> As such, they were supported lavishly, with meals and massages, at a level not previously seen, at least not in career available to people who weren't fifth-g

> As such, they were supported lavishly, with meals and massages, at a level not previously seen, at least not in career available to people who weren't fifth-generation Ivy grads. I think if you push further back, we did see it. Go find the oldest retired IBMer you can and ask them what it was like in the good days. You'll find it was very similar. Sure, they didn't do the whole come-be-an-activist-while-ignoring-your-actual-job thing, and there were no nap pods, but the perks were up there. From free food to the parties (and yes, your kids are coming to many of them and they and your wife/husband are going to get free gifts from IBM at every chance). There was a time when landing a job at IBM was like getting a job at Google was a while ago - except that they still did the employee-for-life thing and even if you were laid off, it was with your consent (and an obscene benefits package). But you also did have to do actual work, not just attend one meeting per week with no deliverable. Edit: Actually I think it may have been even better back then. There was no company shuttle to the office. You had a company car. There was no roommate while giving 60% of your income to a landlord, housing was still affordable and your spouse didn't really have to work unless they wanted to.