Quokka Aeron Chairs Go For Big Bucks At Auction; Ex-Employees Disappointed

San Francisco, July 27 Email messages flew across the servers and hubs that still link the widely dispersed Quokka Sports Network this sunny afternoon, as the members of The Quokka Alumni Group prepared for a final goodbye to their former status symbols as exemplars of the New Economy: the once-ubiquitous Aeron Chair. Once taken for granted in SOMA internet offices as khaki pants and black shoes in South Park, the rubber and metal meshy things are now sitting in Quokka's old office, waiting for their new owners to pick them up. Former employees packed the anonymous banquet hall in the basement of San Francisco's downtown Mariott Hotel today, hoping for one last chance to walk away with the chairs they once sat on while cranking out web pages, playing Unreal Tournament on until early in the morning, and talking about what they were going to do with their vested options. Some even banded together in order to place bids on larger lots, thinking that strength in numbers was the way to go. Unfortunately, the $400 limit set by most ex-Quokkas was quickly exceeded by, well, whoever has money now. After the last round of bidding several ex-employees took off to get loaded at the 711 Club on Market Street. One item noticeably absent from the roster at today's auction was the ping-pong table that took up proud residence in the back of the Brannan Street offices for several joyous months in 1997 and 1998. "When I think of all the shit I didn't steal from that place, I get the heebie jeebies," said one former employee. In a related story, the price of Aeron Chairs on Ebay was recently plotted against the performance of NASDAQ stock index. The numbers were found to correspond almost exactly, belatedly proving the Quokka mantra that exposing the data sources behind the action leads to compelling entertainment expriences:

Questions? Comments? Mail the Editor