Dumbness!!

[scrumpymike]

I tried to place an on-line order yesterday with Sweetwater in the US for a J/M 4 set of Aguilar pickups that I can't find in stock in the UK or the EU.

 

So I open my virtual basket to place the order and I get the following message: 'Sorry these items are out of inventory but our experts suggest the following replacement that will be just as good for you.'

 

And what do they recommend as a straight replacement? The Aguilar 5-string set!!

 

I don't think so.

 

Are there any similar stories of dumbness out there?

[neepheid]

It's a pickup, innit?  Same thing, innit?  What are you moaning about?

 

[Killerfridge]

6 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

I tried to place an on-line order yesterday with Sweetwater in the US for a J/M 4 set of Aguilar pickups that I can't find in stock in the UK or the EU.

 

So I open my virtual basket to place the order and I get the following message: 'Sorry these items are out of inventory but our experts suggest the following replacement that will be just as good for you.'

 

And what do they recommend as a straight replacement? The Aguilar 5-string set!!

 

I don't think so.

 

Are there any similar stories of dumbness out there?

It's a bit like Amazon's recommendation engine:

 

"Ah I see you bought a new TV. I guess that means you like buying TVs, so now I'm only going to recommend you TVs for the next few months"

[christhammer666]

cut the wood and squeeze the 5ver pick up i dont see the problem. i have a chisel if needed

[Lozz196]

Pretty much like online shopping from supermarkets, order lemons or lemon juice and if they`re out of stock they send lemon scented bleach.

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Pretty much like online shopping from supermarkets, order lemons or lemon juice and if they`re out of stock they send lemon scented bleach.

Scent and flavour are not the same thing when it comes to bleach 

[chriswareham]

3 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Scent and flavour are not the same thing when it comes to bleach 

 

Very true. My local grocery emporium were out of stock of my usual brand name choice, so I took a chance on their own brand. On opening the bottle I missed the woody notes of my favourite Domestos, and whrn decanting I noticed a lack of body. It went down well enough after I'd let it breathe for a while, but the afterburn was shocking.

[scrumpymike]

20 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Scent and flavour are not the same thing when it comes to bleach 

 

As it happens, they are for that bleach- and perfume-loving nation the French. The word 'parfum' means scent AND flavour. Found that out years ago in 'gay (?!) Paris' when I ordered an ice-cream and the guy asked me what 'parfum' I wanted. Now isn't that interesting?

 

I'll get me coat.

[BabyBlueSound]

remember that (not sure if real) story where some guy got an actual octopus delivered by Tesco, as they did not have the specific brand of bread the customer asked for? 😁

[Dan Dare]

On 22/04/2025 at 11:31, christhammer666 said:

cut the wood and squeeze the 5ver pick up i dont see the problem. i have a chisel if needed

 

There's a chap whose work features on here occasionally who could do that for you...

[SICbass]

2 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

There's a chap whose work features on here occasionally who could do that for you...

You‘re a very, very naughty bass- player 

[MichaelDean]

3 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

remember that (not sure if real) story where some guy got an actual octopus delivered by Tesco, as they did not have the specific brand of bread the customer asked for? 😁

Well, I just had to look that up!
https://metro.co.uk/2014/09/12/tesco-customer-orders-walnut-bread-receives-an-octopus-4866939/

[asingardenof]

On 22/04/2025 at 12:07, Lozz196 said:

Pretty much like online shopping from supermarkets, order lemons or lemon juice and if they`re out of stock they send lemon scented bleach.

I once ordered sour cream from Tesco and they didn't have it in stock, so instead they substituted a £10 bottle of Pinot Grigio. It would have been rude to send it back, frankly.

[Grahambythesea]

It’s the crummy algorithms and will get worse the more AI takes over the world.

[mikebass456]

On 22/04/2025 at 12:07, Lozz196 said:

Pretty much like online shopping from supermarkets, order lemons or lemon juice and if they`re out of stock they send lemon scented bleach.

Good antidote for COVID-19, if I remember the Mango Mussolini correctly from his first lap of the circus tent.......

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

It’s the crummy algorithms and will get worse the more AI takes over the world.

