hard pressed to believe that the issue is as big a deal as Christoforo wants everyone to believe, considering the guy is a lying asshole. He may have gotten one or two, or even a dozen messages to that effect, but I would bet dollars to pesos not nearly the volume he's claiming.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    10. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour. It's unacceptable and I do believe he should suffer professionally for it.

      But as for how many people are harassing him, some simple math.

      If 10 million people read the story, and only 10% actually care. That's a million people annoyed with him. If 1% of that million people decide to write something about him, that's 10,000 people sending emails or posts online. If 1% of those people decide to make threats, that's still 100 people making physical threats.

      I feel only one threat of physical violence over this is one to many, never mind at least 100.

      Maybe he's being over the top, but let's face it, there's a lot of people on the internet, and a lot of them aren't very nice.

    11. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by dangitman · · Score: 1

      Who was it that made violent threats against his child? I haven't seen any evidence for this claim.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    12. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are we sure he has a wife and kid?

    13. Re:A lot of people aren't any better than this guy by Tyr07 · · Score: 1

      It's the internet.

      It's possible that no one did, but let's be realistic. If 1% of people who actually cared about what this guy did, that's still probably like 10,000 people. I'm sure a million people viewed this. If 1% of those 10,000 people are douchey enough to make threats of violence to his family, that's still 100 people.

      One threat is one too many, never mind 100.

      I've seen people get a lot of threats when their number is posted on something like something awful and someone says "hey, this guy is a jerk, he did X'

      He told off penny-arcade which has a lot of dedicated supporters, and they posted it on their front page. Way more exposure.

      I'd say there's an 80-95% chance that he's had some physical threats made to his family.

  20. Re:No thanks by poetmatt · · Score: 1

    please, let us continue to enjoy his cretinous existence and villify it further, so that he may enjoy the karma which he still cannot acknowledge.

    I'm pretty sure that unless this guy hits rock bottom (which he won't), that he will never learn from this experience. The wholehearted lack of apology and the "I haven't lost clients" part basically shows that he hasn't learn shit from this.

  21. Nice Pic by FrankDrebin · · Score: 2

    Just looked up recalcitrant in the dictionary, there was a little picture of this grinning douchebag in shades and a bandana.

    --
    Anybody want a peanut?
  22. 'Roid Rage by Sporkinum · · Score: 5, Informative
    --
    "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    1. Re:'Roid Rage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Possibly the best anti-roid advert ever. Even this Christoforo guy is one day going to look back at his steroid days and wish he never touched the stuff. As stupid as this exchange between him and the customer was, I can't really hate him any more than I could hate an alcoholic who shows up at the office drunk - the guy has a problem and needs help, whether he understands it or not.

    2. Re:'Roid Rage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw that headline, assumed they were talking about hemorrhoids. Seemed to fit better with Pauls experssions in his facebook pics.

    3. Re:'Roid Rage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Someone willing to invest a bit of time should try and apply Authorship Identification using JStylo to these posts. Perhaps a bit overkill...

  23. What does a PR person do, exactly? by tspaghetti · · Score: 1

    The way he responded wouldn't even be appropriate if the customer were directly, personally insulting him to start off with. As a PR guy, you have to hold your tongue, whether the person you're talking to is internet famous or not.

    1. Re:What does a PR person do, exactly? by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Just watched The Enforcer last night. In Harry Callahan's words, they "jerk off the media".

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  24. Still and idiot by Monoman · · Score: 1

    So he is out poorly trying to straighten things out when the real tragedy is that the innocent product maker is getting burned. People were harassing the product maker over this guy's moronic behavior. Let that dumbass change his name if he wants to get back in the biz.

    --
    Keep the Classic Slashdot.
    1. Re:Still and idiot by Monoman · · Score: 1

      I really need to be able to edit my posts after I commit. :-)

      --
      Keep the Classic Slashdot.
    2. Re:Still and idiot by Steauengeglase · · Score: 2

      In the end, they did the right thing by losing Ocean Marketing, I'd imagine if they (very publicly) gave away a number of units to their indented customers (disabled gamers), they could walk away from this fiasco being THE brand in their field. Now I know there is a company called N-Control when I think about what controller adapter to get for someone with a disability. If they can keep the goodwill they have a market cornered. I'd call that a net positive.

    3. Re:Still and idiot by citizenr · · Score: 1

      So he is out poorly trying to straighten things out when the real tragedy is that the innocent product maker is getting burned. People were harassing the product maker over this guy's moronic behavior.

      People are harassing some Chinese fly by night manufacturing plant? Sales office in US is NOT a "product maker". If the product is good Chinese will keep making clones. Nothing lost.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
  25. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by plover · · Score: 1

    That's a helluva good point. Maybe this guy is really the most talented "marketter" ever. The product really does look useful, and I never would have heard of it if it weren't for the boing-boing story.

    But it sure seems like a one-trick pony. I wouldn't hire this ass-clown to handle customer service complaints at a collection agency. His best bet now is to find a job as a sewer unblocker or ditch digger.

    --
    John
  26. ...but he didn't say that by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    "I'm sorry for being a hostile, juvenile ...." is expected, but is impossible to figure out if it's true or not.

    Did he ever actually say that (paraphrased I realize!)? If so I certainly missed it. In fact the whole thing did not read like any sort of apology at all.

    1. Re:...but he didn't say that by hrvatska · · Score: 1

      More of an explanation than an apology. Sort of how a child will explain that they're not at fault for hitting someone with a stick they were swinging about because they didn't mean for it to happen.

    2. Re:...but he didn't say that by plover · · Score: 1

      No, he never said anything like that, which is why I think he's at least being truthful. Had he fumbled out a press-conference-ready apology, it probably would have been a lie.

      The guy's in the position of deciding if it's better to be an honest jerk, or a dishonest weasel. I just noticed that he's still an honest jerk.It may not be much better than nothing, but it's slightly better than nothing.

      --
      John
  27. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good for Avenger, but Ocean Marketing is still getting drug through the dirt badly. Avenger did the right thing to distance themselves from that guy.

  28. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Not to be clinical here but a thousand times as many people now know about the Avenger then before.
    If the product dose what it is design to, most of its target market (including Dave) won't be put off by a 1 month delay or a poor choice of PR firm. The whole fiasco is almost certainly a net positive for the product's sales.

    And yet, even given all that, N-Control has absolutely nothing to lose by dumping Ocean Marketing, and plenty to lose by keeping them. This Streisand Effect is a one-off for Ocean.

    If Ocean is smart, they'll fold up shop, liquidate, and open as some other business somewhere else, with Paul under an alias.

  29. It is a misunderstanding. by mosb1000 · · Score: 2

    What people fail to realize here is that this is fairly normal. This is the way marketing people think about the customers of their clients. It's really a job requirement.

    1. Re:It is a misunderstanding. by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 2

      Its how they think of them certainly, but usually the have the professionalism (or the fear of being fired) enough to at least FEIGN interest in the customer while dealing with them. Its just after you finish the call or email, you turn around and tell your co-worker what an idiot that customer was. To tell the customer himself that he is an idiot, a customer who is not being belligerent or violent, is absolutely unacceptable, even in this crazy day and age of so little customer service and human decency.

      --
      GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
  30. I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If this hadn't gone viral, who knows where this guy would have gone. Can you imagine this guy in public office? Or leading a real company, or worse yet,being YOUR boss? I wonder if his linked in profile has been updated to indicate he is the biggest DB on the web?

    1. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by bfandreas · · Score: 2

      Honestly, Gabe's role in this shit storm is just a lighter shade of brown. He did wade into this and handled it in a way that harmed parties not directly involved in this kerfuffle. Namely the inventor and makers of the Avenger. It's one thing calling BS on this guy Cristivoro(with a V) but it is another posting this on his MASSIVE website whithout pointing out that this guy is from an independent marketing company hired by the makeres of the Avenger which should be judged on its own merits.That disclaimer would have warrented the use of the blink tag. Font size filling your whole goddamn screen.
      Instead it was a contest of who has the biggest balls.Turns out to be Gabe. But honestly, I don't know if I would have handled it better myself. And unlike Chrvstoforo(with a V) it is not a major character flaw. Still gotta love Gabe who is one of the finest persons on this planet.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    2. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by DingerX · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here's the thing:
      Mike posted it to his blog, as a professional with a large following. From previous experience (cf. Dickwolves), he knew what the reaction would be. Hell, he even ended his initial post with the guy's full contact details.

      So he basically told the internet: "Here's this asshole, have at him," knowing full well that people would engage in illegal harassment of Mr. Christoforo. And those are details you could probably convince a jury in a tort trial of.

      If Mr. Christoforo weren't such an idiot, he'd have lawyers in contact with PA, working out a settlement. The Avenger folks should be working something out too, preferably (for both parties) on friendly terms.

      Yes, big douchebag Mr. Christoforo, but what Mike did doesn't strike me as blameless, ethical, or even legal.

    3. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by bfandreas · · Score: 2

      Yep, propably it was a heat-of-the-moment thing. In retrospect it propably wasn't the best or cleanest move. But hindsight is always 20/20. Even after the Dickwolves thing I guess he's fairly surprised how this played out.
      Frankly, this mob mentality on the internet is really quite frightening. And highly unpredictable how far it will go. And quite irreversible.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    4. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by tokul · · Score: 1

      Can you imagine this guy in public office?

      Why do I have to imagine something? 8 years of GWB in Washington match the picture.

