Memphis Mayor Paul Young opened an Ask Me Anything (AMA) thread on the Memphis subreddit over the weekend. His answers were to be posted after press time. Questions centered around the Memphis Area Transit Authority, the potholes and trash on Airways to and from the airport, drive-out tags, and more. A major focus of questions, though, was on Elon Musk and his Memphis super computer’s environmental impact.
Horse Thief
Posted to Facebook by Shelby Farms Stables
A stolen horse was returned to Shelby Farms Stables last week after a brazen daylight theft left stable workers tracking the animal and its thief down the Shelby Farms Greenline. Pancho was returned after the stable’s Facebook post about the theft blew up, as did a TV news spot on the ordeal.
Dammit Gannett
The Commercial Appeal was on a hot streak of typos and errors last week, all captured on the All News Is Local Facebook group. One headline told of the “schoold voucher bill.” Another wondered if “Memphis VA wokers” had been laid off. Susan Adler Thorp roasted the Memphis paper’s post about where to get the best king cake in Knoxville.
Go find Reggie Corker’s amazing drone Reel of Downtown Memphis and Tom Lee Park. Perfect for a little MEMernet zen and a bit of perspective on our city.
Taraoke?
Posted to Facebook by Barbie’s Bar
Barbie’s Bar was slated to host Memphis’ first-ever Taraoke event this week, blending karaoke and tarot readings.
“Do you like to sing?” asks the event page. “Do you identify as your zodiac sign? Free karaoke and tarot. The zodiac team that does best will win prizes.” The events are set for Wednesdays in October.
Reddit Round-Up
Posted to Reddit by u/auralcavalcade
Friendly Redditors named an imaginary Memphis Major League Baseball team (Memphis Junts, and Manes, for example), recommended Acre as a wedding venue, looked to open a chapter of a lock picking group, and sought help seasoning a wok, re-homing a kitten, and sourcing two-liter bottles of Diet Sundrop. They also reimagined the Pyramid as a huge mech fighter (see above).
Posted to Facebook by
Are We Dating the Same Guy Memphis
Memphis on the internet.
That Guy?
A private Facebook group created in May is titled with an intriguing question: “Are we dating the same guy?”
The group says it “is a place for women to protect and empower other women while warning each other of men who might be liars, cheaters, abusers, or exhibit any type of toxic or dangerous behavior.”
Snowplowed
Posted to State of Tennessee website
Voting is open until November 30th for the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s (TDOT) contest to name snowplows for four regions across the state. Names from Memphis Reddit users will be tough to beat:
“Snowmane,” by u/kindarcan; “Whoop that Slick,” by u/jgeebaby; “Justin Timberflake,” by u/sik_dik; “Wanda Plowbert — because they’re slow and inefficient,” by u/snyetha; and “Snowjunt,” by u/Cornballin_POS for starters.
COGIC anxiety
Memphis Redditors were also bracing for the return of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) convocation next week.
“Praying for Outback Union right now,” wrote u/maladybess.
“And they still won’t tip or worse, leave a fake $20 prayer tract,” wrote u/waspinatorrulez.
“Gotta find out the cool new things God said over the last year/s,” wrote u/MartyrMcFly.
Credit: Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee
The Kellogg Co. labor dispute is gaining national attention, especially after Redditors crashed the company hiring site, flooding it with false applications for jobs to replace striking workers.
About 1,400 employees at four Kellogg plants — Battle Creek, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis — have been on strike since October 5th. The striking workers say they want equal pay and benefits for new hires.
The company said it’s had 19 negotiation sessions with the workers and the union that represents them. The employees with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union rejected a new five-year contract Tuesday. The Kellogg Co. said that contract would have offered “an accelerated, defined path to legacy wages and benefits for transitional employees, and wage increases and enhanced benefits for all, among other items.”
Chris Hood, president of Kellogg North America, said the decision to reject the contract left the company “no choice” but to move forward to operate its business. That includes hiring workers to replace those on strike.
“The prolonged work stoppage has left us no choice but to continue executing the next phase of our contingency plan including hiring replacement employees in positions vacated by striking workers,” Hood said in a statement issued Tuesday. “While certainly not the result we had hoped for, we must take the necessary steps to ensure business continuity. We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”
A Thursday Facebook post from the Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee said it is willing to continue negotiations with the company in good faith “despite their update to their site.”
Credit: Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee
“We are open to modifying some of our proposals as long as the company is willing to do the same,” reads the post. “Bargaining a sustainable agreement that benefits both company and union is our sole desire and we will stand firm until our goals are met.”
After the company announced it would hire replacement workers, a Reddit user said “we need to make sure this does not work out for them.”
On Thursday, thousands of users from the r/antiwork subreddit applied for jobs on the company website, with no intention of taking them. Instead, Redditor u/BloominFunions said the move was to “to clog their toilet of an application pipeline.”
