Ben Edelman, Harvard Business School Professor, Goes to War Over $4 Worth of Chinese Food

[maxparrish]

What a petty, self-righteous, money grubbing jerk - just the kind of narcissistic" legend in his own mind" personea that is perfect for the six figure academic life :

Ben Edelman is an associate professor at Harvard Business School, where he teaches in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit.

Ran Duan manages The Baldwin Bar, located inside the Woburn location of Sichuan Garden, a Chinese restaurant founded by his parents.

Edelman soon came to the horrifying realization that he had been overcharged. By a total of $4.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a Harvard Business School professor thinks a family-run Chinese restaurant screwed him out of $4, you’re about to find out.

(Hint: It involves invocation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Statute and multiple threats of legal action.)

http://www.boston.com/food-dining/r...tory.html?p1=Topofpage:Carousel_lead_headline

Much more at: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...r_takeout_read_his_absolutely_ridiculous.html

 

[Underseer]

What does any of this have to do with politics?

Is it your argument that he acted like a jerk, therefore his ideas about economics are false?

 

[maxparrish]

What does any of this have to do with politics?

Is it your argument that he acted like a jerk, therefore his ideas about economics are false?

No...it has little to do with politics. Just a late night offering...

 

[barbos]

Yeah, banksters steal billions and deal with terrorists and narcobarrons, that's OK. But when chinese restaurant forgets to update their prices on website it's a WAR!
Fuck you Harvard Business School!.

 

[barbos]

On the other hand, it seems he did what he was trained to do. That kind of shit is what he is professor about.

 

[Rhea]

He has to decide if he was being a crusader or a jerk.

If he was being a crusader, he needed to be honest and upfront and not play a stupid passive-aggressive guessing game. If he was being a crusader, he would have said, "this is a big deal because many businesses do this to illegally make money. If this is not you, you need to fix this within 3 days and keep it fixed. It's not about my $4 or my $12. It's about being sure it's fixed for good and not a money-making scheme. So you fix it, I keep an eye on it and we've done the right thing."

But that is not what he said. He said, "I want my $4 and triple damages." The jerk says that.

 

[Derec]

So it's ok for a business to rip off their customer as long as it is a "small business"?

 

[ksen]

is that really what you got out of the OP?

 

[laughing dog]

Max - do you think this guy is being jerk because he as HBS professor or because he is a lawyer?

 

[maxparrish]

Max - do you think this guy is being jerk because he as HBS professor or because he is a lawyer?

As a bullying jerk under the guise of a legal crusader, I am not surprised he is a lawyer.

 

[dismal]

Uh oh, it looks like they are giving this guy the full on said-something-about-Obama's-daughters treatment. I wonder, What was he doing in high school?

http://www.boston.com/food-dining/r...39jcyXb3VNHZoXEYN/story.html?p1=Must_Reads_hp

To offer a modest defense of Edelman, deceptive online practices seem to be his area of research focus and expertise.

He seems to be mostly guilty of losing his sense of perspective. The difference between railing against Google at work and Sichuan Garden at home.

 

[ksen]

I don't think anyone disagrees that his complaint was legitimate. We're just kind of standing around and pointing out how much of a dick he was making his otherwise legitimate point.

 

[J842P]

I say let the mob have him.

 

[Rhea]

I don't think anyone disagrees that his complaint was legitimate. We're just kind of standing around and pointing out how much of a dick he was making his otherwise legitimate point.

This. His complain wasan appropriate one. And that is indeed a way some businesses make money illegally. And it should be stopped and fixed whenever possible.

But he played stupid superiority game instead of telling the business what the actual problem was. He says, "you owe me triple damages!" instead of "There's even a law that awards triple damages because this is so pernicious, so if you are not doing this on purpose, you'll want to fix it ASAP and not let it happen again so you won't be mistaken for someone who is."

 

[ronburgundy]

- just the kind of narcissistic" legend in his own mind" personea that is perfect for the six figure academic life :

Since you took the opportunity to make a back-handed swipe at academics, it should be noted that few public University academics make 6 figures and most work 60-70 hour weeks year round.

9 of the 10 highest paid profs are at Private schools and 7 are in MBA Business programs (the others are in medicine). Even in public Universities, Business school profs are paid much higher than most other departments. So, if you want imply that academic MBAs are overpaid hacks, I wont' object and the same is true of MBAs in the private sector. But academics in general, especially in the liberal arts and the sciences at public Universities are paid rather modestly and around the equivalent of less than $25 per hour worked.

As for the particular guy in the OP, he has a valid point, but went about making it in a poor manner. He isn't upset about his own $4 but about the violation of important ethical principles in the marketplace. Believe it or not, some people actually think that principles and ethics are more important than the mantra of free-market faithers of "every penny you can get by any means neccessary". The rampant fraud and dishonesty committed by businesses and their methods of doing it should be constantly and loudly exposed.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I don't think anyone disagrees that his complaint was legitimate. We're just kind of standing around and pointing out how much of a dick he was making his otherwise legitimate point.

This. His complain wasan appropriate one. And that is indeed a way some businesses make money illegally. And it should be stopped and fixed whenever possible.

But he played stupid superiority game instead of telling the business what the actual problem was. He says, "you owe me triple damages!" instead of "There's even a law that awards triple damages because this is so pernicious, so if you are not doing this on purpose, you'll want to fix it ASAP and not let it happen again so you won't be mistaken for someone who is."

Yup. An apology and a quick fix of the website would have been tolerable. To fail to promptly address a pricing error like this when it's brought to their attention deserves the nuclear option.