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What a horrible idea. How could this person think that this would benefit them in any way? She got fired, and secured herself a spot in endless unemployment. In
by elliotec 11y ago
What a horrible idea. How could this person think that this would benefit them in any way? She got fired, and secured herself a spot in endless unemployment. In San Francisco, no less, where her mounting debt prevents her from buying groceries and paying her phone bill.
Seriously, I would never ever hire someone who wrote something like this. This is a one way ticket to being eternally jobless. Her best next course of action is to delete the hell out of that post.
And then she has the gall to ask for donations to her paypal and venmo? Lord. Give me a break.
- randycupertino 11y agoDid she actually get fired for writing this? I agree it was in poor taste. I think a lot of it was trying to be funny, but failed.
- elliotec 11y agoYep she did, mentions it in an edit at the end.
- karterk 11y agoI'm saddened to read such dismissive comments on HN. I think it takes someone to have been in a similar position to understand the plight of the OP. The CEO had a chance to fix this and do the right thing, but firing her was the easy thing to do. > Seriously, I would never ever hire someone who wrote something like this. The fact that nobody writes about these issues is the reason why some companies take their non-tech employees for granted.
- jcizzle 11y agoThe OP wrote an incredibly entitled and egotistical article. The person you are responding to isn't being dismissive, they are likely - like myself - shocked that someone thinks this way.
- argonaut 11y agoTo be fair, companies are able to treat people like this (is not just tech companies - ask many entry level employees in many non-tech industries in New York how they're doing) because they can. It's simple supply and demand. There is an oversupply of people with her background who are willing to endure minimum wages. A lot of these people are willing to endure entry level jobs because they won't "settle" for something short of their dream (a white collar writing/media/comedy job, in her case). That's a perfectly fine goal, but understand that you're competing with thousands and thousands of other people with similar or superior educations. Either accept the resulting low wages, or join a profession that is actually facing a shortage of labor (e.g. nurse, plumber, etc.)
- pm24601 11y agoOr vote for a high minimum wage and Bernie Sanders
- stray 11y agoPrices will only go up till the new minimum wage is equally painful. Yes. We need our poorest to be less poor. Yes. We need all of our people to have access to health care and a decent place to live. But it's not enough. Not really.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoMinimum wage used to be adjusted for inflation. That hasn't happened in decades. Its past time. And its a myth that prices go up according to minimum wage. In truth its a very weak influence on inflation. Prices will probably not change much at all. Our entire economy does not depend on what we pay the lowest earners.
- stray 11y agoIt is not a myth that as the supply of money is increased, prices go up to reach equilibrium. Supply/demand works in both directions.
- dominotw 11y ago>The fact that nobody writes about these issues is the reason why some companies take their non-tech employees for granted. Ah thats why. Here I was thinking it had something to do with good ol supply and demand.
- brudgers 11y agoThe author has an English degree and is interested in writing things that people read. The article is well written.
- blisterpeanuts 11y agoI didn't find it well written. It was grammatically and typographically correct, but that's not enough to call it a compelling piece of writing. You could argue that the article stirred up a debate, so in that sense it achieved its probable purpose. However, by and large, the reactions across the Net have been quite negative toward the writer. The typical reaction: "You shouldn't have posted that. You should have gotten a roommate. You shouldn't have taken the job in the first place."
- foldr 11y agoThis may be a new concept for you, but people don't always do things for their own benefit. She might have thought that it was worth writing this even though it wouldn't benefit her.
- elliotec 11y ago> people don't always do things for their own benefit This may be a new concept for you, but "The theory of psychological egoism suggests that no act of sharing, helping or sacrificing can be described as truly altruistic, as the actor may receive an intrinsic reward in the form of personal gratification." - From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism People always do things for their own benefit. Always. And who else could it benefit? At least her digital begging seems to be working out, but certainly this wont convince the CEO to pay these entry level folks San Francisco living wages.
- AnimalMuppet 11y agoA quote from Wikipedia, which says that a theory suggests something, does not adequately provide support for your dogmatic statement that follows it.
- elliotec 11y agoSoft sciences like psychology are usually based only on theories that suggest things, and don't really adequately (at least to hard scientific standards) provide support aside from studies which rarely, if ever, have proofs. I could have linked the studies that are referred by the wikipedia page, but ain't nobody got time for that. But I'd also be interested in seeing examples of true altruism, if anyone is capable of providing them.
- foldr 11y agoPretty much any example of someone sacrificing their own life to save someone else's, which happens all the time. (And not only with people who they are closely related to.)