    5. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Spectre · · Score: 1

      Here's the thing:
      Mike posted it to his blog, as a professional with a large following. From previous experience (cf. Dickwolves), he knew what the reaction would be. Hell, he even ended his initial post with the guy's full contact details.

      So he basically told the internet: "Here's this asshole, have at him," knowing full well that people would engage in illegal harassment of Mr. Christoforo. And those are details you could probably convince a jury in a tort trial of.

      I doubt most juries would side with Christoforo. Not because Christoforo is incapable, even in an "apology", of being anything but an ass, but because the material Gabe posted was:
      A) Presented to Christoforo and confirmed as factual
      B) Posted with permission from Christoforo
      C) In no way overtly incited others to take action (although you are correct, it could be argued that it was implicit)

      --
      "Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
    6. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      From PA:

      "I think there is a big difference between being sorry and being sorry you got caught. I have a real problem with bullies. I spent my childhood moving from school to school and I got made fun of everyplace I landed. I feel like Paul is a bully and maybe that’s why I have no sympathy here. Someday every bully meets and even bigger bully and maybe that’s me in this case. It’s the same thing that happened with Jack Thompson. It might not always make the most business sense and it is a policy that has caused us some legal problems, but I really don’t give a shit about that. When these assholes threaten me or Penny Arcade I just laugh. I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."

    7. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by tsdw · · Score: 1

      The mob mentality that has become so commonplace needs to stop. One way of doing so is to remove anonymity from the internet. Who ever figures that out will became rich AND stop the decline of civilization and civility

    8. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They weren't full contact details though - they were his *business* contact details, which aren't expected to be private short of an NDA.

      It's a grey area ethically as far as I'm concerned; on the one hand, he knew what the results would be, but on the other hand if he hadn't gone public Christoforo would certainly still be doing this to other customers, and doing further damage to the product he was supposed to be supporting. There's no obvious 'third path' solution here; we can assume the products developer had received complaints prior to this, given that Christoforo's name had gone public about this before. Given that Christoforo was impersonating other accounts, there's also no guarantee that a new complaint would reach the right people.

      But legally, I don't think Mike did anything wrong - at least not under US law. Here in the UK he'd probably be liable under our Libel laws (truth is no defence here), but he could make a strong public interest case given the storm it's caused.

    9. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It more or less shows zero class/professionalism to take a personal battle to the Internet that originally occurred person to person over e-mail. That, IMHO, it is an act of cowardice--I also agree that it de-facto asks anyone on the Internet to effectively gang up on the one person and have at them over the Internet.

      Again, the battle was over e-mail, so it should have been kept over e-mail. The battle was NOT in a forum, (in which case it would have been appropriate to LINK to the post(s) but not repost them to another forum verbatim).

    10. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Huh? The guy clearly stated he didn't care where it was posted or to whom. Nothing illegal about any of it. PA's lawyers would eat him alive.

      Obviously you didn't actually read the initial email thread, did you? Just giving an opinion on baseless facts. Typical slashdot fucktard at work here.

      PA did nothing illegal. They had permission. From the douche himself.

    11. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the makers didn't want to be associated with OM, they easily could have avoided it. The customer shouldn't have to trace corporate lineage and it really isn't a useful guide anyway. The maker is a former business partner of the marketer, any "independent" claim is legal fiction, the companies are different, the guys are cozy. In the end they gambled on OM getting them more money and specifically let OM act in their name, consequentially they should bleed for what OM does in their name or the cycle of shady shit pulled via shell companies (whether or not it is the case here is irrelevant as you can't know the difference without insider knowledge of the companies) will continue even stronger.

    12. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No he wouldn't. He used all public info, all available through a business website, the messages were freely shared, the PR guy even implies that he's *happy* the message chain is going to be released, *before* it is released on the PA website. etc. etc.

      Newspapers do this stuff all the time, no-one ever wins a lawsuit because a newspaper column calls you on being an asshole.

    13. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The other guy promises a smear champaign against PA and PA are evil criminals for publishing his threats and promises of actual criminal activity (he told the customer to shut up or he'd steal his order). Letter writing campaigns are illegal apparently...

    14. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the worst part is Mike got the e-mail and phone number (hardly "full contact details") from PC's website, which means it's Forbes getting all the hate mail.

    15. Re:I commend Mike at PA for doing this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your claims are baseless... but perhaps not bongless... what are you smoking?

      You obviously know nothing of the law...

      and may have some Paul Christoforo in you as you somehow attack a person who was very clearly called upon by someone viciously spoken to but had little recourse for remedy (product-wise, financially, or otherwise) and provided such.

      Actions have consequences... for Christoforo.

      (Seriously, that BS is not "Informative")

  31. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The product may do better because of it, but Paul's personal reputation is ruined and his ties with the company that sells the Avenger have been cut.

    I don't think this is much of a positive for Avenger and definitely not for Christofo.

  32. Christoforo effect by Enderandrew · · Score: 1

    Like the Streisand effect, we need a Christoforo effect.

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  33. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The maker of the product shouldn't be penalized for what a jackwagon this guy was. They fired him for it. They deserve to be separated from the drama. His other clients that haven't fired him for being abusive, however...

  34. Re:Customer service by b4dc0d3r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You've not been in customer service, have you? "Call control" is a frequent feedback point when calls start to run long, and I assume that's what he was talking about here.

    Keep the customer focused on the issue, don't let them blabber and complain, instead get the problem fixed and the customer back to their day. Some people don't really want the problem solved, they want people to hear about it and point out all of the problems, an "I told you so" kind of rant, or "when I worked for a company like yours this would never have happened" or "I used to respect your brand, now you've let it go into the crapper". They think they are talking to someone who has the power to change something. And you can't let those people tie you up.

    Yes it sounds bad phrased like that, but anyone who does any kind of support or customer contact should have been coached on controlling the customer. He realizes that he could have phrased things differently and not pissed this guy off, that's "controlling the customer". What he doesn't realize is that his natural personality is quite dick-ish and won't allow him to do that. Especially when you have piles of people asking the same thing, and are afraid to give some bad news that stuff won't be under the Christmas tree as promised, and you're too arrogant to apologise.

  35. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    a net positive for the product's sales.

    ... that the PR firm can't charge for.

    Wait, are you saying that there's space in the market for one shot "kamikaze" PR firms who deliberately fail and torpedo their own reputations - and thus their long term prospects - in return for a sudden viral explosion in visibility of one lucky product?

    So now, when we get shitty customer service, we have to question whether we're being trolled into having our favourite blogger publicise the product. Long term, this introduces one new good product in exchange for removing one PR asshat from the market... I'm okay with that trade, actually. Bring on the one shot PR firms.

  36. All Villians Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems to be as though the main parties here have all been a**holes, not just Christopheros.

  37. Concise apology for easy PR recovery by bobdotorg · · Score: 2

    He still comes across as a jerk, contrite only to try to get people to stop harassing him. Seems like he can't shut up because his ego just won't let go.

    This concise explanation / apology (and say nothing else) would have gone a long way, and it might even be somewhat true:

    Right or wrong (and Dave was right), no customer deserves to be treated the way I treated Dave. My lashing out at others in the gaming industry was just as bad. I apologize unconditionally to each and all of them.

    Between running a company and raising an infant, sleep has eluded me. Sleep deprivation can have profound effects on people. Some of you who have raised children might understand. This in no way excuses my behavior: I'm only saying it to let people know what propelled me down such a terrible path.

    Add another line or two about how he hopes his behavior won't kill such a great gamer product, and done.

    --
    __ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
    1. Re:Concise apology for easy PR recovery by Elbereth · · Score: 1

      If he had actually said that, I think a lot of people would have been willing to forgive and forget. Certainly, he'd still get the odd harassing phone call in the middle of the night, but it'd go a long way to actually defusing the situation. Instead, we get his "I'm sorry that I got caught" apology that simply further enrages everyone. And this guy is in PR? He's incompetent on a scale that's almost unimaginable. Truly, I can't think of a worse PR guy, unless you hired Ted Bundy or something.

  38. Very sad indeed by Muse011 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Does anyone else find it ironic that he's been receiving DEATH THREATS aimed at him, his wife, and their 2 month old son, because of this? And he's the bad guy. What is wrong with this planet..

    1. Re:Very sad indeed by Monoman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sure the world has bigger idiots that are dumb enough to actually send him death threats but I'm not inclined to believe anything this guy says without good evidence to back it up.

      --
      Keep the Classic Slashdot.
    2. Re:Very sad indeed by Bucky24 · · Score: 2

      His son is only two months old? Didn't he say in the original chain of emails that his son could design a better website then PennyArcade? Impressive 2 month old...

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    3. Re:Very sad indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find it ironic that anyone would take statements at face value from a confirmed douche.

      rj

    4. Re:Very sad indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's been full of shit from day one, do you really believe what he says without seeing any evidence?

      Any threats can be handed over to the police, they can track the emails back via the headers. He hasn't called in the police, so most likely, he's full of shit looking for sucker sympathy votes.

    5. Re:Very sad indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can think Mike for that. He incited the mob, and should be jailed for it.

      What's wrong with this planet is that you and a couple of others are the only ones posting this angle.

    6. Re:Very sad indeed by White+Flame · · Score: 1

      He claims there are death threats. He's shown himself to say anything regardless of truth. The people bugging him are a bunch of riled-up webcomic readers doing it for the lulz, probably using real contact info.

