4 ms·

Bill Gates memorized employees' license plates to track them (2016)

32 points by 1970-01-01 3y ago

francisofascii 3y ago
What's missing is, what did he do with that information? Promotions for those who worked weekends and stayed late like him? Did he hold a grudge for those that didn't?
- 3seashells 3y ago
  Present but poor, absent but rested when present, guess the bosses gave no idea whatsoever is happening. Important is that the peasants are present, loyal and flock around the lord, come hell, highwater and deadlines. If you manage to write a presence simulator, creating the subconscious impression you are always in the building, but currently somewhere else cause emergency.. that promotion is yours. Idiots want to be gambled.
- rawgabbit 3y ago
  the atmosphere is so intense at Microsoft that stressed-out programmers have been known to ease the tension of their eighty-hour workweeks by exploding homemade bombs https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp/0887306292 https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
  - hnthrowaway0315 3y ago
    Thanks, I didn't realize I'm able to find the book I have been looking for for a couple of decades on ycombinator.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
kramerger 3y ago
This guy would have hated work from home.
- kridsdale3 3y ago
  Have you SEEN his home?
  - kramerger 3y ago
    I meant his employees :) Obviously the big boss himself can work from a golf course if he wants.
uLogMicheal 3y ago
When do we think he lost his sociopath tendencies? The 100th billion?
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  Why does anyone think he lost those tendencies?
  - uLogMicheal 3y ago
    Kind of the point. Let's hope he has a good therapist and does not see himself as a god like other big name billionaires.
- 3seashells 3y ago
  When he had enough to hire a full PR-Team to rewrite history..
  - bediger4000 3y ago
    That had already happened by 1998.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Was Steve Jobs or Elon any different with the people under them? Even John Carmack used to put his desk in the hallway during Quake's development so he could see who's coming and going and at what time. People here romanticize too much over successful founders or visionary coders while forgetting that they were also flawed people in their own human ways and would have probably hated working under them to the core.
- corobo 3y ago
  About a year after being pied in the face he launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Maybe we should bring back pieing, haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6SS8CXYZo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6SS8CXYZo
fabiensanglard 3y ago
Does anybody know what kind of deal early Microsoft employees had in terms of wealth redistribution? I am fine with founders expecting employees to give swear, blood, and tears if they are substantial payoffs at the end. Not that I have ever heard of such a deal. From what I read, it is usually investor first, founders next, and employees dead last.
- Bostonian 3y ago
  A 1992 NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unlikely-millionaires.html https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unli... said "Microsoft turns cautionary at the dropping of figures, but a distinguished Wall Street research firm estimates that at least 2,200 employees at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters east of here -- nearly one in five -- are millionaires. Not even the height of the Wall Street takeover frenzy of the mid-1980's made as many instant millionaires as did simple employment at Microsoft for the last five years, analysts say. The Microsoft millionaires are unlike any in the world. Not only are many under the age of 30, the vast majority are not executives or lawyers but rather software writers with technical backgrounds."
  - Macha 3y ago
    Look at the likes of Dave Plummer or pre-Fog Creek Joel Spolsky for real world examples. Neither were particularly early, not particularly senior, started on bottom rungs, both of their Microsoft tenures basically amounted to a solid career as a developer and both seem to have made out well from it.
- canucker2016 3y ago
  The only story I've heard was that employees were allowed to buy shares of the company just before the IPO. Several employees took out loans to load up on MSFT before the IPO.
daveslash 3y ago
I left the office today at lunch so I could finish from home (Which is okay with my direct manager)... but I was thinking about this as I left... If my boss cared, he wouldn't have to memorize my plate in order to recognize my car. I don't need to memorize people's license plates in order to recognize their cars. Orange Subaru Outback is Steve, Blue Volkswagen Bug is Jeff, etc.. Were Bill Gates' employees all driving the same make, model, color cars? Even then, little details like window tint, trim, bumper-stickers can easily differentiate...
- D-Coder 3y ago
  License plate numbers are guaranteed to be unique IDs (within a state).
- klyrs 3y ago
  If I wanted to stalk my employees, I'd make them register their license plates and hire a service to ticket/tow unregistered vehicles. Then, I'd have access to the roster of names and license plates without the hassle of actually keeping an eye on the parking lot. Memorizing the roster wouldn't take much time per day, and you can spook people by looking them up before a meeting.
canucker2016 3y ago
One of my friends came to Seattle and I showed him around the Microsoft Redmond campus. (historical note: The area used to be called Sherwood Forest). After showing him the vast quantity of free soft drinks, buildings, and grounds, I asked him, "Do you want to see Bill Gates's car?" He said yes, so off we went. BillG (everyone at Microsoft referred to Bill Gates by his email alias) was one of the few people at Microsoft with an assigned parking spot. Plus, everyone knew where his office was, so it was easy to narrow down which parking lot to visit. I took my friend over. Luckily, BillG had come in to the office that day. There was nothing unique about his car. So my friend didn't drop his jaw in awe/reverence or anything. For all he knew, I was pulling a fast one and just showing him an upmarket car saying, "Yep, there it is, BillG's car! Ain't it something?" Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what was inside BillG's car. So I walked up to the car and stood about two feet away and looked to see what was inside the front of the car. In one word, it was unremarkable. Curiosity sated, I started walking away. At no point did I come in physical contact with the car. Then someone called out, "Excuse me!" I stopped and turned around. A security guard had popped out of nowhere. He approached and questioned me. I had to explain what I was doing there, show him my employee cardkey, and he proceeded to write down my badge number. Then I was allowed to leave. Now my friend believed that really was BillG's car.

