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He has a few reasons to retire -- and a few reasons not to retire. And he laid them out for us about a year and a half ago: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/

He has a few reasons to retire -- and a few reasons not to retire. And he laid them out for us about a year and a half ago: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2018/10/25/On-Retirement https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2018/10/25/On-Retire... > Progressive friends, people whose opinions I respect, give me shit about working for Amazon. I claim that the problem is capitalism, flaccid labor laws, and lame antitrust enforcement, not any particular company; maybe I’m right. And now he's basically admitting he was wrong. Impressive.

Ygg2 7y ago
Both his friends and him could be right. If you attempt to survive in a caustic environment, you will become caustic yourself. Show me one corporation that doesn't have some scandal in it. Or even better a multinational corporation. If you play by the "rules" and don't anger anyone, you're going to lose to everyone not playing by them.
- granshaw 7y ago
  Never underestimate how quickly you will become like the environment you spend 8+ hours every weekday in
  - Ygg2 7y ago
    I meant on a more global scale. Each corporation through competition or acquisition of people became evil.
throw0101a 7y ago
> And now he's basically admitting he was wrong. Impressive. From today's post: > Firing whistleblowers isn’t just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is it intrinsic to the function of free markets. It’s evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison. In Ontario, Canada, which has a lot of auto plants, there's actually a controlled experiment of sorts that is going on: the unions are in the GM, Ford, and Chrysler plants since forever. Meanwhile they've been trying to get into the Toyota/Lexus plant for a long time and the workers always vote 'no'. Same industry, same geographic area and culture, different results. Turns out that if you respect your employees they often respect you back.
- tsco77 7y ago
  Could you expand on that example?
- hmk99 7y ago
  Yes it's true. But Toyota has a very unique culture in which management are more like coaches, and every single employee on the line is expected to continuously introduce improvements in the assembly line. In such an environment, the employees are highly empowered. So it is natural that they would resist any attempt to prevent direct communication between them and management. When a union takes charge it is legally not permissible for workers to directly talk to management and vice-versa; they have to go through the union.
  - jeromegv 7y ago
    If the employees were unsatisfied with that arrangement, they would bring the union in. That's the point.

Ygg2 7y ago

Both his friends and him could be right. If you attempt to survive in a caustic environment, you will become caustic yourself. Show me one corporation that doesn't have some scandal in it. Or even better a multinational corporation. If you play by the "rules" and don't anger anyone, you're going to lose to everyone not playing by them.

granshaw 7y ago
Never underestimate how quickly you will become like the environment you spend 8+ hours every weekday in
- Ygg2 7y ago
  I meant on a more global scale. Each corporation through competition or acquisition of people became evil.

throw0101a 7y ago

> And now he's basically admitting he was wrong. Impressive. From today's post: > Firing whistleblowers isn’t just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is it intrinsic to the function of free markets. It’s evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison. In Ontario, Canada, which has a lot of auto plants, there's actually a controlled experiment of sorts that is going on: the unions are in the GM, Ford, and Chrysler plants since forever. Meanwhile they've been trying to get into the Toyota/Lexus plant for a long time and the workers always vote 'no'. Same industry, same geographic area and culture, different results. Turns out that if you respect your employees they often respect you back.

tsco77 7y ago
Could you expand on that example?
hmk99 7y ago
Yes it's true. But Toyota has a very unique culture in which management are more like coaches, and every single employee on the line is expected to continuously introduce improvements in the assembly line. In such an environment, the employees are highly empowered. So it is natural that they would resist any attempt to prevent direct communication between them and management. When a union takes charge it is legally not permissible for workers to directly talk to management and vice-versa; they have to go through the union.
- jeromegv 7y ago
  If the employees were unsatisfied with that arrangement, they would bring the union in. That's the point.