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I am not a dead weight and I’ll never be, but I also do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired. And by bare minimum, I mean, I will always finish my work in t

I am not a dead weight and I’ll never be, but I also do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired. And by bare minimum, I mean, I will always finish my work in the time it is expected to be finished. And if the expectations are higher, I’ll move on to another job. I do this as a way to get back at corporate America. Too many companies get away with sucking out their employees dry and firing them once they can’t meet the unreasonable expectations that are set for them. You could be dying of cancer or have lost a child, and they will get rid of you the moment they can do so without breaking the law, and in some cases even break the law in the hopes that you’d not pursue any legal action. Nah don’t work hard, work smart, for yourself.

throwawaylinux 4y ago
Hell of a way to go through life though. "Corporate America" doesn't care in the slightest bit. It's an unthinking unfeeling machine.
groffee 4y ago
> I am not a dead weight and I’ll never be, but I also do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired. That's the literal definition of dead weight.
- fcatalan 4y ago
  Dead weight would be people doing nothing. After those come the negative contributors: they do stuff but is all politicking and scheming, or just waste others time. Doing strictly what you are really paid for is bad now?
  - toomuchtodo 4y ago
    “Enough” is not in the vocabulary of corporate vampires. Doing your job to the requirements should be acceptable, and that only works if your org is run by empathetic, reasonable leadership, you don’t tolerate the abuse of being squeezed, or you have a union. If the bar is never enough, you’re being gaslit, and that’s psychological abuse.
    - kelnos 4y ago
      And I think that's exactly the original commenter's point: if the company he works for ever decides that "enough" isn't sufficient to satisfy his boss, he's he'll move on.
    - ravenstine 4y ago
      That's exactly why most performance reviews are a scam. "Always room for improvement."
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    Working to rule is the first labor action unions start doing ahead of a strike. If you want to do piecework/hourly work, you should be a contractor.
    - tormeh 4y ago
      Working to rule involves malicious compliance, which may very well be harder work than actually being productive. Just being unenthusiastic is not the same thing.
- kelnos 4y ago
  No, dead weight is someone who does little or no work, should be fired, but manages to fly under the radar somehow in order to keep their job. Someone who does the bare minimum in order to buy get fired is just a... satisfactory employee. Never gonna get big raises, never gonna get promoted, but gets their work done and doesn't go above or beyond.
- a4isms 4y ago
  This is the "pieces of flair" debate. If their manager asks for fifteen tickets a month, and they do exactly fifteen, the manager sits them down and asks why they don't do twenty, like their colleague over there. They ask the manager, "If you want twenty tickets, just ask me for twenty tickets. Why do you set fifteen as the standard, and then try to use cheap psychological tricks to get me to do twenty tickets?" I have managed teams going back to the nineties. If I want fifteen tickets, I ask for fifteen tickets. If someone just does the minimum, they just get paid the minimum, but I have set my expectations such that their work is a net benefit to the company, so they keep their job. If things change and I need twenty tickets, I will ask for twenty tickets. It's not complicated. The "bare minimum" is still enough to keep a job. If it isn't, it's on me to establish a different minimum such that the "minimum" is exactly that: The minimum needed to remain employed. "Dead weight" is someone whose work is not a net benefit to the company. If I as a manager set a minimum, and someone does the minimum, and they are not a net benefit, WTF am I doing as a a manager setting fifteen tickets as the minimum? Employees meeting expectations but not being a net benefit? That's a management problem. And if it's across the org, that's a SYSTEMIC management problem. So if this person is meeting the minimum, either they are NOT dead weight, or there is a management problem. Either way, they are not the problem.
  - YZF 4y ago
    Since when is a software engineer's output measured in "tickets" per month? That said I agree with the idea that someone that adds value that is some reasonable multiple of their salary gets to keep their job. If they're not adding value because they can't perform their job or don't care they should not keep their job. If they're not adding value because of how they're managed their manager should not keep his job. If this issue is endemic in the company that probably means the CEO shouldn't keep their job... In an ideal world anyways.
    - boringg 4y ago
      TPM - bug squashing/or MBA manager would be my take. Would bounce if ever that was my metric. Its like GPM but for SEs.
- croes 4y ago
  >I mean, I will always finish my work in the time it is expected to be finished. But this isn't what a dead weight does.
- thereare5lights 4y ago
  > That's the literal definition of dead weight. No. literal definition > the weight of an inert person or thing. The metaphor refers to people that do nothing and are only a burden. Dead weight cannot positively contribute.
- crossroadsguy 4y ago
  You’re literally on the literal wrong path of understanding what dead weight is. I think you missed the productivity porn thread posted here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32335165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32335165
- darth_avocado 4y ago
  Just doing the job you are paid to do is called dead weight now? That’s the exact ideology I refuse to follow.
  - khazhoux 4y ago
