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Comment by lolc | Hacker News Reader

I wondered about that story and concluded that the author knew which computer they wanted. They also knew that this computer came in the smallest box. So they only had to give that second bit of information to get what they wanted.

It is a bit condescending in my view to withhold that information from the clerk. But then again, I'm only making assumptions. Also, I've done similar things where I refused to let on my internal reasoning for various reasons. Sometimes just to mess with people. And clearly, many people thought me a fool for it. If I'd actually told them my reasoning? In many instances that would not have improved their opinion of me. So no loss.

There are also many instances where I could have benefited immensely from sharing my reasoning, because people could have corrected my mistaken assumptions. Can't say I've got it figured out when to keep shut and when to share.

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If it happened, he purposefully chose a request that he knew would generate confusion and discomfort in a situation with someone he has power over. It reminds me of the high school bully who fake-punches you, knowing you'll react, and then punishing you for how you react.

At best he purposefully made things more difficult than they had to be. She was absolutely right to think that he was a "bozo." I generally strive to make things as easy and painless as possible for service workers I deal with, because I've been a service worker. It wouldn't surprise me if he has never spent a day in his adult life working a service job.

Regarding whether this actually happened or not: did any notice that "small box" item is one of the few he doesn't actually explain and he's withholding information from us just like he did from the salesperson? It feels like a "look at me, I'm so very smart, watch me manipulate my audience" move.

His disdain for his readers is pretty obvious from the fact that he puts zero effort into readability; there isn't an drop of formatting, it's just a massive wall of text from edge to edge of the browser window.

I don’t share your assumption that he purposefully made things more difficult.

My assumption is that he really didn’t know which computer came in the smaller box (since, computer size, which is the public info about the product, doesn’t exactly correlate with the box size).

My guess is that he wanted to know which, if any, impact a small box would potentially have on computer components (like different impact absorption on transportation) that would require some CPU design adaptation. Like (speculation here, as I am nowhere near a CPU specialist): is a second memory clip more susceptible to be affected by transportation impact? So the box size is correlated with cheaper computers. Which tend to be larger computers, but can come in a smaller box because they don’t have that second memory clip?

Idk, but I am assuming good intent and reasoning behind the anecdote.

"Hi, I'm doing research on $WHATEVER_IT_WAS, could you show me the computer you sell in the smallest boxes?" would prevent the confusion and awkwardness. It seems he gets out of his way to encounter these situations which is kinda rude.

I still liked the article, I certainly have a problem with trying to avoid looking stupid too hard, at least in certain contexts.

Yeah, exactly. I build weird machines, and I need parts that aren't designed for the weird machines (because nobody has built them before), so I usually go to unrelated shops.

Last time this happened, I needed steel wire, and I went to a guitar shop to buy guitar strings. I told the employee "this is going to be a bit weird but I want a string that is 0.3mm in diameter for a machine I'm building, do you have any?" instead of letting him be puzzled why I would want a "0.3mm string" rather than a "C string".

Usually people even ask and talk about about what I'm building, which is nice, but if it will take a long time to explain I say something like "it's not very easy to explain what it does because it's for a specialized purpose, but essentially it does <whatever general thing>".

I've never had anyone think I'm stupid, but not for lack of asking stupid questions, I think. I just take a little more care to spend two seconds explaining why I'm asking the thing.

There is nothing like the joy that lights up the face of a bored Home Depot employee when you say "looking for <weird thing>; it's for a kids costume". You can get several of them happily brainstorming alternatives and running around the store

> His disdain for his readers is pretty obvious from the fact that he puts zero effort into readability; there isn't an drop of formatting, it's just a massive wall of text from edge to edge of the browser window.

You can see this as disdain, or as respect: I'm free to bring my own CSS to this page, and have things look exactly how I want them too.

Also, it works great in portrait mode e.g on a phone.

I think he confused his trip to the Apple store with a riddle at a Google interview. I'll second that that made him sound like a complete dumbass.

He did say he's willing to look stupid.

I notice he doesn't afford his victim any generous assumptions.

He's like; fuck you for thinking the guy basing his $2000 computer purchase on cardboard is an idiot - I'm actually a secret genius CPU designer don't you know??

Well yeah like, maybe she's got a Master's degree in Packaging Design and knows that the smallest box, in fact, has weak cornering or cannot be reclosed because it has to be ripped open or something.

Is his request even well defined? There might be different, shortest, thinnest, shallowest boxes. Does it need to fit through a letterbox? Oh, ok, you don't care about depth then...

Not to mention the double meaning that "box" has in computing...

I noped out of the article at that point which is a shame because I do agree with the general idea.

I like the formatting, FWIW.

I agree it's condescending, especially as the clerk obviously wanted to find out why he wants the smallest box to better help him. If your experience from working at a computer store is that 50% of the customers ask for thing A but really want thing B because they have little knowledge about computers, it's correct to assume that the customer that wants the machine in the smallest box also has a weird idea of what that means, and probably really needs a different selection criterion.

Saying "It's a gift so I don't care about the model but it needs to fit in my carry-on bag" (or whatever the reason) would have explained it, and nobody would have thought the other was stupid. So in this case he's actively inviting that judgement.

Yeah, I went buy a tablet and I wanted a specific form factor. So when the retail worker asked me what I wanted, I told them the specific product. They mentioned other models that were newer, faster, better, etc. And I simply told them that I was looking for one I could fit in my hand by basically palming it. (Being in person, I could just hold up my hand and say "hold it like this").

Once I explained that, I was able to get what I wanted with no more questions. Now that they knew why I wanted what I wanted, they also knew what information was relevant to me. And I had already chosen the best model they had in that form factor.

Communication should be simple, direct, and complete. That's where I don't care if I "look stupid". I'll go over basics if there's a chance someone doesn't know the basics. Because you can say, "Oh I'm aware of X", but if you aren't and I assume you are, you may be too embarrassed to bring that up because you're afraid I think you're stupid if you don't know it.

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