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Yelp Employee Protests Low Pay in Medium Post, Is Promptly Fired

26 points by walterclifford 11y ago

KeepTalking 11y ago
Here is the original article. https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73df021e7a#.4qeisha3i https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73d... It would be nice if you could link to the original article
- Mithaldu 11y ago
  He did though.
Uhhrrr 11y ago
Is there a business in existence that wouldn't fire an employee for a public post like that?
- notthemessiah 11y ago
  Is it not ironic that Yelp, which relies on public reviews businesses largely cannot contest has a vastly different attitude when it comes under scrutiny? I suspect that firing someone can exacerbate a Streisand-like effect.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
davidu 11y ago
Yelp CEO responded in his 5 most recent tweets: https://twitter.com/jeremys https://twitter.com/jeremys
- Tempest1981 11y ago
  There is no question -- the rents in SF are too damn high. Reminded me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcsNbQRU5TI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcsNbQRU5TI
HelloMcFly 11y ago
When I first read the headlines about this story, I was sympathetic. I lost nearly all sympathy for her after reading the actual letter and other details.
joaoqalves 11y ago
In before someone blocks comments here
dclowd9901 11y ago
Growing up, I had these jobs with these wages, in this chronological order: Landscaper: $6/hr (ages 12-16, living at home) Target Employee: $7/hr (age 17, living at home) Video game store clerk: $7/hr (age 18-20, living at home) Spa/Jacuzzi repair/transport: $7/hr (age 20, college) Sunglass Hut sales person: $9/hr (age 20, college) HP Printer salesman: $10/hr (age 20-22, college) Copy Editor at a population 30,000 town newspaper (age 22-23, living with roommates): $32k/yr or approx $15/hr ...and so on for about 3 more years (living with at least one other person) before I transitioned to software development and things took off for me. You'll notice points where my age is the same. It's because I had those jobs at the same time. None of those jobs, not one, had free health insurance (most had no health insurance, period), and none had 401k matching. None had free snacks, outside of a coffee machine. None had a fun, vibrant work culture. And with each one, I was working with the understanding that it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because it sucked and I hated being poor and I was determined to do whatever it took to not be. I don't really know if there's anything to garner from all of that. It's just my experience, and it makes it difficult for me to understand why people feel like they should have a job they love that pays well first thing in life. According to most people I've talked to, that's not the norm.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  > None of those jobs, not one, had free health insurance, and none had 401k matching. > I don't really know if there's anything to garner from all of that. Yes, there is: the US system is dead rotten to the core. In Germany, there's a minimum wage and normal jobs automatically carry health insurance, basic pensions and loss-of-job-insurance. And that's valid for any job, no matter how "low-level". Unless you're a real edge case (1-man-companies!) it's really hard to fall through the nets in Germany. I'm worried about our politicians slashing all the nets because Hail Capitalism.
  - dclowd9901 11y ago
    > the US system is dead rotten to the core I would absolutely agree with this assertion.
- 11y ago
dang 11y ago
Discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138086 and many other posts.
hwstar 11y ago
Isn't employment at will wonderful? /sarcasm

Here is the original article. https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73df021e7a#.4qeisha3i https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73d... It would be nice if you could link to the original article

Mithaldu 11y ago
He did though.

Uhhrrr 11y ago

Is there a business in existence that wouldn't fire an employee for a public post like that?

notthemessiah 11y ago
Is it not ironic that Yelp, which relies on public reviews businesses largely cannot contest has a vastly different attitude when it comes under scrutiny? I suspect that firing someone can exacerbate a Streisand-like effect.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

davidu 11y ago

Yelp CEO responded in his 5 most recent tweets: https://twitter.com/jeremys https://twitter.com/jeremys

Tempest1981 11y ago
There is no question -- the rents in SF are too damn high. Reminded me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcsNbQRU5TI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcsNbQRU5TI

HelloMcFly 11y ago

When I first read the headlines about this story, I was sympathetic. I lost nearly all sympathy for her after reading the actual letter and other details.

joaoqalves 11y ago

In before someone blocks comments here

dclowd9901 11y ago

Growing up, I had these jobs with these wages, in this chronological order: Landscaper: $6/hr (ages 12-16, living at home) Target Employee: $7/hr (age 17, living at home) Video game store clerk: $7/hr (age 18-20, living at home) Spa/Jacuzzi repair/transport: $7/hr (age 20, college) Sunglass Hut sales person: $9/hr (age 20, college) HP Printer salesman: $10/hr (age 20-22, college) Copy Editor at a population 30,000 town newspaper (age 22-23, living with roommates): $32k/yr or approx $15/hr ...and so on for about 3 more years (living with at least one other person) before I transitioned to software development and things took off for me. You'll notice points where my age is the same. It's because I had those jobs at the same time. None of those jobs, not one, had free health insurance (most had no health insurance, period), and none had 401k matching. None had free snacks, outside of a coffee machine. None had a fun, vibrant work culture. And with each one, I was working with the understanding that it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because it sucked and I hated being poor and I was determined to do whatever it took to not be. I don't really know if there's anything to garner from all of that. It's just my experience, and it makes it difficult for me to understand why people feel like they should have a job they love that pays well first thing in life. According to most people I've talked to, that's not the norm.

mschuster91 11y ago
> None of those jobs, not one, had free health insurance, and none had 401k matching. > I don't really know if there's anything to garner from all of that. Yes, there is: the US system is dead rotten to the core. In Germany, there's a minimum wage and normal jobs automatically carry health insurance, basic pensions and loss-of-job-insurance. And that's valid for any job, no matter how "low-level". Unless you're a real edge case (1-man-companies!) it's really hard to fall through the nets in Germany. I'm worried about our politicians slashing all the nets because Hail Capitalism.
- dclowd9901 11y ago
  > the US system is dead rotten to the core I would absolutely agree with this assertion.
11y ago

dang 11y ago

Discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138086 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11138086 and many other posts.

hwstar 11y ago

Isn't employment at will wonderful? /sarcasm