[lbo-talk] How Harvard business professors spend their spare time

Nathan Robinson nrobinson at g.harvard.edu
Thu Dec 11 14:10:05 PST 2014


I actually think he's getting a lot of unfair flak. It seems like he's just very vigilant about consumer protection. I wrote a defense of him: http://thenavelobservatory.com/2014/12/11/in-tepid-defense-of-the-man-who-threatened-to-sue-a-chinese-restaurant-over-4/

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 3:45 AM, Adelson Velsky Landis < adelson.velsky.landis at gmail.com> wrote:


> Harvard professor sorry for fighting restaurant over $4
>
> By Breeanna Hare, CNN
> December 10, 2014
>
> (CNN) -- Harvard Business School associate professor Ben Edelman was
> in the running this week for "Most Disliked Guy on the Internet" --
> and all because of $4.
>
> After accusing a restaurant of overcharging him, Edelman began an epic
> back and forth with the management that went viral. Now, the professor
> is apologizing for letting the dispute spiral so out of control.
>
> According to Boston.com, the saga began last week when Edelman placed
> an order at a family-operated Boston-area Chinese restaurant named
> Sichuan Garden. He was hungry for sauteed prawns with roasted chili
> and peanut, stir-fried chicken with spicy capsicum, braised fish
> filets and napa cabbage with roasted chili, and shredded chicken with
> spicy garlic sauce.
>
> When he placed his order, Edelman thought his meal would run him
> $53.35. But when he checked his receipt, he noticed he'd been charged
> an additional $4 -- or, as he noted in the first of several emails he
> sent to Sichuan Garden, an apparent "increase of $1 on each and every
> item."
>
> Celebrated bartender Ran Duan, who manages the bar inside his parents'
> Sichuan Garden location, was the one to respond to Edelman's
> complaint. In doing so, he kicked off an epic three-day email exchange
> that ended with Edelman, who is also a lawyer and fashions himself as
> a "Web sheriff," considering legal action against the restaurant.
>
> It turns out that the menu Edelman viewed on Sichuan Garden's website
> was out of date, which Duan apologized for and said he would fix.
>
> This was Edelman's response:
>
> "Under Massachusetts law, it turns out to be a serious violation to
> advertise one price and charge a different price. I urge you to cease
> this practice immediately," he wrote. "In the interim, I suggest that
> Sichuan Garden refund me three times the amount of the overcharge. The
> tripling reflects the approach provided under the Massachusetts
> consumer protection statute, MGL 93a, wherein consumers broadly
> receive triple damages for certain intentional violations."
> [...]
>
> Continued at -
>
> http://edition.cnn.com/2014/12/10/living/harvard-business-professor-chinese-takeout/
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