They were loud. They were rude. They had a little too much ‘tude.
CREDIT: Getty Images
Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
Startup types can be annoying.
It’s not just that they can be full of themselves. It’s that they can express that full-of-themselvesness very loudly.
Enter, then, Khalil Sehnaoui.
He’s an internet security consultant who was sitting quietly in a coffee shop on Wednesday. At a table next to him were two people discussing their startup in somewhat loud voices.
That’s, at least, how he presented the situation on Twitter.
They were also, he said, rude to the staff.
Many a bysitter would try and tolerate this behavior. Few, if any, would intervene.
Sehnaoui, though, adopted a very modern approach. His table-neighbors were discussing their new business with the volume on high.
“They just found the perfect name for their new business,” tweeted Sehnaoui.
So what did he do? “I just bought the domain name,” he said.
Not everyone is quite so quick-thinking. Sehnaoui, though, insisted that these two had carried on being loud, even after they’d been asked to turn down the decibel-level on their discussions.
I wonder how quickly the two of them realized what had been wrought upon them and why.
Some on Twitter were very impressed with Sehnaoui’s ingenuity.
Former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask tweeted: “I love this — I love this — I love this — absolutely, positively brilliant — sensational — I salute you — I love this — and, hi.”
Well, she less tweeted it than dashed it off.
She added: “I hope to think of such smart things when the opportunity next presents itself. #ballermove.”
Sehnaoui admitted that he’d heard of someone having done something similar and this had inspired him to act. He said he might give up the domain name soon, in the hope that these people have learned a lesson.
Oh, but do people learn so quickly?
We’d only know if the two people involved came forward, revealed their business name and donned sackcloth and ashes.
Sehnaoui said that these weren’t your usual teeny brat startup types. They were both, he estimated, over 30.
When it comes to exacting revenge, there’s little cleaner than Sehnaoui’s sprightly move. Revenge is all about hitting your enemy where it really hurts and then quietly walking away.
You might, though, think his act was petty or even passive-aggressive.
I’ll turn you, then, to science, which has summarily declared that taking revenge on someone is a wonderful way of making yourself feel better.
Coffee shop.
People next to me are loud and rude. They just found the perfect name for their new business.
I just bought the domain name.
— Khalil Sehnaoui (@sehnaoui) May 17, 2017
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