Office worker flips out (security video)
Junko Gardenour says: "This is a real-life "the Office" outrage caught by security camera. There is a follow up video clip (with audio) to this caught via cell phone by one of the employees on the scene, which shows the outraged worker eventually got tazed. Not clear exactly where it happened, but some people wrote in that this happened in Russia. I guess the corporate world can drive people to the brink of insanity anywhere in the world."
Real or fake? I don't know. Link
UPDATE: Here's another view, with sound.
Wait a minute... Is that a cordless CRT monitor?
hmmmmm....
Good catch, Gabriel. As real as reality teevee?
Even before I noticed that those monitors were damn easy to pick up and throw, I noticed that everything seemed staged so that the fixed camera could catch everything. The action starts in the dead center of the picture, and never really strays to the edges.
If it turns out that the accompanying cell phone footage is all part of the fake, that's brilliant. Security video is too easily assumed to be fake so "authenticate" it by providing cell phone footage from another angle of someone who was there? Outstanding idea.
Don't tase me, comrade!
Theres a nice clip here that runs the two clips almost parallel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxB9WATzD28
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f0e_1212516010
It's amazing that people actually believe this isn't some sort of viral-marketing attempt. Just wait for the next stage.
It almost looks like the CRT monitor at the bottom left is showing a feed of the video as it is happening.
If this is fake it's a very elaborate and very well done fake. The crobar/axe the guy starts wielding seems to materialize from nowhere.
One question: If this originated in Russia, does Russia use the European DD/MM/YY convention, so the camera would have displayed "23/05/2008"? AFAIK the DD/MM/YY convention is U.S.-based (and Canada?).
Plus, why does it seem like everyone stays in the room, even in close proximity to the guy? Me: perfect time for a coffee break...across town.
It seems odd when he first throws his monitor that it's not plugged into anything. No power, no cable to the PC...
I don't know if this is fake or not but with the way that first thrown crt monitor snaps into a downward facing position seems to me like there's real weight to it.
The first video - the security camera - catches the chap in the top right obviously filming it.
The second video - the camera phone clip - catches the chubby guy in the white shirt filming a more close-up shot.
If #7 is to be believed, what are the chances the next video released is the chubby chap in the white shirt?
EDIT:
One question: If this originated in Russia, does Russia use the European DD/MM/YY date convention, so the camera would have displayed "23/5/2008"? AFAIK the MM/DD/YY ("5/23/2008") convention is primarily U.S.-based ...?
#9 : The date format is rendered irrelevant if they've purchased their security equipment from an American firm. One of my old workplaces security footage would time stamp everything with the US date format.
#12 : At 00:50 when he's banging the monitor. Is it me or does it bobble and bounce a bit to easily - as if it's had it's insides removed and is just an empty plastic box, ready to be thrown?
Did White Shirt fart into his face?
#15: Re the U.S. M/D/Y camera date format instead of Euro D/M/Y format: I'd be surprised if the Russian firm would bother to buy and import surveilance cameras from a U.S. vendor. You'd think Russia would have a surveilance camera or two available locally ;-)
#10: Agree, everyone kind of stands around instead of making for the door. Also the woman who is knocked off her chair early in the video and seemed truly injured seems to recover a little too quickly.
The fact we are all trying to poke holes in the veracity of this video says it's either a very well staged fake or...maybe...real?
http://glumbert.com/media/baddayoffice
Why do we put out with boring, monotone tasks, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week?
#9: There's a several second gap in the footage. For example, there's a guy in a white shirt watching the crazy stumble over the desk partitions just before the break, while just after the break, the crazy has the item and the white shirt is on his butt. In any case, if you look at what changed before and after the footage break, you'll see that the "thing" had been up against the cabinet in the very top right (to the right of the door). It could very well be a coat hanger.
#17: I agree. The Internet has made us cynical. We no longer wish to believe. Instead, we take everything with a pinch of salt and deny the possibility of reality for fear of or comments being noted should it turn out to be a fake. We refuse to believe for fear of being duped.
Looks real enough to me. Gods, if I had to work in a cube farm with people crammed so close in to each other, I'd probably go postal, too.
