The Monumental C**k Up Thread.

[Beebo]

Gerald Ratner’s joke about how rubbish his jewellery was a massive cock up.

 

[Profpointy]

Gay lions?

Nah, just close friends with a fondness for musical theatre

 

[Reynard]

Gerald Ratner’s joke about how rubbish his jewellery was a massive cock up.

IIRC the quote referred to a silver-plated tray with six sherry glasses and a decanter.

Their "in house" watch brand was Carronade - you see a lot of them being sold on the Bay of E.

 

[ColinJ]

Gerald Ratner

IIRC the quote referred to a silver-plated tray with six sherry glasses and a decanter.

Indeed!

 

[Reynard]

Indeed!

Well, at least my memory isn't succumbing to old age

 

[ColinJ]

Well, at least my memory isn't succumbing to old age

I was impressed by that - I saw the clip at the time but couldn't remember the details!

It is unbelievable that someone in his position would say something like that for the laughs, without thinking through the fallout for the business, so I reckon that really DOES qualify as a monumental c**k up.

 

[Reynard]

I was impressed by that - I saw the clip at the time but couldn't remember the details!

It is unbelievable that someone in his position would say something like that for the laughs, without thinking through the fallout for the business, so I reckon that really DOES qualify as a monumental c**k up.

Yup, it was definitely one heck of a foot-in-mouth moment.

And I'll openly admit that I have a lot of weird (and often unrelated) facts living inside my head. I am not the sort of person to sit next to whilst watching a quiz show on TV

 

[Conrad_K]

That reminds me, Jimmy Carter's failed rescue mission of the American Embassy hostages in Iran. I am not very clear on the details.

"Operation Eagle Claw." A fustercluck of the first order, planned by idiots, executed by... mostly newbies, though the US military was flush with experienced Vietnam combat veterans. Hardware failures galore. Stupidity to burn, depending on "commandeering" local transport (in the middle of nowhere), and a whole lot of "and then a miracle will happen" steps.

Once you look at it a while, it becomes hard to believe anyone ever expected it to succeed. Granted the ivory-tower types who claimed to have planned it had very little operational experience, but they seemed to have put the whole plan together by watching old Coyote vs. Roadrunner cartoons.

 

[cougie uk]

Yup, it was definitely one heck of a foot-in-mouth moment.

And I'll openly admit that I have a lot of weird (and often unrelated) facts living inside my head. I am not the sort of person to sit next to whilst watching a quiz show on TV

It was a joke that he'd told many times before - only this time the press decided to pick up on it and make a story out of it.
He lost it all and then made more millions through Gyms and Spas I think ?

 

[Drago]

It was a joke that he'd told many times before - only this time the press decided to pick up on it and make a story out of it.
He lost it all and then made more millions through Gyms and Spas I think ?

It wasn't made on after dinner speaking, that's for sure.

 

[DCLane]

A little one in the news this morning: Leeds City Council asked bidders to send proposals to an old e-mail address for projects, leaving successful bidders in the dark and short of delivery time - https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/yor...ouncil-typo-delays-business-support-programme

 

[Dogtrousers]

Another thing that, like the Hubble Space Telescope and Crossrail, started off as a cockup but recovered to be a success, was the RB-211 jet engine.

Although I was fairly young at the time I remember it was headline news with Rolls Royce going bust, government stepping in, and all sorts of cockup shenanigans.

 

[presta]

I recall a monumental cock up that even had hilltop monuments to commemorate it.

Back in the 80s we installed a radio system at a communal site on Alsager's Bank in Cheshire, and among the users sharing the site was UHF TV broadcast. Unfortunately, when the frequency planners at the Home Office licenced the system they failed to spot that two of the TV transmitters were on adjacent channels, which are 8MHz apart, the same as the transmit-receive spacing for Band III PMR systems like the one we were supplying.

The upshot was that the 8MHz product from the broadcast transmitters was mixing with the transmitters on the Band III system so that each one interfered with its associated receiver, and would continue to do so no matter what alternative channel they were moved to.

 

[slowmotion]

The DeLorean fiasco.

https://www.sandstoneproductions.co.uk/blogtothefuture/2020/11/22/deloreanmotorcompany

 

[Conrad_K]

The DeLorean was basically a Lotus with a steel skin. And way cheaper than a real Lotus. But while the little Renault V6 was a reasonably competent engine and got decent fuel economy, it was only rated at 130hp. That would have been acceptable for a family sedan, but buyers willing to fork over $25K for an exotic with a stainless steel body and gullwing doors wanted horsepower to match, not hamsters.

In the American market, 130hp was laughable. The rear engine layout didn't help it either. While Porsche fans might smirk, "rear engine" in America meant bottom-end econo-cars like the VW Beetle, Chevy Corvair, Renault Daphine, or Fiat 850. Potential buyers in Britain and Europe might not have had the same prejudice, but they didn't rush forward waving money for a DeLorean either.

I understand why DeLorean chose the Renault engine. There weren't a lot of small-ish engines with US EPA emissions certification then, and DMC had to choose what was available and in sufficient quantity, what they could afford, and what they could sell in the most markets. But the decision to use the PRV V6 is what killed the whole company.

Of course, "hindsight is 20-20", "Monday Morning Quarterback", etc.