      I don't believe he's received actual death threats, but is playing up a sympathy card.

    7. Re:Very sad indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He took orders that he either never intended to fill, or simply couldn't, then when caught, kept the money from anyone who expected him to live up to his end of the contract. That's theft, pure and simple, which is a hell of a lot worse than some random schlub halfway around the world "threatening" harm that he could never actually carry out -- if that even actually happened, which Mephisophoro so far has only alleged, much like he alleged that the controllers would have shipped by early December and on the 17th.

  39. from just the post title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i thought it was yet another submission about godaddy (bob parsons)

  40. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I read the various sources on this, and it doesn't really describe the Avenger except in vague terms -- it's a video game controller that for some reason would be good for differently-abled people? I suspect most people are like me in that they looked at this story solely for teh funnies, didn't bother to take this as an opportunity to research the associated product, and now if they are reminded of it (I'd already forgotten the name) will remember it as that thing associated with that asshat. They may possibly have gained some customers, but they're likely so few that they'll be balanced by lost customers.

  41. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by trout007 · · Score: 1

    This is true. The only way to prevent this in the future is to boycott the Avenger. Otherwise you are rewarding the A-hole.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  42. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The guy comes across as so incompetently stupid and utterly incoherent that it really has to be a setup.

    He's thrusted the product right onto the front page of several major websites, twice now, he's probably being paid double for it, even if you'll never know the itty bitty details.

    This makes him more valuable as a marketing asset, because he can pull the same stunt with another company, and instantly get a 'does it again!!' headline.

    He's doing his job, and you've all been played.

  43. N-Control statements? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like how N-Control is trying to distance themselves from this alleged steroid using, wife beating, loser. If you read everything, Paul is not some random 3rd party consultant. He is David Kotkin's friend and he collaborated on product design (Now deleted, atrocious, Youtube video). So, this is apparently, very much, an N-Control issue. I did like how, "I know the mayor of Boston" turned into "I know the doorman at the convention center and some people who work at bars". And really, calling yourself "CEO" of a one person "company" is douchey (as if we needed additional proof).

  44. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He'll hit rock-bottom when a fungal infection kills him because of his suppressed immune system. This sociopath juicer got caught in a fit of 'roid rage and his lifestyle choice will eventually cost him far more than his reputation.

  45. LinkedIn? by Kensai7 · · Score: 2

    Is this his LinkedIn presence? I wonder if people will rush to disassociate from him now...

    --
    "Sum Ergo Cogito"
    1. Re:LinkedIn? by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

      It is. And he doesn't appear to have lost any connections since yesterday.....

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
  46. "They've pretty much ruined me. . ." by JSBiff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "They've pretty much ruined me in the past 24 hours," Christoforo said.

    No, he did it all by himself. All they did was give him the publicity he so badly wanted. . .

    Make sure you stir up a lot of controversy about us the more the better we needed some drama gets good blood flow going about the new product launch.

  47. Surely by nedlohs · · Score: 1

    It wouldn't be that hard to pretend you know acted badly and wouldn't do it again. Instead he pulls out:

    "I didn't know who that guy at Penny Arcade was," he admitted. "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better.

    And of course assigns the fault to the Penny Arcade guy for being rude to him.

    If you aren't going to pretend then at least stop digging.

  48. Nice Career Choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I love how he says that he shouldn't have to take sh*t from anyone. You've chosen a career in customer service and marketing, that's pretty much your entire career. What an idiot this guy is.

  49. he is still at large by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    after reading his interview, this PR guy is still not sorry of himself.
    he is still at large and his attitude shows.
    it will be better if someone keeps a long track of him.
    looks like a criminal /goon mind from his way of talk.

  50. Re:No thanks by ae1294 · · Score: 2

    Please tell us of all the articles you don't want to read anymore by telling us about them on every article you didn't read to comment on their /. stubs. Do you have a website where like-minded people can find out about all the stories you don't care about so we can not care about them either?

    Maybe a newsletter?

  51. Give it time by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yet despite all the drama, Christoforo said he hasn't lost any of his other accounts, aside from Avenger. "It hasn't affected my business yet," he said. "Clients have brought it up, but they've mainly laughed about it. I haven't lost any clients."

    That's because most of the people who have the authority to sever ties with you are on vacation. Next week's gonna be a pile of suck.

    1. Re:Give it time by rgbrenner · · Score: 1

      Not to mention it's only been a couple of days. They need a little time to secure a contract with another company before they tell him to fck off.

    2. Re:Give it time by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Imaginary people go on vacation too?

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    3. Re:Give it time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the PR of firing this guy would probably float them through a lapse in having a PR company on contract.

    4. Re:Give it time by rgbrenner · · Score: 1

      Was he just doing PR though? It seems like he was doing PR + customer service. I mean, since when is it's the PR persons job to give you updates on the status of your order? No PR a company can deal with. No customer service.. maybe a couple of days before their customers get angry.

  52. You've Convinced Me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can assure you, most slashdotters wouldn't last a week. Hell, not even a day, when working for customer service. They would get violent, or just break down to tears. You need a really thick skin, and if you're whining about who's right and who's wrong in a site like slashdot, it just means you don't have what it takes.

    I find your conclusion convincing due to the abundance of supporting evidence you provided. Certainly, the fact that a person is "whining about who's right and who's wrong" is a solid indicator that they do not, in fact, "have what it takes" to work for customer service.

    I would like to subscribe to your newletter.

  53. For whom the bell trolls by marto · · Score: 2

    I find it difficult to have any sympathy for this guy, reading his various outbursts it seems that in this situation the troll has become the trolled.

  54. Needs Another Career by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PC might be better suited to a career in waste disposal or highway paving. We wish him luck.

  55. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And the company ended up having to give everyone on pre-order a $10 discount. How does the joke go? "I know this widget costs $10 to make and we sell it for $5, but we'll make it up in volume!"

    This is a huge fiasco for the company that is going to cost them dearly. Yes, brand recognition might be up, but if it costs them more to clean up that recognition"than they make from sales (and I bet you that their margins aren't that awesome to begin with), this is a net loss.

    So the current "marketting" so far has cost the company $10 on every controller ordered so far, a one-star review on Amazon, required the revamp of their marketing department, their CS methods and another PR campaign to put out the message "Sorry about that". These are real costs that I'm pretty sure aren't covered by the exposure. Not to mention that now everyone also knows about the shitty delivery time frames.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  56. That's a Shitty Way to Run a Business by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Early on in my career I worked the tech support lines at IBM. In their training they said lots of stuff like "It's much easier to lose a customer than to gain one" and "Every unsatisfied customer is going to tell an average of 10 of his friends about his experience with your company." And also the priorities of the company when I was working there "The customers, the employees and the shareholders, in that order." Making sure that the people who are giving you money get what they want and have a good experience with your company is how you make a company the size of IBM, and make it last.

    If you want to make one fail, do what this guy did. I don't know how you make it to your late 30s without learning that lesson. It actually doesn't seem to me like he's learned it now. He seems like the kind of person who will blame anyone else for his failure when his last customer deserts him and his business lies in ruins.

    The best move, from his company's perspective, would be to fire him and go "under new management." I don't know if anyone's ever been fired from running the company they own, but that might just do the trick. They could get an Australian guy in, since "Yeah, we got rid of that last guy, he was a cunt," sounds so much better with that accent. I think they'd be back on top in no time!

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:That's a Shitty Way to Run a Business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It must have been a long time ago, because for decades the priority list appears to be "executives, shareholders, customers, employees".

  57. Textbook NPD by subject_name_here · · Score: 2

    Pity the narcissist and especcialy those near to him.

    1. Re:Textbook NPD by subject_name_here · · Score: 1

      especially

  58. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by ddt · · Score: 1

    No. The Amazon ratings for the Avenger went from 5 stars to 2 stars overnight.

  59. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People aren't mad at the product maker or the product, they are mad at the asshat that is the only contact to go to about info regarding their orders (and there was never any info given), which have now been pushed back so far they are in violation of FTC rules. Seriously, if people pay you in full in advance for something (not really the standard with pre-orders, mind you), you damn well better be able to keep them informed on the status of those orders without being a condescending abusive dickhead.

  60. Paul, McDonalds is hiring... however... by Lime+Green+Bowler · · Score: 2

    ... you have to work behind the grill because you're not allowed to speak to customers.

  61. That's pretty much what they did by JSBiff · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The best move, from his company's perspective, would be to fire him and go "under new management."

    Did you read the response from N-Control? They are trying to put as much distance between that guy and the company as they can.

    I wonder if this Paul Cristoforo has pioneered a new PR strategy for startups though. . . hire him, or someone like him, to stir up a big pot of controversy, publicly fire him saying you had NO IDEA he was going to abuse his position, and release press releases talking about how great your products are for disabled people/kids/other sympathetic group, etc. Get the public to view your company as another victim of his abuse and try to get them to feel bad for you and good about your products, while transferring their rage to the "rogue employee/consultant".

    Sort of Good Cop/Bad Cop for startups.

    1. Re:That's pretty much what they did by Jahava · · Score: 2

      The best move, from his company's perspective, would be to fire him and go "under new management."

      Did you read the response from N-Control? They are trying to put as much distance between that guy and the company as they can.

      I wonder if this Paul Cristoforo has pioneered a new PR strategy for startups though. . . hire him, or someone like him, to stir up a big pot of controversy, publicly fire him saying you had NO IDEA he was going to abuse his position, and release press releases talking about how great your products are for disabled people/kids/other sympathetic group, etc. Get the public to view your company as another victim of his abuse and try to get them to feel bad for you and good about your products, while transferring their rage to the "rogue employee/consultant".

