Elsewhere on this site, there are two related matters of interest. The first is a huge endeavor whipped up by the Editors of Fortune Magazine, entitled
The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, 2007
. Just about anybody who pulled something dumb during the year just past is included, from the toy makers of China to the makers of M&Ms and Snickers, who were planning, until persuaded otherwise, to use animal products in their candies, to Hugo Chavez, who may not be as dumb as he sometimes behaves.
Paris Hilton is in there, for her efforts to trademark her slogan — “That’s hot,” as is Southwest Airlines (LUV), for refusing to allow a Hooters waitress in a perfectly appropriate denim mini-skirt and sweater to board a plane in San Diego, thereby becoming the first airline to punish a passenger for what a gate agent had on his mind. There is more, and then some.
My personal favorite of the year is Keith Richards, who seems to have snorted the cremains of his dad. He’s just one of the millionaires that are discovered in the act of terminal dumbness, many of whom got big severance checks for theirs. Check it out.
Reading the act, it occurred to me that, you know, there but for the grace of God goeth yours truly. This generated the second revelatory item that might be of interest to you. It’s my own
10 Dumbest Moments of 2007,
which I believe is posted close-by. Most of mine are the everyday idiocies one gets into during a year on the job. Others are slightly more personal.
I didn’t include the really small stuff. Like, last month I went to an ATM and got $300 because I was going on a trip and needed cab fare, airport reading material, and so forth. It’s amazing how fast $300 can go nowadays. This particular $300 went especially fast, in fact, because $200 of it was in $50 bills, a fact I didn’t notice until I had paid a cab driver what I thought were two $20s and then observed that I had exactly $60 less than I thought. Boy, did I feel like a moron. But I didn’t write about that this time, because mere clerical errors aren’t as interesting as errors of judgment or plain, blind dumbness that results in humiliation or other punishment of some kind.
Anyhow, I put them on display today for all of you to see if you care to. And, as it often happens around here a lot of the time, my next thought is to wonder what you, dear browser, might have up your collective sleeve. Do anything unalterably dumb this year? Get caught and spanked after having done so? Or… not? Want to share it with the rest of us?
Come on. You’ll feel better after you do. I know WE will.
