News I watched a kid rip apart his laptop

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A college student witnessed an incident where another student, frustrated by a cracked laptop screen, discarded the entire device into a trash can. This action escalated as the student attempted to salvage the hard drive by dismantling the laptop, ultimately damaging it further. The observer expressed anger over the wastefulness of discarding a valuable item, noting that a simple repair could have been an option. The discussion quickly shifted to broader themes of entitlement among wealthy youth, with participants sharing their views on wastefulness and the perceived decline in respect for property. Some participants reflected on personal experiences with destructive behavior, while others criticized the attitudes of those who can afford to be careless. The conversation also touched on the notion of anger management and the societal implications of such wasteful actions, suggesting a disconnect between privilege and responsibility.
vsage
So here's the setup: I'm walking out of taco bell in my college's union which exits through the gameroom. I sit down at a seat and watch some people play DDR and this kid comes up next to me (he was at least 18 but you'll see why I call him a kid in a moment) and thinks it would be fashionable to listen to music on his laptop while waiting to play on the machine. He flips the screen open and I notice he's silent next to me and proclaims "What the hell?! My screen is cracked!"

I didn't really know what to think but I was sure that he was about to do something stupid. He gets up and chucks the laptop in the trashcan. That's right: Because of a slightly cracked screen he throws his entire laptop away. He comes back 5 minutes later and proclaims he wanted to save the HDD so he proceeds to rip apart the laptop with his hands, damaging every single component inside (including ultimately the HDD which is now wet from the contents of the trash can).

At this point I was fairly pissed off that someone could just throw away a $1000 item but kept quiet. I glanced over and noticed there was a port that allowed for a monitor to be attached to the laptop and instantly became a little more angry at his wastefulness. I'm not hardcore into technology but I know for a fact that you can transplant LCD screens over with a little knowhow or just asking a computer repair technician. I didn't bother to tell him that though because it appeared to me it wasn't going to make him any less angry so I just walked out.

What are your thoughts on this kid? I still can't believe I saw that just yesterday.
 
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Damn spoiled rich kids. They think everything's disposable.

Where was this? Pepperdine? :biggrin:
 
American way of life at its peak.
 
Smurf said:
American way of life at its peak.

I'd call it a nadir, but same intent. I don't know if there are more and more kids like that nowadays, or just that I notice them more than I used to. Spoiled brats.
 
Smurf said:
American way of life at its peak.

A righteous sense of entitlement is not the American way; it is the way of a small, wealthy minority.
 
vsage said:
What are your thoughts on this kid? I still can't believe I saw that just yesterday.

He's an idiot. What are your thoughts on the Ron Zook firing? I used to love Florida football under Spurrier.
 
Its not that there are more spoiled kids, its just that there are more morons with access to these kinds of things.

I know, i live in a dorm full of them.
 
loseyourname said:
He's an idiot. What are your thoughts on the Ron Zook firing? I used to love Florida football under Spurrier.

I don't think he should have been fired in the middle of the season. I'm just glad he's carrying on as normal to an extent. He still did some good recruiting but I think he's getting shafted because the team is so young. I would have personally waited for another year to fire him but UF likes winning teams. I liked Spurrier football too. I think it's good he isn't coming back to UF because it could be analogous to when Michael Jordan came back to basketball the 3rd time: A part of his reputation eroded away when he stepped back on the court.
 
One Christmas I got a new laptop and my girlfriend at that time got mad at me and drop kicked it across the room. Shattered the screen. Had to hook it up to a monitor to use it, but used it that way for quite a while.
 
  • #10
loseyourname said:
A righteous sense of entitlement is not the American way; it is the way of a small, wealthy minority.
This small, wealthy minority being the peak of it. And the peak is getting higher.
 
  • #11
Smurf said:
This small, wealthy minority being the peak of it. And the peak is getting higher.
There were more millionaires created this year than any other
 
  • #12
And it isn't created millionaires who have this attitude. It is people born into money that don't appreciate the work done to make it.
 
