4 ms·

Alison Green is the advice columnist. She doesn't work for the company that fired the interns. Personally, I think the fired interns were given a valuable life

Alison Green is the advice columnist. She doesn't work for the company that fired the interns. Personally, I think the fired interns were given a valuable life lesson, if they choose to learn something from it. If an employee wants to work for a company, it's incumbent upon them to adapt to the company's standards, not the other way around. This, to me, is an example of the "special snowflake" mindset that colleges foster in students these days.

amyjess 10y ago
If you say that someone deserves to be fired because they gave management a proposal, I would not want to work for any company that would have you. Period. Any company with a healthy culture has an open-door policy. I've never worked for a company that doesn't have an open-door policy, and I never will. And "special snowflake" is a slur used to attack LGBT people 90% of the time.
- WalterSear 10y ago
  Petitions aren't proposals. And haphazardly laying claim to a perjorative in order to impugn someone? Get over yourself.
- rhapsodic 10y ago
  > And "special snowflake" is a slur used to attack LGBT people 90% of the time. Got a reference for that?
  - amyjess 10y ago
    I've heard it hurled at me, at friends of mine, and at other members of my community.
    - rhapsodic 10y ago
      That doesn't prove, or even remotely support, your "90%" claim.
    - extra88 10y ago
      Your sampling methodology leaves much to be desired. Sarcastically calling people, especially young naive people, "snowflake" as a rejection of their projection of uniqueness or specialness has been around for decades. It's applied without sexual or gender connotations. Example of alternate declarative form from Fight Club, "Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?item=qt0479117 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?item=qt0479117
      - Kristine1975 10y ago
        >Tyler Durden quote So it's mainly uttered by fascists? (Tyler Durden is a textbook fascist) Sounds about right.
        extra88 10y ago
        Okay, if you think name-calling tit for tat is the way to go. I'm not standing up for the tenets of fascism but consider "you're not a snowflake" to be one extreme to counter "every human is special" at another extreme. Both are facile.
        Kristine1975 10y ago
        >Both are facile. Proof by assertion?
- nikki-9696 10y ago
  Erm, as a queer woman, I have never seen that term used that way. In my experience, it's always used to target millenials, who actually expect the world to be more fair and less idiotic, and are going to be amazingly disappointed that life sucks a lot more than they thought once they graduate.
- jnevill 10y ago
  A proposal, which was a PETITION, made by interns, that have absolutely no capital with which to bargain, let alone demand via petition, over the company's culture. It's insane. There is a big difference between an open-door policy and allowing a group of interns, most of which are a net-negative for the company while they are interns, to petition the company's leadership to change their culture. The intern writing the letter even stated that they had already had a conversation with their manager about it. Sounded like that convo went pretty well. "We appreciate your view, but no, the dress code is not changing". That is a good open door sounding culture. "Special Snowflake" is pretty fitting here. You want to band together with fellow interns to make changes at the company with which you are interning? Make that company some money. That's why they are in business. That's what they will listen to. You are a "Special Snowflake" if the dress code is the sword you are going to fall on. It's nuts and these kids need to grow up.
- nrinaudo 10y ago
  There might very well be an open door policy in that company - apparently, all interns had talked to their managers about the issue, so managers are available. Just because they were denied doesn't mean they weren't able to make their case. Coming back with a piece of paper that essentially says "look how many we are, surely you're wrong and we're right" is aggravating, especially from interns who have no experience and would better spend their time trying to understand why things work a certain way rather than assume they're right. Dismissing them is a bit harsh, but we don't really know how aggravating they were nor how much of management's time they wasted. If this whole thing turned into a 1 hour long meeting where they refused to be told no, then I might also have thought this particular bunch might be more trouble than they're worth.
  - Kristine1975 10y ago
    Oh yes, so aggravating/s
    - nrinaudo 10y ago
      When n (for n >= 2) interns are all told separately no, then gang up and demand more time and attention be devoted to their problem, a problem for which a reasonable decision has already been taken and made clear, it is aggravating. You might have a much higher tolerance to your time being wasted than I do, and that probably does make you the better person. I can take a fair amount of rudeness, lateness and incompetence. Wasting what little time I have on matters that I have already made clear were not up for discussion though, that'll get to me.
      - Kristine1975 10y ago
        >gang up So aggressive and aggravating!/s >a reasonable decision Who says the dress code is a reasonable decision?
        nrinaudo 10y ago
        > Who says the dress code is a reasonable decision? I'll tell you who doesn't get to say whether it is or is not: interns (unless the dress code is illegal, but that doesn't appear to have been the case).
- Kristine1975 10y ago
  The other 10% it's a slur used to attack everybody who doesn't want to be a submissive corporate pawn. See the comments in this very thread.

amyjess 10y ago

If you say that someone deserves to be fired because they gave management a proposal, I would not want to work for any company that would have you. Period. Any company with a healthy culture has an open-door policy. I've never worked for a company that doesn't have an open-door policy, and I never will. And "special snowflake" is a slur used to attack LGBT people 90% of the time.

