SWEATSHOP SHOES: Truth In Advertising?

We bring you back to TOM GILL PREDICTS-  Volume Fifteen, Number Forty-Five- from 2001,

and an item that was forwarded to me by email by "too many persons to mention." 

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A timely reminder of the limits of consumerism, for your reading
pleasure.  This has been confirmed to be true.

Nike let you personalize your shoes by submitting a word or
phrase which they will stitch onto your shoes, under the swoosh. So
Jonah Peretti filled out the form and sent them $50 to stitch
"SWEATSHOP" on to his shoes.

Here's the response he got...

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" peretti@media.mit.edu
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Your NIKE iD order was cancelled for one or more of the following
reasons:

1) Your Personal iD contains another party's trademark or other
intellectual property

2) Your Personal iD contains the name of an athlete or team we do
   not have the legal right to use

3) Your Personal iD was left blank. Did you not want any
personalization?

4) Your Personal iD contains profanity or inappropriate slang, and
   besides, your mother would slap us.

If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new
personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD


From: "Jonah H. Peretti" peretti@media.mit.edu
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Greetings,

My order was canceled but my personal NIKE iD does not violate any
of the criteria outlined in your message. The Personal iD on my
custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes was the word "sweatshop."

Sweatshop is not:

1) another's party's trademark,

2) the name of an athlete,

3) blank, or

4) profanity.

I choose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil and labor of
the children that made my shoes. Could you please ship them to me
immediately.

Thanks and Happy New Year, Jonah Peretti

From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" peretti@media.mit.edu
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD Customer,

Your NIKE iD order was cancelled because the iD you have chosen
contains, as stated in the previous e-mail correspondence,
"inappropriate slang". If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product
with a new personalization please visit us again at nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD


From: "Jonah H. Peretti" peretti@media.mit.edu
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD,

Thank you for your quick response to my inquiry about my custom ZOOM
XC USA running shoes. Although I commend you for your prompt
customer service, I disagree with the claim that my personal iD was
inappropriate slang. After consulting Webster's Dictionary, I
discovered that "sweatshop" is in fact part of standard English, and
not slang. The word means: "a shop or factory in which workers are
employed for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions"
and its origin dates from 1892. So my personal iD does meet the
criteria detailed in your first email.

Your web site advertises that the NIKE iD program is "about freedom
to choose and freedom to express who you are." I share Nike's love
of freedom and personal expression. The site also says that "If you
want it done right...build it yourself." I was thrilled to be able
to build my own shoes, and my personal iD was offered as a small
token of appreciation for the sweatshop workers poised to help me
realize my vision. I hope that you will value my freedom of
expression and reconsider your decision to reject my order.

Thank you, Jonah Peretti


From: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'" peretti@media.mit.edu
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD Customer,

Regarding the rules for personalization it also states on the NIKE
iD web site that "Nike reserves the right to cancel any personal iD
up to 24 hours after it has been submitted". In addition, it
further explains: "While we honor most personal iDs, we cannot
honor every one.

Some may be (or contain) other's trademarks, or the names of certain
professional sports teams, athletes or celebrities that Nike does
not have the right to use. Others may contain material that we
consider inappropriate or simply do not want to place on our
products.

Unfortunately, at times this obliges us to decline personal iDs that
may otherwise seem unobjectionable. In any event, we will let you
know if we decline your personal iD, and we will offer you the
chance to submit another." With these rules in mind, we cannot
accept your order as submitted. If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD
product with a new personalization please visit us again at
www.nike.com

Thank you, NIKE iD


From: "Jonah H. Peretti" peretti@media.mit.edu
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

Dear NIKE iD,
Thank you for the time and energy you have spent on my request. I
have decided to order the shoes with a different iD, but I would
like to make one small request. Could you please send me a color
snapshot of the ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my shoes?