Must not have had much respect for his coworkers, or at least the woman across the aisle from him. I've got to wonder what set him off against the guy leaning in. Maybe he was being told his TPS reports were written in the wrong color of ink...
I sort of hope it is fake, although I don't know what I'm meant to go run off and buy as a result of seeing this video.
Wow, when I'd had enough of my crappy job, I simply quit it.
Ockham's razor says it's real
#17: The woman who gets injured spends the entire rest of the film trying to move TOWARDS the crazy guy, while being constantly pulled back by another woman. That would seem to indicate she's a very good friend, lover, or spouse to the guy.
This whole discussion reminds me of the "footageheads" in William Gibson's novel Pattern Recognition :)
and it's about a woman.
my clue to the veracity is the second victim. she get smacked in the head by what looks like her lamp and is in pretty bad shape.. she later, the co-worker attending to her can be seen handing her a new tissue for the obvious cut on her head. if this was fake, i doubt they would have kept going with somebody getting injured like that.
and to the question of why people are all still standing around, the fact that this video and its buddies are all over the inter-webs and even on boingboing should answer that question. nobody wants to miss something like this.
so yes, it seems too good to be true, but it looks real to me.
What I find to be credibility straining (if it is fake) and just plain pathetic (if it is real) is that none of the people in that room took charge in any way. They should have directed the women/injured/non-fighting people to evacuate, and get a couple other men together and tackle the jerk in the first couple minutes of his rampage, and trussed him up with phone cord or something. Their standing around like that is either a testament to their supreme sheep-nature (waiting for the security guard/police to rescue them) or it's all fake. Since the camera is indeed dated in American format, and the first monitor has NO cord- I say, FAKE!!!!
and to this notion of the camera angle being too perfect and catching all the action...
its a security camera, the whole purpose of the camera is for it to be able to catch all the action in that room clearly. sure the guy could have run completely out of the room but he didn't and so everything is on camera. if it had been a "lucky" placement of some guy's video camera, that would be one thing, but that camera was placed there to catch strange goings on, and it did.
The thing that set the guy off was when the tard across the aisle knocked the papers off of his desk.
There's nothing that seems particularly anomalous about the behavior of the individuals - most people stay a good distance away but are too intrigued to leave - sounds pretty right on to me.
The monitors do raise questions, but there are plenty of types that would allow the cables to come off freely.
I say plausible.
#29: To say someone should tackle him is tricky. We've all worked in offices at some point in our lives and to be honest, if something like this happened I think most people would be too shocked or surprised to think rationally. Its not something you expect.
Secondly - at least half the people there are probably as stressed as this chap and so may well be thinking "why the hell should I put myself at risk for the company?" He's already thrown a monitor at a coworker and swung a lamp. Who's to say he hasn't a gun or a knife? Heck - even the notion of a well aimed biro to the side of my neck would be enough to stop me attempting to tackle this nut.
this has to be in an old East Bloc country. Otherwise, SOMEONE would have had a gun and the whole thing would have ended much better.
Obviously fake.
1. The lack of cords of any kind near the monitors 2. the fact that the focal point of the action is directly center.
3. I would argue people's reactions would be more chaotic and a very large percentage of people would leave the office, not stick around
ErikO23 -- But if the video's staged, then that might not be a real injury.
The woman that got her head busted open might beg to differ.
The moderately high-res camera, the too-perfect placement of said camera, the too-recent timestamp, the dodgy backstory, and--worst of all--that PRE-FAB BAR CHART IN THE BACKGROUND all add up to tell me it's viral.
That said, I'd love to be wrong on this one. The schlemiel who knocks over the sheaf of papers at the beginning looks a lot like my brother, who could easily drive anyone to hum a CRT at anyone's head.
At about the :48 mark he picks up what looks like one of those plastic employee of the month or world's best boss trophies. If this vid's a fake I think it's a great touch. If not, it's a great touch.
