4 ms·

People change, their priorities & interests change. They owned the company, they paid their employees salaries - beyond that they owed them nothing unless othe

People change, their priorities & interests change. They owned the company, they paid their employees salaries - beyond that they owed them nothing unless otherwise negotiated. It just sounds like sour grapes.

ecf 5y ago
> They owned the company, they paid their employees salaries - beyond that they owed them nothing unless otherwise negotiated. I’m sad to hear that is your experience. Perhaps find an employer who wouldn’t treat you like a slave if legally allowed?
- GiorgioG 5y ago
  > Perhaps find an employer who wouldn’t treat you like a slave if legally allowed? Are you wealthy enough to stop working entirely? If not, you (and most of us) are a slave to the system. Yes you can choose to change employers, but you cannot choose to stop working if you want to eat, have a home, electricity, etc. Employers are not your friend. They don't pay you because they're "nice people".
  - ecf 5y ago
    What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of companies out there which ARE NOT like this, no matter how much you try to say that employers are not your friend. I feel you’ve been involved in some exploitative workplaces in the past that have pessimistically shaped your view of business. With that being said, I’m still youngish and I’m probably naive. Maybe I’ll become a jaded capitalist too when I’m older.
    - GiorgioG 5y ago
      > There are plenty of companies out there which ARE NOT like this, no matter how much you try to say that employers are not your friend. You misunderstand. These employers/managers/etc can be decent human beings, but at the end of the day you are a resource to be utilized to further their goals in exchange for an agreed-up sum of money. As long as things are going well, everything's great for everyone involved. However, if/when things start going sideways - for example a round of layoffs are needed, they're going to make hard business decisions based on what's best for the company - your personal situation/needs will not be taken into account. Don't mistake professional behavior and cooperation at work for friendship. They're not your friends.
      - WalterBright 5y ago
        > Don't mistake professional behavior and cooperation at work for friendship. They're not your friends. Paying someone to be your friend always makes for an awkward relationship.
    - GiorgioG 5y ago
      > I feel you’ve been involved in some exploitative workplaces in the past that have pessimistically shaped your view of business. I don't think it's a pessimistic view of business. I've always felt this way. Businesses view people as resources. When resources are in high demand, companies compete for you and thus must try to make/keep you happy. When supply is high and demand is low they can and will make lowball offers and make unreasonable demands like working long hours/weekends/etc. I've worked for good companies and bad. The bad ones always tried to make you feel guilty for not putting in the extra effort. The good ones make you feel like family. But they're still companies with one core mission: grow and make someone more money.
gsibble 5y ago
They lied to their employees and stole from them income that would have otherwise belonged to them.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  Any time you pay someone an amount, you could be said to be "stealing" income from them by not paying them more. But the fact is that these MailChimp employees were not owed more than they were paid, and were not entitled to it under any widely accepted economic or legal theory in the United States, where they are employed. They agreed to work for a certain amount, which by all accounts was compliant with minimum wage and other laws, and nobody has alleged that they were paid less than that. As far as being lied to goes, people would be better off if they replaced "never" with "not in the foreseeable future" any time they hear it. Who knows whether the founders genuinely believed their statements about never selling when they said them. Probably so, but if not, well, it's unfortunate. That being said, I doubt that anyone worked at MailChimp mainly because they believed it would always be privately held.

ecf 5y ago

> They owned the company, they paid their employees salaries - beyond that they owed them nothing unless otherwise negotiated. I’m sad to hear that is your experience. Perhaps find an employer who wouldn’t treat you like a slave if legally allowed?

GiorgioG 5y ago
> Perhaps find an employer who wouldn’t treat you like a slave if legally allowed? Are you wealthy enough to stop working entirely? If not, you (and most of us) are a slave to the system. Yes you can choose to change employers, but you cannot choose to stop working if you want to eat, have a home, electricity, etc. Employers are not your friend. They don't pay you because they're "nice people".
- ecf 5y ago
  What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t have to be this way. There are plenty of companies out there which ARE NOT like this, no matter how much you try to say that employers are not your friend. I feel you’ve been involved in some exploitative workplaces in the past that have pessimistically shaped your view of business. With that being said, I’m still youngish and I’m probably naive. Maybe I’ll become a jaded capitalist too when I’m older.
  - GiorgioG 5y ago
    > There are plenty of companies out there which ARE NOT like this, no matter how much you try to say that employers are not your friend. You misunderstand. These employers/managers/etc can be decent human beings, but at the end of the day you are a resource to be utilized to further their goals in exchange for an agreed-up sum of money. As long as things are going well, everything's great for everyone involved. However, if/when things start going sideways - for example a round of layoffs are needed, they're going to make hard business decisions based on what's best for the company - your personal situation/needs will not be taken into account. Don't mistake professional behavior and cooperation at work for friendship. They're not your friends.
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      > Don't mistake professional behavior and cooperation at work for friendship. They're not your friends. Paying someone to be your friend always makes for an awkward relationship.
  - GiorgioG 5y ago
    > I feel you’ve been involved in some exploitative workplaces in the past that have pessimistically shaped your view of business. I don't think it's a pessimistic view of business. I've always felt this way. Businesses view people as resources. When resources are in high demand, companies compete for you and thus must try to make/keep you happy. When supply is high and demand is low they can and will make lowball offers and make unreasonable demands like working long hours/weekends/etc. I've worked for good companies and bad. The bad ones always tried to make you feel guilty for not putting in the extra effort. The good ones make you feel like family. But they're still companies with one core mission: grow and make someone more money.

gsibble 5y ago

They lied to their employees and stole from them income that would have otherwise belonged to them.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
Any time you pay someone an amount, you could be said to be "stealing" income from them by not paying them more. But the fact is that these MailChimp employees were not owed more than they were paid, and were not entitled to it under any widely accepted economic or legal theory in the United States, where they are employed. They agreed to work for a certain amount, which by all accounts was compliant with minimum wage and other laws, and nobody has alleged that they were paid less than that. As far as being lied to goes, people would be better off if they replaced "never" with "not in the foreseeable future" any time they hear it. Who knows whether the founders genuinely believed their statements about never selling when they said them. Probably so, but if not, well, it's unfortunate. That being said, I doubt that anyone worked at MailChimp mainly because they believed it would always be privately held.