4 ms·

As a regular reader of Rachelbythebay - I agree with the sentiment of a lot of other posters here, it's not the money that makes people quit. A classic story h

As a regular reader of Rachelbythebay - I agree with the sentiment of a lot of other posters here, it's not the money that makes people quit. A classic story here is the "Sodas are no longer free" one: https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-earth-%E2%80%93-soda%E2%80%99s-are-no-longer-free/ https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear... The total cost of free sodas for engineers is probably small compared to their salaries, and for the individual engineer, the new $0.50 per soda cost is probably negligible compared to their salary. But moving from free (as in free soda) to non-free signals a culture change, and so the best engineers started updating their CVs.

lrvick 2y ago
100% this. In every company I have been at that was going south, the first things to go after a hiring freeze were snacks and lunch. When companies walk back any benefits of the job that cause you to pay for things out of pocket, you just got a pay cut, and should GTFO.
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  I’ve seen two sides of this: when the company is small and 80% of the sodas are taken by 20% of the people, it’s a quirk of personality. When the company is large, removing a building’s $750/year snack budget is a trial balloon for identifying who will tolerate the much deeper cuts.
- abc123abc123 2y ago
  Amen! This has been my experience too. When the free snacks go, it is time to move to the next job. Usually the big cuts follow 6-18 months after the first snacks have gone.
- dagw 2y ago
  I worked at a company that bought a smaller company. That smaller company had free snacks and we didn't. Somewhere in the negotiation someone from our company had promised the employees at the smaller company that they would be able to keep their free snacks. Anyway, merger happens and no free snacks. Now there were probably several reasons why the merger wasn't a success and why basically everybody from that company left as soon as they could, but the one thing every one of them would bring up when you talked to them was "we were promised that we would get to keep our snacks and they lied to us".
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    Food is holy in a primal way. It pisses people off when you mess with their food, don't invite them for it, etc. Way way way more than what is proportional to the costs. Like, 'pizza for all but the contractor' kind of social transgressions.
    - bravetraveler 2y ago
      Seriously. I have a 'thing' about eating around people... feels gross, prefer not to. You'd think I insulted someone for their choices by opting out I know they mean well with their lunch offer, but I'm barely socialized. I don't want to develop that skill, it's not personal. I'm just firmly independent
      - fragmede 2y ago
        What a career, no, life limiting attitude. you do you, but yikes.
        bravetraveler 2y ago
        Sorry, who are you? Definitely not my employer, family, therapist, spouse, or friend. You have no idea and are speaking entirely out of turn. I don't need judgement from anyone but them. I'll bite anyway. We don't all seek the same 'rewards'. My career is great, well known and trusted by many. I'm paid very well. I have a healthy network despite my refusal to aimlessly stuff my face hole. The interviews for my last two offers were technicalities. The point I'm getting at is, I can be sociable when it matters. This and most things don't. There's benefit to be had. I saved a lot of time, arguably years of learning, by skipping religiously posturing around meals. Still, thanks for your input, I guess. I hope we're all better served for having endured it. You can keep going on about my life if you'd like, but I'd prefer if you fuck off with your contrived perception. Limitation of others is the point. Selection. I'm a product of the environment, choosing less. As far as you know this pulled me from the gutter. Again, fuck off. Don't tell me limiting. You don't know anything about me or the path I had to take. Your post is basically: "mental health problems, yikes". Let's really talk about limiting. Go be an NPC somewhere else. Try to be someone damaged people like me would actually want to engage with. It's healthier for everyone. Or keep trolling. You do you, boo. That's how the phrase generally goes. I can tell you that because people born in my original social class created it, visitor.
- sys_64738 2y ago
  I found it was time to go when the benefits literature in the Fall went from being glossy printouts to black and white photocopies.
Joel_Mckay 2y ago
The other metric is it is easier to leave for a better position, than experience a layoff for redundancy. I was always happier floating between 2 different firms, as you literally don't have to engage with peoples games. You can call the bluff every time, and simply drop your hours if people get irrational. Tip: When one sees a place with perpetual Ads for fresh desperate grads, than you know it is likely a digital Gulag operating on tax subsidies. lol =3
Corrado 2y ago
Holy carp! When they took away the free soda at KFC I started updating my resume. I worked at the KFC headquarters for over 10 years and for most of that time they had free soda in the lobby. Then the cafeteria management got turned over to a 3rd party, I'm guessing as a way to save money. Setting aside a food company not managing their corporate cafeteria, this 3rd party wanted to sell sodas and that's really hard when the company is providing them for free. So, KFC took out the free soda machines in the lobby. I'm not joking when I say that free soda was a huge selling point to new recruits in the IT department. We even used it as a "smoke" break for those of us who didn't smoke. Feeling that after lunch malaise? Walk down 5 flights of stairs to get a small Pepsi. Need to talk out some tech problem with a co-worker? Grab a soda together and take a walk. It was great. When they announced they were removing the soda machines one of the KFC VPs even offered to pay for the supplies out of their own budget. Rumor has it that the total cost was in the neighborhood of $30k / year, which was nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the higher ups said no and the machines were removed. That's when I (and others) started to update our resumes.
- rightbyte 2y ago
  Oh dear. I agree with your point, but man, I do not handle free soda at work well. I do comfort drinking way too much.
  - pas 2y ago
    Time to do tea ceremonies at work. It's very comforting!
  - _sys49152 2y ago
    comfort drinking gets the job done. spend less time thinking about sugar and more about getting work done.
- alecco 2y ago
  If corporate starts sharpening their pencils at the small things they will sure cut on the bigger things like bonuses and raises. Time to leave if you are an over-performer looking for merit rewards.
sys_64738 2y ago
When Oracle bought Sun then the first day they installed the free soda fridges everywhere. They were replenished always.