Most good office desks that I've seen have some sort of setup where computer cords can be run through an opening in the desk. That would effectively hold them in place to be yanked out of the monitor if it were tipped over or being pulled away--moreover, I don't see that the resolution of the video is useful enough to spot that sort of thing. Monitor cords could be fastened in such a way that they could be easily removed, and who knows what kind of configuration they might be using over there anyway.
Plus, that one woman really looks like she got smacked in the face with a CRT. Even if it's fake, that's a pretty extreme move to be faked.
AVRAM - well sure but watch her get hit. that don't look fake to me. and who on earth would micromanage the staging of the video so much that they would include her getting hit so precisely and all the supporting cast members then deal with her wound.
*34 -
"3. I would argue people's reactions would be more chaotic and a very large percentage of people would leave the office, not stick around"
on that same logic, if you were making the film, you'd instruct everyone to just run out the door as soon as the guy warps out, to make it look more real.
i don't think it's possible to tell on that basis. i think i'd be in two minds. maybe this is completely against type. he's the office whipping boy, nobody respects him and this is such bizarre behaviour they can't believe it.
the focal point of the action is mainly centre but moves around. this effect could be exacerbated by the lens type of the camera, which is very wide angle, so a range of movement might look smaller than it is. complete speculation, but hey.
i agree about the monitor though. it should have a VGA cable screwed into the back...
@ #29 Not every office has a Jack to save them.
Regardless of whether it's real or not, I'd rather be working with someone who uses their cell to call the po po, rather than film everything for posterity's sake. Call me old fashioned, but my (and my coworkers) immediate health and safety is a little more high prority than youtube fame.
#21: "The Internet has made us cynical. We no longer wish to believe."
I think that probably dates back to television, film, or maybe the photograph.
The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds certainly didn't do much to convince people to unquestioningly trust media.
I have to disagree that people would automatically leave the room if something like this were really happening. If you've ever been somewhere where something like this is happening, 1) it takes the brain a LONG time to process what is going on because it's so totally out of the norm, and 2) when confronted with a situation where fight or flight is necessary, a lot of times, a person will just stand still.
Now, I don't mean to imply that it couldn't be fake, but I don't think the fact that the people stand about wondering what to do is necessarily an indicator of fake-ness. :)
All CRTs - no LCDs. I've had an LCD monitor for more than five years. At that office, nobody has one... Hmmm....
The fact that the focus of action is in the center of the camera seems logical, since a security camera would be placed to capture the most accurate, wide picture of a given area. The camera is aimed at the area that would appear to be open to the most foot traffic.
To me it doesn't look like tbe woman got hit or even fell on the opposite desk -- it's not clear enough video but her moves look stagey anyway, and why would he have aimed for her in the first place (which he clearly takes time to do)? Also, the guy intentionally butts his papers off the desk, and then starts riffing through them when he picks them up. That seems stagey, too. Of course, the question I'd ask is, do people really have security cameras staring at them all day? That would put me right off.
What I learned from this video: stunguns aren't as effective as advertised.
(At 2:21, you can see a man take what is presumably a stungun from the injured woman. Before that, it looked like her friends were holding her back from trying to use it. Ineffectual shockage at 2:24.)
#23: Viral videos don't sell products directly to you.
They simply prime you to be sold to by future developments in the viral chain.
My monitor cable comes out every time I even try to move the thing 6 inches on my desk. There is actually a middle ground of weirdness where it is more likely to be real, specifically because if it wasn't all those things would have been taken care of.
Too sloppy or too perfect = fake
A few strange anomolies = real
Presence of extra filmers doesn't mean anything. A house burnt down a few blocks over last week and there were fully 10+ gawkers there filming with cell phone cams
#45, there's at least three LCDs, including directly behind him.
#21, I'd say it's more that we feel everything MUST be a conspiracy.
That's nice. We don't have a single LCD in our company, excluding those that come with laptops. our company certainly isn't wasting money buying people new computers, considering the current ones are doing their jobs nicely, why would they waste money on LCD screens?
Theories why an angry man would deliberately throw the monitor at the woman - he's gone totally nutty, she's STARING at him, and she works near him so they may have had friction before this.
The fact that she was going to try to chase after him with a taser speaks to her being a fairly aggressive, self-assured woman. This pisses off some kinds of oppressed frustrated insecure men.
