I’m not a fan of Apple. I am a solid supporter of all things PC. However, after this party my conviction is waning.
Microsoft decided to make their Canadian launch of the iPod beater by holding a series of parties, advertised as Six Cities, Six Bands, with their tour starting in Vancouver.
It sounded like a great concept and I was eager to participate, especially when I was told there would be free booze.
From left to right in attendance, we have Michael Kwan, John Chow, Ed Lau, Stephen Fung, myself and Marina from Highroad.
I was invited by Highroad Communications to attend the Microsoft Zune launch at a indoor skate park called The Sweatshop. As you may recall, Highroad are the good folks who invited Stephen and I up for the LG Chocolate flip phone launch, which was an Epic Success.
We all got there around 9pm, as per the invitation, but to our surprise we were the only ones there. Apparently the staff were still inside setting up. At 9:30pm, the doorman finally let us inside to . . . an empty room. Seriously. Nobody was inside except us and some of the staff. After a little searching we found the DJ and the two promo girls standing by their little Zune display stand. From first looks, the Zune seems impressive, it looks like a modified iPod. It was far too dark in there to get a clear look and the music was way too loud to properly hear the sound quality.
After Downing a couple beers (Red Stripe from Jamaica), we got bored so we headed across the street for some Chinese food. This was easily the highlight of the night and the food wasn’t even very good. Marina got a great fortune from her fortune cookie. We added “in bed” to all of our fortunes. Yes, we were that bored 
After filling our tummies we headed back to a very packed Sweatshop. The crowd was very much a rockabilly-type crew and did not fit into the demographic of a Zune user. I think the marketing boys and girls at Microsoft made a boo-boo. As it turns out, only about 12 media were invited (including us) and the rest were friends of the band and the skate park who were there to get free beer.
I felt truly out of place as flannel-plaid shirts were the going style and I found out what happened to all my sister’s old jeans from the 80s . . . these dudes were wearing them. I have not seen so much moose knuckle in one room in my entire life. I hope it NEVER happens again! Check out this dude!
Overall, I can’t really blame Microsoft for throwing a crappy party. They obviously lost control of the location. Microsoft should have had at least a location manager to retain control of the party and limit the number of moochers who were there to do nothing but drink the free booze. Even companies with lots of money should be aware of how they are spending it. The Sweatshop was clearly very happy to take the money and hold their own party. There were no giveaways for any Zunes. Maybe the Sweatshop owners used them to pay for the volunteer staff?
When I went back for more booze, the two female bartenders literally were demanding tips from everybody. Very classy. I had already left them a $5 tip from my last trip and they still wanted more. It turns out the girls weren’t getting paid for their services, I left them another $5 tip in pity, but who volunteered in the first place!? Dumbasses.
Posted on May 12th, 2008 by Leo
Filed under: Lucid Thoughts, Shooting Gallery
Haha that sounds awful. It seems like Microsoft would have had the resources to invite a bunch of press, and then pay a bunch of models to talk to them and have that be it. Oddly enough, I was thinking about getting a Zune but it wont work with my Macbook.
That’s not exactly true. I’m syncing my ZUNE on my Mac right now
Stephen has a Hackintosh.
The Zune doesn’t have software that works with Mac OS X, but there are workarounds like VMWare.
Hahaha - “Check out this dude” cracks me up Leo ….. he’s really trying to cut a mean rug there man!
haha…dude, EPIC FAIL! There’s nothing worse than volunteer demanding tips…sounds like you guys were the odd ones out at the party!
Hey stranger, Im down with the zune!
Hugs
K
Hey Kelly! My favorite Denverite! Long time no hear, glad to see you drop by again.
I went to a bar the other night and paid for a $5 drink with a $20. The bartender brought back 15 singles for the change and looked at me for a tip, and no, this wasn’t a strip club. At least she didn’t just assume the rest was a tip.
Thank god i don’t live in a tipping society … it killed me trying to get on top of it during recent trips over that way.
You’re in Japan, right, Neil? I’ll be heading there for the summer. In Japan, it’s actually insulting to tip as it suggests you’re looking down on the waiter’s occupation and thinking they don’t make enough. That says a lot about a society that values pride and reputation over money and I really like that. People in Japan strive for perfection for perfection’s sake…not to make an extra buck…unlike so many other societies that will cut as many corners as possible to make an extra buck.
Moose knuckle FTW hahahha
BTW, how is that Red Stripe beer? I’ve been meaning to try it for a while now…
It was skunky beer
It’s not terrible but we have better stuff here in Vancouver. Way better stuff.
However, it was free and free is the best variety of beer.
Not exactly free when the bar girls start begging/pressuring for tips. LOL
Yeah from the photos, it didn’t look exactly like a hip party, which is what it should be.