Originally Posted by ta_man

Well, since you ask the questions of me regarding my levels of sympathy, I will answer:

I do not at all feel bad about the bankruptcy of a company that lies about even one product (then makes excuses for the lie) and provides poor customer service. There was no need for them to claim that they had an oversized front bearing in the motor when they did not. No one forced them to lie. They did it because they wanted to make money and they thought having this as a point of description on their motor might sell more than if they didn't include that point.

Regarding the customer service, when I called to ask about the size of the bearing (I was actually calling to ask if there was some mistake in assembly of the motor since the one I had did not match the description of the product) the agent told me two things: 1) They chose to use that small bearing to "save weight". That is not a tradeoff any other motor company makes so I don't believe that was the motivation. 2) I asked if I could buy another endbell so I could modify it to take a larger bearing (I didn't want to modify the one on the motor without a spare in case I messed up). They refused to even sell me a replacement part.

So no, I do not feel bad for the company.

Regarding feeling bad for the people losing their jobs, in deciding who to feel bad for I would first consider the range of suffering in the world as a whole before I expend emotional energy feeling bad for some people losing their jobs at a company that makes recreational products (essentially, toys). Compared to the many in Africa suffering various diseases that could be easily cured with the proper drugs or prevented with the proper vaccines (which some peoples refuse because it is against their religion), losing a job at a "toy" company pales into insignificance. I am sure that not everyone at that company bears responsibility for the misrepresentation in pursuit of greater sales just as I am sure there are other people in the world more deserving of my sympathy for various assorted reasons. That said, I will admit to having greater concern for the well-being of my immediate family, then my friends, then my acquaintances, then the public service employees close to home, and so on down the line. Being as LRP employees are after the suffering multitudes in Africa, they are not near the top of my list.

BTW, it's not just the suffering multitudes in Africa ahead of the LRP employees, There's also the many people living under totalitarian governments, the women in the middle east that suffer cultural discrimination, the people of China being affected by extreme pollution from their industries burning large amounts of coal and so on and so on and so on...

So given the level of suffering in the world and the fact that those LRP employees at least once had jobs (indicating some basic skills they might apply toward getting another job), I'm not feeling sorry for them, as opposed to any one else for whom I would generate angst. Nor do I feel the need to apologize for them not being at the top of my "feeling sorry for" list.