And then she was STARING at him while he was going nutty, which is enough to set some angry people off as it is.
@MMB, #48: Personal stun guns aren't designed to subdue a rampaging individual. They're designed to give a bite to someone who didn't expect it, to make them think twice about their victim selection process.
What amazes me is that people are surprised that someone didn't take charge. Corporate culture breeds sheep. You expect there to be an alpha sheep in there when the black sheep goes rogue?
Best possible solution: leave the area.
There is in fact one LCD I can see (it's on the desk behind gonuts-guy). I saw the video this morning (European morning, that is) and I thought - even if it's fake, hats off to scripting so many actors so pretty convincingly.
When the third video surfaces (the chubby guy getting filmed by the other guy who is on the original video) we'll know it's some sort of set up.
But for what (product) - I'm curious... so the viral worked.
Christ, what an asshole!
Hey pal: Just quit your job and leave the office if you don't like it.
Thrashing around like a small child throwing a tantrum does not make you "cool" but instead makes you the most annoying person ever to exist on Planet earth.
"Do you mind? I was using that monitor to get some work done."
These videos are all the same.
Why, why, why do they always take it out on the monitor.
They're just shooting the messenger.
Its the computer that's causing trouble. Go after it. Use maple syrup.
Poor monitor.
As for the monitor coming unplugged, where I work none of the D-Sub connectors are screwed in place. The thinking is that if they're unscrewed and someone trips on the cord it will just become unplugged, but if it's screwed in you'll either damage the monitor, the connector, or the person who did the tripping.
The lack of cords on the monitors screams 'fake' to me. That said though, I think if this is some viral BS it is in really bad taste. Watching a man hit a female co-worker in the head with a CRT monitor isn't viral it is downright offensive.
The first two monitors he throws are not plugged in. The power cable could pop out (I doubt it), but only top-dollar CRTs would have screw-in VGA cables. LCDs come with screw-in VGA cables, not most CRTs.
Also, every monitor he throws is conveniently facing away from us.
Also, it's 12:12. Why aren't most people at lunch?
So I say FAKE.
I just noticed something else. The guy to the left of crazy guy. The first thing he does is grab the papers at his desk, stand up, and move CLOSER to crazy guy. So when he gets shoved he can throw the papers in the air.
It's crazy how I now want to analyze every second of this for more proof of its falseness.
I bought it when I first saw it on Metafilter, but on second viewing: definitely fake.
The whole setup from the beginning looks staged - too many people milling around, 2 guys actually studying a chart on one wall, that big pie chart.
Unplugged monitors, which seem suspiciously light (especially the way he can so easily kick around the grey one at the end), and people's general actions and reactions does suggest that this is setup. Maybe not a viral, maybe just some sort of drama exercise, but I'm 99% sure it's not real.
Also, I'm sure, given the exposure this video has had, there would be some sort of backstory to this. I mean somebody who was there would have blogged about it, or there would be some sort of eye-witness account.
"I am a sick man...I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased. if this asswit huffs his stank ass coffee breath on me oncemore, i swear imagonna go apeshit apocalyptic all over his shit...
TharkLord's (#56) right. Why doesn't anyone ever speak up for the poor monitor?
All this talk of fake or real. Either way, the monitors took the brunt. Some day, the towers will get their due.
more than likely this video is real and the cord issue should be null and void becuase on most of those monitors the plug was detachable from the monitor it self and would have been unpluged out of view and two for what purpose would this have been staged? honestally please state why you think this was staged no one has said a legit reason to stage this elaborate hoax if thats what it is.
#59 my thoughts exactly
#62 nice reference
There we go, proof of it being viral. Mister Buzzkill, what company are you and this video representing?
Also, why are all the blinds drawn in the middle of the day?
cheers KEIR...
