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Google Co-Opts Whale-Watching Boat To Ferry Employees

Posted by Soulskill on from the now-illegal-to-look-at-whales-without-a-google+-account dept.

theodp writes "Purportedly intended to defuse tensions over gentrification that have led to blockades and vandalism of Google's ubiquitous shuttles (video), which make use of public San Francisco bus stops (map), Wired reports that Google is now chartering a ferry to take its workers from SF to Silicon Valley. 'We certainly don't want to cause any inconvenience to SF residents, and we're trying alternative ways to get Googlers to work,' Google explained. Inconveniencing whale-seeking visitors to The Aquarium of the Pacific, however, is apparently not considered evil. After learning that Google had co-opted the $4 million, 83-foot, 150-passenger whale-watching catamaran MV/Triumphant to ferry as few as 30-40 Googlers to work, some expressed concerns on Facebook that Google would be The Grinch That Stole Whale Watching Season (not to worry; the boat's slated to make its 'triumphant' return to Long Beach after Google's '30-day trial')."

5 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Whalewatching by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Funny

    People in the traffic jams are now able to watch whales getting brought to work by boat.

    1. Re: Whalewatching by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny

      Below average BMI? How is that possible, given all that free junk food that permeates the entire Google campus?? There's a reason that " Googler 15" phrase exists.

      I didn't take a position at Google because they didn't have the right kind of krill on the menu.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Personal story about ferries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I rode on a ferry once. I was heading to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe. So, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them. 'Give me five bees for a quarter', you'd say. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah...the important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war; the only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

  3. It's in beta. by wcrowe · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...after Google's '30-day trial'...

    Good grief. Even their boat chartering is in beta.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  4. Re:Citation Needed by bitt3n · · Score: 3, Funny

    Particularly since they are using it in the off-season to keep the boat in use year round. Whales are in Hawaii now.

    Great! Google hijacked so many boats the poor unemployed whales had to move to Hawaii. What's next, gentrification of the clouds?

    --
    how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?