      Sort of Good Cop/Bad Cop for startups.

      I figure it'll work just as well as any other tactic: it's new until it's old. The first time it's done intentionally, people will eat it up. The second, it'll raise some eyebrows. Thereafter, regardless of intent, anytime a douchebag PR representative acts out, people will point at the hiring company and say "look, this company is intentionally hiring douchebags for 'viral' PR."

      In this case, N-Control's marketing success (regardless of whether or not this was intentional) depends entirely on them successfully distancing themselves from the original PR firm. If you're tagged as intentionally hiring douchebags, that's going to be a lot more difficult to accomplish.

      The success of this tactic is still not decided; in fact, we won't know until N-Control releases sales information. Any number of things can happen:

      • Initial product exposure could increase sales
      • Likewise, customers may not be able (or willing) to differentiate between N-Control and its PR firm, and sales may be lost.
      • People may see N-Control's response and decide to buy the product in support of their corporate anti-douchebaggery.
      • People may want to send the message to companies that one should carefully profile one's PR firm, and boycott or cancel orders.

      Either way, it's an interesting new circumstance; let's wait and see!

    2. Re:That's pretty much what they did by jeffmeden · · Score: 1

      You think that him, this mysterious "Dave" character, and the N-control CEO are sitting on a beach in Cancun laughing about their exploits as the next 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'? Worth a laugh, yes, but it's doubtful.

    3. Re:That's pretty much what they did by equex · · Score: 1

      You could be right. There's more history between these guys than the mob would like to know right now.

      --
      Can I light a sig ?
    4. Re:That's pretty much what they did by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly what I was thinking. This Paul guy's a genius. :)

    5. Re:That's pretty much what they did by jstomel · · Score: 1

      I wonder if this Paul Cristoforo has pioneered a new PR strategy for startups though. . . hire him, or someone like him, to stir up a big pot of controversy, publicly fire him saying you had NO IDEA he was going to abuse his position, and release press releases talking about how great your products are for disabled people/kids/other sympathetic group, etc. Get the public to view your company as another victim of his abuse and try to get them to feel bad for you and good about your products, while transferring their rage to the "rogue employee/consultant".

      Sort of Good Cop/Bad Cop for startups.

      Well, if you read Machiavelli (or even Dune), that is exactly what is suggested. Invade a country, put a horrible despot in control of it. Let the despot kill the violent opposition and beat the populace into submission. Then, depose the despot, execute him publicly, say you had no idea what he was doing in your name, and lower taxes slightly. Even though taxes are still higher than they were before, people will still love you because you are better than the despot you deposed. Now, I don't think Christoforo the idiot is the Machiavellian genious who would come up with this plan, but wouldn't it be funny if he were?

    6. Re:That's pretty much what they did by dcollins · · Score: 1

      I would call this a crazy conspiracy theory -- except for Dave with a V's really strange entangling of outrage, with simultaneous unending praise and desire for the product. I'm having a really hard time making sense of that part of it.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    7. Re:That's pretty much what they did by dangitman · · Score: 1

      I would call this a crazy conspiracy theory -- except for Dave with a V's really strange entangling of outrage, with simultaneous unending praise and desire for the product. I'm having a really hard time making sense of that part of it.

      What's so hard to understand about it? Guy likes a product, tries to buy it, gets screwed around by sales/support staff.

      After all, why would anybody be dealing with sales/support staff in the first place, if they didn't have an interest in the product? It's actually rather mundane, hardly some kind of intriguing mystery. I think most of us have been in a similar position before.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
  62. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes they should. Paul was a friend of David Kotkin's. You are always judged by the company you keep. Business 101.

  63. well, the customer started the inults.. by unami · · Score: 0

    just read the beginning of the email exchange. he's right, when he says the customer started it. maybe it's unprofessional to lose one's temper with a customer who clearly wants to annoy and insult. and saying afterwards, that you would have reacted otherwise if you had known who you were talking to also makes you pretty much a dick. so, i would feel sorry for him for loosing his job after loosing his temper. but he probably deserved it anyway for being an asshole.

    1. Re:well, the customer started the inults.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nah, it went civil until Paul was all like

      put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe Iâ(TM)ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself.

      It's downhill from there.

  64. I think Comcast should hire him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    For their customer service

  65. Gotta love the power of the internet by erroneus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This power is only going to grow.

    The internet stopped the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile. Nearly every other public presentation of the story was favorable to AT&T and their empty promises. The internet and its users were unrelenting and got the information out there. It took a LOT of work by people with a sense of urgency.

    The internet *IS* the 99%. The 1% still thinks the internet is a digital sales leaflet.

    Efforts out there are working. They will only get stronger and more effective as more and more people of the 99% and the 1% are taking more notice. The 1% is actively trying to limit and control the internet at every turn. While the 99% still have control over the internet and while they are not yet listed as "terrorists" action and enthusiasm need to increase. Don't let them take our internet. Don't even let them try.

    I know I have been vocal in sending out contacts to various politicians letting them know "we are watching" and that even though the establishment has the old media locked down and in their pockets, the "new media" is still a wild west which no one controls 100% and the information can, will and does get out there. We are watching. And we are TRACKING. The internet's memory is a LOT longer than that of the average individual consumer. They can't lie and get away with it any longer.

    I thank all of those who have made similar efforts out there. THEY WORKED. And to those who have been sitting on the side lines to see what would happen or who would win? You have your answer. It's time for you to join in and solidify your support for your own interests. I'm not saying you should stand up for what you believe in. I'm saying SIT DOWN and DON'T BE MOVED. This is your life. Your internet. Your ability to exist in the world. KEEP IT.

    1. Re:Gotta love the power of the internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seeing as the Internet is the 99% boycott Michael Moore who is one of the 1%.

  66. Why is this news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One guy, apparently from the East coast and quite possibly involved in steroids. We had to deal with hundreds of these guys intruding on our college scene from thousands of miles away and drooling over our fair women.

  67. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Open your eyes, boycotting the Avenger achieves exactly nothing. N-Control made the mistake of using Ocean Marketing, they are no longer using OM, so nothing you can do can possibly reward OM. You are quite mean-spirited if you think N-Control deserve further punishment for that initial mistake.

  68. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What i want to really know is...

    Will the law get involved?

    His website is a hacked together copy from a bunch of other copyrighted sources.

    He threatened to sell customers CC#'s to the identity thieves.

    He STILL hasnt made good on all the orders he took. That he recieved the money for months ago.

    Dude is a douchebag and 100% in the wrong. And still does not get it.
    He's not sorry he did it. Nowhere in the interview does that ever come across.
    He's sorry he pissed off the wrong person while trying to act like a big shot.

    But he's not sorry he actually started this whole mess by being an asshole to a CUSTOMER.

  69. Fuck him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    He's a fratboy douche bully who got caught. He can go fuck himself.

    If you ever wondered how abusive loudmouth assholes end up in life, he's your example. The guy can't spell, lost his job, and is a fucking moron with no real skills.

    Everything that's happening to him is well deserved.

  70. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Fozzyuw · · Score: 2

    The whole fiasco is almost certainly a net positive for the product's sales.

    Except, of course, the fire bombing of it's ratings on Amazon. I doubt something like 300 1-star reviews will do it much good.

    --
    "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
  71. Okay, I don't play X-Box games but by Chas · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm REALLY liking the mindset of the new PR guy for N-Control.

    “I can’t worry about the fact that there isn’t a bus big enough for me to throw Paul Christoforo under. The internet did that for me. I think they set him on fire too."

    I'm just glad I didn't have a soda to my mouth.

    Nice, blunt honesty in the situation with a schadenfreude-funny quote goes a long way. Kudos Moisés!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  72. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

    Well, if its really is a brilliant marketing scheme, I imagine other companies will recognize it (or at least recognize the corresponding increase in sales) and he probably will get hired again.

    --
    All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
  73. He asked for it by koan · · Score: 1

    He asked for it literally
    "Your spamming me you’re not on a mailing list you idiot ! You sent me an email remember . Make sure you stir up a lot of controversy about us the more the better we needed some drama gets good blood flow going about the new product launch . Your sites amateur at best my son could put together a better site than yours and you run PAX ?? Wow , Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails , I have about 125 dedicated people to run PR , Blogs , Articles , Videos you have no clue who I am . Thanks again

    I can’t wait for the Penny Arcade smear campaign! "

    He "couldn't wait" and he wanted some "drama" well he got it and now he is trying to placate the Internet mob that's arse raping him while simultaneously keeping his ego intact.
    He deserves everything he gets.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  74. Insane by dcollins · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The guy's clearly got some real psychological problems. He's plagiarizing and using stolen identities. Notice in the MSNBC interview he's still constantly using obscenities, "f***" and "s***" all over the place. And this theme:

    "He has a lot of connections, ones I want too.... I know a lot of people who own clubs. I know some influential people, like the guy who runs the door at the convention center... When is it big enough that it hits the news? When it hits Penny Arcade, when it hits a guy who has the biggest affiliations in the industry."

    I've never heard of such an uncontrollable obsession with "connections" (whether real or fake; and this runs through all the original emails, too). As a total amateur, I'd guess something like borderline personality or sociopathy or whatever.

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    1. Re:Insane by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      "who runs the door at the convention center"???