This makes for a nice Western Meds video. Thanks to all involved. http://www.anthro.tv/
Prolly already noted upstream but my co-worker pointed out how convenient it is that the first monitor throw has no cables connecting it to the tower. Must be one of those fancy new wireless CRT's...
http://www.impawards.com/1983/posters/videodrome.jpg
The almost complete absence of 'fight or flight' reaction seems suspicious at first, but if you watch videos of violent crimes, it's quite common for people to just stand around stupidly when their lives are in danger. We do seem, on the whole, to be easy prey.
...From someone who's worked in the "shock'n'vibe" side of testing monitors, taking into account the resolution of that camera, what probably happened was that when he yanked up the monitor, both the AC cord *and* the monitor cable pulled loose. The AC cord plugs on cheap monitors are notorious for popping loose if you pivot the monitor too wide on a short leash, while some monitors are designed so that the 15-pin cable can be removed from either the monitor or the PC - this is so that you can put a longer or shorter manufacturer-supplied video cable. When I worked at Dell, we sold several models that provided this feature, which was necessary considering some of the cheaper cubicle designs of the day.
...Now as to how that video cable could pop loose so easily, some IT departments are actually run by people who are *NOT* idiots and/or BOFHs. They know damn well that screwing in those so-called "thumbscrews" on the 15-pin connectors is probably the most ultimate sin next to letting your users surf the Internet without proper virus and pop-up protection. Once the screws are tightened and the PC is shoved back up under the cube desk, it takes a contortionist who's been using hand grips with his thumb and index finger three hours a day to unscrew 99.9% of those connectors. And that's not counting the fact that the odds that the rubber/plastic grips on the screws will pop off is square proportioned to how cheap the monitor cost - or, for the Joe Punchclocks out there, the less you spent on the monitor, the more likely those thumbscrews will be unthumbscrewable after they're tightened down. A good IT manager knows to tell his people they will be fired *and* castrated if they screw down monitor connectors, especially behind the PC.
And yeah, that applies ditto to parallel and serial port connectors...
- No monitor cables on any of the monitors thrown (VGA, or power), or resistance indicating they were ripped out
- Monitors seem to 'bounce' a little unnaturally light. We also cannot see the displays on them to verify if they are 'on'. Vaguely prop-like.
- Guy smacked with keyboard...no cords? Granted, wireless keyboards exist...but in an office so antiquated that almost everyone is still on CRTs? Unlikely.
- Maybe I've just seen the Russian 'Wanted' trailer too recently, but this seen seems staged when comparing the office flipout scene in that one. Given that this movie comes out later this month...makes me think 'viral marketing'.
When it comes to making fake things look real, you have to remember the rule of stage magic - the trick is in the willingness of the magicians to work very long and hard and do a ridiculous amount of prep work in order for the illusion to seem real.
This is a viral video, probably an early promotion for a movie or tv show involving people who get angry for no reason. I'd say it's for M. Night's new movie, but it doesn't fit the premise.
Maybe the new X-Files movie? It comes out next month.
Fake. No question.
I'm hoping it's a viral video for "Office Space 2."
when i worked in an office, one evening the power went out and we all played hide-and-seek. for over an hour. i was the seeker when the lights came back on, and i was surprised to find myself face-to-face with my boss, who was sitting on top of a file cabinet with a potted plant in his lap and his shoes were off.
strange things happen in offices, man. i wouldn't be surprised either way, nor am i concerned as to its authenticity. it's plausible, and that's all it needs to be effective commentary on cube farming.
as to the cords on the monitors, has anyone besides me actually yanked a CRT off a desk? intertia, people. cords pop right out, whether screw-in or not. try it some time. it's kind of fun.
Or... hey maybe the office meltdown seen in the new movie "Wanted" -- http://io9.com/394879/the-gun+wizard-badass-that-could-be-you-in-new-wanted-trailer
I very much doubt it is fake. No one here has said anything that makes me doubt the veracity of this video. The way that monitor hits the first person - looks very real indeed.
#28: Excellent point. The woman who appears to get genuinely hurt is indeed helped (as you saw-I missed it) by another woman who applies a tissue to her head, presumably cut. If it was all a fake, surely you stop the charade right there because someone has gotten hurt for real. To that same point, the man seated to nutty guy's right (our left) seems to take a pretty hard (much harder than a planned prat fall) tumble off his chair too.