WalterSear 10y ago
Petitions aren't proposals. And haphazardly laying claim to a perjorative in order to impugn someone? Get over yourself.
rhapsodic 10y ago
> And "special snowflake" is a slur used to attack LGBT people 90% of the time. Got a reference for that?
- amyjess 10y ago
  I've heard it hurled at me, at friends of mine, and at other members of my community.
  - rhapsodic 10y ago
    That doesn't prove, or even remotely support, your "90%" claim.
  - extra88 10y ago
    Your sampling methodology leaves much to be desired. Sarcastically calling people, especially young naive people, "snowflake" as a rejection of their projection of uniqueness or specialness has been around for decades. It's applied without sexual or gender connotations. Example of alternate declarative form from Fight Club, "Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?item=qt0479117 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?item=qt0479117
    - Kristine1975 10y ago
      >Tyler Durden quote So it's mainly uttered by fascists? (Tyler Durden is a textbook fascist) Sounds about right.
      - extra88 10y ago
        Okay, if you think name-calling tit for tat is the way to go. I'm not standing up for the tenets of fascism but consider "you're not a snowflake" to be one extreme to counter "every human is special" at another extreme. Both are facile.
        Kristine1975 10y ago
        >Both are facile. Proof by assertion?
nikki-9696 10y ago
Erm, as a queer woman, I have never seen that term used that way. In my experience, it's always used to target millenials, who actually expect the world to be more fair and less idiotic, and are going to be amazingly disappointed that life sucks a lot more than they thought once they graduate.
jnevill 10y ago
A proposal, which was a PETITION, made by interns, that have absolutely no capital with which to bargain, let alone demand via petition, over the company's culture. It's insane. There is a big difference between an open-door policy and allowing a group of interns, most of which are a net-negative for the company while they are interns, to petition the company's leadership to change their culture. The intern writing the letter even stated that they had already had a conversation with their manager about it. Sounded like that convo went pretty well. "We appreciate your view, but no, the dress code is not changing". That is a good open door sounding culture. "Special Snowflake" is pretty fitting here. You want to band together with fellow interns to make changes at the company with which you are interning? Make that company some money. That's why they are in business. That's what they will listen to. You are a "Special Snowflake" if the dress code is the sword you are going to fall on. It's nuts and these kids need to grow up.
nrinaudo 10y ago
There might very well be an open door policy in that company - apparently, all interns had talked to their managers about the issue, so managers are available. Just because they were denied doesn't mean they weren't able to make their case. Coming back with a piece of paper that essentially says "look how many we are, surely you're wrong and we're right" is aggravating, especially from interns who have no experience and would better spend their time trying to understand why things work a certain way rather than assume they're right. Dismissing them is a bit harsh, but we don't really know how aggravating they were nor how much of management's time they wasted. If this whole thing turned into a 1 hour long meeting where they refused to be told no, then I might also have thought this particular bunch might be more trouble than they're worth.
- Kristine1975 10y ago
  Oh yes, so aggravating/s
  - nrinaudo 10y ago
    When n (for n >= 2) interns are all told separately no, then gang up and demand more time and attention be devoted to their problem, a problem for which a reasonable decision has already been taken and made clear, it is aggravating. You might have a much higher tolerance to your time being wasted than I do, and that probably does make you the better person. I can take a fair amount of rudeness, lateness and incompetence. Wasting what little time I have on matters that I have already made clear were not up for discussion though, that'll get to me.
    - Kristine1975 10y ago
      >gang up So aggressive and aggravating!/s >a reasonable decision Who says the dress code is a reasonable decision?
      - nrinaudo 10y ago
        > Who says the dress code is a reasonable decision? I'll tell you who doesn't get to say whether it is or is not: interns (unless the dress code is illegal, but that doesn't appear to have been the case).
Kristine1975 10y ago
The other 10% it's a slur used to attack everybody who doesn't want to be a submissive corporate pawn. See the comments in this very thread.