Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 171 posts

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#151

Post by ryandrake »

diskcat wrote: post #88
prostoalex wrote: post #60

> I am the single mother who closed 17K in month one and 19K in month two. This needs more context. Is this amount of sales considered incredible, very good, average, below average or significantly below average in Yelp world? It's one thing if the author was a top-notch performer terminated for family circumstances beyond her control, it would be a different story if she was under-performing, perhaps on internal pro…

If she was a top-notch performer Yelp would have bent over backwards to keep her around. The fact that they didn't would imply that the trouble of keeping her is less than the cost of firing her, which says a lot about the performance of an employee.

> cost of firing her

I keep hearing this phrase here, often as justification for being picky when hiring. As someone who's never run a business, can someone please elaborate a bit about what it costs to fire someone? I thought, at least in the USA, there are really no worker protections. You just say "pack your stuff up and get out".

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#152

Post by tunap »

idunno246 wrote: post #87
pilsetnieks wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So here's how it's going to play out. We'll start you on $2k/month base, and then after 3 months your target bonuses kick in Hoodwink enough people and fire them before those 3 months are up, and you've got a sustainable business model there.

theyre actually still probably net negative - it costs money to train someone

More than paying the commissions for the salea that are finalized during the 'probation period'? The parents statement seems to be spot-on for Yelp's business standards track record.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#153

Post by tunap »

thrillgore wrote: post #149

Just as before, the longer I read this, the far less sympathetic I grow. I hope she can get situated elsewhere quickly. DO NOT TAKE OUT A HUGE ASS LOAN. Don't make that mistake. Come on, people.

Easy for you or I to say. Or anyone else who isn't impoverished, without(or ignorant of) credit choices who's seemingly last option is the ubiquitous 'Loan Stores' that prey on the disadvantaged.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#154

Post by ryandrake »

rootlocus wrote: post #102
b6 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please help me understand your point of view.

When my father died last year, I was immediately offered (without me even asking for) up to two weeks payed leave. And they didn't call me the next day to give me an ultimatum. Of course the company didn't care that my father died. No one outside of my team even knew. But my immediate supervisor did. And he did everything he could to help me get through. Because he's a human, not a corporate drone. However deep or sh…

You lucked into working for a pretty great company, then. I couldn't imagine being offered unsolicited extra paid time off from any company I've ever worked for, regardless of reason. The mantra these days seems to be: companies exist to squeeze as much value out of employees as they can whilst paying as little as they possibly can. If, as a company, you're not doing this, you're going to get outcompeted by companies who are.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#155

Post by ryandrake »

prostoalex wrote: post #101
tanv_nadkarni wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly my thoughts. Also I don't understand the "single mom" part. Society does not owe any special treatment to a single mom, not more than any other mom. Single mother is a choice of an independent woman and if she cant afford it she should probably not make it. Instead of being thankful for an employer to have given an opportunity in first place she is ranting against her employer, this is going to make it diffic…

> Society does not owe any special treatment to a single mom, not more than any other mom. Just playing the devil's advocate here: 1) Society also does not provide any particular path for her kid's pre-school, which she must cover out out of pocket, unlike, let's say, creches in France. 2) When her kid grows up, society (in California at least) also doesn't provide any meaningful transportation options to/from school…

I was going to reply do your #2 and ask why doesn't her kid just take the school bus like everyone else, but did a quick search and learned today that California does not require schools to provide busses! WTF is up with that? We force parents to send their kids to school, but don't provide a way to get them to school, and punish the kid with detention when they're late or don't come? Now THAT is messed up.

How do kids in CA expected to get to school if they're not within walking distance and have no public transportation?

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#156

Post by prostoalex »

ryandrake wrote: post #155
prostoalex wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Society does not owe any special treatment to a single mom, not more than any other mom. Just playing the devil's advocate here: 1) Society also does not provide any particular path for her kid's pre-school, which she must cover out out of pocket, unlike, let's say, creches in France. 2) When her kid grows up, society (in California at least) also doesn't provide any meaningful transportation options to/from school…

I was going to reply do your #2 and ask why doesn't her kid just take the school bus like everyone else, but did a quick search and learned today that California does not require schools to provide busses! WTF is up with that? We force parents to send their kids to school, but don't provide a way to get them to school, and punish the kid with detention when they're late or don't come? Now THAT is messed up. How do ki…

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/school-bus-service-va...

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#157

Post by WalterSear »

michaelmrose wrote: post #50
diskcat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Yelp didn't vote for her to be a single mom, or for her BF to go on a risky outdoor activity to get injured, or for her to take a loan @ 300% interest (lol wat?). For some reason people seem to think they deserve special treatment for the choices that they made that didn't turn out so well. Yelp is a company. Its relation with her is that of business, service in exchange for currency on agreed upon work conditio…

Taking the 3 days off to care for the bf regardless of whether his injury was his fault or half a day to care for a sick kid are not unreasonable requests.

Apparently, she had a history of absences.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#158

Post by idunno246 »

tunap wrote: post #152
idunno246 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

theyre actually still probably net negative - it costs money to train someone

More than paying the commissions for the salea that are finalized during the 'probation period'? The parents statement seems to be spot-on for Yelp's business standards track record.

The person training them can probably be out making deals 10x as big for instance

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#159

Post by hsod »

This is a really shitty situation but I'm not sure it's Yelp's fault.

There seems to be a fundamental assumption that, by paying someone to make sales calls for them, Yelp takes on a sort of overarching responsibility for that person's general well-being.

Is it just because Yelp is a big institution with deep pockets? Aren't the various governments bigger institutions with deeper pockets?

It seems to me much more logical that welfare should come from the state, and that people and corporations should be free to enter into or exit from mutually beneficial economic relationships.

The author proudly states that she doesn't rely on the state to care for her son, but why not? Wasn't she effectively relying on the goodwill of Yelp to care for her son?

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#160

Post by carlosnunez »

Yelp was really shitty for treating her this way, but the decisions she made to move to SF and work for Yelp are HIGHLY questionable.

Taking out a loan at 300% interest while FULL WELL knowing that you can't afford rent (HER ENTIRE PAYCHECK goes to rent!) or basic living necessities AND caring for a family AS A SINGLE MOM is beyond irresponsible.

Post reply on HN