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posted by Fnord666 on Monday January 08 2018, @06:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the on-the-bicycle-recovery-team dept.

Google provides colorful bicycles for its Mountain View area employees to ride. But hundreds of these bicycles go missing every week, and some have been found tossed in a local creek:

"The disappearances often aren't the work of ordinary thieves, however. Many residents of Mountain View, a city of 80,000 that has effectively become Google's company town, see the employee perk as a community service," the Wall Street Journal reported.

And for the company, here's one Google bike use case that's got to burn a little: 68-year-old Sharon Veach told the newspaper that she sometimes uses one of the bicycles as part of her commute: to the offices of Google's arch foe, Oracle. Google doesn't really want non-Googlers using the bikes, "but it's OK if you do," Veach explained.

Google has hired 30 contractors using five vans to recover lost and stolen bikes, about a third of which are equipped with GPS trackers. The teams carry waders and grappling hooks for pulling bikes out of creeks.

The company can't even confront people who appear to have stolen their bikes:

Ensuring that only company workers are riding the "Gbikes" is not particularly straightforward: some Googlers don't exactly fit the stereotype of the Silicon Valley techie. Company transportation executive Jeral Poskey told the paper he once took action when he saw what appeared to be a homeless woman on a commandeered Google bike. "If I could describe her, you would agree with me," Poskey said. "She looked all panicked, and then she showed me her Google badge."


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 08 2018, @09:07AM (6 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 08 2018, @09:07AM (#619462) Journal

    This. Let's put this on the simplest level, that anyone can understand. I have goodies in my pantry or refrigerator, that I plan on eating this evening. A kid comes along and eats my goodies. I'm disappointed, but hell, the kid was hungry, so my goodies weren't wasted.

    Let's change that scenario. Same goodies, but some asshole adult comes in the house, and eats my goodies. I'm a little pissed, but dammit, I'm just not antisocial enough to kick his ass for taking my goodies. And, still, the goodies weren't exactly wasted. They were just stolen by an asshole.

    Change the scenario one more time. I come in, to find my goodies in the trash, with floor sweepings and coffee grounds dumped on top of them. Some SOB vandalized my goodies, and outright wasted them. I am well and truly pissed, and if I find out who trashed my munchies, I REALLY want to kick his ass.

    I will never understand people who are destructive. I can't understand how they get a thrill from doing stupid shit, like dumping a bicycle in the creek. Or, breaking windows, or arson, or whatever. Stupid fucks should be institutionalized. I don't know about prison, but they need to be locked away somewhere, where they can't harm society, or themselves.

    I've got an idea. Let's re-examine the looney bins that were shut down several decades ago. Let's open them back up, but ensure that the abusive practices don't come back. A dumbass who can throw a couple hundred dollars into the creek to rot away needs to be sent there for his own good. The bastard is sick, and he needs attention. That other bastard who stole a couple hundred dollars, and used it for something meaningful? It's pretty easy to forgive him. He paid rent, or fed his kids? I can't be terribly pissed off at him. It's the idiot who destroys stuff without reason that I really hate.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @01:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 08 2018, @01:48PM (#619494)

    I can't be terribly pissed off at him. It's the idiot who destroys stuff without reason that I really hate.

    They have a reason; The thrill and empowerment of getting away with it.

    Stupid fucks should be institutionalized.

    Identify and institutionalize everyone in the US with ASPD, that'd be over 16 million people (5% of population).

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Monday January 08 2018, @03:54PM (2 children)

    by TheGratefulNet (659) on Monday January 08 2018, @03:54PM (#619541)

    "some people just like to see the world burn"

    its just that simple.

    a lot of sick fucks get off by destroying other peoples' property.

    many of those people share a lot of the same traits as the CEOs and world leaders. the position that attracts that kind of person (authority and control) - those people often have no feelings for others and fully fit the sociopath label.

    I do believe that to be a top ceo (in the US, at least) you have to be a full sociopath, thinking only for yourself and willing to do anything at all to further your goals.

    this is why I hate the concept of CEO in the west. it allows the bullies to have their way without much interference. it makes people kings and I don't like the notion of kings.

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 08 2018, @06:32PM (1 child)

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 08 2018, @06:32PM (#619622)

      this is why I hate the concept of CEO in the west. it allows the bullies to have their way without much interference. it makes people kings and I don't like the notion of kings.

      I really, really hate to defend CEOs here or at any time, as I definitely have my criticisms of them, but CEOs really aren't like kings. Kings have absolute power and can't be easily deposed, except mainly through assassination. CEOs, on the other hand, are basically hired guns, and report to the company's board of directors. The board can fire the CEO at any time, though frequently they have a ridiculously cushy employment contract that gives them a "golden parachute". There's also frequently a lot of cronyism involved in selecting CEOs. But regardless, CEOs really aren't like kings, they're more like frat-buddies that got their job because their other frat-buddies are on the board of that company, and they're on the boards of those buddies' companies; if they get too far out of line, their buddies will turn on them and can their ass.

      • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 08 2018, @06:34PM

        by Grishnakh (2831) on Monday January 08 2018, @06:34PM (#619625)

        The other thing I'll say about CEOs is that many times, they don't even do all that much aside from OKing the decisions of the VPs. They're frequently just there as the public "face" of the corporation. Steve Jobs was infamous for being much more hands-on and micromanaging than typical CEOs, so don't confuse his management style with the majority of CEOs'.

  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday January 08 2018, @06:32PM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday January 08 2018, @06:32PM (#619623) Journal

    > here's one Google bike use case that's got to burn a little ...commute: to the offices of Google's arch foe, Oracle

    No, doesn't make me burn in the least.

    > I can't understand how they get a thrill from doing stupid shit, like dumping a bicycle in the creek.

    This. This is what burns me up. Steal something of value and not just throw it away, also turn it into pollution. I'd like to see the people who do that caught, and put on litter clean up crews for a few months. Chain them and use electrified cuffs to jolt them if needed, to make them clean things up rather than, say, try to make things worse by shredding and spreading trash around even more.

    However, I wonder if it's more expediency than thrill. Steal bike, ride it to destination, abandon it in nearby creek. Travel back without the bike because there's some stupid reason, probably involving sheer laziness, why riding the bike back isn't practical, and do it again.

  • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:38AM

    by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Tuesday January 09 2018, @12:38AM (#619783) Journal

    I just want to say that you post a lot of things that I disagree with on this site, but that I agree with the first four paragraphs of this completely and could not have expressed what you said better. Regarding the last paragraph, I don't know if I'd agree with that as a serious proposal, but I agree with the sentiment behind it.

    Thank you for posting this. It makes me happy to know that, despite our very different political and ethical philosophies, we both feel empathy for others, and we both dislike senseless destruction.