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As to "evidence" (not all of it necessarily court-admissible -- but certainly enough preponderance of indication that it may have been Uber's fault, enough to w
by kafkaesq 10y ago
As to "evidence" (not all of it necessarily court-admissible -- but certainly enough preponderance of indication that it may have been Uber's fault, enough to warrant further investigation):
But at Uber, Thomas struggled in a way he’d never experienced in over a decade in technology. He worked long hours. He told his father and his wife that he felt immense pressure and stress at work, and was scared he’d lose his job. They urged him to see a psychiatrist. He told the doctor he was having panic attacks, trouble concentrating and near-constant anxiety. All suggested that he leave his job, but he was adamant that he could not.
“He was always the smartest guy in the room,” said his father, Joe Thomas. But while working at Uber, “he went down the tubes. He became someone with very little confidence in himself. The guy just fell apart.”
“It’s hard to explain, but he wasn’t himself at all,” said Zecole Thomas. “He’d say things like, ‘My boss doesn’t like me.’ His personality changed totally; he was horribly concerned about his work, to the point it was almost unbelievable. He was saying he couldn’t do anything right.”
And:
In the case of Joseph Thomas, medical records from two East Bay psychiatrists he visited in the weeks before his suicide show that he reported job-related “high anxiety,” panic attacks, difficulty concentrating and insomnia.
About a month before his suicide, Joseph Thomas disclosed his work stress in a Facebook chat to a close friend of more than a decade, Neil Mirchandani.
“Man words can’t really describe. I’m not dead but I wouldn’t describe myself as ok,” Thomas wrote, according to screenshots of the chat provided by Mirchandani.
“The sad thing is this place (Uber) has broken me to the point where I don’t have the strength to look for another job,” Thomas wrote.
- jimmywanger 10y ago> but certainly enough preponderance of indication What does that mean exactly? The only people who are giving the "evidence" or "indication" are the people who stand to profit the most. Once you get something that says that Uber is either racist or promotes work practices that lead to suicide, by un-unbiased external party, that's interesting. It's surprising how otherwise intelligent seeming people can get taken in by not understanding inherent conflicts of interests in cases like this.
- Chris2048 10y agoThe job causing Thomas stress isn't the same as Uber doing something wrong.
- kafkaesq 10y agoWhen it comes to extreme (life-threatening) levels of stress, actually it is -- for any job, with any employer. Almost by definition.
- Chris2048 10y agoBy definition of what? The adjective you tacked to the beginning of the word 'stress'? As I said in my original post, The article gives no direct indication that Uber was different from any other high-stress job, other than the fact that Thomas committed suicide. Much like the article, you are just speculating. And if this is your pet theory, can you account for a person being put under a "life-threatening" amount of stress, but choosing not to quit? Even when his family urged him to seek help? Blaming Uber rests entirely on whether working conditions at Uber where unreasonably stressful, and there is no indication that this was the case.
- kafkaesq 10y agoThe article gives no direct indication that Uber was different from any other high-stress job, other than the fact that Thomas committed suicide. Right, it gives indirect indications. Given the seriousness of the issue (and the fact that a father of 2 children may have died as a result) -- along with Uber's by now well-established track record for malfeasance (and all-around asshole-ery in general) it's certainly worth looking into what the direct causal factors may have been. Can you account for a person being put under a "life-threatening" amount of stress, but choosing not to quit? It's the very nature of high-stress situations that (1) they appear to have "no way out" and (2) people not embedded in those situations have difficulty identifying with the experience of those who are. And if I my paraphrase your last sentence: There is no indication [in the article] that working conditions at Uber where unreasonably stressful. You keep repeating that, but the statements in the article from the deceased's family members strongly suggest otherwise.