See, here's the thing. Microscoft*, for as large as they are and as much as they have really got the whole "if you can't beat them, buy them" mentality down pat, they're not so good at the little things. Little things like including directions, the specific location and/or a map in the confirmation emails they send out for prior to an event. Little things like making sure the receptionist can steer you in the right direction. Little things like not having stupid rules in place that don't add up. More specifically?
Well, take for example, the event I attended earlier today. They sent me a confirmation email last night with two different building locations. Not two different rooms in the same building. Two completely different buildings entirely. On top of that they simply provided the generic address for the Microscoft campus. Gee, thanks. Why don't you just tell me the address is: Redmond, Washington USA. That place is huge people. We're talking the buildings are numbered starting at 1 and continue on upwards way past 100. So no map in hand and two different locations was a bad start, but wait, it gets worse.
So I show up at building A after running to my office to grab a map of the Microscoft Campus I just happened to have from some other event and the first thing the receptionist wants to know upon check-in is who am I there to see. The conversation went something like this...
Me: Hi, I'm here for the Run Around Looking For And Generally Do A Great Job Wasting My Time* Regional Training
Brainless Girl Working Front Desk*: Okay, who are you here to see?
Me: I'm not here to see anyone. I'm here for the Blah* Regional Training.
Brainless Girl Working Front Desk: Right, but I need a name.
Me: Huh?
Brainless Girl Working Front Desk: I can't check you in without a name.
Me: Fine. I'm here to see Ballmer.
This seemed to work fine for her. Go figure. I guess when you're just following orders any answer will work, even if you know it's a complete fabrication. So then Brainless Girl Working Front Desk doesn't have any idea about where the Training session is supposed to be. I show her the confirmation email and her suggestion is, "Try Building B." At this point, I knew I'd end up walking over to Building B only to turn around after talking to that building's smarty pants receptionist and walking back on over to Building A, but hell the weather was pretty nice and I was in the mood for a walk so I just walked over to Building B.
Upon arriving at Building B, the receptionist did not disappoint and I ended up turning on my heels and walking back to Building A. On the way, I ran into some fellow collegues looking for the same meeting. I told them to disregard whatever Brainless Girl Working Front Desk had just told them and to head back to Building A. Long story short, the meeting ended up starting over an hour late because, apparently, the Microscoft events team was so disorganized even the speakers weren't sure where to go.
I think it's just classic that Microscoft's tag used to be Where do you want to go today?™. It's probably for the best they changed it to Your Potential For Putting Up with Inferior Products, Our Passion.
*Names changed to protect the stupi oh, who am I kidding. I just don't want to be sued.