      Really! Wow. What connections!

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  75. He's a sociopath by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He cannot empathize with other people, as such his feelings are the only ones that matter. So he sees himself as the victim here, because he is the only one who got hurt in his worldview.

    It is how people like that act. They hurt others freely because to them it doesn't matter, other people don't have feelings like they do. However when they are hurt they go off the rails with the victim thing because it is so unfair.

    They don't behave themselves, obey laws, do right by others, or any of that because of any sort of moral or human understanding. They do it because they don't want to get in trouble. If they think they can get away with it, they will.

    1. Re:He's a sociopath by Millennium · · Score: 2

      He cannot empathize with other people, as such his feelings are the only ones that matter. So he sees himself as the victim here, because he is the only one who got hurt in his worldview.

      To be fair, there are degrees. What he did to Mike, while annoying, was ultimately of no real significance. The consequences he faces for doing that, however, are quite real: deserved, yes, but not in remotely the same league.

    2. Re:He's a sociopath by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He cannot empathize with other people,

      sociopath

    3. Re:He's a sociopath by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 1

      He does not deserve to be in PR. look at his twitter. He's vicious and nasty. In fact, it's the nastiest series of comments I've ever seen.

      If I was attacked that way I would be tweeting "listen, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone, seriously, I'd be happy to talk about it with you in a civil way."

      His responses are "@tonycline How does it fel to be a ginger that no one loves or wants."

      and

      "OK ENOUGH! Just fuck off already u god damn fucking gaming cunts. Boo Hoo I yelled at a customer big deal. Ge over it"

      and

      "Look at all these gamers. Bunch of fucking losers, everyone in the biz makes fun of you fucks. All the sites you like laugh at yuo."

      If you feel sorry for THIS *PR* GUY getting his career submarined... you should stop.

    4. Re:He's a sociopath by Millennium · · Score: 1

      He does not deserve to be in PR. look at his twitter. He's vicious and nasty. In fact, it's the nastiest series of comments I've ever seen.

      I didn't say he deserved to be in PR; clearly he doesn't. And I don't feel sorry for him watching his career go down the tubes. However, it doesn't do any good to pretend that there's proportionality here. One guy got bruised in the heel, and the other guy got bruised in the head, and that's OK, but it needs to be acknowledged.

    5. Re:He's a sociopath by JohnnyBGod · · Score: 1

      That's some internet troll's Twitter account, @OceanStretagy. His real twitter account is @OceanStratagy (yes, it ALSO has a spelling error).

  76. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Karzz1 · · Score: 1

    Paul was a friend of David Kotkin's.

    Do you have a citation for that? As I understood it, together they had set up an LLC in Fl. that never came to fruition, but that is the only connection between the two.

    --
    Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
  77. Re:Customer service by rhizome · · Score: 1

    Funny, I try to make calls go long when I don't think the rep is being as helpful as they should be. I'll start talking slower, asking open-ended questions, and basically dragging it out and re-asking the question I called about. That's fine, 20 minutes on the phone looks much worse on their back than mine.

    --
    When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
  78. Steroids by pak9rabid · · Score: 3, Informative

    Just FYI, this guy does steriods. I'd imagine this accounts for 80% of his actions (the other 20% attributed to him being a dumb fuck).

    1. Re:Steroids by Chas · · Score: 1

      No, 100% can be attributed to him being a dumb fuck.

      Just that a subset of that is attributable to dumb fuck + 'roids

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
  79. Agreed by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I had no idea this product existed before this. It'll probably make my X-Mas list for my XBox fanatic friend next year.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  80. PLEASE TELL ME by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did the customer get his controller or not?

    why is this now about how he treated the penny arcade guy?

  81. The fool; by Stumbles · · Score: 1

    Looking back, Christoforo is still a little shocked that what he thought would remain a private email conversation got blown into an Internet event the way it did.

    There is no such thing as a private email conversation.

    --
    My karma is not a Chameleon.
  82. Re:Customer service by ImprovOmega · · Score: 1

    I would agree with you, except that based on his previous douchebaggery, I can't believe he meant it as you explain. Normal people, yes, this is a good thing to manage the calls coming in. King douche of the universe over there? No benefit of the doubt from me.

  83. Please Tell Me.. by vonshavingcream · · Score: 1

    Did the customer get his controller or not? why is this about how he treated the penny arcade guy? Outting this guy is all well and good, but i'm sure the customer is still sitting around waiting for his controller.

    1. Re:Please Tell Me.. by Galvatron · · Score: 1

      Did the customer get his controller or not?

      No, per the article, shipments have been postponed again, this time to January 15th. However, Dave will get the $10 off that they were offering to new buyers.

      --
      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
  84. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by JustSomeProgrammer · · Score: 1

    I would say boycott the avenger if they kept this guy, but since they dumped him it is ok. However any company that keeps this asshat needs to be boycotted.

  85. Just think... by EnsignCrusher · · Score: 0

    Now he's got a chance to prove how good at marketing he is, by turning this big frown upside down! If he can save his image, people will be knocking his door down to help their own marketing! Surely this minor setback is no big deal to The Paul Christoforo, friend of the Mayor of Boston, Heir to the Holy WWebsite of Betazed!

  86. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by ohnocitizen · · Score: 1

    And the company reacted promptly by firing the PR fail and apologizing to the community. Deftly handled.

  87. Re:Customer service by b4dc0d3r · · Score: 1

    I said he is a dick. I also said that customer service type people are taught this type of term, and it doesn't mean what people read into it. Most likely he didn't mean it as I explained, his own dickish nature allowed him to interpret it however he wanted.

    But there is a big difference between him coming up with the idea of controlling a customer on his own, versus it being a valid phrase that his dickheadedness misinterprets.

    Doesn't make him any less of a dick. I'm not making excuses for his dickish behavior, I just think people should understand where it most likely came from so they can make sense of his dickishness. In fact, looking at it this way, he knew that he was supposed to control the customer, but could not make himself, making his dickery appear much more ingrained and permanent than a "bad day at work." And much more impossible to apologise for.

  88. He's from Boston?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On behalf of Bostonians here and abroad, I can assure you we are not all Massholes.

  89. Simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many people who are incurable idiots apply for (and eventually receive) MBAs. They pick the MBA because they can't get anything else...it is one of the few job-market-valued degrees that an idiot can get.

    Of course, some non-idiots want (and get) MBAs for other reasons. But they are outnumbered by the idiots who also get them, thus creating the stereotype.

    1. Re:Simple by rickett81 · · Score: 1
      And the greater demand creates an even greater supply.

      MBA is one of only 3 masters level degrees offered in my (small) town. The others are education and nursing. I'd kill someone if I became a nurse. I'd kill a kid if I became a teacher. So I got my MBA because it is better than the alternatives.

      However, the point about idiots getting an MBA is well taken. In my final project, there was one girl who was completely worthless. If she had done nothing at all, the final outcome would have been greater than her attempting to do anything. There were many idiots I had class with. People that I wouldn't want working with me or for me. Nevertheless, they have an MBA and some PHB will hire them I'm sure.

  90. He rides a crotch rocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do we expect anything less of him but to be a flaming douchebag?

  91. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by TheCarp · · Score: 2

    Yes but, even the original customer still wanted the device. Even he said he would hate to really hurt the device sales since they are great for people with disabilities and could really bring a fuckton of joy to kids who otherwise couldn't play video games. Hes right, it would have been quite sad if this product left the market entirely due to this.

    That said, I think this is epic win. Epic win because, while it will help device sales, it is already hurting the massive douche who is the actual problem. His marketing company is out the door now. I would be shocked if this doesn't hurt his personal options career wise. Everyone is going to know what a massive douche he is. Not only that but, I have to imagine he royally pissed off everyone whose name he dropped...whether he knew them or not.

    So douchebag is now known about, and anyone with the wherewithal to google him is going to know all about it. The product is even more well known, and the company is distancing itself from him big time. Thats Charlie Sheen in his own mind levels of winning.

    --
    "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
  92. Agreed, 110%... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Does anyone else find it ironic that he's been receiving DEATH THREATS aimed at him, his wife, and their 2 month old son, because of this? And he's the bad guy. What is wrong with this planet.." - by Muse011 (1826134) on Thursday December 29, @11:52AM (#38527420)

    Per my subject-line above: I agree with you, & the cause? I haven't read the article, but, it's AMAZING HOW STUPID PEOPLE CAN BE, because they fall for "who says what the most & how loud", w/out checking things out themselves to be sure!

    Ala a-holes like HBGary &/or the Chinese "water army" firms doing 1000's of FAKE accounts to "support themselves" with, right OR wrong:

    ---

    HBGary POST in Fake Names On Social Networks, a Fake Problem:2011 -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2375110&cid=37056304

    &/or

    Chinese Water Army:

    http://www.bing.com/search?q=%22Chinese+Water+Army%22&go=&qs=ns&form=QBLH

    ---

    * I'm SURE you guys have seen the same OR, things like it before, because I certainly KNOW I have... & had it used against me, or attempts to do so!

    (E.G.-> Things like users on forums with 100 accounts they use attempting to fool others they're "different people", when in reality, they're all the SAME GUY, or a GROUP acting thus!)

    APK

    P.S.=> Yes people - Sorry, but... It happens around here too, & I've caught those admitting to multiple "registered 'luser'" account names, as well as those who CHEAT THE MODERATION SYSTEM here on /. itself!