    The problem is when you tell your manager it'll take you X number of weeks to finish a task, and your manager trusts that you're working hard and that the task simply requires X weeks of work... but in reality you're barely spending any time on it every day, and could easily have done it in a few days. Meanwhile, the rest of the project is moving slowly because they need your piece to complete. If, on the other hand, the manager's trust has no relevance here, because you are not setting your own time-work estimates, then have at it!
    - adamesque 4y ago
      This is kind of a wild take. Estimates should be reviewed like anything else on a team, and if the estimate doesn’t fit the timeline, the team should try to either split up / parallelize the work, drop scope, or look for a creative solution (usually involving taking on some strategic tech debt). Work planning should be a team effort.
      - khazhoux 4y ago
        This is completely consistent with what I said. Even as a team effort, you want your manager to trust when you say something has some non-obvious complexity. And the manager wants to trust their team members. But my comment stems from someone above who said they do the minimum amount of work possible. This sucks for the team, who is working hard and trying to make progress, meanwhile this person is barely doing any work every day in between gaming or reddit or whatever, but (presumably) still joins stand-ups and Slack to chime in with whatever "complication" he's having to work through that day, and always gives the impression that their work is super tricky.
        Apocryphon 4y ago
- boringg 4y ago
  No that's not dead weight. Dead weight is people who don't contribute and don't get their work done. Going above and beyond requirements is a personal decision.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Sometimes it’s the even worse folks - the people who do things that are net negatives and need to be drug around by everyone else like they’re an anchor around the companies throat.
- naikrovek 4y ago
  Apparently you have never continually excelled at your job and been rewarded with zero raises, zero promotions, zero added trust, and zero added authority or influence. Every place I have ever worked has taken advantage of anyone who does more than they are asked. None of those individuals were ever rewarded for going above or beyond. Not a single time. Doing the bare minimum is what employers do. Why should employees do any more? I believe it is our moral duty to improve ourselves. I do not believe it is our moral duty to donate effort to an unthankful entity.
- BGizzle 4y ago
  No, the LITERAL definition of dead weight is " 1: the unrelieved weight of an inert mass 2: DEAD LOAD 3: a ship's load including the total weight of cargo, fuel, stores, crew, and passengers" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadweight https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadweight Examples of literal in a Sentence: " The literal meaning of “know your ropes” is “to know a lot about ropes,” while figuratively it means “to know a lot about how to do something.” I was using the word in its literal sense. The story he told was basically true, even if it wasn't the literal truth. "
- Aeolun 4y ago
  > That's the literal definition of dead weight. You must not have worked in companies with actual dead weight.
- mecha_ghidorah 4y ago
  Is it? I'd interpret dead weight as being... well a dead weight, say an anchor holding back progress. Or being generous at least not contributing anything even they aren't actively holding things back. Doing "the bare minimum" isn't dead weight though, they are still contributing
datalopers 4y ago
You get back at corporate america by being a mindless corporate drone?
- darth_avocado 4y ago
  I get back at it by getting paid as much as I can for as little work I can do. Like I said, I’m not doing nothing, but I’ll never sell my soul for marginal increases in wages and that occasional promotion. I get back by having a life after 5 pm, Never going in to work on a weekend, taking time off to spend it with family and never letting stress and bs from corporate world affect my private life.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Isn’t that just…. Taking the deal?
    - robswc 4y ago
      lol, honestly... If you're not getting fired... you're either going to or you're doing as much as expected so everyone is happy.
      - jtc331 4y ago
        That’s nonsense. It’s extremely hard to fire people in many corps. I’ve personally seen it take years even when everyone agreed (including management) someone needed to go. And often the paperwork threshold is so high that even people producing negative work aren’t fired; you just hope they eventually move on since you’re not giving them raises etc.
        lazide 4y ago
        That’s when an org really starts to collect dead weight (actual dead weight). Don’t get me wrong, shitty managers need checks and balances, but when an org loses so much trust in itself that it makes it impossible to remove pretty much anyone (except those trying to improve things usually, despite the rules), it’s going to get pretty bad soon.
SkipperCat 4y ago
You call that dead weight? If you're finishing your work on time then you may (gasp) be a decent employee.
Spooky23 4y ago
Got news for ya, that’s dead weight. Competent management would make getting rid of you a priority, as that behavior drags everyone else down.
- mixmix 4y ago
  Your comment upsets and disappoints me. In large part because it's true: at my previous workplace, I was casually told that CME is a polite fiction and all employees are expected to exceed expectations.
- darth_avocado 4y ago
  That is the exact propaganda I don’t buy. My 20 year long career that pays quite well would think either you’re wrong or most of corporate America’s management is not “Competent Management”.
nullc 4y ago
Forget the compan(y/ies) for a moment. In a decade or two when you look back will you feel your time was well spent? The companies, much less corporate America in aggregate, will have assuredly not noticed your protest. But will you notice your lack of professional accomplishment? Being wronged extracts a price, through vengeance you can pay it twice.
- darth_avocado 4y ago
