4 ms·

You have other reasons for why people don't do stupid shit and fuck around at work (like they would with friends or family)? Sure there is also a bit of pride

by spurgu 5y ago

You have other reasons for why people don't do stupid shit and fuck around at work (like they would with friends or family)? Sure there is also a bit of pride and sense of responsibility involved but shame and complications are strong drivers. What do you think motivates people to avoid messing up at work?

burkaman 5y ago
Loss of healthcare, loss of income risking food insecurity, homelessness, debt, etc. Shame is a driver, but if you ask the average person why they don't want to get fired, they'll accurately say "because I need money to live", not "it would be inconvenient and I'd be embarrassed", even if that's a secondary concern. I guess I'm assuming an American perspective because we were talking about an American company, but maybe others are not. I realize the stuff I'm saying does not apply in many other countries.
- thoraway52843 5y ago
  This is a failure to break down goals into subgoals, which IMHO the OP is correct in ascribing to shame. Or perhaps they're wrong about shame specifically, but it's some strong emotion that keep most people from analyzing the situation properly. There are plenty of other jobs that will provide both healthcare and a good income. You get them by making yourself seem indispensable to the people with hiring authority. How do you do that? It varies by field. In software engineering you usually just need to seem personable and confident, ace all the Leetcode interviews, and have some basic subject matter relevant to the job. In finance, you need to know rich people, and you need to convince them to give you money to manage, which usually means feeding them some potentially profitable insight that they didn't think of themselves but can trade on and then offering to manage part of their portfolio in exchange for 2 & 20. In sales, you're doing this all the time (for your employer's product, not for yourself), so the interview is the job and the job is the interview. You don't need to actually be good at the job but you need to plant the idea in their head that you'd be better at it than they are, and so it's worth paying you to do it for them. In other words, be shameless. Rational people, when they get fired, think "Oh, it's time to fall back on this algorithm until I get a new job." Irrational but normal people think it's a personal failing that they got fired and tend to avoid dealing with it until desperation (their bank statement) sets in. That also makes normal people very averse to being fired, but this makes them lack practice in the skills that will get a new job.

by spurgu 5y ago

burkaman 5y ago

Loss of healthcare, loss of income risking food insecurity, homelessness, debt, etc. Shame is a driver, but if you ask the average person why they don't want to get fired, they'll accurately say "because I need money to live", not "it would be inconvenient and I'd be embarrassed", even if that's a secondary concern. I guess I'm assuming an American perspective because we were talking about an American company, but maybe others are not. I realize the stuff I'm saying does not apply in many other countries.

thoraway52843 5y ago
This is a failure to break down goals into subgoals, which IMHO the OP is correct in ascribing to shame. Or perhaps they're wrong about shame specifically, but it's some strong emotion that keep most people from analyzing the situation properly. There are plenty of other jobs that will provide both healthcare and a good income. You get them by making yourself seem indispensable to the people with hiring authority. How do you do that? It varies by field. In software engineering you usually just need to seem personable and confident, ace all the Leetcode interviews, and have some basic subject matter relevant to the job. In finance, you need to know rich people, and you need to convince them to give you money to manage, which usually means feeding them some potentially profitable insight that they didn't think of themselves but can trade on and then offering to manage part of their portfolio in exchange for 2 & 20. In sales, you're doing this all the time (for your employer's product, not for yourself), so the interview is the job and the job is the interview. You don't need to actually be good at the job but you need to plant the idea in their head that you'd be better at it than they are, and so it's worth paying you to do it for them. In other words, be shameless. Rational people, when they get fired, think "Oh, it's time to fall back on this algorithm until I get a new job." Irrational but normal people think it's a personal failing that they got fired and tend to avoid dealing with it until desperation (their bank statement) sets in. That also makes normal people very averse to being fired, but this makes them lack practice in the skills that will get a new job.