I had a job in which the management had no idea how reliable software gets developed, and their MO was to hire the cheapest people possible (H-1Bs, back when yo

I had a job in which the management had no idea how reliable software gets developed, and their MO was to hire the cheapest people possible (H-1Bs, back when you couldn't transfer) and work them to death. Not being on a visa myself I should have quit after a week, but I was young and naive. They were perennially going to go public "in six months or so". Every Friday my boss would walk through the cube farm and we had the same discussion: Boss: "We're not meeting our schedule, so the team decided we need to come in tomorrow for a half day. Me: "The... team?" Boss: "Don't worry, I'll throw in lunch." Me: "I really need a day off. I had to buy underwear yesterday because I haven't had time to do laundry." Boss: "It's just until we get version 1.3.7 out. After that we'll all have a chance to catch our breath." So we'd come in on Saturday, and of course after a half day nothing was working, so he'd extend, and then ask everyone to come in Sunday "so we can catch up and not have to do this any more." It got so bad people started taking Fridays off under the theory that a single day of vacation plus some mumbling about being out of town was good for three days off, and you could always tell when someone got his green card, because that would be his last day. This is the company that sent a team to a customer site "for a few weeks", and that team was still there working around the clock months later. So the wives of the employees in question got together and somehow found them new jobs. The entire team quit on the same day and flew home, leaving the company scrambling to explain (by which I mean "lying their asses off") what was going on and trying to pull people in from related projects to salvage that install.