lrvick 2y ago

100% this. In every company I have been at that was going south, the first things to go after a hiring freeze were snacks and lunch. When companies walk back any benefits of the job that cause you to pay for things out of pocket, you just got a pay cut, and should GTFO.

ttyprintk 2y ago
I’ve seen two sides of this: when the company is small and 80% of the sodas are taken by 20% of the people, it’s a quirk of personality. When the company is large, removing a building’s $750/year snack budget is a trial balloon for identifying who will tolerate the much deeper cuts.
abc123abc123 2y ago
Amen! This has been my experience too. When the free snacks go, it is time to move to the next job. Usually the big cuts follow 6-18 months after the first snacks have gone.
dagw 2y ago
I worked at a company that bought a smaller company. That smaller company had free snacks and we didn't. Somewhere in the negotiation someone from our company had promised the employees at the smaller company that they would be able to keep their free snacks. Anyway, merger happens and no free snacks. Now there were probably several reasons why the merger wasn't a success and why basically everybody from that company left as soon as they could, but the one thing every one of them would bring up when you talked to them was "we were promised that we would get to keep our snacks and they lied to us".
- rightbyte 2y ago
  Food is holy in a primal way. It pisses people off when you mess with their food, don't invite them for it, etc. Way way way more than what is proportional to the costs. Like, 'pizza for all but the contractor' kind of social transgressions.
  - bravetraveler 2y ago
    Seriously. I have a 'thing' about eating around people... feels gross, prefer not to. You'd think I insulted someone for their choices by opting out I know they mean well with their lunch offer, but I'm barely socialized. I don't want to develop that skill, it's not personal. I'm just firmly independent
    - fragmede 2y ago
      What a career, no, life limiting attitude. you do you, but yikes.
      - bravetraveler 2y ago
        Sorry, who are you? Definitely not my employer, family, therapist, spouse, or friend. You have no idea and are speaking entirely out of turn. I don't need judgement from anyone but them. I'll bite anyway. We don't all seek the same 'rewards'. My career is great, well known and trusted by many. I'm paid very well. I have a healthy network despite my refusal to aimlessly stuff my face hole. The interviews for my last two offers were technicalities. The point I'm getting at is, I can be sociable when it matters. This and most things don't. There's benefit to be had. I saved a lot of time, arguably years of learning, by skipping religiously posturing around meals. Still, thanks for your input, I guess. I hope we're all better served for having endured it. You can keep going on about my life if you'd like, but I'd prefer if you fuck off with your contrived perception. Limitation of others is the point. Selection. I'm a product of the environment, choosing less. As far as you know this pulled me from the gutter. Again, fuck off. Don't tell me limiting. You don't know anything about me or the path I had to take. Your post is basically: "mental health problems, yikes". Let's really talk about limiting. Go be an NPC somewhere else. Try to be someone damaged people like me would actually want to engage with. It's healthier for everyone. Or keep trolling. You do you, boo. That's how the phrase generally goes. I can tell you that because people born in my original social class created it, visitor.
sys_64738 2y ago
I found it was time to go when the benefits literature in the Fall went from being glossy printouts to black and white photocopies.

Joel_Mckay 2y ago

The other metric is it is easier to leave for a better position, than experience a layoff for redundancy. I was always happier floating between 2 different firms, as you literally don't have to engage with peoples games. You can call the bluff every time, and simply drop your hours if people get irrational. Tip: When one sees a place with perpetual Ads for fresh desperate grads, than you know it is likely a digital Gulag operating on tax subsidies. lol =3

Corrado 2y ago

Holy carp! When they took away the free soda at KFC I started updating my resume. I worked at the KFC headquarters for over 10 years and for most of that time they had free soda in the lobby. Then the cafeteria management got turned over to a 3rd party, I'm guessing as a way to save money. Setting aside a food company not managing their corporate cafeteria, this 3rd party wanted to sell sodas and that's really hard when the company is providing them for free. So, KFC took out the free soda machines in the lobby. I'm not joking when I say that free soda was a huge selling point to new recruits in the IT department. We even used it as a "smoke" break for those of us who didn't smoke. Feeling that after lunch malaise? Walk down 5 flights of stairs to get a small Pepsi. Need to talk out some tech problem with a co-worker? Grab a soda together and take a walk. It was great. When they announced they were removing the soda machines one of the KFC VPs even offered to pay for the supplies out of their own budget. Rumor has it that the total cost was in the neighborhood of $30k / year, which was nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the higher ups said no and the machines were removed. That's when I (and others) started to update our resumes.

rightbyte 2y ago
Oh dear. I agree with your point, but man, I do not handle free soda at work well. I do comfort drinking way too much.
- pas 2y ago
  Time to do tea ceremonies at work. It's very comforting!
- _sys49152 2y ago
  comfort drinking gets the job done. spend less time thinking about sugar and more about getting work done.
alecco 2y ago
If corporate starts sharpening their pencils at the small things they will sure cut on the bigger things like bonuses and raises. Time to leave if you are an over-performer looking for merit rewards.

sys_64738 2y ago

When Oracle bought Sun then the first day they installed the free soda fridges everywhere. They were replenished always.