For a long time, I’ve been a member of the ACM. They over a ton of really invaluable services, not the least of them the ACM Portal – a giant resource of pretty much every important computing-related paper. And, since they’re a big organization, it’s inevitable they wanted to give me a gift for my fifth anniversary – which turned out to be a (rather ugly) mug with S. Cray’s face on it.
Now, there are quite a few things wrong with that:
- Is there really any computing professional who needs yet another mug?
- Do we as a society really think it’s a good idea to spend money on useless gifts? How does that jive with the “social responsibilities” in the ACM’s ethics code?
- If it has to be a mug, could we please not have it made in China? I’d rather not get lead poisoning, if possible.
- And really, if you do anything that has a visual element, try at least asking a designer. That mug definitely screamed “programmer graphics”
Either way, I voiced my opinions to my “customer service representative”. (There’s a depressing job title.) The reply?
Thank you for your comments.
They will be forwarded to manangement for consideration.
Uh, yeah. Not only does this tell me that you’ll round-file them as soon as possible, it also tells me that my “customer service representative” is nothing more than an e-mail aggregator. I’m seriously not certain if I really want to be a member in a society that so obviously just doesn’t care.
Enjoyed reading your blog. You are quite funny!
Seth Godin was writing on a similar topic recently:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/who-answers-t-1.html
@Paul: Yes, I saw that. Makes me proud – I was there a day before Seth!
(OK. Fine. His article is better. Working on that part…