Thanks to observant reader Mitchell, he passed on a link that illustrates what really pisses me off – I, the average self-absorbed reader. Thanks also to THR for publishing the interview in the first place.
Just in case THR somehow gets bullied into pulling the interview, there is one part, one tiny part that will PISS you off. Remember, the guy has just expanded Netflix to Canada from the USA.
THR: Are you concerned that American Netflix subscribers will look north and ask for the same discount Canadians get at $7.99?
Hastings: How much has it been your experience that Americans follow what happens in the world? It’s something we’ll monitor, but Americans are somewhat self-absorbed.
So, two things to note:
- I have already cancelled Netflix
- Netflix can wither, die, kiss my ass
I may be a self-absorbed American but I’ll be damned if I’m going to give my money to some pus-wad that treats me, the customer, with contempt.
I’m kind of tired of having the US bashed and I’m tired of the people within that think it’s ok to do it, too. In fact, I’d be willing to be that there’s an awful lot of people who won’t take kindly to this because they’re fed up with the liberal “My country is a bunch of awful self-centered people except for me and my friends and we need to pass laws to force them to do like me and my friends do” kind of attitude.
I wonder if this Reed Hastings isn’t going to look back and say “In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
Sure hope so.
Netflix was kind of cool, convenient, easier than renting a video. But you know what? It wasn’t in the least bit vital to my life and I can drop it in a heartbeat.
Lemur King's Folly 
Amen and hoo-rah!
I’m sick of a lot of the idiots in the entertainment field, in all areas. Too many of them have such an exaggerated sense of self-importance that it makes a normal person sick.
One of my pipe dreams is to run across someone like Tom Cruise or Demi Moore or any other hollywood loudmouth in a store or other public place, and be able to walk up to them and say “excuse me”. Then when they say something like “I’m sorry, I’m not giving autographs right now”, then I’ll respond with “huh? uh, you’re in the way, I’m trying to get you to move over so I can go by”. Then, when they move aside, I’ll walk by and be on my way without even a momentary backward glance.
The guy you quoted above seems to suffer from what most hollywood people suffer from, an over-inflated ego and a belief that the rest of us can’t live without them or their crap, and the best way to handle them is to treat them as the irrelevant and insignifcant jackasses that they are.
Hah! I just posted about this too. He probably thought it was just some little throw-away interview that few people would see. I think more than a few self-absorbed Americans check in on the Drudge Report pretty regularly. I can’t access Netflix from work but I’m cancelling as soon as I get home.
Thank goodness I never joined that crap. Something always held me back.
I would be ashamed if I wasn’t so absorbed.
Mr Hastings:
Thanks for the boost. We’ll do you a solid the next time you run out of hair gel.
Signed,
Usenet & Bittorrent, esq.
Is it too late to retract that whole “chapter 11” thing?
We didn’t really mean it.
Ka-Ching!
Signed,
Blockbuster
Netflix shares went up today after Blockbuster announced it was entering bankruptcy.
If you stopped using every company because you disagreed with something someone at the company said, you wouldn’t ever buy a thing.
Actually H.R. Pufnstuff, if people did that there would be suddenly a golden-age return to actually courting the customer of such magnitude that your head would swim. This would only go on as long as needed for businesses to realize that they do indeed live or die by the customer.
Two things build contempt for the rich and/or powerful towards those beneath them. The idea that nothing they do will cause you to abandon them -or- the idea that you have no other alternative.
This principle also works in politics and has worked to put our state of politics in the horrible mess it is in for years.
Make them fear for their livelihood and they’ll start paying more attention to you – that is, the rest of them that are waiting for the masses to come squash them if they cannot act like good civilized people act.
There would still be lots of things to buy. Businesses got big because their owners were not stupid. Now they are misguided. But they would see the way to go soon enough
Aw, Hastings has “apologized” on the Netflix blog. It seems that his expression of contempt for his customers was really just a badly executed “joke” and that he doesn’t actually think we’re self-absorbed. Yeah. Not buying it. And unless this snowballs into something really big this the only acknowledgment we’ll get from Netflix that this was ever an issue.
Mr. Pufnstuff, with all due respect this wasn’t “someone at the company”, this guy is the CEO. He runs this company. I’m not going to do business with somebody who spits in my eye and says “Oh, sorry! That was just a joke!”
Unfortunately this wasn’t just someone at the company, it was the freakin’ CEO. A position which usually falls to those who’ve learned when to keep their big yaps shut when it comes to offending their largest market.
See, maybe most CEOs agree with him. But as long as they’re smart enough not to say so, we can all live happily in our consensual illusion of mutual respect.
Frankly, there needs to be a consequence for stupidity of this magnitude, even if you’re not particularly offended by what he said.
apo, I actually don’t particularly care if my garbageman, my doctor, my waiter, or whoever hates my everlovin’ guts, but I do ask that if they are going to take my money they treat me with respect unless I abuse them first. Interviewing with some outfit and badmouthing me as a customer, even in general, he doesn’t get my money anymore.
Put it this way, I don’t like everyone I do business with, but unless we have a mutual loathing of each other I try not to trash-talk them.
Now, a mutual loathing? Anything goes if we decide to continue doing business with each other.
…or, y’know, what Mitchell said.
The wife and I were discussing signing up for Netflix. Looks like that’s not going to happen.
Hey Redbox! Opportunity is knocking at your door. It’s time to expand your offerings.
The “discount” question should have been answered differently. How about:
By discount do you mean no DVD rentals and only online service?
By discount do you mean an incredibly crappy selection of available tv shows and movies available not comparable to the US selection?
And come on, it is relatively true of the self absorption. Also incredibly stupid to insult your country and customers.
LK, what a timely post! Check out this devasting analysis by The Market Ticker of the pump job currently being done on Netflix stock:
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=167407
Invest in Netflix and lose your ass.
And the Netflix CEO’s boneheadedness isn’t likely to help profitability.
Wp… actually you’re putting the cart before the horse. I can’t claim any virtue of timeliness there because I picked it up from Mitchell who picked it up from Drudge or some other place.
That was a very interesting read. Thank you!