  My argument is that professional accomplishment can be achieved while just meeting expectations. I’ve seen people who are at the same level, work harder (read longer) than I do and yet get paid less and not get the promotions they were trying for. The system isn’t a perpetual growth machine, otherwise all of us would be VPs and CEOs. I never said I don’t do any work, I still work on things I want to and take great pride in every single thing I do. I just don’t do it for free or at the expense of other parts of my life. Ambition needs to be checked with reality.
boredtofears 4y ago
Getting back at corporate america by sacrificing your own ambition seems like a pretty unfulfilling and ineffective strategy.
- darth_avocado 4y ago
  “Ambition” is tricky. New grads become a “Senior Engineer” or a “manager” in 5 years these days. And most people don’t climb corporate ladder beyond a Senior Staff Engineer or a director. So you have almost 40 years worth of career left to climb two more levels. Working your ass off continuously in pursuit of that ambition is pointless. If that’s the only thing in your life, then maybe it’s not, but ambition can be found outside of corporate America.
- ungamedplayer 4y ago
  Corporate doesn't even notice this guy.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
yowlingcat 4y ago
This isn't an irrational reaction, but it also isn't always as clever as it seems. Working this way can suck the soul out of your life in the same way that failing to exercise yourself mentally or physically will eventually eat away at your fitness. Is it terminal? Of course not. But it does take a toll on you. And it eats away at your sense of fulfillment and happiness. Could it be something like diabetes, where it won't kill you today but it will kill you tomorrow? Maybe. Only you can figure out the answer for that for yourself. I know the answer for myself by now, which is yes. I'd much rather work for a company that gives me the opportunities to stretch myself, do work in a space I actually find interesting, and mostly get rewarded and advance even if they extract an absolute larger percentage of my surplus labor than other companies, than vice versa. And that is because I am getting a worse deal in today terms, and a better deal in tomorrow terms. I've been burned by this attitude before, but I've also had exceptional outcomes I'd never take back or redo any other way. YMMV.
nandhinianand 4y ago
This is what has become the default that our current system works to incentivize in real terms, but with a lot of marketing to discourage following this path. I work in India, but with a corporate American client atm, and have seen this in operation,(luckily it's a fairly small/medium company so not too much). Having worked in a few startups(with ESOPs) from India before this, I really, really wonder how a global/multi-national company can work with equity based incentives at this point, and if it will help a bit to improve the incentives.
999900000999 4y ago
>You could be dying of cancer or have lost a child, and they will get rid of you the moment they can do so without breaking the law, and in some cases even break the law in the hopes that you’d not pursue any legal action. Nah don’t work hard, work smart, for yourself. Amen, once upon a time I worked for a company and I didn't miss a single day for almost 3 years. Then at the moment I needed to work remote due to a family member's terminal cancer, I got oh so sorry to hear that, but by the way you f*** something up last week. You sure you really need to work remote, can you work remote like one day a week. Are you sure, it's like terminal terminal. Eventually they agreed to let me work remote but then they hired a replacement behind my back . Luckily my childhood taught me not to trust people. When someone shows you who they really are, believe them. So I already had a better paying job lined up. Hell, I nearly doubled my pay too!
- citizenpaul 4y ago
  >family member's terminal cancer Yep, I lived this and it really woke me up. The day my dad died my boss called to ask "your going to be in tomorrow right, since you don't have to take care of him anymore" Not to mention things like "are you sure its terminal" "Do you know what terminal means? just checking maybe you didn't understand the doctor" To a company you are a number and nothing more,treat them the same. The people in charge got there by ruthlessly focusing on that fact. Trying to get sympathy from work is like trying to explain to a debt collector why you can't pay. They don't care at all and never will, everything you say will be used against you and they are hoping you will slip up. Its as pointless as a mouse trying to debate a hungry cat as to why he should not eat him.
  - 999900000999 4y ago
    To be fair, I have had some compassionate employers offer me a couple of extra days of PTO after an emergency. But this is offset by the fact that since I never took PTO, I had stopped accumulating it almost a year ago. Something I love about remote work, is it encourages people to actually build real social circles. I make my friends at bars, concerts, and industry meetups. I don't make work friends, I'm not trying to be buddy buddy with my manager Because that same manager who was like. Yeah good job. You just saved the company $30,000, here's a $400 bonus The moment something happens, like you know your dad dying, is going to tell you. If you don't get back in shape they'll have to look hiring someone else. Work to maximize your income, try not to be mean to people at work, but you should never treat work as anything but a transaction.
gofreddygo 4y ago
“ do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired “ agree with this. have been trying to get to this point for a few months. I usually am a friendly person but I’ve learned to limit to personal relations and not let it flow into my work ethic. I have some other issues to be ironed out though like overzealous colleagues, and some flexibility needs
invig 4y ago
This framing is unhelpful. You haven't been wronged by “corporate America”. That's not even a thing that could have wronged you. You've worked for or with people behaving badly. Did you call them out on it? If nobody calls them out on bad behaviour how will things get better? Some people are being so bad that you just have to leave to avoid harm. Fair enough. It's hard to imagine that this silent retribution does anything but make the problem worse.