    By doing the following to do so:

    ---

    1.) First, modding an opponent/enemy down (even IF/WHEN they're correct-right)

    2.) Logout to preserve their cookie state of their "registered 'luser'" account

    3.) Then TROLL the opponent AS AC trolling replies!

    4.) Also, acting in groups to "mod one another up" (Even if incorrect or stupid)

    ---

    * In fact - just ask TomHudson & the "trolltalk.com" crew around here about it! (they do it ALL the time & I actually HOPE one of them confronts me here on it - because I have one HELL of a set of links & quotes from them directly to substantiate my claims above just "waiting in the wings" to NUKE them with... nothing like blowing away a "naysayer opponent", with his OWN words/actions...)

    ... apk

  93. Not all psycopaths are clever manipulators by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not all psycopaths are necessarily clever manipulators, though they'll always try to manipulate people by trying to appear 'charming', 'pathetic' (to elicit the sympathy response), whatever works.

    They cover the whole range in terms of actual ability to do so, though they can get better at it as they learn from experience.

    This character seems more like an extreme narcissist. (Who is also not very intelligent.)

  94. what about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not just that he was a dick to the customer, or to Penny Arcade. How about the fact that he was defending taking a customer's money and skirting around the backorder problem? He impacted people's Christmas's with his poor response. Where's the apology for that?

    The customer wasn't asking for anything unreasonable here, just an honest answer.

  95. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Homr+Zodyssey · · Score: 1

    They hired the jerk. They kept him on when their other PR people complained about his methods. They kept him on when the other PR firm pulled out because of him. They should be held accountable. I have no compassion for assholes or asshole enablers.

  96. Character by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him.
    ~William Lyon Phelps

  97. MBAs are self-identified failures. by copponex · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are exceptions to every rule, but unfortunately, most people who have an MBA are interested only in making money. They "achieve" this goal through lies called marketing, through bullshit accounting tricks and technically legal loopholing called money management, through exploitation of the earth and it's people called maximizing revenue. If you'd read your literature, you'd know that pursuit of money has never been a noble goal, and it never will be. It's the desire of degenerate subhumans whose greatest gift to the world will be as compost.

    As one artist put it, you're a poor man's Donald Trump, and you think that's worthy of praise? I'll trade one million MBAs for one Jonas Salk any day of the week. You may have fooled yourself into thinking that greed and gluttony need a graduate program, but no one else is that delusional.

  98. Then why is it OK ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to be a douche to this guy? Personal threats? Stalking? etc.?

    Shouldn't "the mob" just respectfully disagree with his actions and leave it at that?

    Pot, meet Kettle.

    1. Re:Then why is it OK ... by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 2

      Its only hypocrisy if the mob had at some point claimed higher ground than this asshat, but at no point has the internet mob claimed to be anything more than a hate machine for great justice.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
  99. This is PR in a nutshell by NotPeteMcCabe · · Score: 1
    From TFA:

    "... forcing the company to publicly drop Christoforo as its marketing representative."

    and from the guy

    "I haven't lost any clients."

    1. Re:This is PR in a nutshell by rgbrenner · · Score: 1

      He said he hasn't lost any OTHER clients. But they're asking him about it. I guarantee, they just wanted to hear his response. They're obviously concerned with his behavior or they wouldn't even ask about it. They might pretend it was ok to his face, but the moment the phone hangs up, they're searching for a new company to do business with.

      Give it a couple of weeks.. then see how many clients he has left.

  100. Re:Customer service by AdamJS · · Score: 1

    This is taking into account that almost all service reps have very little power to do anything, right?

  101. Asa Dotzler by Cyko_01 · · Score: 1

    This guy is like the Asa Dotzler of N-Control

  102. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  103. Some trainwrecks.... by forkfail · · Score: 1

    ... you can't help but watch with gleeful fascination.

    Especially when the douchbag doing digging himself the mother of all holes is so representative of companies we've all had to deal with, unfulfilled promises, things that don't work, warranties that aren't honored.

    --
    Check your premises.
  104. The n-control press release is worth reading by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    I encourage people to follow the link in the summary and read the n-control press release. It is absolutely brilliant. I don't think I've ever read an apology so sincere, or a PR termination notice so complete and profound.

    My favorite part: “I can’t worry about the fact that there isn’t a bus big enough for me to throw Paul Christoforo under. The internet did that for me. I think they set him on fire too.”

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  105. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by crakbone · · Score: 1

    "If the product dose what it is design to, most of its target market (including Dave) won't be put off by a 1 month delay or a poor choice of PR firm. The whole fiasco is almost certainly a net positive for the product's sales." If they ever get the product. Its been plagued by non delivery before Paul was ever at the that company according to the previous rep that Paul name dropped.

  106. Mob Mentality by dugn · · Score: 2

    While there are downsides to the 'internet mob mentality' when it comes to senselessly threatening someone's wife and kid (if that actually happened), the benefits of invoking the 'power of the internet' are more often a powerful force for good.

    Consumerist.com makes a living out of giving internet-sized visibility to bad customer experiences. The result? The offending company usually learns a lesson and the customer often gets respectful treatment and accommodations. The customer just harnessed that same power and contacts to get increased visibility. Sure, he probably could have been less aggressive. But from the Kyle Orland interview, it doesn't seem like Paul Christoforo learned anything at all.

    Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned (at least on the internet).

    Violate this rule at your own peril, Mr. Christoforo.

  107. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Barefoot+Monkey · · Score: 2

    It sounds like Dave is the real marketer that saved the day here. He sang praises of the controller throughout all the abuse and was very emphatic to Gabe that people need to disassociate Avenger from Ocean. At the end of it all the Avenger came out looking good despite Paul's efforts rather than because of them (well, he did absolutely nothing to protect the brand image and seems to be trying to milk this to make himself famous).

  108. Best review ever by Megane · · Score: 2

    This controller is awful. I originally bought it hoping to improve my noob slaying skills. Merely looking at it however caused me to become blind in my left eye. The special tension wires and switches severed my thumbs and index fingers on both hands. Also unknown to me at the time, the Avenger controller is made of asbestos and coal dust and now I have the black lung and Mesothelioma. When I called customer support I was told to stop being a b***h and that they were websiting since I was a sperm inside my father. All that is left for me to do is weep inside my iron lung. Do not buy this controller. (permalink)

    Seriously, I missed the drama earlier this week and finally went to look at this thing. It's ugly as sin, and I can't see how those goofy-looking levers could do anything but break with a few hours use.

    I have two cheap $15 Logitech USB game pads that I regularly use that are constantly breaking and needing to be repaired, including wires breaking due to the lack of strain reliefs. (compared to standard Sony PS2 game pads that last months before I need to repair them... yeah, I need to just get a PS2-USB adapter already) This looks much more fragile than those.

    --
    #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  109. Re:Customer service by forkfail · · Score: 1

    Of course, knowing about these techniques allows a customer who's been wronged, if he has control of his own emotions, patience and a certain level of intelligence, to win sometimes.

    --
    Check your premises.
  110. Re:Customer service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >

    Yes it sounds bad phrased like that[...]

    Isn't his entire job, as a PR rep, to sound good?

  111. Or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never would have spit in that guy's face if I had known who he was.

    You should never spit in anybody's face, period. This guy is a MAJOR asshole and only treats people he wants something from with any sort of decency. His philosphy in life is along the lines of: If you aren't obviously wealthier and/or more powerful than me you are beneath me.

    Whereas my general philosophy in life is "there's no greater sinner than me" or "nobody is beneath me" for the secular.

  112. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I doubt it based on the Amazon reviews that are crucifying it.

  113. It's very likely he literally needs mental help by LrdDimwit · · Score: 4, Informative
    A semester's worth of ab-psych and wikipedia do not a diagnosis make - but he quite likely has Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

    He completely flew off the handle when the customer complained about being treated badly (Reacts to criticism with anger, shame, or humiliation), doesn't seem to care about or even really understand why the customer is pissed off (Obsessed with oneself and Lacks empathy and disregards the feelings of others) ... And finally, unrealistic fantasies of ... power speaks for itself, as does [exaggerates] own importance, achievements, and talents
    .

    "People who are overly narcissistic commonly feel rejected, humiliated and threatened when criticised. To protect themselves from these dangers, they often react with disdain, rage, and/or defiance to any slight criticism, real or imagined ... In cases where [the afflicted] feels a lack of admiration, adulation, attention and affirmation, he/she may also manifest a desire to be feared and to be notorious (narcissistic supply).

    Although individuals with NPD are often ambitious and capable, the inability to tolerate setbacks, disagreements or criticism, along with lack of empathy, make it difficult for such individuals to work cooperatively with others or to maintain long-term professional achievements. With narcissistic personality disorder, the individual's self-perceived fantastic grandiosity, often coupled with a hypomanic mood, is typically not commensurate with his or her real accomplishments.

    The entire thing describes him almost to the letter.

    1. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by ChrisMP1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Let's just call it narcissism and cut the crap. He's a narcissistic dickhead, not a sick person we should all feel sorry for.

      --
      <sig>&nbsp;</sig>
    2. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, so now "reacting with shame" to being called out on your d-baggish actions is a "personality disorder"?

    3. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by Ihmhi · · Score: 1

      To be fair to this guy, kids with ADHD "just didn't want to pay attention" 20-30 years ago. People with autism were "slow". etc.

      Have you considered that NPD and narcissism may be one and the same? It's pretty clear cut - when narcissism is as prevalent as it appears to be with this guy, it's probably a disorder.

