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> Many on HN are accustomed to nice offices with a bunch of perks or remote work, but for a lot of us we work in conditions like this (or far worse) and it's ju

> Many on HN are accustomed to nice offices with a bunch of perks or remote work, but for a lot of us we work in conditions like this (or far worse) and it's just life. I don’t know where you live, but I can assure you that what you’re describing is not “just life” in most developed countries. You’re not describing a normal office. Offices like you describe continue to exist because employees put up with it. The tech job market is very hot right now. I would strongly encourage you to explore your options. What you’re describing is not normal or acceptable. You don’t need to move to a Google type company with unlimited office budgets. Most companies are smart enough to know they need to address things like broken HVAC or not enough microwaves or unclean bathrooms by spending the relatively tiny amount of money to address the problem. It’s literally cheaper to address these issues than to lose good talent over such easily addressable frustrations. When you move to a company that treats employees decently, you’ll find that you also get along with coworkers better because everyone is not already miserable and dreading their jobs.

Aloha 6y ago
I've worked in offices like that, its way more common than you think. It is 'just life' the world that we get in tech is significantly different than what most people experience in a workplace.
greedo 6y ago
Had to address the unclean bathroom comment. My company is a large insurance provider. Billions of dollars under management so money really isn't a big deal. You know how bad our cleaning us? They have one guy per floor responsible for cleaning four large restrooms, vacuuming, dumping trash cans. The one who does my floor is a lazy idiot. The cleaning company tolerates this because they pay crap wages; they save their best employee for the 4th floor where the VPs and higher work. Everyone else gets a shitty bathroom. Once, a dude had explosive diarrhea in a stall. A year later, there were still shit stains on the wall... Don't be surprised at how cheap even big successful business can be.
ryandrake 6y ago
That’s funny.. when I read OP’s post, I was pretty underwhelmed by the complaints. He describes a pretty typical office environment, in my experience. The HVAC problems and disgusting facilities rang the most true to me. I remember a spider infestation in a break room that did not get addresses until an employee threatened to complain. (The place ended up spider-free but smelling of insecticide, and the complainer was fired for “poor performance”.) I agree that a lot of HN readers seem to have only been exposed to idyllic FAANG workspaces, and have no idea the conditions most office workers have to put up with.
JayMickey 6y ago
You're assuming he works in tech.

Aloha 6y ago

I've worked in offices like that, its way more common than you think. It is 'just life' the world that we get in tech is significantly different than what most people experience in a workplace.

greedo 6y ago

Had to address the unclean bathroom comment. My company is a large insurance provider. Billions of dollars under management so money really isn't a big deal. You know how bad our cleaning us? They have one guy per floor responsible for cleaning four large restrooms, vacuuming, dumping trash cans. The one who does my floor is a lazy idiot. The cleaning company tolerates this because they pay crap wages; they save their best employee for the 4th floor where the VPs and higher work. Everyone else gets a shitty bathroom. Once, a dude had explosive diarrhea in a stall. A year later, there were still shit stains on the wall... Don't be surprised at how cheap even big successful business can be.

ryandrake 6y ago

That’s funny.. when I read OP’s post, I was pretty underwhelmed by the complaints. He describes a pretty typical office environment, in my experience. The HVAC problems and disgusting facilities rang the most true to me. I remember a spider infestation in a break room that did not get addresses until an employee threatened to complain. (The place ended up spider-free but smelling of insecticide, and the complainer was fired for “poor performance”.) I agree that a lot of HN readers seem to have only been exposed to idyllic FAANG workspaces, and have no idea the conditions most office workers have to put up with.

JayMickey 6y ago

You're assuming he works in tech.