throwawaylinux 4y ago

Hell of a way to go through life though. "Corporate America" doesn't care in the slightest bit. It's an unthinking unfeeling machine.

groffee 4y ago

> I am not a dead weight and I’ll never be, but I also do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired. That's the literal definition of dead weight.

fcatalan 4y ago
Dead weight would be people doing nothing. After those come the negative contributors: they do stuff but is all politicking and scheming, or just waste others time. Doing strictly what you are really paid for is bad now?
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  “Enough” is not in the vocabulary of corporate vampires. Doing your job to the requirements should be acceptable, and that only works if your org is run by empathetic, reasonable leadership, you don’t tolerate the abuse of being squeezed, or you have a union. If the bar is never enough, you’re being gaslit, and that’s psychological abuse.
  - kelnos 4y ago
    And I think that's exactly the original commenter's point: if the company he works for ever decides that "enough" isn't sufficient to satisfy his boss, he's he'll move on.
  - ravenstine 4y ago
    That's exactly why most performance reviews are a scam. "Always room for improvement."
- Spooky23 4y ago
  Working to rule is the first labor action unions start doing ahead of a strike. If you want to do piecework/hourly work, you should be a contractor.
  - tormeh 4y ago
    Working to rule involves malicious compliance, which may very well be harder work than actually being productive. Just being unenthusiastic is not the same thing.
kelnos 4y ago
No, dead weight is someone who does little or no work, should be fired, but manages to fly under the radar somehow in order to keep their job. Someone who does the bare minimum in order to buy get fired is just a... satisfactory employee. Never gonna get big raises, never gonna get promoted, but gets their work done and doesn't go above or beyond.
a4isms 4y ago
This is the "pieces of flair" debate. If their manager asks for fifteen tickets a month, and they do exactly fifteen, the manager sits them down and asks why they don't do twenty, like their colleague over there. They ask the manager, "If you want twenty tickets, just ask me for twenty tickets. Why do you set fifteen as the standard, and then try to use cheap psychological tricks to get me to do twenty tickets?" I have managed teams going back to the nineties. If I want fifteen tickets, I ask for fifteen tickets. If someone just does the minimum, they just get paid the minimum, but I have set my expectations such that their work is a net benefit to the company, so they keep their job. If things change and I need twenty tickets, I will ask for twenty tickets. It's not complicated. The "bare minimum" is still enough to keep a job. If it isn't, it's on me to establish a different minimum such that the "minimum" is exactly that: The minimum needed to remain employed. "Dead weight" is someone whose work is not a net benefit to the company. If I as a manager set a minimum, and someone does the minimum, and they are not a net benefit, WTF am I doing as a a manager setting fifteen tickets as the minimum? Employees meeting expectations but not being a net benefit? That's a management problem. And if it's across the org, that's a SYSTEMIC management problem. So if this person is meeting the minimum, either they are NOT dead weight, or there is a management problem. Either way, they are not the problem.
- YZF 4y ago
  Since when is a software engineer's output measured in "tickets" per month? That said I agree with the idea that someone that adds value that is some reasonable multiple of their salary gets to keep their job. If they're not adding value because they can't perform their job or don't care they should not keep their job. If they're not adding value because of how they're managed their manager should not keep his job. If this issue is endemic in the company that probably means the CEO shouldn't keep their job... In an ideal world anyways.
  - boringg 4y ago
    TPM - bug squashing/or MBA manager would be my take. Would bounce if ever that was my metric. Its like GPM but for SEs.
croes 4y ago
>I mean, I will always finish my work in the time it is expected to be finished. But this isn't what a dead weight does.