  • #13
tribdog said:
One Christmas I got a new laptop and my girlfriend at that time got mad at me and drop kicked it across the room. Shattered the screen. Had to hook it up to a monitor to use it, but used it that way for quite a while.
Umm, this didn't have anything to do with the carpet incident, did it? :smile:
 
  • #14
He could have just given it to someone instead of throwing it in the trash.
 
  • #15
Most people are wasteful and this kid only seems wasteful from the perspective of the average individual. Many people discard food and waste energy because it's more convienient for them to leave lights on or not package leftovers. If this labtop was his equivalent to a penny I can't really blame him.

If I was in your situation I would've been angry too though.
 
  • #16
BobG said:
Umm, this didn't have anything to do with the carpet incident, did it? :smile:

tribdog willnever live that down. Thats twice in one week its been mentioned in different threads. Long live carpet welding!
 
  • #17
tribdog said:
One Christmas I got a new laptop and my girlfriend at that time got mad at me and drop kicked it across the room. Shattered the screen. Had to hook it up to a monitor to use it, but used it that way for quite a while.

Where do you find these psycho women? :bugeye:
 
  • #18
I don't know where this kid got his laptop, but I'm betting his parents paid for it. I'm also betting that if they knew what he did, they'd have hit the roof. If my kid did that, I'm make her pay it off, or it would be the last thing she got for a very long time. If he were my kid, he'd live to regret it. Unfortunately, he's not.

And tribdog, I hope you made your girlfriend pay for that laptop, I'd have dumped her just based on that alone.

Childish and wasteful.
 
  • #19
If a girlfriend had drop kicked a $1000+ computer, she had better have been breaking up with me, because it is childish, wasteful, not to mention disrespectful.

Of course then again, i suppose i should wonder what her reasons were. If this was in retaliation for cheating, beating her,or some other behavoir worthy of a $1000 penalty, my position softens considerably, though from your post it doesn't sound like that, and i would hope her reasons weren't like that...
 
  • #20
Zantra said:
I don't know where this kid got his laptop, but I'm betting his parents paid for it. I'm also betting that if they knew what he did, they'd have hit the roof. If my kid did that, I'm make her pay it off, or it would be the last thing she got for a very long time. If he were my kid, he'd live to regret it. Unfortunately, he's not.

And tribdog, I hope you made your girlfriend pay for that laptop, I'd have dumped her just based on that alone.

Childish and wasteful.
I've got to say I completely agree with Zantra on everything. There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. Regardless of how much money you have, it is childish and wasteful.
 
  • #21
American way of life at its peak.

You live in B.C., right?

There are plenty of rich, spoiled kids there. Don't claim that this is exclusive to America.
 
  • #22
Dagenais, there are plenty of rich, spoiled kids everywhere in the west. I have never, ever, and I never, ever will claim that wastfullness is exclusive to America unless/untill that one day becomes true.
I've argued with you enough you should realize by now I hate the Canadian Government and Economics as much as I hate the American counter parts.

Perhapse you are not familliar with the terminology 'American way of Life' to which I was refering.
 
  • #23
The 'American way of life' may not be exclusive to Americans but we sure made it famous. I think http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/saving/efficiency/savingenergy.html speaks for itself. We consume twice as much energy as China despite being 1/5 the population (Canada has a curiously high consumption per capita as well though). I won't say that the DoE data shows that we are wasting all that energy because the US and Canada do enjoy high standards of living relative to most eastern countries.
 
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  • #24
franznietzsche said:
Its not that there are more spoiled kids, its just that there are more morons with access to these kinds of things.

I know, i live in a dorm full of them.


I vote for "moron" too. Damn, I love that word.
 
  • #25
This topic brought another thought to mind...anger management classes. I don't know what they really teach in those classes or if any of it really works. Does anyone know? I always thought that if someone got to be an adult and still acted like such a child about controlling their displays of anger (the grown-up equivalent of a temper tantrum), then how is sitting through a class really going to change that?
 
  • #26
Moonbear said:
This topic brought another thought to mind...anger management classes. I don't know what they really teach in those classes or if any of it really works. Does anyone know? I always thought that if someone got to be an adult and still acted like such a child about controlling their displays of anger (the grown-up equivalent of a temper tantrum), then how is sitting through a class really going to change that?


