Editing The Pen Addict 732/transcript (section)

== Free Event ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Because they were denying people to a free event, right? In the broad scope of things, you're telling me I can't go to this free event. Like, that doesn't compete.

'''Myke Hurley:''' What is the ramification of you're not getting the gift?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, yeah. Like, so that's down the line. No one cares.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right? They don't care that they don't get a gift. They care that Pelican is going through these steps to, like, make it worse and deny, like, deny people from coming to an event or removing hubmasters from cities that, you know, like, all kinds of, like, all the machinations behind the scene got so hosed up. Yeah. That it's so confusing to everyone. And, like, yeah, like, I know it's harder the bigger the corporation is. But, like, the first step is to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, something happened. Give us a couple days. We're going to sort this out.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they could at least put that on their Instagram story. They could do that, right? Just be like, we heard you. We're trying to work this one out. Like, I think, honestly, for the response that they gave, that only took four days, I actually think is pretty good. Because they explained it all, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The response was okay.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It was fine. I think it was fine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' From a large corporation, that's as good as you're going to get it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They explained it. Like, they explained the situation. They said how sorry they were. Like, I don't know what, you know, I don't really think that there's much more they could have done. And, like, I think they affirmed how they feel about this and, like, talked about, like, I think that they're, if you want, I can read their statement in a minute. But, like, I think that this. It's so long. Yeah, I know. It's super long. But, like, basically saying, like, we had an issue. We should have communicated things beforehand better than we did. We had a data processing problem as well and technical issues that led to these emails going out. We are responsible. We're really sorry. We're going to make it better next time. We believe that Pelican Hubs should always be free and accessible. We won't close our doors to people. We want to encourage it. But the physical gift cap, gift things are going to be cut now. Like, caps, sorry. Yeah. For now. Totally. I think everyone would be on board. I think it's fine, right? Like, I don't, you know, realistically, I just don't think you can expect more from a corporation than the answer that they gave. But I agree with you. If they knew there was a problem, they should have at least said, like, something's going on. We're trying to work this out. Like, just hold on.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, like, you see that from other companies when, like, a rogue email gets triggered. Yeah. This wasn't a, I'm not saying this was a rogue email. I think there was a little bit of a rogue email in here, Brad. There was rogue data processing in here.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, I think that the data processing triggered the emails, right? Like, it's clearly the automated system that went wrong. So, yeah, they could have at least been like, oh, we're working on this. But, like, I just think four days for a response is, like, not that bad, really, honestly. Like, for one, where they explain the situation. Because it isn't always obvious what's happened, right? And you have to try and start untangling that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. And the problem, again, with this is now you're, the hubs are a little bit time crunched, right? We're a few weeks away. Yeah. And they rely on a system of volunteers to coordinate everything, right? Yeah. So, now they've just thrown everything into disarray. Like, they've thrown, like, literally, like, every hub is in the shredder now. There will be something that doesn't happen now. Yeah. Yeah. They're trying to put every piece back together because of this mistake that Pelican made. So, anyway, like, I just wanted to, like, so many people wanted me to talk about this. And I think it's worth talking about. You know, Pelican's definitely responsible for this. And this goes back to the original thing you said, Myke. And I think why we're going to see some big changes next year for the hubs and lower attendance after this. I think this burned a lot of people. Like, even, you know, even if they're trying their best to correct it, we'll see if that happens or not. I think that people should give them a break, Brad. To a degree, but, again.

'''Myke Hurley:''' No, but they give stuff away for free, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, I think people agree with you. And I agree with you, too. But you're also asking for volunteer labor to coordinate, you know, hundreds of events, right? And you've now made those volunteers' jobs that much harder.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes, absolutely. This year, they have made a mistake and it's made people's lives more difficult. But, like, mistakes happen. Like, I think this idea that now it's like, well, I could never trust them again. It's like, just calm down. Right. Calm down, everyone. You know?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' We're in agreement. Yeah. I am not disagreeing. It sucks. It does. They screwed up big. They screwed up. And it sucks.