SHAMING LESSON
Ben Edelman may be an associate professor at the Harvard Business School, but he could use a few lessons on diplomacy in the business world.
To recap events: Edelman ordered what he believed was $53.35 worth of Chinese food from the Sichuan Garden in the town of Brookline Village near Boston last week. Shortly after receiving his food, Edelman realized that he had been overcharged by four dollars.
The next day, Edelman fired off an email to the restaurant under the subject title "pricing accuracy question." The exhausting email chain – which can be viewed in its entirety here – kicked off with Edelman pointing out that he had already registered his displeasure on the Sichuan Garden's website but had not received a reply. In the message, Edelman painstakingly itemized his food order and noted, "It seems like an increase of $1 on each and every item." To which Sichuan Garden proprietor Ran Duan replied: "Hey Ben. I apologize about the confusing. Our website prices has been out of date for quite some time. I will make sure to update it, if you would like I can email you a updated menu."
Twelve minutes later, Edelman responded by stating, "Under Massachusetts law it turns out to be a serious violation to advertise one price and charge a different price. I urge you to cease this practice immediately." In the same message, Edelman proposes a rapprochement – "I suggest that Sichuan Garden refund me three times the amount of the overcharge" – and says, "Please refund the $12 to my credit card. Or you could mail a check for $12 to my home."
Duan's reply: "We are a mom and pop restaurant and we pride ourselves on hard work and authentic Sichuan cuisine. I will honor the website price and honor you the $3.00. Let me know if that works for you."
Responded Edelman: "Your restaurant overcharged me $4, not $3. It strikes me that merely providing a refund to a single customer would be an exceptionally light sanction for the violation that has occurred." Edelman also issues a not-so-thinly veiled threat: "I have already referred this matter to applicable authorities in order to attempt to compel your restaurant to identify all consumers affected and to provide refunds…" He closes by saying, "I will accept whatever refund you elect to provide, be it $4 or $12, but I accept that refund without prejudice to my rights as provided by law."
By this stage of the running e-mail discourse, it's fairly apparent that Duan is trying to be done with the matter. He responds diplomatically to Edelman's message by stating "I apologize again for the confusion," and says, "I will honor the websites prices which is a $4 difference, you seek out $12 which is fine. I have no problem paying that penalty and giving you proper compensation."
One hour later, Duan emailed Edelman again to tell him, "I also reach out to professional on legal advise. They advised me based on the disclaimer on the website on price variants on locations which has been there since the conception of our website. We are covered and protected and should not comply to your request."
Needless to say, Edelman took that message as a gauntlet thrown down and replied by asking, "Are you represented by an attorney in connection with this matter? If so, as an attorney, I am bound by Massachusetts attorney ethics rules to communicate only with that attorney and not with you."
Adds Edelman: "I dispute that there is any disclaimer a company may lawfully put on a web site that allows the company to knowingly and for an extended period advertise prices lower than the prices it actually charges." In his response, Duan reasserts, "We are a mom and pop restaurant, we work hard to make a honest living and we do not rip people off. We do not have a proper budget for media, website updates / all the bells that most chain and high end restaurants have."
Duan also says, "Like I said, I apologize for the confusion, you seem like a smart man. But is this really worth your time?"
Edelman responds with a lengthy e-mail in which he reiterates his original complaint and repeatedly points out what he deems to be errors (he even underlines them) in Duan's earlier e-mails. Edelman also says, "You're right that I have better things to do. If you had responded appropriately to my initial message – providing the refund I requested with a genuine and forthright apology – that could have been the end of it." And Edelman closes off by saying, "On reflection, I suggest making my order half-price – that's appropriate thanks for my bringing this matter to your attention, since it seems you wouldn't have recognized the urgency of correcting the web site had I not pushed you to do so."
In his final response, Duan says, "I will wait for proper authorities to direct me on how to resolve this situation. Once they direct me on how to resolve this situation with you, we will be able to honor the price that they advise me on, I will make a note that you seek out 50 per cent off you total bill."
