Those folk do exist here, but they most definitely aren't the ones who are just here for a paycheck "to live a good life." Most people I know here are just like

Those folk do exist here, but they most definitely aren't the ones who are just here for a paycheck "to live a good life." Most people I know here are just like everyone I know elsewhere, except that their rent is higher, their houses smaller, and their paycheck larger. I've been working here in tech for over a decade now, ranging from the wildest tiny startups to big billion+ dollar public companies, and I've never worked anywhere with a ball pit, slides, or wave pools. They exist. They just aren't what most of us actually experience. Silent majority, I guess. Almost everyone I know here thinks the people and company practices you're describing are as crazy/dumb/awful as you do. Sorry, I just get really frustrated when the media labels the kookiest loudest of us as what Silicon Valley is. Especially when they're trying to describe the boring ones without caricatures.