32 points by 1970-01-01 3y ago

What's missing is, what did he do with that information? Promotions for those who worked weekends and stayed late like him? Did he hold a grudge for those that didn't?

3seashells 3y ago
Present but poor, absent but rested when present, guess the bosses gave no idea whatsoever is happening. Important is that the peasants are present, loyal and flock around the lord, come hell, highwater and deadlines. If you manage to write a presence simulator, creating the subconscious impression you are always in the building, but currently somewhere else cause emergency.. that promotion is yours. Idiots want to be gambled.
rawgabbit 3y ago
the atmosphere is so intense at Microsoft that stressed-out programmers have been known to ease the tension of their eighty-hour workweeks by exploding homemade bombs https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp/0887306292 https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Drive-Making-Microsoft-Empire/dp...
- hnthrowaway0315 3y ago
  Thanks, I didn't realize I'm able to find the book I have been looking for for a couple of decades on ycombinator.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

kramerger 3y ago

This guy would have hated work from home.

kridsdale3 3y ago
Have you SEEN his home?
- kramerger 3y ago
  I meant his employees :) Obviously the big boss himself can work from a golf course if he wants.

uLogMicheal 3y ago

When do we think he lost his sociopath tendencies? The 100th billion?

HumblyTossed 3y ago
Why does anyone think he lost those tendencies?
- uLogMicheal 3y ago
  Kind of the point. Let's hope he has a good therapist and does not see himself as a god like other big name billionaires.
3seashells 3y ago
When he had enough to hire a full PR-Team to rewrite history..
- bediger4000 3y ago
  That had already happened by 1998.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
Was Steve Jobs or Elon any different with the people under them? Even John Carmack used to put his desk in the hallway during Quake's development so he could see who's coming and going and at what time. People here romanticize too much over successful founders or visionary coders while forgetting that they were also flawed people in their own human ways and would have probably hated working under them to the core.
corobo 3y ago
About a year after being pied in the face he launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Maybe we should bring back pieing, haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6SS8CXYZo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK6SS8CXYZo

fabiensanglard 3y ago

Does anybody know what kind of deal early Microsoft employees had in terms of wealth redistribution? I am fine with founders expecting employees to give swear, blood, and tears if they are substantial payoffs at the end. Not that I have ever heard of such a deal. From what I read, it is usually investor first, founders next, and employees dead last.

Bostonian 3y ago
A 1992 NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unlikely-millionaires.html https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unli... said "Microsoft turns cautionary at the dropping of figures, but a distinguished Wall Street research firm estimates that at least 2,200 employees at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters east of here -- nearly one in five -- are millionaires. Not even the height of the Wall Street takeover frenzy of the mid-1980's made as many instant millionaires as did simple employment at Microsoft for the last five years, analysts say. The Microsoft millionaires are unlike any in the world. Not only are many under the age of 30, the vast majority are not executives or lawyers but rather software writers with technical backgrounds."
- Macha 3y ago
  Look at the likes of Dave Plummer or pre-Fog Creek Joel Spolsky for real world examples. Neither were particularly early, not particularly senior, started on bottom rungs, both of their Microsoft tenures basically amounted to a solid career as a developer and both seem to have made out well from it.
canucker2016 3y ago
The only story I've heard was that employees were allowed to buy shares of the company just before the IPO. Several employees took out loans to load up on MSFT before the IPO.

daveslash 3y ago

I left the office today at lunch so I could finish from home (Which is okay with my direct manager)... but I was thinking about this as I left... If my boss cared, he wouldn't have to memorize my plate in order to recognize my car. I don't need to memorize people's license plates in order to recognize their cars. Orange Subaru Outback is Steve, Blue Volkswagen Bug is Jeff, etc.. Were Bill Gates' employees all driving the same make, model, color cars? Even then, little details like window tint, trim, bumper-stickers can easily differentiate...

D-Coder 3y ago
License plate numbers are guaranteed to be unique IDs (within a state).
klyrs 3y ago
If I wanted to stalk my employees, I'd make them register their license plates and hire a service to ticket/tow unregistered vehicles. Then, I'd have access to the roster of names and license plates without the hassle of actually keeping an eye on the parking lot. Memorizing the roster wouldn't take much time per day, and you can spook people by looking them up before a meeting.

canucker2016 3y ago

One of my friends came to Seattle and I showed him around the Microsoft Redmond campus. (historical note: The area used to be called Sherwood Forest). After showing him the vast quantity of free soft drinks, buildings, and grounds, I asked him, "Do you want to see Bill Gates's car?" He said yes, so off we went. BillG (everyone at Microsoft referred to Bill Gates by his email alias) was one of the few people at Microsoft with an assigned parking spot. Plus, everyone knew where his office was, so it was easy to narrow down which parking lot to visit. I took my friend over. Luckily, BillG had come in to the office that day. There was nothing unique about his car. So my friend didn't drop his jaw in awe/reverence or anything. For all he knew, I was pulling a fast one and just showing him an upmarket car saying, "Yep, there it is, BillG's car! Ain't it something?" Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what was inside BillG's car. So I walked up to the car and stood about two feet away and looked to see what was inside the front of the car. In one word, it was unremarkable. Curiosity sated, I started walking away. At no point did I come in physical contact with the car. Then someone called out, "Excuse me!" I stopped and turned around. A security guard had popped out of nowhere. He approached and questioned me. I had to explain what I was doing there, show him my employee cardkey, and he proceeded to write down my badge number. Then I was allowed to leave. Now my friend believed that really was BillG's car.