[nitrogen]

This whole thread is a really good example of why not to judge the past by the standards of the present. There were ways of interacting that were just expected. At my first job, if you went on vacation, you expected to return to a pranked office. No way you could get away with barricading someone's office/desk with a mountain of soda cans at most places now.

[strofcon]

I've never understood "don't judge the past by today's standards."

If today's standards indicate that someone's past behavior was dick-ish, then the fact that the standards have shifted does NOT imply that the past behavior was somehow "just fine" because... We didn't expect better of each other?

By that logic, abusive racist parentage back in the 50's is unassailable acceptable, because as you say - we're judging it by today's standards.

Acceptability in the past is no indication of an actions morality or ethical... ness.

... Words are hard.

[nitrogen]

Unacceptability in the present isn't a reliable indicator either. For example, it is today socially unacceptable for me to be friends with most of my extended family because they are republicans. But that doesn't mean it's right.

Besides, what's with this tendency to escalate way beyond the topic at hand? We're talking about professional pranks and suddenly...racism?

[ryandrake]

There are likely many totally innocuous things you say/write today that will be taboo in 30 years. Someone will merely have to go back trawling through an Internet archive to dig up all sorts of stuff that shows that you (by 2053's standards) are a horrible, bigoted, evil person.

[relix]

But that's just not true - according to the OP's own retelling the sales person was in obvious distress due to his actions.

So no, this apparently was not "expected" because otherwise they would also just have had a chuckle and wouldn't have reacted like that. And regardless of whether that means the sales person was in the wrong job or not, the fact that that person was in trouble, and OP did nothing to help, means that OP was being a jerk.

[nitrogen]

People used to be better at dealing with "obvious distress." Seriously why is this argument worth 80+ comments? I agree with jacquesm -- HN (in this thread) has lost its way.

[relix]

Because the what amounts to victim blaming in this thread has lots of similarities to other problems in the tech industry.

Maybe HN is finally maturing.

[futharkshill]

Because of the people continuing to defend this kind of behavior, and blaming the poor sales guy for not being "technical" enough.