So, apparently this Claw Machine appeared in my brother's office overnight. I don't know why, but it just looks dystopian, like an episode of Black Mirror. He asked about it, and they told him it was put there to boost morale over the holidays. One might think it would be free to play then, right? Oh no, you have to do extra work to earn tokens or pay. Nothing like Upper Management to both demoralize and insult everyone with their Morale Boosting plan.

JUST.
GIVE.
PEOPLE.
MORE.
MONEY.

It's also really obviously filled with cheap dollar store shit, that most adults aren't even going to want.

@RickiTarr
I forget the show i was watching where the guy installing the claw machine said "you can actually set it to pay out every time and still make a profit but people won't think it's fun"

(These things are designed to drop whatever you grabbed x% of the time, where x is set by the operator.) (I wonder if employees will think this one is "fun")

@RnDanger @RickiTarr Thiiiis. I worked in coin-op for years, and these things are engineered to cheat you out of money.

So it's a fitting empty gesture by management.

@madopal
I used to repair arcade machines 😅
@madopal @RnDanger I’ve read that they have a pre-determined win rate similar to a slot machine. Skill be damned if you bought a losing round.
@bot23 @madopal
It's true. I used to work on them. It used to be visible on the machines i worked on, there's a little catch up top that can release and then the claw will hold no grip at all.
@RnDanger @bot23 And since they're unregulated, the rate can be through the floor. We had the same thing on any redemption piece, you could just set the payout rate, and it routinely started at like 60%. Horrible.

@kittylyst @RickiTarr
That was the source of my inspiration, thank you!

I knew they could be set to win every time. I didn't think how that could still be profitable before this

@kittylyst @RnDanger @RickiTarr it's spot on because everyone involved in this story 'feels dirty' too.

Capitalism is one big Claw Game. 😔

@kittylyst

thanks for sharing this.

very amusing.

@RnDanger Argh. I feel like I just saw that scene in the last couple weeks but now I can't remember what it was either.
@RnDanger I think you’re right. And when I read it I pictured someone like Andy Samberg saying it, so now I have a false memory of watching a tv show where he says it. Brains are not to be trusted.
@theotherbrook
My wife was denied jury duty because she understands this fact about police 🙃
@RickiTarr They would have been better off with a Zoltar machine
@Tom @RickiTarr Maybe they can make a wish on the claw machine. “I want (my paycheck) to be big.”

@sezduck @Tom @RickiTarr

Would be great if when you played it, a giant claw also dropped into the CEOs office and you could grab him in it too....

@sezduck
I hope it's a company with some electronic engineers or computer types. That's a machine just crying out for a little after hours hacking.
@Tom @RickiTarr
@RickiTarr right, looks like “Give this stuffy to comfort your child while you stay at work all the time.”
@RickiTarr
Right behind someone's cube, too. I'd hate to have that seat and stare at this awful thing every time I come to my desk
@RickiTarr somebody should take a shit of justice in the prize door.
@RickiTarr I remember in 2012 I complained to a Walmart DM about their claw machine because it had Obama dolls in it with huge ears and huge lips. It was so bizarre. There were no other presidential candidates in the claw machine, just Obama as a caricature. When I went back the Obama dolls were gone.

@RickiTarr I see some Gengars in there. I think that's Five Below stuff.

If it was installed AND raises were given out, I would understand.

@RickiTarr
"I don't know why, but it just looks dystopian, like an episode of Black Mirror."

Google "Liminal Spaces".
Any kind of bright colours coupled with pseudo-fun-time in such a space is going to look utterly surreal.

@clintruin Oh I'm obsessed with Backrooms and YES

@RickiTarr @clintruin What I find interesting about Backrooms (being only superficially familiar with it) is that the description that started it certainly feels inspired by this webnovel, where a dude working a shitty call center job falls into an alternate office dimension and starts exploring, but I don't find any reference to the story on any of the Backrooms wikis. Obviously liminal spaces pre-existed, but just always interesting seeing stuff like that.

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15925/the-daily-grind

The Daily Grind | Royal Road

A terminally bored IT guy finds a sub-dimension in the back stairwell of his office building. It escalates from there. Now on Amazon

Royal Road

@RickiTarr
"Oh I'm obsessed with Backrooms..."

Well then, you might get a kick outta this...
https://cremerinse.bandcamp.com/album/backrooms

BACKROOMS, by CREME RINSE すすぎとリピート

9 track album

CREME RINSE すすぎとリピート

@clintruin @RickiTarr

The backrooms are a fictional location of infinite rooms that you supposedly access by glitching yourself or being glitched out of reality. The rooms are liminal spaces, spaces that are eerily empty and are portrayed with featureless carpets, white walls, and older fluorescent lighting. If there is something inside of a backroom that seems innocent, like a soda machine, chances are it's some kind of eldrich horror trying to lure you in. More than likely, it's not a coincidence our thirsty protagonist ran into a pepsi machine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms

https://www.reddit.com/r/PeterExplainsTheJoke/comments/1hfqvfk/petah/

The Backrooms - Wikipedia

@RickiTarr They've just installed the single most demoralizing object in the office.

How do people not get this shit?

I can see limiting it for practical reasons, but like you could just give everyone 30 tokens at the start of every month or whatever.

🤦‍♀️

@RickiTarr It could at least be a White Claw machine.
@RickiTarr WTF?! I'm thinking some in-office sabotage is in order.
@mfennvt @RickiTarr Always true.

@SordidAmok @mfennvt @RickiTarr

IT cabinet server keys often work on these things.... just saying.....

@Thebratdragon @SordidAmok @mfennvt @RickiTarr And even if they didn’t, most locks are trivially easy to pick with even rudimentary tools.
@JustinDerrick The only issue would be security cameras, I'm thinking. @Thebratdragon @SordidAmok @RickiTarr
@mfennvt @JustinDerrick @Thebratdragon @SordidAmok @RickiTarr Eh just grab a balaclava and don't got to a McDonalds for like a month.

@RickiTarr

If anything, the economic retraction we are entering will have people having less money, spending less at stores, and wages becoming stagnant or deflated.

If the next administration wants to give billionaires anything they want, the most likely result is economic crisis.

@trabex @RickiTarr oh of course, wasn’t it just a year ago that the Applebee’s CEO was publicly celebrating high gas prices because he thought that would make people desperate enough to work at Applebee’s? (Also, it didn’t work. I hear they’re tearing down the Concord Applebee’s. Good.)

@maggiejk @RickiTarr

Applebee's is terrible. If people can't afford gas money, the more likely result is they're going to sell their vehicle because they certainly won't be able to afford inspection, registration, and yearly repairs / oil changes.

@RickiTarr EXACTLY!

None of this:

Pick a "gift" from this catalog so we can write it off on our corporate taxes.

Pizza party.

Team-building exercises.

Pitting groups against each other on the same project.

Rewards that can only be spent on the company's products.

@kimlockhartga Money or free days off, those are the choices to reward adult people.
@RickiTarr Even bonuses are tied to sales goals and/or post-shrink (loss or theft) inventory. Maybe they could just grant bonuses to acknowledge that the company would dissolve without the efforts of labor?

@RickiTarr @kimlockhartga

. . . or, in some regions, it's maybe ok for . . . carnival games, maybe

@RickiTarr @kimlockhartga

I meant to follow this up and take it somewhere, now it's gone. damn

@RickiTarr The beatings will continue until morale improves.
@RickiTarr Pfft. If they really want to boost morale, they need some Lumon-style perks. Get some finger traps, or a Music Dance Experience.