As noted in the Boston.com article, Edelman is a PhD graduate who teaches courses in the Harvard Business School's Negotiations, Organizations & Markets unit. He also runs a consulting practice that includes Microsoft, the NFL and Universal Music on its client list and has his own personal website.
Duan, meanwhile, moved to the U.S. from China with his family at the age of three. According to a profile in last June's Boston Magazine, his father intended to support the family but when that plan didn't come to fruition, "like all Chinese families we decided to open up a restaurant."
In a followup interview with Boston.com, Edelman insisted that he derives no pleasure from threatening legal action against the neighbourhood restaurant. "I mostly look for malfeasance by larger companies," said Edelman. "It certainly seems like a situation that could call for legal redress. But this is a small business in the town where I reside."
Edelman also said he plans to "take a few days" to decide whether he intends to further pursue legal action against Sichuan Garden.
Not surprisingly, Edelman has been roundly vilified in the media (including this withering treatise in Salon) for his needlessly nasty approach toward the small eatery over a $4 bill discrepancy.
On Monday, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) tweeted, "Here's why people hate (a) @Harvard and (b) lawyers" and included a link to the Boston.com article.
But take heart, there is a bright side to this story.
Obviously embarrassed by the Edelman's bullying manner, a group of Harvard students have established a fundraiser effort to fight hunger.
Mounted by MBA candidate Jon Staff, the website for the campaign includes the descriptor: "Negative stereotypes of Harvard and HBS were reinforced by an article in Boston.com today that revealed an HBS professor's disrespectful treatment of a local business owner over a discrepancy of $4 for Chinese [food]."
And to offset that injustice: "In accordance with out community values, we are calling on Harvard students to flip the script by donating $4 to provide food for those in need."
Ben Edelman, consider yourself publicly shamed.
GET WELL
Avril Lavigne has confirmed to fans that she's having health problems. On Sunday, the Canadian pop star sent a direct message to the fan-driven Twitter account @AvrilMusicChart stating, "I'm having some health issues. So please keep me in your prayers." No further details were provided, but on Tuesday, a representative for Lavigne confirmed to Billboard magazine that the tweet was authentic. So far, Lavigne's record label, Sony Music Entertainment Canada, has not responded to requests for information on the singer's health.
Source: Billboard
BIEBS BUZZ
Justin Bieber may have fallen out of the tabloid headlines of late, but he still has people talking on Twitter. The annual year-end report from the social-media platform has named Bieber as the most-tweeted about musical artist over the past year. In topping the list, the 20-year-old Canadian singer beat out Out Direction members Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Liam Payne, who followed him in succession. The same report also revealed that Katy Perry gained the most followers in 2014 – 14 million – to bring her total followers to 60 million. Bieber gained 11-million followers last year to bring his total to 56 million.
Source: Variety
PAWS PARODY
You haven't really experienced the new Star Wars trailer until you've seen it enacted by adorable puppies and kittens. Last week, Disney released the first trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, that has so far received more than 46-million views on YouTube. The trailer also inspired the parody Paw Wars: The Furrce Awakens, which duplicates the original trailer nearly frame for frame and even includes an Imperial Stormtrooper canine and a kitty wielding a lightsaber. Since being posted to YouTube on Monday, the pet parody has been viewed more than 22,000 times.
Source: People
WAGE WOES
Nobody feels the gender pay gap more than women earning top salaries. According to a new global wage study from the International Labour Organization, women at the top of the wage scale in 38 countries surveyed had the greatest disparity of pay compared to their male counterparts. Case in point: In Europe, the top 10 per cent of female earners made nearly 700 Euros ($868 U.S.) less monthly than the top 10 per cent of males. In the U.S., the pay variance between men and women in the top 10 per cent of high-wage earners in their respective genders stood at roughly $3,500 per month.
Source: Fortune