Funny ATR8000 story. Non technical.

[Joe Stella]

"Back in the day" - My first part-time job, I worked for a company that specialized in Atari 8's in West Berlin, Germany. Because of my English skills, I was asked to contact the company that manufactured the ATR8000's, and arrange to import several for our customers. I believe they were based out of Texas.

 

Well.. I call, I get a hold of a sales person. They sound.. confused.. when I explain where I'm calling from. They put me on hold. Someone else picks up, and somewhat abruptly tells me that they don't "export to communist countries!"

 

(dramatic pause)

 

I could not get it through to them that there was a difference between E. and W. Germany... Frustrating at the time, funny in hind-sight.

[deathtrappomegranate]

[Clint Thompson]

Wow... that's messed up - not quite sure how I would have reacted to that situation.

 

Sweet avatar btw...

[Joe Stella]

Wow... that's messed up - not quite sure how I would have reacted to that situation.

 

Sweet avatar btw...

924802[/snapback]

 

I can't take cred for the avatar. don't remember whom i ganked it from.

[danwinslow]

Holy smokes, if the commies had gotten hold of uber 8 bit atari power they'd be RULING THE WORLD now!

[Joe Stella]

Holy smokes, if the commies had gotten hold of uber 8 bit atari power they'd be RULING THE WORLD now!

925608[/snapback]

 

 

in a perfect world...

[deathtrappomegranate]

Fortunately, they (apparently) had to rely on Sinclair Spectrums !

 

[Gunstar]

"Back in the day" - My first part-time job, I worked for a company that specialized in Atari 8's in West Berlin, Germany.  Because of my English skills, I was asked to contact the company that manufactured the ATR8000's, and arrange to import several for our customers.  I believe they were based out of Texas.

 

Well..  I call, I get a hold of a sales person.  They sound.. confused.. when I explain where I'm calling from.  They put me on hold.  Someone else picks up, and somewhat abruptly tells me that they don't "export to communist countries!"

 

(dramatic pause)

 

I could not get it through to them that there was a difference between E. and W. Germany...  Frustrating at the time, funny in hind-sight.

924795[/snapback]

 

 

While this is humerous now, and frustrating then, it's unfortunate that you had to deal with such ignorant people. I know that the rest of the world, especially Europeans, think that most Americans are stupid, ignorant and arrogant, and then something like this happens to further that stereo-type. It is true that there are a lot of lazy, ignorant, stupid, arrogant Americans like this, which is unfortunate, but it's not all of us. Probably half. Blame Hollywood, I do. The other half of us are no more stupid, lazy, arrogant and ignorant than the rest of the world. The rest of the world just happens to come into contact with more stupid, lazy, ignorant, arrogant Americans than similiar people from other countries simply becuase there are more of them per-capita. Larger populations mean larger percentages and more likelyhood of running across them. I would like to apologize on behalf of the smarter half of the US population, even if it is belated. Oh, one more thing; this tendancy towards ignorance and stupidity has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats, both parties have their equal share. You don't become a world-dominating super-power by being lazy, stupid and ignorant...though arrogance helps. After all, technically, in a world view, we are just a detached extension of the old English empire, once removed.

Edited September 6, 2005 by Gunstar

[Joe Stella]

 

 

While this is humerous now, and frustrating then, it's unfortunate that you had to deal with such ignorant people. I know that the rest of the world, especially Europeans, think that most Americans are stupid, ignorant and arrogant, and then something like this happens to further that stereo-type. It is true that there are a lot of lazy, ignorant, stupid, arrogant Americans like this, which is unfortunate, but it's not all of us. Probably half. Blame Hollywood, I do. The other half of us are no more stupid, lazy, arrogant and ignorant than the rest of the world. The rest of the world just happens to come into contact with more stupid, lazy, ignorant, arrogant Americans than similiar people from other countries simply becuase there are more of them per-capita. Larger populations mean larger percentages and more likelyhood of running across them. I would like to apologize on behalf of the smarter half of the US population, even if it is belated. Oh, one more thing; this tendancy towards ignorance and stupidity has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats, both parties have their equal share. You don't become a world-dominating super-power by being lazy, stupid and ignorant...though arrogance helps. After all, technically, in a world view, we are just a detached extension of the old English empire, once removed.

926150[/snapback]

 

Understand that I'm writing this from the perspective of someone who has spent more of their time in the U.S. than any other part of the world. I personally don't believe Americans are predisposed to being any smarter/dumber, lazy/industrious than anyone else. From my perspective, it was just a surprising reaction at the time, one of those, "are you serious?" moments, where you half-believe you're being put on.

 

Any former SWP employees ghosting around the board

[+doctorclu]

Well, SWP was over in Fort Worth I believe. It amazes me how much Atari stuff actually has taken place in the DFW area (Dallas/Fort Worth).

 

Yeh, that was before wall came down. To be honest, I knew which side was ours and which was behind the wall.. at least then... and I knew of a small pocket on the other side of the wall that was not communist that we used to fly supplies too. Honestly, glad those specific days are over.

 

That is one part of the classic Atari days.. when the Atari 8-bit was in it's prime, and the ST was just emerging that one has to remember. It was not a day of terrorists as much, but the scare of the soviet union and communists. Raid Over Moscow is a prime example. A very homophobic time as well as a time in fear, or at least taunting of communism.

 

Made for great discussions on the BBS's, along with hacking and Phreaking.

[+davidcalgary29]

Speaking of Atari development hotbeds, I think that a special nod should go to Toronto. Some truly neat stuff was being developed there (including that 8/16 processor upgrade) before the market died in '85, and it's a pity that now the most recognizable symbol of Atari 3rd party CanCon is InHome Software. <heavy sigh>

[Joe Stella]

Well, SWP was over in Fort Worth I believe.  It amazes me how much Atari stuff actually has taken place in the DFW area (Dallas/Fort Worth).

 

    Yeh, that was before wall came down.  To be honest, I knew which side was ours and which was behind the wall.. at least then... and I knew of a small pocket on the other side of the wall that was not communist that we used to fly supplies too.  Honestly, glad those specific days are over.

 

    That is one part of the classic Atari days.. when the Atari 8-bit was in it's prime, and the ST was just emerging that one has to remember.  It was not a day of terrorists as much, but the scare of the soviet union and communists.  Raid Over Moscow is a prime example.  A very homophobic time as well as a time in fear, or at least taunting of communism.

 

    Made for great discussions on the BBS's, along with hacking and Phreaking. 

928367[/snapback]

 

It was good to know who the white hats and who the black hats were. Unlike today.