[Umami (Banned)]

All of this is anecdotal and unverified, so only trust it as far as you'd trust a community like Reddit. That said, it makes you wonder what would happen if there were no restrictions/regulations at all, as advocated by some on this board.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...past_employer/

While working at HHGregg, customers were told we'd recycle their old TV's for them. Really we just threw them in the dumpster. Can't speak for HHGregg corporation as a whole, but at my store this was the definitely the case.
McAllister's Famous Iced Tea is really just Lipton with a **** ton of sugar. They even have a trademark for the "Famous Iced Tea." There website says, "We can't give you the recipe, that's our secret." The secrets out, Lipton + Sugar = Trademarked Famous Iced Tea. McAllister's About Page

I worked at a beverage plant years ago that made Arizona Iced Tea, Tropicana, Nantucket Nectars, etc. There was one drink that we produced and the label said, "Made with Spring Water" and it was.
Each 600 gallon batch that we made had exactly 1 gallon of spring water poured into the tank.

I worked at a jewelry repair shop where ALL repairs were done with 10k gold instead of matching the karat of the ring.

Home Depot has recycling bins out in front of the building, but everything ends up in the same dumpster at the end of the day.

Bank of America... Tellers are all about sales. It is highly unlikely that any of the products they advise you to sign up for are good for your financial situation. Many times they will actually be detrimental, but the position is a sales position, not just a friendly face to help you with transactions.

"Spring water" bottling plant. Tank was found to have bacterial content above regulation safe levels. They chose to finish the night's run before cleaning the tank.
Buy a water filter.

I was forced to dump over 35 jugs (1 gallon each) of muriatic acid into a hole in the ground they (a retail store that is NOT Walmart) made me dig, and refused any form of eye/breathing protection. I was overwhelmed by the fumes and nearly reprimanded for not finishing the job.

My best friend use to work construction and one day he was on a site right behind a restaurant. One day he sees a guy come out the back with a ton of trash to throw in the dumpster and the a huge vat of BBQ/sauce/soup or something. He dumps it in the dumpster and as he finishes a manager comes out and yells at him for wasting it, kid says it expired. The manager forces the kid to scoop it all back out of the dumpster so they could sell it. My buddy and his friends stood there in shock as they watched this happen, and sure enough he scooped it out and took it back inside. This was in Memphis TN fyi.....
Edit: got in touch with my bro, it was Corkys BBQ and it was potato salad AND Cole slaw...
Edit 2: talked to said bro again, apparently it wasn't at a specific restaurant but a distribution center, where they cook the food, or certain items, so then they are shipped off to restaurant locations. But, it most definitely was Corkys....

And the list goes on. The idea that "unfettered" free market forces would correct for things like this seems far-fetched at best, but probably closer to delusional.

[barrel roll]

If it is far fetched and delusional, what do these accounts make you think about mentioned businesses (assuming we know exactly which ones are being mentioned)?

[drgonzo]

Anyone who has worked almost anywhere long enough will have seen some kind of corporate malfeasance, petty to serious. It kind of begs the question of why some people believe this doesn't happen. It's almost a mental pathology.

[Lazarusrat]

It makes me think that "$500,000 advertising budget saying how great and good they are > than the truth" so they don't have to worry a consumer backlash hurting their profits forcing them to change their policies.

[shakeyjonez]

This is a good thread for some Rmoney/Bain Capital links.

[Animal_Mother (Banned)]

Not surprised by anything on that list.

[SupraSuper]

If someone fixed my 24k gold ring with 10k gold I'd throw a ***** fit

[Umami (Banned)]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

If it is far fetched and delusional, what do these accounts make you think about mentioned businesses (assuming we know exactly which ones are being mentioned)?

It makes me think they're inhuman corporate behemoths that reward anything that improves the bottom line, no matter the cost (as long as they don't have to pay it).

Then again, I already thought that.

[barrel roll]

Originally Posted by Umami

It makes me think they're inhuman corporate behemoths that reward anything that improves the bottom line, no matter the cost (as long as they don't have to pay it).

Then again, I already thought that.

Those stories dissuade me from visiting those establishments. They convince me to persuade my friends and family not to visit those places either.

[LOL Renegade]

Originally Posted by SupraSuper

If someone fixed my 24k gold ring with 10k gold I'd throw a ***** fit

Isn't wearing gold haram?

[TheSilentAssassin]

Originally Posted by barrel roll

Those stories dissuade me from visiting those establishments. They convince me to persuade my friends and family not to visit those places either.

Do you really think that makes a dent though? Does consumer protest actually effect these billion dollar global companies? I feel like I'm going to a sword fight with a pool noodle.

