4 ms·

Something I’ve always wondered about corporate America: on Apple rumour sites and so on it’s often breathlessly reported that all staff leave has been cancelled

Something I’ve always wondered about corporate America: on Apple rumour sites and so on it’s often breathlessly reported that all staff leave has been cancelled for whatever dates. What happens if eg you’d promised to take your kids to Disneyland and had everything booked? Do you just have to lose the booking deposit and let down your kids? Why do people put up with that?

ghaff 7y ago
Personally I've never encountered such a thing though I'm sure it happens. Under most circumstances, I expect my reaction would be "Sorry but I booked a trip." I would be surprised to see a company reimburse significant personal expenses if that happened.
SeeDave 7y ago
It's a totally rational, bigger-picture thought process: 1. Employer will not tolerate "absenteeism" and will retaliate with consequences up to termination. 2. Spouse will not accept lower standard of life via reduced wages. Since earning power ("a good provider") is a major reason why many spouses chose to marry their geeky/techie partner... any threat to stable employment is a threat to the stability of my family. 3. Housing is almost entirely unaffordable in Bay Area. Miss three payments and car is reposessed. Miss one credit card payment and score drops 60 points, interest rate goes up to 29.99%. It becomes a simple expected value calculation after that. Would you prefer the 100% chance of losing Disneyland deposit/letting down your kids.... or the n% chance of becoming a homeless, carless, divorcee with a damaged credit score for the next 7 years? To be clear: I'm not pro-corporation/anti-child... but there are reasons why working parents make the decisions they make.
- bonniemuffin 7y ago
  "Since earning power ("a good provider") is a major reason why many spouses chose to marry their geeky/techie partner" [citation needed] That seems like quite a bold statement. Is there any evidence that marriages involving a tech partner are more likely to be primarily based on earning power than other marriages? Overall, marriages involving higher-earning professions and higher education are much less likely to end in divorce compared to marriages between less-educated partners, suggesting that "lost my tech job and got divorced" is not a major contributor to divorce rates overall. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_in_the_United_States#Rates_of_divorce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_in_the_United_States#R...)
digsy 7y ago
AFAIK, every state in the US is an at-will state. That means you can be terminated at any time, with very few exceptions. So anytime the company is trying to force you to do something, you have to decide if resisting is worth making yourself an easy target.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  It turns out that Montana is the odd one out. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employment-at-will-definition-30022.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employment-at-will-d...
mistersquid 7y ago
> […] on Apple rumour sites and so on it’s often breathlessly reported that all staff leave has been cancelled for whatever dates. You’re asking for details on protocol to a rumored policy, which begs the question of whether this rumor can be substantiated. In my experience with the company in question, no such policy exists.

ghaff 7y ago

Personally I've never encountered such a thing though I'm sure it happens. Under most circumstances, I expect my reaction would be "Sorry but I booked a trip." I would be surprised to see a company reimburse significant personal expenses if that happened.

SeeDave 7y ago

It's a totally rational, bigger-picture thought process: 1. Employer will not tolerate "absenteeism" and will retaliate with consequences up to termination. 2. Spouse will not accept lower standard of life via reduced wages. Since earning power ("a good provider") is a major reason why many spouses chose to marry their geeky/techie partner... any threat to stable employment is a threat to the stability of my family. 3. Housing is almost entirely unaffordable in Bay Area. Miss three payments and car is reposessed. Miss one credit card payment and score drops 60 points, interest rate goes up to 29.99%. It becomes a simple expected value calculation after that. Would you prefer the 100% chance of losing Disneyland deposit/letting down your kids.... or the n% chance of becoming a homeless, carless, divorcee with a damaged credit score for the next 7 years? To be clear: I'm not pro-corporation/anti-child... but there are reasons why working parents make the decisions they make.

bonniemuffin 7y ago
"Since earning power ("a good provider") is a major reason why many spouses chose to marry their geeky/techie partner" [citation needed] That seems like quite a bold statement. Is there any evidence that marriages involving a tech partner are more likely to be primarily based on earning power than other marriages? Overall, marriages involving higher-earning professions and higher education are much less likely to end in divorce compared to marriages between less-educated partners, suggesting that "lost my tech job and got divorced" is not a major contributor to divorce rates overall. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_in_the_United_States#Rates_of_divorce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divorce_in_the_United_States#R...)

digsy 7y ago

AFAIK, every state in the US is an at-will state. That means you can be terminated at any time, with very few exceptions. So anytime the company is trying to force you to do something, you have to decide if resisting is worth making yourself an easy target.

dredmorbius 7y ago
It turns out that Montana is the odd one out. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employment-at-will-definition-30022.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/employment-at-will-d...

mistersquid 7y ago

> […] on Apple rumour sites and so on it’s often breathlessly reported that all staff leave has been cancelled for whatever dates. You’re asking for details on protocol to a rumored policy, which begs the question of whether this rumor can be substantiated. In my experience with the company in question, no such policy exists.