It’s a very common dark pattern. But I think weaponized incompetence is more contextually appropriate in a relationship where two people are supposedly cooperating.
In a bureaucracy, I would just call it bureaucratic friction. The complaints department is only open the first Wednesday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. that kind of thing
Or there was a class action lawsuit, register here via mail handwritten letter, and we will mail you a check for your $0.20 rebate. It’s very competent, it’s not pretending not to to be competent, they’re just putting up enough barriers that barely anybody would do it, and even if they do do it they probably will forget about it, or fill it in correctly. Adding lots of friction
Or you can sign up for a subscription service with a credit card online, but to cancel it, you have to call, or visit the office, or write a real letter. That’s very competent. They’re not pretending they can’t do it. They just won’t do it. Dark pattern right there. Corporate friction
There’s a store near us that almost always has some kind of sale going on. The catch is it isn’t immediate savings - you have to fill out and send in a rebate form. If you manage to do that, they send you “store credit” as a physical piece of paper you have to remember to bring to the store. I often wonder what percent of rebates never get submitted or used. Probably pretty high.
I had a laugh the other day because one of their competitors was advertising an “instant savings, no waiting for rebates” sale.
Lmao this is like that Nathan For You episode where customers had to hike up a mountain to send their rebate 😂
Don’t give them any ideas lol
The funny thing is that nobody seems to see the most problematic connection:
Companies „manage expectations“ (do the exact same but use a fancy name)
Intelligent people with lack of morals mimic this behavior and rise to the top
These new CEOs further this trend.
Now every other person does it too (obviously not everyone).
People start to become sick from exhaustion, commit suicide because the world is getting more and more ruthless.
Everyone excuses it as „thats just capitalism“ or „you just need to grow a thicker skin“.
Thats why people freak out and commit acts of terrorism, because others could not care less about their daily suffering.
We need compassion, folks.
Couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately some systems are designed without compassion as an inherently necessary factor, or even discourage it.
Exactly. Compassion makes people flock together and be less governable though. People who are scared and infight a lot are the easiest to manipulate and exploit.
I was genuinely taken aback at how much the article focused on interpersonal relationships and gender. I am much more familiar with the concept in bureaucracy the way the post teased it.
To be fair, it’s a short Wikipedia article that really only glosses over the concept, but there’s lots of other articles on it online, including if I remember correctly a Psychology Today article.
Every? Oh my no, there’s plenty of ways that bureaucracy comes to a grinding halt.
I just call it “corporate culture.”
