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Comment by oneoff786 | Hacker News Reader

Bezos ignoring Shatner’s attempts to explain his profound experience going to space in favor of celebrating with alcohol; whilst Shatner is standing there as a recovering alcoholic who lost his wife due to alcohol related stuff seemed pretty sociopathic to me.

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Did Bezos know about Shatner's alcohol problems? I watched more Star Trek than most, but I had no idea before this comment, and I have even less of an idea about his wife. Not everyone is clued up on the latest celebrity gossip.

Since Shatner was Bezos' guest, Bezos should have known. While you may not have personally known about it, it has been widely reported.

Basic hospitality is important. Most folks are rightfully indignant when an interviewing company haven't read their resume, while virtually all companies want interviewees to have read the company public website.

Realistically he was probably considered something like a prop more than anything.

Yes, this would be a sociopathic treatment of people.

People are not props.

Frankly, at that level he should have competent staff that briefed him.

Akin to giving a Chinese guest a watch and white flowers as a present - sure, he might not know that it's a faux pas [1], but he should have structures in place to prevent basic slip-ups.

[1] both associated with death/funeral

Even if he didn’t, it was a terribly apathetic behavior while shatner tried to reflect on the emotional impact of the trip.

Yeah, I remember seeing the clip on HIGNFY, and he came off as a bit of a jerk regardless. Just saying it's not necessarily as bad as some people seem to assume it is.

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