 

It always amuses me when I buy something expensive and am instantly bombarded with ad's for more of the same. I appreciate that it's AI at work, but you'd think the wallies who programme it would build in something that recognises that few if any of us buys something costing a ton of money every week.

Edited Wednesday at 21:29 by Dan Dare

[chriswareham]

37 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

 

It always amuses me when I buy something expensive and am instantly bombarded with ad's for more of the same. I appreciate that it's AI at work, but you'd think the wallies who programme it would build in something that recognises that few if any of us buys something costing a ton of money every week.

 

The thing is, it's not "AI", at least not what the originators of that term envisioned back in the 1960s. That's why the actual name of this thing we're talking about is Generative AI. It just consumes huge amounts of existing data and basically rewords it. It's not sentient. It's not intelligent. It's the equivalent of a traditional search that instead of listing the actual source of the results just produces a single summary of the most common results. That's why it's so susceptible to poisoning - get it to ingest enough dodgy source material and you can make it spout any old b*llocks you want it to.

Edited Wednesday at 22:06 by chriswareham

[mikebass456]

32 minutes ago, chriswareham said:

 

The thing is, it's not "AI", at least not what the originators of that term envisioned back in the 1960s. That's why the actual name of this thing we're talking about is Generative AI. It just consumes huge amounts of existing data and basically rewords it. It's not sentient. It's not intelligent. It's the equivalent of a traditional search that instead of listing the actual source of the results just produces a single summary of the most common results. That's why it's so susceptible to poisoning - get it to ingest enough dodgy source material and you can make it spout any old b*llocks you want it to.

...... Then spray it bright orange and put a dodgy wig on it.

[Killerfridge]

8 hours ago, chriswareham said:

 

The thing is, it's not "AI", at least not what the originators of that term envisioned back in the 1960s. That's why the actual name of this thing we're talking about is Generative AI. It just consumes huge amounts of existing data and basically rewords it. It's not sentient. It's not intelligent. It's the equivalent of a traditional search that instead of listing the actual source of the results just produces a single summary of the most common results. That's why it's so susceptible to poisoning - get it to ingest enough dodgy source material and you can make it spout any old b*llocks you want it to.

It's not generative AI. Generative AI is what powers things like ChatGPT or Dalle and can be thought of as auto-complete on steroids. Whilst I don't doubt some people are using them to build recommendation engines, recommenders are traditionally using something like collaborative filtering

[scrumpymike]

9 hours ago, chriswareham said:

 

The thing is, it's not "AI", at least not what the originators of that term envisioned back in the 1960s. That's why the actual name of this thing we're talking about is Generative AI. It just consumes huge amounts of existing data and basically rewords it. It's not sentient. It's not intelligent. It's the equivalent of a traditional search that instead of listing the actual source of the results just produces a single summary of the most common results. That's why it's so susceptible to poisoning - get it to ingest enough dodgy source material and you can make it spout any old b*llocks you want it to.

 

26 minutes ago, Killerfridge said:

It's not generative AI. Generative AI is what powers things like ChatGPT or Dalle and can be thought of as auto-complete on steroids. Whilst I don't doubt some people are using them to build recommendation engines, recommenders are traditionally using something like collaborative filtering

Kind of dumbness disguised as smartness done by dumb people who think they're smart.

[Graham56]

For a while my daughter worked for Tesco on a nightshift, filling the trays for home delivery orders. She doubted the worth of the substitute list when it suggested that the acceptable substitute for a customer order for vegetarian sausages could be meat ones. 

 

What really did her in was a manager telling her not to think for herself and just put the meat ones in...  🙄

[tauzero]

A woman I know has incontinence pants - if they haven't got any XL in, they substitute with S. I'm not sure why they think she's gone down 8 dress sizes in a couple of hours.

[Dan Dare]

7 hours ago, Graham56 said:

For a while my daughter worked for Tesco on a nightshift, filling the trays for home delivery orders. She doubted the worth of the substitute list when it suggested that the acceptable substitute for a customer order for vegetarian sausages could be meat ones. 

 

What really did her in was a manager telling her not to think for herself and just put the meat ones in...  🙄

 

A great way to lose customers, eh?

 

I don't do online shopping, so don't know whether it's possible, but can you specify no substitutions when you order?

[Norris]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

can you specify no substitutions when you order?

Yes. We always do or you end up with random stuff