The Reddit move came with detailed instructions on how to apply and make it look like the fake applicants lived in one of the Kellogg-plant cities. ZIP Codes were listed for each city and u/BloominFunions said to just download a sample resume from Google images, add personal details to it, and “have fun with it.”
The post was flooded with responses of others who said they’d pitch in or derisive sentiment to the situation like u/Boeings707 who said, “fuck that company.”
Thousands in the r/antiwork subreddit took a victory lap later Thursday, claiming the scheme had worked. “Kellogg’s application pages are down,” claimed u/eesaray in a post. Of the news on the Central Labor Council Facebook page, Memphis political activist Allan Creasy said, “Reddit can be a beautiful place sometimes.”
Journalist and author Kurt Eichanwald took notice of the moves on Reddit.
Old rules don't work. @KelloggsUS announced it's firing strikers who refused "designed by strike breaking consultants" offer structured to turn workers against each other. Taking applications online. Milennials/GenZ applied en masse -with no intent of taking jobs. Crashed system.
I told earlier how Gen Zrs crashed Kellogg’s website by submitting bogus applications online when it sought job apps from strike breakers to replace union workers. UPDATE: one of them wrote a program which uses random data to submit bogus applications to Kellogg’s 24 hrs a day
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said the Reddit maneuver “is what solidarity looks like.”
Kelloggs is trying to replace 1400 striking workers. Millennials & Gen Z flooded the jobs postings with fake applications and crashed the system. This is what solidary looks like. #StrikeMas#1upic.twitter.com/OOMh3CFOX5
Memphis was spared from a nasty storm line Sunday, breaking over the city and heading north and south. Reddit user VariableBooleans posted a weather map showing “live imagery of the Pyramid working its black magic on the weather.”
Posted to Reddit by VariableBooleans
Masking down?
Binghamptonian Gloria Sanders opened a can of hot debate on Nextdoor last week with this question: “What are your thoughts about Shelby County mask mandate being lifted on May 15th?” As of press time, the post had 559 comments.
Some warned that cases would rise here, as not enough people had been vaccinated. Some said it’s a personal choice and they’d still wear theirs. Others said the vaccine is available, so “it’s no longer society’s responsibility to protect you from COVID.” Others urged “stop living in fear” and #freetheface.
Mother’s Day Kings
Posted to Twitter by DJ Paul
DJ Paul, one half of Three 6 Mafia, tweeted Sunday, “celebrating Mother’s Day with family and ran into my fellow king. @YoGotti #memphis #kings #mafia”
A big-box retailer emailed Memphis journalists last week to say they’ll carry a “GIANT 20 Foot Pink Limo Pool Float” at their stores this year. “Perfect for riding off into the sunset this summer in true Elvis style,” says the company. All yours for $199.98.
Forum Flight
Posted to YouTube by Stadium Landings
YouTuber Stadium Landings landed on top of the FedEx Forum last week using Microsoft Flight Simulator. The yellow plane’s flight begins north of the city, following the Mississippi River, past the Pyramid, to and through Downtown. The plane circles the Forum and successfully lands on top. Just goes to show, there’s something for everyone on the internet.
Drake Weighs In
Posted to Reddit by u/goldchainnightmare
“I still hear their jingle in my head,” wrote Reddit user goldchannightmare.
At least five Nextdoor users have had the catalytic converters stolen from their parked cars in recent weeks. The thieves strike at night and surprise the car’s owner with a mess in the morning.
“According to the repair shop, I’m the 9th person they’ve seen in two weeks,” Zach Carr wrote in a post last week.
Just Ducky
It’s the magic of the internet, really. Last week, Nextdoor user Ashley Bruneau found a duck and posted its photo with a simple plea: “Is this your duck?”
Yep. Within a day, the duck was digitally reunited with its owners. Stephanie and Ti-Pei Feng claimed it. But as of press time the two had not been able to contact the original poster. Now we wait.
Tweet of the Week
@Midtownbuck put Trump’s motorcade crowd into perspective in a weekend tweet.
Memphis dazzled on Reddit last week. Here are just a few examples.
Interesting as Duck
A gif of the Peabody Hotel duck march made the front page in a post to the r/interestingasfuck subreddit. In 24 hours, the post had more than 87,500 upvotes, 1,200 comments, and the gif had been viewed 3.5 million times.
Murica
This old (2019) tweet resurfaced over on the r/Murica subreddit.
This. This right here.
The winner of the snarkiest bumper sticker in Memphis goes to …
Masked Men
This video of Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) originally appeared on Reddit’s r/publicfreakout subreddit. In the short, but fiery clip, a purple-gloved Cohen pulls no punches on Republicans. Cohen said they refused to pull $100 billion in federal money that would go, largely, to wealthy Americans.
Then he goes off on masks and Jesse James and thievery, and then throws Trump and Pence under the bus for good measure.
The clip would also feel right at home at r/whoadude sub.
Sam’s Club 
Posted to YouTube by Stadium Landings 
Posted to Reddit by u/goldchainnightmare 