Kinda like rehabilitating criminals, eh?
 
  • #27
yes, taking a bunch of murders, bank robbers and rapists and sticking them in the same place, let them hang out for a few years and then letting them go is the perfect way to reduce crime.
 
  • #28
Smurf said:
yes, taking a bunch of murders, bank robbers and rapists and sticking them in the same place, let them hang out for a few years and then letting them go is the perfect way to reduce crime.


I thought that was internment, not rehabilitation. Maybe you're confused.Or maybe I'm confused.
 
  • #29
There's supposed to be a difference but I'm not aware of any.
 
  • #30
Actually the reason my laptop was kicked across the room was because I was paying more attention to it than to the girlfriend. that is the one area where I'm not perfect. I am usually pretty good about making sure whoever I'm with is happy, I do sometimes get sidetracked while checking PF for new posts and end up spending about 10 hours online.
 
  • #31
tribdog said:
Actually the reason my laptop was kicked across the room was because I was paying more attention to it than to the girlfriend. that is the one area where I'm not perfect. I am usually pretty good about making sure whoever I'm with is happy, I do sometimes get sidetracked while checking PF for new posts and end up spending about 10 hours online.


Yeah, that's not a valid reason. Its a reason to be angry, but dropkicking the comp is crossing a line there. If it was me, she'd ahve been gone. But of course, you're not me.
 
  • #32
tribdog said:
Actually the reason my laptop was kicked across the room was because I was paying more attention to it than to the girlfriend. that is the one area where I'm not perfect. I am usually pretty good about making sure whoever I'm with is happy, I do sometimes get sidetracked while checking PF for new posts and end up spending about 10 hours online.

You've obviously not met the right girlfriend yet...
1) The right girlfriend wouldn't drop-kick a laptop
2) The right girlfriend would understand your need for your daily PF fix
3) The right girlfriend would hold your attention without resorting to violence on laptops (you'd find her far too distracting to need to spend as much time online).

I think drop-kicking a laptop is cause for divorce in most states. :smile: Surely it's good reason for drop-kicking a girlfriend out the door. There's just no excuse for laptop abuse.
 
  • #33
Moonbear said:
You've obviously not met the right girlfriend yet...
1) The right girlfriend wouldn't drop-kick a laptop
2) The right girlfriend would understand your need for your daily PF fix
3) The right girlfriend would hold your attention without resorting to violence on laptops (you'd find her far too distracting to need to spend as much time online).

I think drop-kicking a laptop is cause for divorce in most states. :smile: Surely it's good reason for drop-kicking a girlfriend out the door. There's just no excuse for laptop abuse.

Most definitely. Drop-kick the drop-kicker.
 
  • #34
That girl had issues then if she couldn't just "talk to you"
 
  • #35
Zantra said:
That girl had issues then if she couldn't just "talk to you"

I think she had more than just issues. :bugeye: I don't get it, why some women resort to such theatrics to get their way. I mean, if a guy has flaws you can't live with, then leave, don't start whining and trying to "fix" him and destroy property to get his attention. Everyone has flaws, you just have to find the ones with the flaws you can live with. And to mix up a poor, innocent laptop in the whole mess just isn't right.
 
  • #36
Actually if you want the whole story, I put it in poetry form and posted it in Evo's twas the night before christmas post.
 
  • #37
I found that finding a gamer girl will keep you from getting yelled at for spending too much time on the computer.
 
  • #38
Yeah, gamer girls are the best. And if they do get mad at you they won't take it out on your electronics.
 
  • #39
Moonbear said:
You've obviously not met the right girlfriend yet...
1) The right girlfriend wouldn't drop-kick a laptop
2) The right girlfriend would understand your need for your daily PF fix
3) The right girlfriend would hold your attention without resorting to violence on laptops (you'd find her far too distracting to need to spend as much time online).

I think drop-kicking a laptop is cause for divorce in most states. :smile: Surely it's good reason for drop-kicking a girlfriend out the door. There's just no excuse for laptop abuse.

Well, duh! If he'd met the right girlfriend, he wouldn't have a problem. He would sit on one side of the room with his laptop, she would sit on the other with her laptop, and they could post to each other on PF.
:!)
 