    4. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by ChrisMP1 · · Score: 1

      Good point about autism, and that hits home for me because I have a large number of autistic family members. Of course, "slow" is still a valid description, if a bit politically incorrect, while "just didn't want to pay attention" intentionally blames the individual.

      The difference that I see is that autism and ADHD can be studied properly, we know a good bit about their causes (if not enough, it's still a start) and can medicate (whether that is desirable is a different story, but it does show that there are actual, medical causes behind them). However, I have yet to see a difference between a personality disorder and a shitty personality. They seem to be just labels for a common personality we find unpleasant.

      --
      <sig>&nbsp;</sig>
    5. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. You really do show a complete lack of understanding of psychological disorders. It's unfortunate that such feeling are so prevalent in our society today. If he truly is sick he should get help and he'd probably be less of a dick.

    6. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you studied personality disorders, or psychology in general, you would eventually discover that they are two in the same. Narcissistic dick and someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Assuming they meet the criteria for the latter. Which, if they don't, they would probably still qualify for a personality disorder not otherwise specified, fitting in with some-but-not-enough of the reqs.

    7. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by swamp_ig · · Score: 1

      ... However, I have yet to see a difference between a personality disorder and a shitty personality. They seem to be just labels for a common personality we find unpleasant.

      That's because there isn't any. 'Personality disorders' are a clinical label to apply to someone who has certain well defined problems with life, it's meant to be more specific than 'an asshole', but no less damning. Everyone who uses them knows that there's a lot of crossover, but it's a lot more useful to use a bit of jargon between doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists so they know what kind of asshole someone is, rather than just put 'asshole' on their file.

    8. Re:It's very likely he literally needs mental help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you studied personality disorders, or psychology in general, you would eventually discover that they are two in the same.

      As opposed to "one and the same", perhaps?

  114. Stuff that matters? by drolli · · Score: 2, Insightful

    i am not nerd enough to care.

    I dont mind if customer service uses polite forms to disguise their unacceptable behaviour or not. I prefer having somebody giving me a definitive impolite answer (which i can happily forward to his Boss and cancel the order) instead of indefinitely being forwarded or - after waiting for a few minutes on hold - being thrown out of the line.

  115. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  116. Smells like a publicity stunt honestly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now yes there are countless assholes with companies dealing with customers, but this guys ongoing dickitry goes above the call of duty. Personally it sounds like a publicity stunt. Before this happened hardly anyone knew what the avenger was, but now? Its been mentioned hundreds of times in this story on every gaming website on the net just about, now everyone knows the avenger name and what it is.

    The chances of a guy being this big of a dick multiple times on purpose is slim given his job is on the line, the chances this "story" coming out about the same time as the avenger product launches is even slimmer and the fact a single guy who is only one of two people that run penny arcade being shown this guys antics is even slimmer. Just a lot of longshots all managed to happen in a very narrow window as soon as this new product is released.

    Bottom line is this company got a shitload of publicity right when they needed it. Even the companies apologies for what this guy did are filled with references to their product, what systems its on and so fourth.

    As the old saying goes, even bad publicity is good publicity.

  117. Wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fact that you think this kind of behavior is unremarkable and should be let to slide is a symptom of just how far society in general has fallen under the sway of the psychopath and its version of reality.

    This exchange is a fascinating one, documenting how psychopaths think and act. We can all learn from it.

    Read Hervey Cleckley's Mask of Sanity (free download) to get some insight. He was one of the original scientists who pioneered research into a field which is arguably at the core of every major problem humanity is currently dealing with.

  118. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    who is "we"?

    you're exactly what you've claimed to be: NOTHING.

    At least they wrote something amusing; you're spouting the same old shite you always do.
    You know, it was nice when you went away for a little while there.

    Oh, I nearly forgot: feeb.

  119. Re:Entitlement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is what you get when you have three internet tough guys all with the same false sense of entitlement and importance. Nothing to see here, and it happens every day. The media picked it up for page views. I think the customer wasted his time with his book of a response that came before the PR guy threw a fit. Then the customer doesn't even cancel his order. Okay. That's some resolve he has there. Then this Penny Arcade guy goes off on a power trip and even smirks with an emoticon as he tells the PR guy that's he's going to invoke his influence to give him a hard time.

    Did you read the same email chain as me? I'm pretty sure the PR representative started it by calling the customer a kid when the customer asked for legitimate clarification on shipping dates for something he paid for.

    As for the "Penny Arcade guy", I don't see how he has any false sense of entitlement or importance? He runs a well known website and expo in the gaming industry. I guess he's pretty unimportant if you look at him outside of that particular industry. I guess he's not entitled to decide who gets a spot at HIS show, nor is he entitled to post an PR firm's email exchange on a site HE owns?

    I'll tell you what. Give me your money and a list of things you want to buy with this money. I'll send those items right over to you as soon as I acquire them. I'm not sure when I'll do it, but I'll do it eventually. Don't ask me for a specific date and don't bother me with emails or phone calls if your stuff doesn't come though. If you do that, that will make you a brat and a idiot and I'll just pawn your stuff off that you gave me money for on ebay. Don't worry, I'll give you a refund at some point... Not sure when though. ~Paul

  120. Re:Customer service by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

    Because reps are rated based on how efficiently (i.e. quickly) they are able to resolve customers' complaints. Hanging up when your complaint hasn't been resolved makes them appear better than they are; keeping them on the line longer makes them appear worse.

  121. Hometown hero. by noh8rz2 · · Score: 0

    The guy is from my hometown! Carlsbad woot woot!

  122. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  123. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by plover · · Score: 1

    What if this guy's plan was to cheese off every single person who contacted them, in hopes that one of them would "out" him in the public's eye? Maybe he planned to be this company's scapegoat from day 0. Sure, he ticked off plenty of not-Daves on the way, but once he ticked off Dave, and Dave got so fed up he told Mike, then Mike told Gabe, and then they got noticed big-time.

    At some point your behavior is so over the top that it's bound to be noticed by someone of importance who will take great pleasure in publicly spanking you for it. As long as you're "just some marketting firm" that can be reasonably separated from the company making the product, and know you'll be cut loose as soon as you look bad, the company selling the product is going to look almost like a victim of a scammer as opposed to a scheming manipulator. They get noticed, and they even get pity for having been tricked into hiring such a lousy PR guy.

    I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right. - P.T. Barnum, among others.

    --
    John
  124. This whole thing might be a hoax by lanceran · · Score: 1

    Just look at how much publicity Avenger got from this. It's insane. I would bet their orders increased tenfold since the story broke out. Makes me wonder if Ocean Marketing actually did this on purpose(well, probably not... maybe its another marketing company, using Ocean Marketing as a decoy). all it took was just two guys supposedly exchanging emails... internet did the rest. It was a gamble, sure... but if the story didnt pick up, it'd just fade into obscurity and sales wouldnt drop. It was a lossless strategy using a classic marketing ploy. Reminds me of Mad Men.

  125. Re:Customer service by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

    Not necessarily - the customers who ask to complain to a manager tend to be the type who weren't going to be satisfied no matter what the rep did (maybe the rep didn't even have the authority to do what the customer wanted), so it doesn't really reflect badly on the rep. In fact, they did their job well: they handled the customer's call quickly, and accomplished all that they were expected to accomplish (i.e. resolved nothing with an incorrigible customer).

    That said, I've been told before, flat out, (from a Kodak rep - yeah, I'll name names) that no, I couldn't speak to her manager because "a manger doesn't want to talk to you".

  126. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Barefoot+Monkey · · Score: 1

    That could work. But Mike is Gabe. And Tycho's name is Jerry.

  127. Asshole missing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's still only sorry that he got caught, and probably doesn't understand why such a big deal is being made over this. After all, in his eyes, his sin is that he mistakenly bullied someone with a lot of connections.

  128. Re:Two Slashdot stories and a PA comic = Epic Fail by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 1

    Except that he works as PR for the company that makes the Avenger, and he just got canned HARD. They did the right thing and apologized, and now THEY're going to get lots of free publicity, which is cool, they actually deserve it. Meanwhile anybody who googles this guy's name is going to see a MESS and he shouldn't be able to work anywhere near PR in the next century.

    --
    GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
  129. Man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He keeps on going! Doesn't believe he did anything wrong. STILL beating his chest, STILL bragging
    about who he knows. Sad.

    http://twitter.com/OceanStratagy

  130. He still does not get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This guy just does not know when to shut up. I simple apology, bad day, we treat all customers with respect BS would have at least calmed the situation but the more he talks the deeper he digs the hole. He would have treated the customer differently if he thought he was important? He's 38 claims he knows the internet and is shocked his rant went viral.

    I've done may day in the customer service barrel and even when you get the call that says "hey, the cupholder on my computer isn't working" you still don't insult and berate the caller.

  131. (Mis)quoting the bible... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong [Ecclesiastes 9:11]

    But that _is_ almost alwyas the best way to bet...

    MBA's nororiously engage in "business think", which leads to real world absurdity. For instance, if I manage to save money this year, next year I will be given less money. This punishes the dilligent and rewards the spendthrift. Yet is it done again and again because of "business think" and a misunderstanding of planning and outcome. As a consequence every year intersticial fragments of businesses go on spending orgies to "protect" their budget for the next year.

    In effect "business management" is the opposite of smart and ignores causation in the face of correlation and truthiness.