thereare5lights 4y ago
> That's the literal definition of dead weight. No. literal definition > the weight of an inert person or thing. The metaphor refers to people that do nothing and are only a burden. Dead weight cannot positively contribute.
crossroadsguy 4y ago
You’re literally on the literal wrong path of understanding what dead weight is. I think you missed the productivity porn thread posted here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32335165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32335165
darth_avocado 4y ago
Just doing the job you are paid to do is called dead weight now? That’s the exact ideology I refuse to follow.
- khazhoux 4y ago
  The problem is when you tell your manager it'll take you X number of weeks to finish a task, and your manager trusts that you're working hard and that the task simply requires X weeks of work... but in reality you're barely spending any time on it every day, and could easily have done it in a few days. Meanwhile, the rest of the project is moving slowly because they need your piece to complete. If, on the other hand, the manager's trust has no relevance here, because you are not setting your own time-work estimates, then have at it!
  - adamesque 4y ago
    This is kind of a wild take. Estimates should be reviewed like anything else on a team, and if the estimate doesn’t fit the timeline, the team should try to either split up / parallelize the work, drop scope, or look for a creative solution (usually involving taking on some strategic tech debt). Work planning should be a team effort.
    - khazhoux 4y ago
      This is completely consistent with what I said. Even as a team effort, you want your manager to trust when you say something has some non-obvious complexity. And the manager wants to trust their team members. But my comment stems from someone above who said they do the minimum amount of work possible. This sucks for the team, who is working hard and trying to make progress, meanwhile this person is barely doing any work every day in between gaming or reddit or whatever, but (presumably) still joins stand-ups and Slack to chime in with whatever "complication" he's having to work through that day, and always gives the impression that their work is super tricky.
      - Apocryphon 4y ago
boringg 4y ago
No that's not dead weight. Dead weight is people who don't contribute and don't get their work done. Going above and beyond requirements is a personal decision.
- lazide 4y ago
  Sometimes it’s the even worse folks - the people who do things that are net negatives and need to be drug around by everyone else like they’re an anchor around the companies throat.
naikrovek 4y ago
Apparently you have never continually excelled at your job and been rewarded with zero raises, zero promotions, zero added trust, and zero added authority or influence. Every place I have ever worked has taken advantage of anyone who does more than they are asked. None of those individuals were ever rewarded for going above or beyond. Not a single time. Doing the bare minimum is what employers do. Why should employees do any more? I believe it is our moral duty to improve ourselves. I do not believe it is our moral duty to donate effort to an unthankful entity.
BGizzle 4y ago
No, the LITERAL definition of dead weight is " 1: the unrelieved weight of an inert mass 2: DEAD LOAD 3: a ship's load including the total weight of cargo, fuel, stores, crew, and passengers" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadweight https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deadweight Examples of literal in a Sentence: " The literal meaning of “know your ropes” is “to know a lot about ropes,” while figuratively it means “to know a lot about how to do something.” I was using the word in its literal sense. The story he told was basically true, even if it wasn't the literal truth. "
Aeolun 4y ago
> That's the literal definition of dead weight. You must not have worked in companies with actual dead weight.
mecha_ghidorah 4y ago
Is it? I'd interpret dead weight as being... well a dead weight, say an anchor holding back progress. Or being generous at least not contributing anything even they aren't actively holding things back. Doing "the bare minimum" isn't dead weight though, they are still contributing