  • #40
BobG said:
Well, duh! If he'd met the right girlfriend, he wouldn't have a problem. He would sit on one side of the room with his laptop, she would sit on the other with her laptop, and they could post to each other on PF.
:!)

I have friends who do this. It's quite funny, they'll message each other when it's time for dinner, or to ask a question when they are too lazy to walk to another room. The funniest part is they only live in an apt, so it's not like a two floor house where it's actually an effort to go to the other room. They could just holler the old fashioned way, but I doubt they'd notice since they get so absorbed into the computers. :smile:
 
  • #41
Doesn't matter how big the home is, I could ignore my ex if we lived in a phone booth. All it takes is concentration and will power.
 
  • #42
tribdog said:
Doesn't matter how big the home is, I could ignore my ex if we lived in a phone booth. All it takes is concentration and will power.


I really want to see you try that. For pure entertainment value.
 
  • #43
franznietzsche said:
I really want to see you try that. For pure entertainment value.

Somehow I think the entertainment value would be in seeing them try to live together in a phone booth more than him trying to ignore her in a phone booth! FOX reality series season premiere: The Phone Booth. :smile:
 
  • #44
Moonbear said:
Somehow I think the entertainment value would be in seeing them try to live together in a phone booth more than him trying to ignore her in a phone booth! FOX reality series season premiere: The Phone Booth. :smile:
The Phone Booth: Season 1
tribdog's Video Diary: Well, we moved into what will be our home for the next 6 months. The show's producers gave us a couple hours just to look around and get comfortable, divide the booth into "his/hers" she divided the booth in half, I chose which half I wanted. Only after I'd made my choice did I realize the mistake I'd made, I hadn't noticed that there was a phone on her side. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next...
 
  • #45
tribdog said:
The Phone Booth: Season 1
tribdog's Video Diary: Well, we moved into what will be our home for the next 6 months. The show's producers gave us a couple hours just to look around and get comfortable, divide the booth into "his/hers" she divided the booth in half, I chose which half I wanted. Only after I'd made my choice did I realize the mistake I'd made, I hadn't noticed that there was a phone on her side. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next...
You are such a riot! :smile: :smile: :smile:

I still don't understand your ex girlfriend's psycho behavior. Sounds like she was very emotionally needy. No normal person is going to get upset if you do something that excludes them for awhile, especially if you live together. Most people have interests of their own and don't require constant attention from another person. I couldn't live with someone like that, I would go insane.
 
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  • #46
insaner.

lol you think I attract normal girlfriends?
 
  • #47
I vote for "moron" too. Damn, I love that word.

I do too, but apparently, it's outlawed here at PF. I was assessed a warning for calling Chroot one.

Just thought I'd inform you that the use of "moron" is discouraged before you get 'warned.'
 
  • #48
Dagenais said:
I do too, but apparently, it's outlawed here at PF. I was assessed a warning for calling Chroot one.

Just thought I'd inform you that the use of "moron" is discouraged before you get 'warned.'

There's nothing wrong with the word, you're just not supposed to name call others on this board using it, and most especially mentors and admins. Bad call there.

tribdog said:
insaner.

lol you think I attract normal girlfriends?

Um, apparently not? But they do say opposites attract, so there's always hope. :smile:
 
  • #49
Dagenais said:
I do too, but apparently, it's outlawed here at PF. I was assessed a warning for calling Chroot one.

Just thought I'd inform you that the use of "moron" is discouraged before you get 'warned.'
Moonbear said:
There's nothing wrong with the word, you're just not supposed to name call others on this board using it, and most especially mentors and admins. Bad call there.
Yeah Moron!
Geeze, get it right.
 
  • #50
Dagenais said:
You live in B.C., right?

There are plenty of rich, spoiled kids there. Don't claim that this is exclusive to America.

It's not like you need to be rich and spoiled to destroy property, anyway. At least this kid was destroying his own property, although if his parents paid for it, what he did was pretty despicable. Otherwise, I think he's an idiot, but he had every right to do whatever he wanted to his computer.
 
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