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Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120831/page/n6... As you can see on that page, here is a definition of the word rape: 1. trans. to take (a thing) by force. In my usage, I was using it as the state government of CA, taking (part of) my severance by force. I don't see any issue with the usage.

I see an issue. You said Ca “raped” _you_, not your money. You meant it in a metaphorical sexual sense and now you’re rationalizing your insensitivity.

while we're doing the reddit thing:

His usage is technically correct. e.g. if you rape a forest you're taking the trees from the forest. He owns the money, the forest owns the trees, a person owns her body.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see any issue with the usage. You refuse to see any issue with the usage.

0x8BADF00D, one of your comments was flagged, probably because you used an obscure English word that people usually assume is racist, but is in fact not. Though your tone isn't helping you. Everyone else: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_n...

Everyone is aware of the pedantic point you're trying to make and understood what that poster was trying to do.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will be very interesting to watch financial reports from health insurers. Premiums are the same, despite (almost) everyone consuming less health services. Can Covid costs (at current patient levels) make up for the loss of other claims? I'm doubtful, especially since some Covid costs are evidently borne by the federal government. The suffering of hospitals is circumstantial evidence that insurers are paying out less…

No, the covid costs are actually not terribly high. The other thing is that as millions of employees get laid off, millions of health insurance premiums stop getting paid.

> as millions of employees get laid off, millions of health insurance premiums stop getting paid.

Failure mode of a system where healthcare is tied to employment -- works as long as people keep shuffling around, shatters when a systemic black swan comes along.

And no, cobra doesn't address it. It's just a patch. Anyone actually pay cobra for more than a month or two? You quickly realize just how expensive employer group plans can be for an individual.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an exchange between a government and a company, it's all a matter of policy and law. "We can survive without it so give it to someone more in need" isn't the way it's done, nor should it be in a capitalist society.

You just made a very compelling argument for more socialism.

Compelling to the right sets of prejudices who have their own telology with preordained conclusions but ultimately a minutae of the whole picture akin to hyperfocusing on the obscure set "deaths caused by wearing a seatbelt" vs the far larger set "deaths prevented by them".

It is more an arguement for doing your goddamned homework as a government. Companies are essentially a function to find corner cases within what is written or not written. That sort of "creativity" is what they do. Using it as an arguement against it is like saying we should never have kept and domesticated cats or dogs because they can't be trusted to not to grab the Thanksgiving turkey when your back is turned.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#465
post #39
post #12

In some companies it feels like they are firing the people that they could not easily get rid of otherwise - cutting of the bottom 25% of staff (based on low performance reviews or personal grudges).

Statistically-speaking, this will disproportionately effect women and minorities (low performance reviews !necessarily= low performance when implicit bias is present, which again, statistically-speaking, it is). Certainly these times suck for everyone, but there go the careers of black, brown, and female millennials with yet another black mark on their CVs before they've hit their 40s.

yikes.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#467

God this brings back memories of fuckedcompany.com Right after September 11th, that site got very popular among engineers like me -- seeing (on a daily basis) which company bloodbath was next. It was kind of fun, until it was our company.

I sometimes check https://www.thelayoff.com/ to see which companies are having layoffs, though much of it is rumors of things which never happen.

When Oracle data cloud had 20% layoffs in September (~250 people) that site was the best and worst place. You could see layoff reports in realtime and get info on how to do benefit claims/etc.

Very scary to sit in an office where nobody is working because we are waiting to see who gets let go next.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#468

Hospitals are having a surprisingly tough time of things. I work for a very famous hospital in a small town in the American midwest, and we've (our IT department, that is) laid off all our contractors and the rest of us have mandatory furloughs coming up too. They're doing everything they can to not let us go, but some of us will probably end up getting sacked. And this is maybe the richest and most well-connected ho…

For-profit hospitals are a stain on the American healthcare system. I worked for one of these facilities years ago, and elective surgery was the only thing the administrators cared about.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#470
post #454
post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exec isn't wrong. You don't turn down free money if it's available, especially if you can use it to help build the business. There are plenty of businesses in /r/smallbusiness or /r/startups talking about doing exactly this. Now, if they used it to buy a new McLaren or something like that, then, yeah, they're a piece of shit.

If they are audited and can't show impact by COVID19, then there might be fines. Big ones. I just signed the loan app for my 36 yr old software company which has been hit by a drop-off in sales.

Would you mind sharing which company?

It'd be nice to have a place where companies which are struggling right now can post ads.

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