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"You're on the team, but you have to fund your own trip to the Olympics to compete." ... "No not like that!" Never knew if it was real but I've seen on reddi

"You're on the team, but you have to fund your own trip to the Olympics to compete." ... "No not like that!" Never knew if it was real but I've seen on reddit several times that letter someone got from their employer chastising them for not owning a newer, nicer vehicle, since they were making good money at their job and it was "hurting the reputation of the business" that they were driving effectively a poor person's car. It feels far fetched but at the same time, also feels exactly like the irrelevant twaddle that a certain kind of upper management type would make his secretary write a letter about.

vasac 2y ago
I remember reading, in the late '80s, a series of interviews with famous programmers in a Yugoslav computer magazine (I think it was 'Računari' - those were translations from some U.S. magazine). In one of the interviews, a programmer (whose name, for the life of me, I can’t recall or find on the internet) mentioned that his boss was embarrassed because he drove an old clunker to meet clients. His boss pressured him to buy something more suitable. So, this guy (the legend I guess) ends up buying an old Rolls Royce to ensure his boss couldn’t complain anymore, all while still not doing what was actually expected of him :)
- ToucanLoucan 2y ago
  Oh man, I hope it wasn't one of the ones with the hydraulics, haha.
thevillagechief 2y ago
It's funny, I drive a 22 year old car, by far the oldest at my workplace parking. I've been talking about getting a newer car but haven't been able to bring myself to spend 35K on one. It's running joke in the office, colleagues will ask if I've bought the new car yet every week.
- 7thaccount 2y ago
  I'm driving a car that's nearly as old and am in the same boat. Maintenance seems to be about $1500/year at this point. That seems to be a lot cheaper than a monthly payment on a new vehicle. Vehicle costs have just gotten out of control. I want something that safely gets me from point A to B with decent fuel economy. I don't care about much else. I could go buy a new car today, but I don't see the value. People seem to keep buying things like $100k trucks despite them being way outside of budget.
radlad 2y ago
Have a family member who works as an assistant at a dealership and they are often pressured into buying a newer car for this reason.
- lazide 2y ago
  Also a variant of ‘exploitation starts at home’.
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Also a variant of rule 211: "Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them."
    - 7thaccount 2y ago
      Is this a Ferengi Rule of Acquisition like "Treat people in your debt like family ... exploit them"?
      - TeMPOraL 2y ago
        Yes, all three quotes in this subthread are :).
        7thaccount 2y ago
        Haha. Thank you for confirming. It certainly seemed familiar. Sometimes I worry that what we view as a cautionary tale about wealth (satire) is seen as a goal amongst the elite.
        ToucanLoucan 2y ago
        I wouldn't say goal as much as natural consequence. One of the pieces of media that sent me quite leftwards was a podcast called Behind the Bastard's episode on what the host, Robert Evans, calls "Elite Panic" and it's history intertwined through (and behind, heh) various disasters in our history, and specifically, how the wealthy cause and/or react to them in ways that are profoundly inhuman. Which is not to dehumanize them but quite the contrary, is a fairly clear (and frankly understudied) way that the accumulation of wealth screws with your mind.

vasac 2y ago

I remember reading, in the late '80s, a series of interviews with famous programmers in a Yugoslav computer magazine (I think it was 'Računari' - those were translations from some U.S. magazine). In one of the interviews, a programmer (whose name, for the life of me, I can’t recall or find on the internet) mentioned that his boss was embarrassed because he drove an old clunker to meet clients. His boss pressured him to buy something more suitable. So, this guy (the legend I guess) ends up buying an old Rolls Royce to ensure his boss couldn’t complain anymore, all while still not doing what was actually expected of him :)

ToucanLoucan 2y ago
Oh man, I hope it wasn't one of the ones with the hydraulics, haha.

thevillagechief 2y ago

It's funny, I drive a 22 year old car, by far the oldest at my workplace parking. I've been talking about getting a newer car but haven't been able to bring myself to spend 35K on one. It's running joke in the office, colleagues will ask if I've bought the new car yet every week.

7thaccount 2y ago
I'm driving a car that's nearly as old and am in the same boat. Maintenance seems to be about $1500/year at this point. That seems to be a lot cheaper than a monthly payment on a new vehicle. Vehicle costs have just gotten out of control. I want something that safely gets me from point A to B with decent fuel economy. I don't care about much else. I could go buy a new car today, but I don't see the value. People seem to keep buying things like $100k trucks despite them being way outside of budget.

radlad 2y ago

Have a family member who works as an assistant at a dealership and they are often pressured into buying a newer car for this reason.

lazide 2y ago
Also a variant of ‘exploitation starts at home’.
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  Also a variant of rule 211: "Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them."
  - 7thaccount 2y ago
    Is this a Ferengi Rule of Acquisition like "Treat people in your debt like family ... exploit them"?
    - TeMPOraL 2y ago
      Yes, all three quotes in this subthread are :).
      - 7thaccount 2y ago
        Haha. Thank you for confirming. It certainly seemed familiar. Sometimes I worry that what we view as a cautionary tale about wealth (satire) is seen as a goal amongst the elite.
        ToucanLoucan 2y ago
        I wouldn't say goal as much as natural consequence. One of the pieces of media that sent me quite leftwards was a podcast called Behind the Bastard's episode on what the host, Robert Evans, calls "Elite Panic" and it's history intertwined through (and behind, heh) various disasters in our history, and specifically, how the wealthy cause and/or react to them in ways that are profoundly inhuman. Which is not to dehumanize them but quite the contrary, is a fairly clear (and frankly understudied) way that the accumulation of wealth screws with your mind.