We’re having a smoother ride than most cyclists in the Tour de France! It’s our fifth episode, and we celebrate by complaining about how our internet providers are scamming us and taking a closer look at business management “theories” that are basically common sense to any employee who’s worked a non-executive job for more than a week. We also look at some horrifying uses of a hotel room coffee pot. Tweet us your thoughts, comment on the video—and tell us how many different passwords you use for all your different accounts.
“Treat your employees like people! That’ll be $30.”
Devin’s boss bought a book, read the whole thing, and liked it so much he bought a ton more to give away to employees! If Devin had been forced to pay for it, this might have been a pyramid scheme. The whole industry of “business management books” follows the same pattern of telling people in charge to treat those below them like human beings while making no systemic changes to anything and using painful metaphors. Are bosses scamming their employees? Are these writers scamming bosses? Both?
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Question: Share the title of your NYT Bestseller business advice book. Wrong answers only.
Your internet is brought to you by…a monopoly!
The Five Families carved up New York City to prevent gang wars, and it looks like AT&T, RCN, and Comcast have done the same thing with Chicago (and probably everywhere else). Devin relates his own experiences trying to navigate moving from territory to territory to try and get more bandwidth, only to have any idea of more than one option thwarted at every turn. No wonder customer service sucks! They have no need to treat the customer right, since we can’t go anywhere else. Tell us your ISP horror stories below!
Question: Name something that should be a monopoly but isn’t. Healthcare! But only if it’s accessible to all.
Deadly lifehacks sponsored by Tastemade
We take a look at another YouTuber, one who tries to convince us poor people can go on luxury vacations by saving money on food with disgusting “travel hacks” like cooking in a hotel coffee pot and using an iron as a skillet. It’s gross, it’s funny, but it’s also playing into a bigger scam about how people with no budget are somehow gonna magically be able to take fancy vacations if they “want it badly enough.” Minimum wage barely covers living expenses! No one should cook ramen in a coffee pot!
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Question: Tag us in your favorite (read: most useless) lifehack videos.