#43: Also good point. Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" radio head-fake, the 1950's fixed game show scandal, heck, even the medicine shows of the wild west era...fake media is hardly new.
One new comment: The behaviors of one person are quite odd:
At about 1:46 or so, one guy shows some balls and wrests away from nutty guy what has been suggested to be a free standing coat hanger - again if real, a very gutsy move as that was clearly usable as a weapon to do some serious hurt on someone. But then, around 1:57 or so, nutty guy throws what appeared to be a just set of papers at this guy, who clutches his head and suddenly cowers away, only to loop back to nutty guy and help take him down with another person.
Thoughts?
#43 UPDATE: The separate cellphone video shows a different view of this same snippet of the video.
Look at the cellphone video: Does the white 'thing' nutty guy throws at the man (after successfully taking the coat rack away) actually MISS him?? Because the man still grabs his head, seemingly hurt, and backs off (only to find his balls again later and helps take nutty guy down, finally). Thoughts anyone??
Interesting article on widespread use of surveillance cameras in Russian workplaces. Clearly, the presence of such cameras in a Russian office is not unusual:
http://english.pravda.ru/business/companies/04-04-2008/104784-covert_video_surveillance-0
#8
Yes, when you advance the video frame-by-frame, you'll notice that the movements on the CRT monitor on the left follows that movement.
The whole thing is staged.
1. On another tack, has anyone translated whatever's being said in Russian in the cell phone footage? I got 'Nyet' at one point, but that's the extent of my Russian...
2. Is anybody else reminded of the "Cubicle Freakout" game?
http://www.eyegas.com/cubiclefreakout/
3. #26: Totally agree on the Pattern Recognition footageheads! :)
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job.
... You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, Goddamnit! My life has VALUE!'
So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs.
I want you to get up right now and go to the window.
Open it, and stick your head out, and yell,
'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!'
Super fake. This video is more about testing what are we able to believe from video evidence, maybe pushing it a little bit there, no? Still, a very good video. Any anger movies coming out? Hulk maybe???
1-Monitor on the bottom left has a webcam on. Also the image is mirrored horizontally. Check it out for yourself. Doesn't seem to be a very video-conferencing-friendly place to be.
2-Skinny guy with the cell phone comes from nowhere into the room just to film the thing? Yeah right. There's another filming geek on the back and what seems to be someone taking pics at the end.
3-Short guy overpowering mad guy and throwing him off backwards while wrestling with the lamppost/ crowbar/ axe thing? Doesn't look like a natural throw.
4-Work desks' walls aren't screwed? And this guy just torns everything on his path?
#53:
Best possible solution: Join the fun!
Just addressing some of the comments that give "proof" as to the fakeness of this video:
1) "Monitor with no cables" - Many monitors, especially those used in business environments, have the cords fully detachable from the monitors. In a cube farm, these cords are usually not only not screwed in, but the cord itself is generally wedged tightly in place between the "wall" and "desk" parts of the cube. One good yank will easily pull out the cords with little to no resistance (and believe me - those tiny screws will break easily if you put any real force against them).
2) "The monitors are suspiciously light, and get knocked around easily" - Newer 15-17" CRTs are actually not all that heavy. If you've got a decent strength, you can hurl one quite easily.
3) "Everyone stands around" - People usually cannot imagine someone they know doing any real harm to them. Even if the person completely flips out like in this video, they don't think they're in any real danger - even injuries such as the lady who got hit in the face are perceived as accidents and not intentional harm. People are also attracted to bizarre scenes, and will often not leave but instead just back up far enough that they think they're safe (even if they're really not). Additionally, not everyone stayed - several people can be seen leaving the office and not coming back.
Specifically addressing #86's comments:
4) "Skinny guy with the cell phone comes from nowhere into the room just to film the thing? Yeah right." - "Dude! The guys from Room C just said Bob's gone nuts and is on a rampage! I've gotta go check this out!"
5) "Short guy overpowering mad guy and throwing him off backwards while wrestling with the lamppost/ crowbar/ axe thing? Doesn't look like a natural throw." - I don't see what's not natural about it. As far as him just being some "short guy", he's probably building security (there's something that looks like a security emblem on his sleeve - you can make it out in the cell video).
