The law of unintended consequences

[jadesfire]

Normally I'd save this for my linkspam, but it amused me too much, and knowing the internet, it will all be over in a few hours.

Newsflash: Oprah breaks libraries!

The short version of the story: Oprah recommended a website for getting a coupon for free grilled chicken at KFC. People who don't have a computer/printer at home (or who don't have a home - the homeless are big library users) use the library to print the coupon.

CHAOS ENSUES.

Yes, really

Really really

And of course Twitter folks have their own take on the whole thing

And it's all fun and games until somebody loses their privacy (this part makes things particularly difficult for libraries. Trust me, downloading software onto our PCs is NOT going to happen...)

Fortunately, the cartoonists are already on top of things

ETA (because when I don't say things that make me cross, I just get crosser): I've seen 3 types of comment on this.

#1. From librarians who've been tearing their hair out/struggling with this/found a way round it/not had too many problems. They know what they're talking about, and are sympathetic to those who are stressed and/or immensely relieved that they haven't had these problems.

#2. From librarians who haven't had these problems and are saying it's 'non front-line librarians' who are making a big fuss about nothing. Good for them that they haven't had any problems. By the sound of what other people are saying, they've been lucky. No, seriously, other people are having problems. Just because you didn't, doesn't mean they're not allowed to be frustrated at the long queues and endless technical difficulties.

#3. From non-librarians saying that librarians are making a fuss about nothing. I invite them to take over the job for a day, on a day like that again. Public librarians can and do handle all kinds of truly ridiculous and SOBAR* situations every day. If they're saying this was bad, it was bad.

As you can imagine, one of these things is not like the others, and is not doing bad things to my blood pressure.

ETA2: As donutsweeper just reminded me, there were serious problems at the KFCs as well. Shockingly, with a recession on, when you give away free food, people take you up on it...

*Stressed Out Beyond All Recognition. The version of FUBAR that you can explain to your mother

Comments

[naye]

Oh, dear. Epic headdesk! Poor American librarians...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

There were a few comments along the lines of "what's the big deal? Librarians have it easy and should stop moaning because this is what they're there for" oh, and another saying that only tech people were making a fuss while "front-line librarians deal with this every day." Er. No, they don't. It reminded me of how Neil Gaiman has to check that a website can handle the traffic before he links to it through Twitter, else he ends up with #neilwebfail again ;)

I think some modern celebrities under-estimate their influence in the days of the internet.

Oh, and even better? Some KFCs stopped accepting the coupons by the middle of the day...

There isn't enough headdesk in the world, really, is there?

[naye]

Your icon is gorgeous AND perfect! ♥

Ahahahaha. Yeah. The bit where KFC stopped accepting coupons - WTF! Now that's just rude.

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

Couldn't it be considered a breach of contract or something? I'm sure in America, if there's a way to sue for that then someone will find it (unless they were canny and had a 'while stocks last' disclaimer on the coupons). lol

Nate

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

And add in apparently some KFCs weren't taking the coupons and others ran out of food and there were actual riots at others....

Oprah's just wonderful, isn't she?

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I think as I was saying to Naye, some celebrities genuinely don't seem to realise the effects they can cause. When you have an audience of however-many-million, you *have* to be more responsible, surely? I know some of the big Twitterers - Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman - are very careful with what they post about, because trial and error has shown how badly wrong it can go.

But seriously, giving away free food in the middle of a recession? No one thought that one through to the end...

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Or, she's looking at it as a way of getting people to talk about her and think of her as a good Samaritan, and never put any more thought into it than that.

[aoibhe.livejournal.com]

Neil > Oprah.

Yeah, that's all I got. I'm not a big KFC fan anyway and I've always disliked Oprah. ::g::

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I rather intensely dislike Oprah and wish she'd spend some extended time serving the public up close and personal the way librarians and people who work in social services have to.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'd say it was well-meaning, except for how it was KFC....

[genagirl.livejournal.com]

We couldn't print it, we can't download to our computers here, either. It wasn't as horrible as we figured it would be. Thank goodness it was only for one day, as by the time a lot of people learned about it the coupon was gone.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* Some libraries seem to have had it harder than others - not being able to get it at all was probably simpler than "the first four people could have it but not you" :S Hopefully it won't happen again!

[unfeathered]

That is just... unbelievable. *goggles*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Hee, that was pretty much my reaction!