Who hasn’t encountered people like this?


Who hasn’t encountered people in the workplace who are never satisfied with what others do but feel that they have to make suggestions for improvement even if they have no idea what they want or are completely unable to articulate it?

No one? I thought so.

Incidentally, the sound engineer who does not speak at all says the most with his expressions.

Comments

  1. John Morales says

    Well, I got about halfway through; I get the idea.

    However, in this skit, it’s clearly a case of “who pays the piper calls the tune” rather than some work colleague who is making unneeded and contradictory suggestions.

  2. consciousness razor says

    Seriously. Until the end, that’s just a straight-up documentary … with elements of a psychological thriller and a comedy, but very real.

    Woman: Yeah, maybe we can, um, like, keep the pace, but slow down some of the words.
    Man: Exactly.

    I was honestly prepared for that guy to start murdering people. But he’s a pro.

    The engineer just needs to get those jokers out of that room ASAP. It doesn’t matter who they are. Don’t explain, don’t correct, don’t apologize, don’t waste your time. Just make them leave. They can be given different versions afterward, and pick their favorite from among those (or various bits can be mixed together obviously).

  3. chigau (違う) says

    John Morales
    Too bad you didn’t watch the whole thing. That twist at the end was worthy of M. Night Shyamalan.

  4. seachange says

    It’s way waayyyyyy too boring to watch until the end. None of it is interesting.

    So I skipped a lot of it.

    The actor completely fails to be an actor. They are literally paying him to do whatever they say.
    I live in Hollywood and have seen filming happening for films and television and doing what you are told is what actors DO. Nobody knows exactly what ‘it’ is but you have to have ‘it’ and there’s a lot of what seems like foofaraw to you and me but is absolutely necessary to generate this ‘it’. So any scene even if it is just fifteen seconds, it is done over and over again for hours. This clip is just eight minutes. This is not funny, it is tragic that the actor is that incapable.

    The sound engineer and the director are also failures, for different reasons. Any producer would fire them and try again and give warning to their casting director.

    It does not do what Dr. Singham says it does.

  5. Trickster Goddess says

    I’ve been in that engineer’s seat, and I can tell you that that scene is fairly true to life (except maybe the ending.) When I worked in the film industry I sometimes did gigs as video assist on commercial shoots. They would film a shot and I would capture it on video, then the director, the clients and the adversiting agency person would cluster around my monitor to view the playback and decide whether or not they were satisfied with it.

    There were always at least 3 clients on set and they all wanted to justify their being there by giving their input. One day they got into a heated debate about whether the actor’s hand should be a waist level or at shoulder level for that shot. It went on and on and finally the director threw up his hands and muttered something about calling him when they decided and wandered off to find a coffee. After another 10 minutes of arguing, the agency rep convinced them to film it both ways and decide later in editing which one they would use.

    I had to suffer sitting silently in their midst the whole time, dreading that they might ask for my opinion since I didn’t give a damn.

  6. lochaber says

    No, I think Mano pretty much nailed the summary of it. You’ve got a bunch of people who don’t really know anything about voice acting or voice commercials and such, but they feel like they need to make criticisms and demand arbitrary changes.

    The skilled people are trying to accommodate their “suggestions” while still producing a quality product. And, eventually, they loose their temper, and instead of giving the customers what they actually want, they give them what they are asking for.

    No where near as specialized or skilled, but I can’t help but think of that time I had dropped out of school and was working as a pizza cook. Someone came in, and wanted a slice, and told me to put it in the oven for “10 minutes” I tried to explain that our ovens are very hot, our slice pies are pre cooked, and we typically only put a slice in for a minute or so to warm it up and melt the cheese -- it only took a bit over five minutes to completely cook a pizza, and if I stuck something in there for 10 minutes, it would come out a lump of charcoal, but I can do a well-done slice, even a charred slice, but “10 minutes” is just way too long. I was angrily told that they knew what they were asking, the customer is always right, etc. so, i said okay, I stuck their slice in there, called their order number 10 minutes later, and presented them with a smoking triangular wafer of charcoal. And I reiterated that our ovens are very hot, but I can make them a very-well-done slice if that’s what they want.

    Sometimes when people are asking for something stupid, you have to end up giving them what they are asking for, even if it’s not what they want…

  7. consciousness razor says

    So I skipped a lot of it.

    They should definitely think about putting you in one of those chairs to pull the useless, contradictory, dipshit suggestions out of your ass. Maybe you could even handle the job of all three. You might be overqualified for it, yes, but you could probably make a decent amount of money rambling incoherently at the people who are doing the real work.

    But just forget about being a client of mine. The customer is always right — absolutely — but that’s not you, because I would never agree to that shit. I actually still have a tiny sliver of self-respect, and when the tables are turned, that’s what counts.

  8. mnb0 says

    “No one? I thought so.”
    You thought wrongly -- I’ve never met such a person. Fortunately. (I have worked with some unpleasant other characters, but overall was pretty lucky in this respect).

  9. seachange says

    #5 Trickster Goddess said: the agency rep convinced them

    Yes! This is what the director should have done. The director in the film Mano gave us didn’t do that. Heck there’s a whole nother job description called Editor who would pick the two best and even splice a few scence. Let that person do her job.

    #7 consciousness razor said:useless, contradictory, dipshit suggestions

    Sorry no you are wrong. You are too impatient for the industry and will not be hired, so I don’t have to worry about you. If Trickster Goddess wasn’t patient enough to endure that they wouldn’t have hired her to have the experience she has to write that here.

    Art is not advertisement. People who will be listening to the advertisement will NOT be listening with a full critical and logical ear. It is a very common error among atheists and in particular this Freethought Blogs to suppose people are logical, internally consistent, and rational. They are not.

    Furthermore, they will be listening to it multiple times and the emphasized parts will be what sticks in their brain and the way that those sticking in parts stick in their brain matters. The marketing weasels you see there? Their suggestions aren’t wrong. The actor thinks he knows better how to market. He does not, he only knows How To Act. The director thinks that he knows how to market. He does not, he only knows How To Organize. Sound Engineeres (sorry Trickster I’m sure you are good at what you do) don’t know how to market.

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