6) "Work desks' walls aren't screwed?" - Haven't been in many cubicles, have you? You definitely haven't ever shopped for one. Only the better ones actually screw in place - many of them just use some hook-like attachments going down the wall, and rely on gravity to hold them in place. The guy picking up the wall to disconnect it at one point points to this type being in use.
I think it's fake, and here's why:
In the security camera video, there's an obvious video edit at the 01:18 made to look like a technical glitch.
The action resumes and there are people in *slightly* unnatural positions related to where they where when it cut to black.
And why is it that the Cell-phone camera footage begins exactly at this edit point? Look closely and you also see the cell-phone camera guy standing two feet behind where he was prior to the cut.
FAKE!
#55: If this is real, then the situation is obviously much more complex than, "Man, that guy sure is a jerk." An average person does not become recklessly violent like that just because they're an asshole. The guy would've had to have been in pretty bad mental condition for this to happen. Perhaps the job was killing him, so to speak. Perhaps his co-workers mistreated him significantly. It could be anything. I guarantee you, though, it could not just be simply attributed to his being a "bad person."
That said, I'm not convinced it's real. Most of the reasons have already been mentioned, so I won't rehash them. Still, if it was real, I'm pretty sure someone would've tried to take him out sooner. He was ripe for a bum-rush, while standing on the desk.
Hi,
I went so far as to screencap at 1:18 and 1:20.
That's right befor and right after the mysterious clackling flicker and feedbreak.
(Strange such a perfect camera has such miserable failure?!)
Ok, to cut it short:
When you compare the images you'll notice:
1. At his desk, topmost of the papers there are 2 grey ledgers, just appearing from thin air.
2. Opposite of the pie-chart, near the desks, there are papers on the floor moving.
3. The 'cube divider' he nearly teared down, erects himself a bit.
All with no one near by.
My thought: His 'downfall' on the desk was not in the script, so the director yelled 'cut' to see if somebody was hurt.
Everybody went back on position and they continued.
@Tak 18: Win. 33: Fail. (what office weine OWNS a gun let alone brings one to the office? Not only that I would bet that the guy that loses it would be the exception to that rule, not the scared shitless co-weines.)
@ 45 and other CRT commenters: First off, the phone-cam audio is clearly Russian (or dialect of former satellite countries), and this is probably not even a fortune 100,000 firm. Given that, they don't have money to throw away on new LCDs. Or the stagers of this went with the cheap route and decided to destroy half a dozen CRTs. Side note, I only see one LCD, maybe. Though that one does seem to come out unscathed. Coincidence or staging?
Plus...
@ 59: "only top-dollar CRTs would have screw-in VGA cables. LCDs come with screw-in VGA cables, not most CRTs." Um, dude have you ever seen a CRT? Every, and I mean EVERY, CRT I have ever owned had screw in cables. There are standards for a reason Grvrt, not to be mean but that was possibly one of the dumbest assertions I have ever heard. EVER! However, one of my oldest CRTs has a hard wired power cord, which is probably 20+ years old at this point. And I also agree that in cubicle-land none of them would be screwed in anyway. Also at 0:057 he struggles a little with the CRT, after beating the hell out of it. Cables, weight or acting?
@ Viral video theorists: The proof will be forthcoming, in the form of some actual company/product being linked to the footage. If there is no advertising advantage being linked to this spectacle then what was the point. Unless some creative troupe of wrestler/comedians staged this for some other reason.
@67: What blinds?
@83 and other video in video comments: What makes you think that that is the scene being played on that monitor. And for grins, what do you think the point of that would be? So that one guy could watch it while it was going on in front of him? What is he, the director of this "farce"?
@91: The break seems natural to me, continuity wise. The flicker itself is a little suspect but the footage doesn't seem to reveal any flaws that can't be explained. 1. I don't really see any difference on his desk, something odd appears on the floor in front of his desk and to the side of the cubicle he is kicking, but in the second or so that the film skips anything could have fallen there. 2. Are the papers on the floor moving or is that just the glitchy film, I really can't tell. 3. "Erects himself a bit?" If by that you mean it comes back up because it is wedged between two desk then sure but that doesn't mean there was a stage reset. In fact if that was a stage reset it was a very damn good one.