[quakcer]

Originally Posted by drgonzo

Anyone who has worked almost anywhere long enough will have seen some kind of corporate malfeasance, petty to serious. It kind of begs the question of why some people believe this doesn't happen. It's almost a mental pathology.

Who said it doesn't happen?

[Animal_Mother (Banned)]

Originally Posted by LOL Renegade

Isn't wearing gold haram?

It's haraam, and no. I've seen tons of Muslims wearing jewelry.

[barrel roll]

Originally Posted by TheSilentAssassin

Do you really think that makes a dent though? Does consumer protest actually effect these billion dollar global companies? I feel like I'm going to a sword fight with a pool noodle.

In small numbers, of course not. Isn't that the point of these stories over the internet, though?

I remember a Turkish kid in grammar school with a gold "Allah" Sanskrit necklace.

[sucka T.]

i used to work at dominos and a pizza fell face down on the floor, the employee picked it up and put it back in the box. When we figured out thats what happened, the manager made one of the employees call up the customer and ask if everything was ok with the pizza. they just said "the pizza is fine, but they forgot the ranch dipping sauce"

[Rapier7]

Originally Posted by Umami

All of this is anecdotal and unverified, so only trust it as far as you'd trust a community like Reddit. That said, it makes you wonder what would happen if there were no restrictions/regulations at all, as advocated by some on this board.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/co...past_employer/

And the list goes on. The idea that "unfettered" free market forces would correct for things like this seems far-fetched at best, but probably closer to delusional.

Not really. We'll always have people trying to con people into buying fraudulent goods and services, but the biggest companies got to where they were by getting repeat customers.

That's why copyrights and trademarks have unlimited legal protections (so long as the holder continues to use them), because it's supposed to distinguish an organization's products and services on the market place. A company that sells good and useful things will build up a reputation. And reputations can be destroyed much more easily than building them up.

Companies with valuable reputations will strive to keep making good products and services while companies who cut corners will find themselves pushed out of the market place.

Compared to most other sectors of the economy, the internet has almost no regulation. And yet it's one of the most dynamic and useful. More government regulation for the internet will only make it less valuable.

[StellarKnight]

Originally Posted by Rapier7

That's why copyrights and trademarks have unlimited legal protections (so long as the holder continues to use them), because it's supposed to distinguish an organization's products and services on the market place.

Originally Posted by Rapier7

Compared to most other sectors of the economy, the internet has almost no regulation. And yet it's one of the most dynamic and useful.

How do you reconcile these two ideas?

[quakcer]

Originally Posted by Animal_Mother

It's haraam, and no. I've seen tons of Muslims wearing jewelry.

I've seen tons of muslims eat bacon, that doesn't mean it's not haraam.

[Frank112916]

I don't know, on one hand I agree - plenty of things happen that the market does not at all correct for and therefore you need regulation. One might argue, however, that these things that happen - they aren't truly detrimental to society and don't substantially reduce the value of the service or good being provided so long as the dissonance doesn't grow too large and the problem is exposed. This asymmetry in information will always happen. The reason may be is that the cost of obtaining such information is extremely high, especially in a world where we are over saturated with it. It certainly causes inequitable wealth transfers/rent taking which is definitely an undesirable outcome.

I think of the duel between the "free market" and regulation at best a linear regression, it's a best-fit-line, and it is never perfect. You hope to have a high adjusted R^2 value, but if you don't, adding complexity through the use of higher order polynomial regression (i.e. more complex regulation), while having a better fit given your current data, it may inaccurately forecast the future and does not leave enough flexibility given the risks (and opportunities) posed by Knightian uncertainty (the unknown unknown).

With any regulation, we must weigh the costs and benefits of enforcing each rule. We must also realize that, who is telling the "true" side of the story is incredibly difficult, which is why I shy away from anecdotes.

[licence2kill]

ermahgerd its frenk

[Overbear]

Originally Posted by drgonzo

Anyone who has worked almost anywhere long enough will have seen some kind of corporate malfeasance, petty to serious. It kind of begs the question of why some people believe this doesn't happen. It's almost a mental pathology.

The point is, who cares? don't like it don't work for that company.

Originally Posted by SupraSuper

If someone fixed my 24k gold ring with 10k gold I'd throw a ***** fit

*clue* they use 10k gold to weld in extra metal because its really the only way to keep its form and keep the patch from streching/falling out/not bonding properly. They don't use it for the whole ring, just when you need a extra tiny bit put in to strech the ring bigger, or to fix weld points (like settings and such)...

You really didn't think they use 24k gold for every bit of a ring did you?

Originally Posted by barrel roll

Those stories dissuade me from visiting those establishments. They convince me to persuade my friends and family not to visit those places either.

THERE is the clue right there. Don't like what comapany "A" does, don't spend your money there.