Thanks,
Jonah Peretti

THE MICROSOFT HOME OF THE FUTURE

More than thirteen years ago, in December 2000, TOM GILL PREDICTS (Volume 15, No. 29) wrote a story about an actual "Microsoft Home Of The Future."   Yes, one could argue that it was a spectacular prediction of what we now call "The Internet of Everything," but I'd say not much has changed, especially with Microsoft.
________________________________________________________________________________

 Top 10 Problems With the Microsoft Home of the Future (December 2000)
 
 Tucked away in New York's trendy Tribeca neighborhood, there's a 

 spectacular piece of PR called the "Microsoft Home of the Future."
 We're intrigued by the concept, but we imagine living in an
 all-Microsoft dwelling place might have its drawbacks, including
 the following:
 
  1. Unfriendly: Doormat says "Start" instead of "Welcome."
  2. Infectious Outlook: Everyone in your family keeps contracting
     nasty viruses. Oddly, the neighbors in the Linux house and the

     Mac house never seem to get sick.
  3. Burglar Magnet: Your home's architecture is riddled with
     hidden holes, back doors, and other security flaws.
  4. Overpriced: Whenever you visit a foreign country such as
     Russia or China, you see houses that look exactly like yours
     but find out people bought them on the black market for a
     fraction of what you paid.
  5. No doors, only Windows. 

     (Editor's note from 2014: and the Vista isn't too good either.)
  6. Network Neighborhood: You can't share your home with anyone
     else. Every member of your family must buy his or her own
     house and then connect it with yours.
  7. Dirty Dishes: Microsoft doesn't offer drivers for your new
     dishwasher.
  8. Fine Print: You must register your home with Microsoft within
     30 days of purchase, or else the house will lock you out and
     void your warranty.
  9. Slow and Unsteady: It takes forever to back up the drive, and
     then you crash.
 10. Mice everywhere. 

     (Editor's note from 2014: OK, maybe that has changed. Perhaps we would

      say there are no remote controls, you have to touch everything to start it?)

POLITICAL SPIN

(Forwarded from Barbara Reeves, variants of this, involving both Democratic and Republican Senators have been going around the Internet for a long time!)

No matter what side of the political aisle you're on, this is funny.

A professional genealogy researcher was doing some personal work on her own family tree. She discovered that a prominent Senator (let's call him Senator XXXX)'s great-great uncle Remus was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana, in 1889. Both the genealogist and the Senator share this common ancestor.

 
The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana Territory: 

 

On the back of the picture that Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus XXXX, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885; escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.' 

 
So Judy recently e-mailed Senator XXXX for information about their great-great uncle.
 
Believe it or not, the Senator's staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research:
 
"Remus XXX was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory . His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable livestock assets and a close association with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad. In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889,Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

Now THAT's how its done, folks! That's real Political Spin!

 

IDIOTS

This was originally published in March 2001 in TOM GILL PREDICTS Volume 15 No. 48, from an item originally forwarded 

by Theresa Castor. It still resonates today!

_____________________________________________________________________________________ 

 IDIOTS IN SERVICE:
This week, all our office phones went dead and I had to contact
the telephone repair people. They promised to be out between 8:00
a.m. and 7:00 p.m. When I asked if they could give me a smaller time
window, the pleasant gentleman asked, "Would you like us to call
you before we come?" I replied that I didn't see how he would be able to
do that, since our phones weren't working.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: OK, this was before mobile phones were as ubiquitous.]

 
IDIOTS AT WORK:
I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk
noticed I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card.
She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the
card was signed.  When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary
to compare the signature I had just signed on the receipt. So I signed the
credit card in front of her. She carefully compared the signature to
the one I had just signed on the receipt. As luck would have it, they
matched.

IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the
local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer
Crossing sign on our road. The reason: too many deer were being hit by cars and
he didn't want them to cross there anymore.

IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the
person behind the counter for "only a little lettuce." He said he was sorry,
but they only had iceberg.

IDIOT SIGHTING #1:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee
asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?"
To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?"
He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask."

IDIOT SIGHTING #2:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I
was crossing with an intellectectually-challenged coworker of mine when
she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals
blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on
earth are blind people doing driving?!"

IDIOT SIGHTING #3:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear co-worker who was leaving the
company due to "downsizing," our manager commented cheerfully, "This is
fun. We should do this more often." Not a word was spoken. We all just
looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

IDIOT SIGHTING #4:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself
and for the life of her couldn't understand why her system would not turn
on.

IDIOT SIGHTING #5:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our
car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service
department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the
driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried
the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to
the technician, "It's open!"  To which he replied, "I know - I already got
that side."

NOW DON'T YOU FEEL BETTER?