Thank the maker I can finally stop reading/watching this one. For now..
Let's all spend our paychecks on relaxing spa breaks.
@92:"Um, dude have you ever seen a CRT? Every, and I mean EVERY, CRT I have ever owned had screw in cables. There are standards for a reason Grvrt, not to be mean but that was possibly one of the dumbest assertions I have ever heard. EVER!"
Newegg only sells 5 CRTs now. At least 2 have hard wired VGA cables. (They only show the back of 3.)
Links to CRTs that don't have screw on VGA cables.
http://tinyurl.com/4dyfap
http://tinyurl.com/4cxnwt
So, I don't think my statement was dumb. Perhaps you only buy top-dollar crts? And that is the reason you have never seen these 'non-standards complying' monitors.
Anyone look at the timestamps?
video 0.52 == 2:11.00 visible on screen
glitch starts at -
video 1.20 == 2:11.28 (calculated)
glitch recovers at -
video 1.21 == ? (at least 2:12)
clock ticks over again at -
video 2.21 == 2:13.00
Doing the maths, that means the restart is precisely 2:12.00, and that we've got 32 seconds of downtime.
Plenty of time for folk to change position a lot, or a few anomalies to appear to appear.
So I say there wasn't a directorial restart, it's maybe to short for a change to be made, and to long for them to not have reset/refaked the clock.
Of course, maybe that's just what they want us to think ;-)
No. People ARE that mad sometimes, I remember watching a stand-up pot-plant war between two waiters heaving planters at each other in dispute over a bit of outside dining pavement. Terracotta shards and dirt was going everywhere, and a few tables were *crushed*.
And yes, witnesses ARE that sheep-like. Diners were sitting there pulling their bags under their chairs, but nobody would tackle the crazy person. Why the hell should they? Still, they didn't move more than a step away either.
This physical outlet is somehow more astonishing than a genuine fist-fight.
Would there be so much speculation if he was actually attacking a person (and causing the same destruction in the meantime)? No, everyone would shrug and say shit happens. That's what we *expect* to see on securicams. The fact that he didn't go directly for people (apart from the first crack) is the only notable thing about this vid at all!
@95: "Anyone look at the timestamps?
video 0.52 == 2:11.00 visible on screen
glitch starts at -
video 1.20 == 2:11.28 (calculated)
glitch recovers at -
video 1.21 == ? (at least 2:12)
clock ticks over again at -
video 2.21 == 2:13.00
Doing the maths, that means the restart is precisely 2:12.00, and that we've got 32 seconds of downtime.
Plenty of time for folk to change position a lot, or a few anomalies to appear to appear."
Thank you for giving us definite proof. 32 secs are missing in real life but only ~1 sec is 'lost' due to the 'glitch'. Obviously fake.
The authenticity of the tape is not important to me.
What is important is, it is entertaining.
Kevin would brand this as shenanigans.
I thought the guy farted or something, guess he just made his papers fall on the floor.
If it's real it could have been much worse obviously.
When I get mad at work, I don't change over the dirty sheets, or clean out the bottom of the tub. I don't hit or throw.
(always tip your housekeeper, when your a stay-over)
;)
.....Noro ftw
@50 - good point.
It's too well done for them to have messed up on something like not tethering down the monitors. That fact lends to the credibility that it is real.
A monitor throw with force isn't going to stay tethered for very long.
@95: Ahhh - nice catch! It's strange too, since the timestamp was probably edited in afterwards if it is indeed fake.
If it is fake, I'm buying whatever they're selling.
@ Grooverut: I stand corrected. Thank you. Actually though I typically didn't buy high-end CRTs and some times people just give me their junk ones that are certainly the cheapest they could have found. So sorry I said that was dumb, that was dumb of me.
@ 95: Good call on the timestamp. That never occurred to me.
there is only one way to settl