The Name of a Pie Led to the Most Fractious Debate in Google History
8th April 2015
One day in 2008, a Google employee sent Chief Executive Larry Page the following email:
“This is from the menu today. If there is no good answer or action from the company I will quit in protest.”
The employee was referring to food being served at that moment in the cafeteria of Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. It was called “Free Tibet Goji-Chocolate Crème Pie.”
That email ended up finding its way to a companywide list. Dozens, then hundreds, and finally more than a thousand emails followed, in what was at the time the longest email-chain debate in Google’s history. Internally, those watching from the sidelines called it a “kilothread” and noted that it was also the fastest thread in Google’s history to exceed 100 responses.
The thread bounced back and forth across the globe, between Google’s many international offices, several of which are in mainland China. Some engineers were incensed that Google would imply that Tibet should be free, even in the name of a menu item. Others took the opposite stance. Yet others worried that this was an issue of free speech — if a chef couldn’t name a pie as he pleased, what kind of talk would be regulated at Google next?
Some simply wondered why there was so much fuss over the name of a pie.
Perhaps because Big Brother will not let you ignore the Narrative.
The chef who had put Free Tibet Goji-Chocolate Crème Pie on the menu was immediately suspended. Bock later reversed it.
Told ya.