[Paddington]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101214/ap_on_re_us/us_aloha_fargo

The company that makes Hot Tamales candy offered its sales team an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii if it met its annual goals, and a trip to the nation's arctic tundra if it didn't.

The Just Born team did not meet its target and, on Tuesday, about two dozen salespeople gathered inside the 19-story Radisson hotel — the tallest building in frozen Fargo.

Outside, the temperature was 7 degrees. The ground had 2 feet of snow.
Not exactly Hawaii: Honolulu was sunny, and a comfortable 82 degrees.

"Fargo is not what you would think is one of the greatest locales in the United States and technically we didn't make our year," said Dave Bayha, a Just Born manager. "It was somewhat of a punishment."

Would Bayha rather be in Hawaii?

"Um, sure," the Phoenix resident said, laughing again.

If they fail again next year, they go to South Dakota. :hahaha:

 

[hudkina]

Yeah... I'm sure this story will really help them meet their sales goal next year.

 

[Rogee]

I don't understand the "nation's arctic tundra" part. At first I assumed they were going to Alaska.

 

[hudkina]

Paddington thinks his life sucks as bad as it does because his parents moved from a third world nation to the Midwest, instead of the East or West coasts...

 

[Jennifat]

So to "punish" their sales staff for not meeting their sales goal, they spent more money they didn't have to fly 24 people half-way across the country to stay in a hotel for a few days? Seems pretty silly and not much of a punishment, honestly.

If they wanted to truly punish their sales staff, they should have forced them to stay home and work.

 

[He Named Thor]

http://www.radisson.com/fargo-hotel-nd-58102/fargo

I certainly wouldn't mind that as a punishment.

 

[The anti-cheesehead]

^^These sales people probably travel all the time, so traveling and staying in a hotel isn't really a treat, especially to Fargo and especially if they have families.

 

[Somnifor]

Fargo isn't horrible, I would rather spend a weekend in Fargo than a weekend at work. If they really wanted to punish them they would take them to Minot.

 

[Lmichigan]

Or, they could just send them to Jackson, Mississippi, or Waco, or Lubbock, or...well, there is an endless supply of cities, really. Fargo actually seems like a decent place its residents really care about.

 

[Jennifat]

^^Yeah, Fargo is actually a nice, very clean and healthy-looking city. There are a surprising amount of lovely elm tree-lined streets in the older Victorian-era neighborhoods.

Unfortunately it is a rather boring and isolated place, and almost the entire city is suburban in nature.

 

[Jennifat]

If they really wanted to punish them they would take them to Minot.

Or even worse, Williston. A friend and I stayed overnight there on our way out to Seattle, stopping at different national parks and attractions along the way. Seriously scary place.

It doesn't get much worse or more depressing than western North Dakota or the Hi-Line towns of northern Montana...

 

[hudkina]

What's so bad about Williston? Looking at Streetview, it seems somewhat nice. It's kind of interesting that they have an old-style J.C. Penny right downtown... It's surprising that a national chain worried more about profits than anything else, would keep such a small and outdated store open. There's also an old movie theatre and several coffee shops, banks, cafes, salons and other "classic downtown" shops. At least it's not like some of the more "suburbanized" towns where everything jumped shipped to the strip malls and shopping centers on the fringe leaving antique shops and vacant buildings downtown. In fact, if I type in 250 Main Street on Walk Score, I get a score of 92!

Granted, the nearest "city" is Bismarck and that's 4 hours away with the nearest major city being the Twin Cities at 10 hours away. The upside is that Denver is only a 3 hour flight away, so it's not completely isolated.