datalopers 4y ago

You get back at corporate america by being a mindless corporate drone?

darth_avocado 4y ago
I get back at it by getting paid as much as I can for as little work I can do. Like I said, I’m not doing nothing, but I’ll never sell my soul for marginal increases in wages and that occasional promotion. I get back by having a life after 5 pm, Never going in to work on a weekend, taking time off to spend it with family and never letting stress and bs from corporate world affect my private life.
- lazide 4y ago
  Isn’t that just…. Taking the deal?
  - robswc 4y ago
    lol, honestly... If you're not getting fired... you're either going to or you're doing as much as expected so everyone is happy.
    - jtc331 4y ago
      That’s nonsense. It’s extremely hard to fire people in many corps. I’ve personally seen it take years even when everyone agreed (including management) someone needed to go. And often the paperwork threshold is so high that even people producing negative work aren’t fired; you just hope they eventually move on since you’re not giving them raises etc.
      - lazide 4y ago
        That’s when an org really starts to collect dead weight (actual dead weight). Don’t get me wrong, shitty managers need checks and balances, but when an org loses so much trust in itself that it makes it impossible to remove pretty much anyone (except those trying to improve things usually, despite the rules), it’s going to get pretty bad soon.

SkipperCat 4y ago

You call that dead weight? If you're finishing your work on time then you may (gasp) be a decent employee.

Spooky23 4y ago

Got news for ya, that’s dead weight. Competent management would make getting rid of you a priority, as that behavior drags everyone else down.

mixmix 4y ago
Your comment upsets and disappoints me. In large part because it's true: at my previous workplace, I was casually told that CME is a polite fiction and all employees are expected to exceed expectations.
darth_avocado 4y ago
That is the exact propaganda I don’t buy. My 20 year long career that pays quite well would think either you’re wrong or most of corporate America’s management is not “Competent Management”.

nullc 4y ago

Forget the compan(y/ies) for a moment. In a decade or two when you look back will you feel your time was well spent? The companies, much less corporate America in aggregate, will have assuredly not noticed your protest. But will you notice your lack of professional accomplishment? Being wronged extracts a price, through vengeance you can pay it twice.

darth_avocado 4y ago
My argument is that professional accomplishment can be achieved while just meeting expectations. I’ve seen people who are at the same level, work harder (read longer) than I do and yet get paid less and not get the promotions they were trying for. The system isn’t a perpetual growth machine, otherwise all of us would be VPs and CEOs. I never said I don’t do any work, I still work on things I want to and take great pride in every single thing I do. I just don’t do it for free or at the expense of other parts of my life. Ambition needs to be checked with reality.

boredtofears 4y ago

Getting back at corporate america by sacrificing your own ambition seems like a pretty unfulfilling and ineffective strategy.

