Bad Politics

News & General Discussion
1

I for one, am getting sick of Bad Business. I am very tired of Companies thinking that they can mistreat their employees, their customers, and their potential customers poorly, and not lose out because of it.

I am, however, happy when inadequate (almost scammy) businesses go under, such as Torque. I almost fell for their trap of the Torque Game Builder, being told I could make a realtime multiplayer game holding many people using it, only learning that I could not-- I could only make a very slow, turn based multiplayer game which supports few people. Thankfully I learned this in the trial.

Also, there are some restaurants and many fast food restaurants which have poor service, expecting you to come back after being told “Nothing is wrong. I am the manager so that’s a fact.” when you hear others complain or spaghetti is hard, or the (supposedly black) soda is nearly clear, colored like weak tea.

I just wanted to vent, because there are some great managers and services, but also some which not only are poor, but act as if nothing is wrong. Of course, even the worst in America is still better than dealing with Koreans over the Internet…lol…that has got to be the most face-palming. Of course, with things like those types, I entirely would blame myself for being so stupid, lol.

2

Perfection is an aspiration rarely attained. I’d chalk this up to experience and walk away. Life’s too short to do otherwise.

There are two things one can do in response to the inevitable results of other people’s bad decisions:

  1. Chalk it up to experience, let your wounds heal and move on
  2. Constantly pick away at the emotional scabs forever, never attaining anything yourself while wallowing in a state of self-pity and vengeance.

The second option may make for better blockbuster movies, but it’s a lousy approach to life.

No human is perfect. Businesses are run by humans. Therefore, businesses aren’t perfect either.

3

Hmm, well… as with everything else in life, nothing is quite as black and white as we’d like it to be.

Business is business at it’s core. That said, not all businesses are made equal. Folks over at Torque have had successes, failures, good decisions and bad. They market their engine just like Unity, just like McD’s markets their food, at the end of the day just like I market my Toolbox. We can discuss marketing and sales if you’d like, but I think it all comes back to the same things. Torque is a small business (and always has been)… at least as measured by the global business industry. Infact, the video game industry as a whole is only reaching into a mid-market, as markets go.

Before you tar and feather the Torque folks, ask yourself, why are they trying to “save” Torque and GG? Why wasn’t Torque completely re-factored during the good times? Why couldn’t TGB build out a multi-player game automagically? Ultimately you won’t know the emotions of the answers to those questions until you find yourself in a similar position. Academically, they made choices and investments based on what they knew at the time and what their experiences lead them to choose (just like everyone else). Choices seem much clearer when you look back, customers always assume business owners are in a much more comfortable place (one of the most often used rationals for pirating in the game industry).

2 former Torque (GG?) employees now sit in predominate positions at Unity… I would love to have been at a Torque management meeting when they first learned of Unity. At the time, given Torques position in the industry, if they even acknowledged Unity my guess is they made some off-handed comments about “crushing another one” a few chuckles were had and they went on about their day. Times change… people forget that in the moment.

As for fast food … well they’re not as easily compariable. The answer to poor service in a fast food restraunt is relatively simple, you and I (and most everyone else) are buying food at the most popular fast food restraunts for 2 reasons 1) it’s (supposed to be) fast, and we are too busy to stop for a meal and 2) it’s cheap, otherwise we’d have packed a lunch or paid for better service. There’s a reason so many young people work at those establishments… and it isn’t because it’s cool. Now… if they (the FF franchises) paid those people liveable wadges, then you would demand better training, better service, and the FF stores themselves would demand higher standards of employees. Of course, that would also mean a “happy meal” would cost about 2-3x what it does today…

If you really want to be disgusted with some businesses, let me take you on a walk “up-stairs” to the big businesses. You may not know their names right off… but they sure as H*ll know yours. What they do and say would leave you speachless… I work there in the day… I hope game making will get me out someday!

Cheers,

Galen

4

Oh, big businesses disgust me just as much.

And I think fast food employees SHOULD be payed a whole alot more (better exmployees, more realistic wages).

How people even survive being paid so little in such high stress jobs is beyond me.

Happy meals are a scam even at McDonalds :stuck_out_tongue: Everyone overprices when targeting kids.

I actually was talking more about restaurants, where appetizers cost $9 and drinks $2-$3. I went to Old Chicago and the Dr.Pepper was almost clear it was so weak (visually clear…) and the manager said “I tasted it myself, nothing is wrong with it.” or a local chain where the food took over an hour longer to prepare and was awful (normally it’s quite fast and delicious) and the manager claimed nothing went wrong and the cooks did an excellent job.

It’s less tolerable to be lied to one’s face than corporations like Walmart which kill small business (although I’m not sure if I’m against that…since Walmart’s competition seems to be ridiculously overpriced anyways…)
Or why guacamole costs $3 extra and managers lie to people who have experience in the industry, claiming they “have to” because it “costs so much” when it simply does not. And no, they these are the same people who manager supermarkets where they don’t throw out bad meat and just relabel it at the supermarket.

It’s amazing the amount of lying, overpricing, and shady attitudes people have in the small jobs like supermarket manager. I cannot imagine what big businesses are like— having even more power and more stealth when they lie, capable of far more construction and damage than any of the above examples. I wish the millionaire CEO’s were paid slightly less so the bottom-feeding fast food employees could be paid slightly higher. Even if it’s the same rejects and screwups-- they deserve a living wage, even if they can’t perform their simple job of order correction. Or at the minimum the higher paying job could go to someone else.

Of course, idk if I’d be okay with it. I wouldn’t mind McDonald’s prices rising, but if Taco Bueno’s prices rose, I’d throw a fit. Some places are just more expensive than others, because their food might cost more, or is higher quality so they deserve a bit more in profits.