Shock and Awe

[sabotabby]

Dear Wind Mobile,

In a city as diverse as this one, have you ever considered that there might be many people walking down the street who suffer from anxiety orders, heart conditions, and PTSD? And that, perhaps, jumping out in front of them on a dark street and yelling in their face may not be the best way to advertise your products and services?

In fact, approximately 51% of the population has probably, at some point in their lives, dealt with street harassment, and are likely to interpret a man jumping out and yelling on a dark street as the attack of a potential rapist and not a jolly and lighthearted introduction to your company?

Furthermore, might it be wise, if you are going to pursue this method of advertising, to advise your salesmen that they may actually send someone into a panic attack while on the job, and that the correct response when being informed that they scared the shit out of a potential customer is not, "I hope you didn't poop your pants!"?

I actually am a current, and not a potential customer, but I'm seriously considering being a former customer.

No love,

Sabs

P.S. These headphones? Mean that I'm not open to talking to you or anyone else who approaches me on the street trying to sell me something.

Comments

[lienne.livejournal.com]

Holy shit what the hell?

[sabotabby]

I'm not overreacting, right?

[sabotabby]

Here is the thing—I have never trained in any sort of martial art, and can't throw a punch worth shit, but my reaction to being surprised is about 50% flight, 50% fight, and I'm mental enough that even I could never predict which one it will be. In Mexico when I was groped on the subway, the first time I reacted by freezing up and then pushing away from the guy, the second time I reacted by violently slapping the fucker. And I'd have hit harder if the subway wasn't so jam-packed that I couldn't really swing my arm.

And it's not like I go out there wanting to do violence to salesdicks—it's entirely an instinctive, defensive reaction to having my boundaries violated.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Jesus H. Murgatroyd.

I am, ostensibly, a pacifist.

And there is a 30-50 percent chance, depending on ambient light and my existing hyperalertness layer, that I'd have popped the poor bastard.

[sabotabby]

There was very little ambient light and I was exhausted. Too exhausted to pop him one no matter how much he deserved it.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

(May I link this?)

[sabotabby]

Totally. Spread the word. (I already e-mailed them with a complaint.)

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Holy crap. No, you are NOT overreacting, although that's what they're going to tell you. Jumping out in front of anybody on a dark street and yelling at them is asking to be pasted, and sooner or later somebody is going to do just that. Be glad it wasn't you that did it -- you don't need the hassle. Let it be the combat vet instead; people will pay attention when HE says he's got PTSD.

[sabotabby]

I don't actually have PTSD, I'm just incredibly anxious and jumpy. I wouldn't wish that shit on someone who actually had PTSD.

[ironed_orchid]

What the fucking fuck.

That's ridiculous.

[sabotabby]

Okay, so it's not just me then.

[azurelunatic]

That is an amazingly horrible marketing decision.

Since I don't actually know how I would react to someone doing that to me, since it's never happened, I don't know for sure what my first reaction would be. However, should my reaction involve attempting to injure the likely assailant before getting the hell out of there and calling the police, I do not think that this was what that salesman signed up for when accepting the job.

[sabotabby]

I have too much of the ol' anarchist in me to immediately think of calling the police, but I thought of doing so after.

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time imagining a situation where that sales tactic would work to do anything but terrify their potential customers.

[sabotabby]

I imagine his initial instructions probably didn't take the darkness—and by extension, people hurrying down the street wearing vision-obstructing hoods—into account. But still, they should have thought of that, because it gets dark at like 4:30 now. Someone jumping around the street in broad daylight and trying to surprise people is a degree different than someone doing the same thing in pitch darkness.

It's still a bad technique that will inevitably shock someone, but I can see how they might have planned it out without realizing the logical consequences.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Jeezes Krajst!

I had a bit of a hard time understanding this at first because I'd never heard of Wind Mobile [thank you, W'pedia] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Mobile).

η: pointed hither by commodorified

[sabotabby]

They are kind of an obnoxious company to begin with, but they do have the cheapest rates.

Still. If someone better comes along, I'm dumping them in a second.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

That's a crazy thing to do. If they'd tried it on me, I think at the very least I'd have jumped back and dropped into a fighting stance. Or, depending on how close to me he came and how suddenly, possibly assumed it was an attack and defended myself accordingly.

Although I think worst would be if they tried it when I was with the Lynxcub and scared him, because then I would probably go all mama bear and eviscerate the guy with my teeth. Probably with the Cub kicking him in the shins at the same time.

Seriously, who the hell thought that was a good sales tactic?

[sabotabby]

The same people who have Wind's shitty customer service that I've complained about before.

Yeah, there are a whack of folks out there with more cause to react violently to that kind of stimulus. I wonder how widespread this is (it might have been that one particular guy on that one particular night).

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I probably would have hit someone. Hard & repeatedly. That is an astonishingly bad idea for a sales tactic.

[sabotabby]

He's lucky he just got a stern talking-to. Were I in a less exhausted but more fragile state, I could be facing an assault charge right now.

[reginagiraffe]

Holy crap! Someone actually thought "Hey, here's a good idea!"

*facepalm*

Have they ever lived in a city before!?

(Here from commodorified.)

[sabotabby]

This particular guy definitely lived in a city. He was a hipster douche with an ironic moustache. No one dresses like that outside of a city.

But, you know, he was a white male. So that plays into it.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

OMG. That is beyond stupid.

*hugs*

[sabotabby]

*hugs back*

[bike4fish.livejournal.com]

I hope the people they have employed to do this are well insured.

[sabotabby]

I hope so too. I have an account with those fuckers.

[matthew-g.livejournal.com]

They need to *seriously* rethink sales tactics. And 'how to be a proper human' strategy too, IMO.

[sabotabby]

I know right?

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Wow. No, definitely not just you. I'd probably have reported it to the police as an assault (in the UK at least, the perpetrator doesn't need to touch the other person for it to qualify as an assault, just to put them in fear of being touched without consent.)

[sabotabby]

I am just as afraid of the police as I am of strange men jumping out from the darkness at me.

[ambiviolent.livejournal.com]

Here by way of commodorified, to say that is a whole big sloshing bucket of NO. When I finally give in and own a cell phone, it sure ain't going to be from Wind.

[sabotabby]

Their customer service sucks too.

[queerasmoi.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this was a campaign that came straight up from corporate HQ, or if it was just some misguided authorized dealer?

[sabotabby]

I haven't heard of it happening elsewhere, so I'm guessing it was local.