ylhert
Joined 12 years ago
Joined 12 years ago
We're hiring engineers across the stack at Opendoor. We're building technology to simplify residential real estate - making it easier to buy and sell homes. Our engineering challenges span everything from marketplace dynamics and pricing models to complex operational workflows and integrations with industry systems. If you're interested in applying technology to modernize a massive, traditional industry, we'd love to hear from you. yan at [our domain].com :D
yan at [our domain].com :D
The car industry, car culture, and car centric thinking in the US and much of the world is totally out of control.
- Not understanding my nuanced preferences and getting me something I know about and don't like
- Not appreciating how to choose a good product (for example, with beans, an old roast date of more than 30 days means sad & stale coffee)
- Getting me something I like but I already have
In many cases I of course smile and am polite, and of course I am truly grateful for the thought, _but_ there is a level of disappointment which I have to hide because it saddens me to be wasteful, and I don't like putting on a performance. There are very few if any coffee things that I like but don't have, and are at a gift level price point (<$100). For consumables like filters and beans I have nuanced preference and it's unlikely that you'll happen to choose something that I like, but very likely that you'll choose something I know I don't like.
From this experience as a recipient, I have learned to be very careful about the gifts I give to others. I steer clear of things in the realm of someones passions, and try to share something I know and love. For example, I don't give whiskey lovers whiskey, or whiskey glasses, because I don't know what kind of whiskey they like, and I'm likely to give them something they know and don't like! So often times I'll use my superpower of knowing a lot about coffee to give the whiskey lover a high quality coffee that they would probably have more difficulty finding or choosing themselves. A great conversation can ensue where I can share why I think that coffee is great and interesting, and why I think they'll enjoy it.
Conversely, when Whiskey person wants to get me a gift, I would much prefer they give me a whiskey they like and think is great, and explain it's merits to me. I don't know much about whiskey, so it's easy to wow me and I love learning about it from friends who do!