6 ms·
I once was an intern in a startup where the founder one day decided we all shall stop using computers one day a week. I could tell a dozen funny stories that ar
by iowai 12y ago
I once was an intern in a startup where the founder one day decided we all shall stop using computers one day a week. I could tell a dozen funny stories that arose from it.
You know, it where the golden 90s. Startups did all kind of crazy stuff. Paint their walls pink and what not. We had the wildest parties. The CEO often brought in a bunch of prostitutes and hired well known DJs.
The days of the week with the "no computer" rule slowed down things unbelievably. And has been abandoned after the founder has been kicked out of his own company. To my surprise, it did not kill the company. The company strives on to this day.
- onedev 12y agoName the company!
- Cthulhu_ 12y agoName and shame or name so you can send them your resumè?
- dragonwriter 12y agoIf you are going to put the accent (or both of them) in “résumé”, it goes (they go) the other way
- Achshar 12y agoprostitutes? I could actually believe what you said until that point. Making a day computer-free is something a crazy startup CEO would do (I could actually see myself doing it but once a month maybe, definitely not once a week).
- barnaby 12y agoI recall reading that myspace in the super early days used to have prostitutes and cocain at their Christmas party.
- onedev 12y agoThe legal team must have sat that one out.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- GFK_of_xmaspast 12y agoOh come on, stop it with this culture war stuff, you can still call them 'Christmas Parties'.
- dubcanada 12y agoI don't think that's what he meant lol. I think he was referring to the cocaine.
- iowai 12y agoWhat about prostitutes do you not believe? That they exist? That they get hired by companies to entertain the team? That this happens in startups?
- djur 12y agoThe latter two. I have trouble believing that even in the excesses of the dotcom boom there were companies hiring prostitutes in the open.
- emiliobumachar 12y agoPresumably they kept it out of the press releases. What's "in the open"?
- djur 12y agoWell, a party usually has a lot of people at it. All you need is one person who has qualms and calls the police. I'd have expected that kind of thing to be done with a little bit more discretion and plausible deniability.
- coldtea 12y agoAs the other guy said they can just call them "escorts" or "exotic dancers".
- ObviousScience 12y agoThat guy calls the police. The manager answer the door and tells the police that the employee misunderstood, and he'd merely hired dancers for the night. That guy doesn't have a job anymore, and no one is going to get in trouble with the cops. The only way to be sure that they're prostitutes is to actually have a transaction with one, which if you go to the police about, are more likely to get arrested for than anyone else, since you're the only proven john. You can be fairly direct with later deniability, and there's an incredibly high cost to being the guy that called the cops. Why do you think drug use at start-ups is so common, even at work sponsored events?
- druiid 12y agoApparently you've never been part of the advertisement world or know anyone in it. I have friends in the industry with numerous stories even worse than this. The things apparently that some companies will do to pull in clients is pretty astounding.
- incision 12y ago>"Apparently you've never been part of the advertisement world or know anyone in it." It's not just advertising. I'd wager it happens many if not most places where there are contracts to be awarded or specific talent to be retained. I'd imagine that the folks expressing disbelief are either inexperienced or so obviously 'square' that they're kept totally in the dark about such things. I've seen one place where it was nearly a standard of 'culture fit'. Note: I don't mean to condone this sort thing, just to bear witness to its prevalence.
- jonknee 12y agoWhat do you think happens when enormous sums of money are handed out to fairly young mostly male people?
- wtracy 12y agoGoogle has on-site masseuses. They also have dedicated massage rooms with no windows. (I've seen one.) I hope that I'm wrong, but I'm suspicious about what happens in there.
- AVTizzle 12y agoWhy on earth would you expect a massage room to have windows?
- dragonwriter 12y agoA fairly normal spa massage is done unclothed with a towel covering (the client disproves and covers up while the masseur or masseuse out of the room.) So, while a massage room might have windows, if it does they almost certainly would be covered completely when in use. So no windows isn't odd for a massage room.
- silon3 12y agoIt'd be a good idea to have Keyboard only day for UI designers...