    Learning certian things tends to mis-configure the human brain. Most technical, scientific, and I.T. people have learned the hard way that MBA(s) will, as a rule, be short sighted and wrong in any conclusion they reach.

    It's like talking to a poor white share-cropper who insists in voting rebublican because democrats are "on the darky's side" and what is good for them (poor black people) clearly must be bad for us (poor white people).

    We see the pattern. We know that to all you MBA(s) what you have learned seems to make sense. To us, however, you are a symptom of decay.

    Individual cases may vary, even into reasonably large percentages, because nobody perfectly matches their stereotype(*), but it is the way to bet.

    (*) Before you say "(but) stereotypes are bad", you should consider that every non-proper noun in english (e.g. not the name of a specific and singular person) is a stereotype. Stereotypes are not bad excep when they are used to unreasonably limit or are based on elements not in evidence. Teacher, cop, priest, mailman, DR., PhD, MBA, I.T. guy, politician, and on into the infinite. Every single noun is a set theory operation and is assigned dominant charactersitics in your brain. It's litterly how the wiring works. If you don't like one or more of your stereotypes, then get together with the other memebers of your noun and change it by changing your actions(**).

    (**) yes, there are some unfair stereotypes, particularly those involving race or religion. "black guy" is a stereotype, but it is only a unfair stereotype in the minds of people who are already biased against "black guy"s in the first place due to upbringing and so forth. It's not the words, its the wiring of the guy saying them. etc.

    So the thing is, in the minds of most of I.T. (and probably "blue collar" and "scientist" and "technoloist" as well) the MBA has, as a class, rightfully earned our scorn for countless unilateral acts of "business think".

    Don't like it, don't blame us... Fixt Your Shit...

  132. Which one was the dick? by james.mcarthur · · Score: 1

    Because having read the initial email and the PR guys follow-ups, both authors came off looking pretty stupid.

  133. Look at it another way... by Stu101 · · Score: 1

    We all make mistakes. Anyone who doesn't make mistakes doesn't make anything (or so it is said!)

    Do you really want to make his life sh1t (and that of his family and 8 week old son) because he didn't hold of sending an email whilst he cooled down. Put another way, hopefully he can learn and move on. Otherwise, he will burden you all and increase the jobless total.

    Could he have handled it better. Definitely

    Should he have considered the other person before he sent it ? Totally.

    Should he loose his income because of a couple of shitty emails? Probably not.

    --
    http://www.writeitfor.us - Writing IT for the IT generation.
    1. Re:Look at it another way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should he loose his income because of a couple of shitty emails? Probably not.

      You sorta missed the moment when he's IN CHARGE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS. "Not sending shitty emails" is pretty much the job requirement.

      Why should someone not up to the job keep it? It's not like he did some forgivable honest mistake, he's an incompetent - it's kinda difference between cleaner leaving a speck of dust and cleaner spitting on the floor and stomping around in dirty boots.

      Sure he needs his loose income and he can get it elsewhere, in some non-public facing job.

  134. Re:I have compassion for the guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It may get me modded way down, but I have compassion for Christoforo.

    Yes he was a massive douche, and it looks like he has been getting away with being douchy for a long time.

    Whenever I hear of somebody doing something really evil, or stupid or ortherwise 'bad'—I try and remind myself of all the stupid things I've done and mostly gotten away with, and that if not given just the right life circumstances (that I did nothing to earn either) I could be that guy.

    The thing that makes me feel compassion for him is his apparent lack of awareness that there even is a problem. It's obvious he's more upset that he got caught abusing someone 'important' than actually contrite about how he treated the customer and probably 100s of others.

    Lack of awareness is the number one cause of psychological suffering. Without at least some insight into one's psychological problems it is impossible to even begin working on them.

    If he is indeed habitually treating people this way, and is indeed this clueless about the suffering he is causing others and himself, he likely will be stuck in a sad narrow little life. He will not just be causing suffering, he will be that suffering day in day out.

    Now compassion isn't the same as condoning, and I say bring down the full wrath of the internets on the guy. It may be just the shock that he needs to begin reassessing how he treats people.

    In the end all we have is each other and how we treat each other. There really is nothing else.

  135. wooo, look at all the armchair psychologists! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh for fucks sake. Feel better now? He wasn't in the right, but neither are you. You're like a bunch of schoolkids that stand around watching the school bully get a licking, and screaming "HIT HIM! HIT HIM!". Maybe you'll get some blood on your shirt to proudly display at recess. I wonder what you'll do when your 15 minutes of internet infamy strikes you out of the blue.

    Oh, this just pegs the irony meter. The fortune at the bottom of this page right now is "The way some people find fault, you'd think there was some kind of reward."

  136. Re:Customer service by thesandtiger · · Score: 1

    Except that this guy demonstrated zero professionalism, zero ability to even understand basic customer service skills, zero empathy with another human being. When he says control the customer, he meant, literally, control as in domination.

    Look at every single thing this guy has done and it's very, very obvious he's a completely abusive shitheel who believes in a very strong hierarchy where big guys shit on little guys and that's *right*.

    Every single statement he's made has been to the effect of "I'm sorry you were someone able to crush me, if I'd known that I wouldn't have started with you" and emphatically not "I'm sorry I was being an asshole to my customer, and I'm going to try to do better."

    Further, there is evidence that he abused his wife/girlfriend (court documents have been found), that he's lying about some of the things he claims have contributed to his recent bad day (a friend of his died - an excuse he's used several times before), that he's behaved exactly like this in the past, over a course of years.

    Even more damning is his response going forward: he's being a dick to everyone, insisting that it's everyone else's fault, and now looking to capitalize on just how huge a dick the entire internet now knows him to be.

    The only saving grace here is that unlike many other people who have his same wiring (I'm not saying "sociopath" but yeah, basically "sociopath"), he is a complete fucking moron when it comes to learning how to effectively manipulate people and make them feel good about it.

    This guy is clearly a bully, and he displays classic bully obsequiousness when he gets the shit kicked out of him by someone with more power. It's the only language he understands, as has been made ABUNDANTLY obvious by everything that's come out about him.

    On the flip side, there's literally zero evidence that he knows how to behave like a normal human being. Nobody is coming forward to defend this guy - except for people who don't know him who feel bad that he's been set upon by the Internetz. He has had no friends speak up, nobody in the industry he supposedly has so many connections in has spoken up, not even to say, "Well, yeah, he was being a dick here but he's not always like that."

    There certainly is a concept of controlling the call in customer service, but you cannot honestly tell me that you think this guy was using the term "control" in this way after everything he's said and done.

    --
    Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  137. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh look. michael david kristopeit is commenting on thread about an asshole being a huge jerk to people over the internet. how fitting.

  138. Paul Christoforo simply doesn't get he's wrong by Wizardling · · Score: 1

    If it's not non-apology apologies he's blaming PA's Mike Krahulik for being a bully (ironic) and attacking those he name dropped (who oddly enough failed to ride to his rescue...) and threatening twitter users for telling him off. Every single one of Paul Christoforo's actions during and after this mess boiled over scream that he believes he's not in the wrong. The jackass has some kind of douche mental block whereby he's unable to get he's in the wrong here.

    Instead of even feigning a sincere apology and then shutting up (which would have led to this mess only being a flash in the pan that would quickly have tailed off), he keeps blaming everyone else for his problems, even inventing crap like 'my friend died', and continues to post arrogant douchebaggery and give interviews where he blames everyone but himself and tries to make out any publicity is good publicity. Uggg.

    I'm sorry Paul, but you're just asking for your current harassment. You're practically begging for it...

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  139. Re:Customer service by joew · · Score: 1

    And having worked in customer service you undoubtedly know the one of the main elements of "Call control" is to control yourself.. you lose that and its all over.

  140. You never know who you are talking to. by jklovanc · · Score: 1

    I worked at a business cellular call centre a while back and got a call from an average customer. I fixed his rather common issue though it took some time. I treated him like I treat everyone who called me; quickly, courteously and efficiently. When the issue was dealt with the customer mentioned that his brother was the president of the company and was thinking about moving to another cellular provider due to the poor service. He then stated that, considering the service he received from me, he thought the service was getting better and he would talk to his brother. I checked and found that I may have save the company a contract worth a couple hundred thousand dollars per year merely by doing my job by treating everyone as well as I can.

    When you have contact with customers treat everyone as well as you can because the person in front of you a) deserves it and b) may influence a big customer. (The most important part of that is the a part)

  141. Re:Customer service by dcollins · · Score: 1

    This sounds a bit like road rage -- if someone cuts me off, my goal becomes "get them away from me because they're potentially damaging to me", not "time to teach them a lesson".

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  142. 98.5% disapproval rating! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    C'mon Slashdot, you can do better!

  143. OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, all of that was incredibly lame.

  144. Re:Customer service by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

    And in road rage you'd probably be right, but it wouldn't normally be very damaging to anyone to spend ten or fifteen minutes on the phone with an unhelpful support tech. It's just a waste of your time, which you can presumably spare, but it looks really bad for them.

  145. It even made NPR this morning by OmniGeek · · Score: 1
    --

    "My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
  146. Re:No thanks by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    Paul Christoforo, is that you?

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  147. Re:No thanks by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    If you can't see the fact that you sound exactly like the guy in the story, who is being the idiot?

    But than again, you are the troll here...

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  148. Re:No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you sound exactly like michael kristopeit AND the guy in the story. you perceive that you can only sound like one thing, but that is incorrect. you're an idiot.