darth_avocado 4y ago
“Ambition” is tricky. New grads become a “Senior Engineer” or a “manager” in 5 years these days. And most people don’t climb corporate ladder beyond a Senior Staff Engineer or a director. So you have almost 40 years worth of career left to climb two more levels. Working your ass off continuously in pursuit of that ambition is pointless. If that’s the only thing in your life, then maybe it’s not, but ambition can be found outside of corporate America.
ungamedplayer 4y ago
Corporate doesn't even notice this guy.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

yowlingcat 4y ago

This isn't an irrational reaction, but it also isn't always as clever as it seems. Working this way can suck the soul out of your life in the same way that failing to exercise yourself mentally or physically will eventually eat away at your fitness. Is it terminal? Of course not. But it does take a toll on you. And it eats away at your sense of fulfillment and happiness. Could it be something like diabetes, where it won't kill you today but it will kill you tomorrow? Maybe. Only you can figure out the answer for that for yourself. I know the answer for myself by now, which is yes. I'd much rather work for a company that gives me the opportunities to stretch myself, do work in a space I actually find interesting, and mostly get rewarded and advance even if they extract an absolute larger percentage of my surplus labor than other companies, than vice versa. And that is because I am getting a worse deal in today terms, and a better deal in tomorrow terms. I've been burned by this attitude before, but I've also had exceptional outcomes I'd never take back or redo any other way. YMMV.

nandhinianand 4y ago

This is what has become the default that our current system works to incentivize in real terms, but with a lot of marketing to discourage following this path. I work in India, but with a corporate American client atm, and have seen this in operation,(luckily it's a fairly small/medium company so not too much). Having worked in a few startups(with ESOPs) from India before this, I really, really wonder how a global/multi-national company can work with equity based incentives at this point, and if it will help a bit to improve the incentives.

999900000999 4y ago

>You could be dying of cancer or have lost a child, and they will get rid of you the moment they can do so without breaking the law, and in some cases even break the law in the hopes that you’d not pursue any legal action. Nah don’t work hard, work smart, for yourself. Amen, once upon a time I worked for a company and I didn't miss a single day for almost 3 years. Then at the moment I needed to work remote due to a family member's terminal cancer, I got oh so sorry to hear that, but by the way you f*** something up last week. You sure you really need to work remote, can you work remote like one day a week. Are you sure, it's like terminal terminal. Eventually they agreed to let me work remote but then they hired a replacement behind my back . Luckily my childhood taught me not to trust people. When someone shows you who they really are, believe them. So I already had a better paying job lined up. Hell, I nearly doubled my pay too!

citizenpaul 4y ago
>family member's terminal cancer Yep, I lived this and it really woke me up. The day my dad died my boss called to ask "your going to be in tomorrow right, since you don't have to take care of him anymore" Not to mention things like "are you sure its terminal" "Do you know what terminal means? just checking maybe you didn't understand the doctor" To a company you are a number and nothing more,treat them the same. The people in charge got there by ruthlessly focusing on that fact. Trying to get sympathy from work is like trying to explain to a debt collector why you can't pay. They don't care at all and never will, everything you say will be used against you and they are hoping you will slip up. Its as pointless as a mouse trying to debate a hungry cat as to why he should not eat him.
- 999900000999 4y ago
  To be fair, I have had some compassionate employers offer me a couple of extra days of PTO after an emergency. But this is offset by the fact that since I never took PTO, I had stopped accumulating it almost a year ago. Something I love about remote work, is it encourages people to actually build real social circles. I make my friends at bars, concerts, and industry meetups. I don't make work friends, I'm not trying to be buddy buddy with my manager Because that same manager who was like. Yeah good job. You just saved the company $30,000, here's a $400 bonus The moment something happens, like you know your dad dying, is going to tell you. If you don't get back in shape they'll have to look hiring someone else. Work to maximize your income, try not to be mean to people at work, but you should never treat work as anything but a transaction.

gofreddygo 4y ago

“ do absolutely bare minimum to not get fired “ agree with this. have been trying to get to this point for a few months. I usually am a friendly person but I’ve learned to limit to personal relations and not let it flow into my work ethic. I have some other issues to be ironed out though like overzealous colleagues, and some flexibility needs

invig 4y ago

This framing is unhelpful. You haven't been wronged by “corporate America”. That's not even a thing that could have wronged you. You've worked for or with people behaving badly. Did you call them out on it? If nobody calls them out on bad behaviour how will things get better? Some people are being so bad that you just have to leave to avoid harm. Fair enough. It's hard to imagine that this silent retribution does anything but make the problem worse.