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Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

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Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#171
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we are vastly over-represented by any standard. Population India in 2013 : 1.3 billion Number of Indians in the technology sector = ? Lets be generous and say that all Indians in the USA work in the tech sector. That would be 2 million. Then lets be even more generous and add the entire population of Bangalore, 4 million as tech workers. 6E6/1.3E9 = 0.4 percent. That's a simple standard showing that you are a minor…

Considering the entire population of India is an absurd premise when discussing Asian-Indian representation in the US tech sector. Asian-Indians make up about 1% of the US population - I don't know how many work in tech in the USA, but I can guarantee you it's a greater share than 1%.

> I can guarantee you it's a greater share than 1%

What's that have to do with not being a minority?

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#172
post #18
post #12

Preamble: I'm not questioning or talking against the article at all, just making some notes. The problem seems to be real all around the world, which is yet another indicator that most societies are not ready for global market. The only thing I miss from the article: did she try to talk to her harassers directly before going to a manager? Maybe I misread something but it seems like this did not happen, yet this shoul…

> The only thing I miss from the article: did she try to talk to her harassers directly before going to a manager? Maybe I misread something but it seems like this did not happen, yet this should always be the first step. I understand where you're coming from. But... there should be no need for one adult to educate another that bad behavior is unacceptable. Hi! I know you enjoy punching me from behind when I'm doing…

> there should be no need for one adult to educate another that bad behavior is unacceptable.

In a perfect world, where each and every one of us is aware of each and every culture around the world, this is true. Right now, we are in the middle of a process, where we encounter with culture we never dealt with before.

In some societies the boundaries for certain acts - such as personal space, physical contact, etc - is completely different to others.

Therefore I do believe talking could solve a small percentage of situations, which one considers harassment. ( Not the one in the article. )

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#173
When given a request, she refused to do it, and then complained of harassment because she was the one asked to do the task. Is she always on edge like that? Notice that she seems to be the one to stir up controversy in her meetings. Why is that?

Here is the problem. She's an outsider. Outsiders, no matter what makes them an outsider, will always be treated differently. While she thinks she's a special case, and Apple must be a bad place to work, it should be noted that Tim Cook is an openly gay male who rose to the position of CEO.

As it so often is, we hear one side of a story but never the other. There are millions of stories in the naked city and this is only one of them and it's one-sided.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, as the saying goes.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#174
post #87
post #71

> I was getting preferential treatment because of my “cuteness factor” > Indian women being subservient I agree that these comments don't belong in the workplace. I have seen similar ones lead to people fired on the day and escorted to the door. Thankfully it's relatively rare but some places do take it very seriously. Apple was wrong. In Australia the law is clear and they've breached it. Take them to court and get…

> Apple was wrong. In Australia the law is clear and they've breached it. Take them to court and get your payout Is the OP in Australia?

The article is pretty clear that she was in the US. Not sure what Australian law has to do with this.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#175

> I also eventually received an apology from the company and got time off to deal with my stress. I'm not sure how I feel(as an AAPL shareholder) about this. I invest in the company, and they are spending(albeit a tiny portion in the grand scheme of things) my money to pay you...so you can deal with your stress? Really? I understand bereavement leave, sick leave, and FMLA....but stress? What happened to businesses ex…

As an AAPL shareholder I want them to fix the problem so that their employees don't harass other employees.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#176
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the entire population of India is an absurd premise when discussing Asian-Indian representation in the US tech sector. Asian-Indians make up about 1% of the US population - I don't know how many work in tech in the USA, but I can guarantee you it's a greater share than 1%.

> I can guarantee you it's a greater share than 1% What's that have to do with not being a minority?

'minority in tech' <-- phrase in question.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#177
post #69
post #53

I can't help but notice the contradiction. A man jumped to her defense, which was sexism, and then her co-workers got resentful, which she wanted to be defended from but wasn't, and that was sexism too. Somehow, we all need to display more empathy for her situation. I imagine there's a different side to this. Her coworkers noticed her getting treated differently and started teasing her about it, in a typical form of…

There are definitely multiple sides to this, like any story. Your imaginary account of the other side does strike me as presumptuous. You were not there, but you do feel entitled to paint a picture of what could have happened. It's like saying to somebody who said they got beat up in the park, that there is another side to their story: they were provoking the other party, and when they got into a fight they didn't ru…

But that's a problem, too. You weren't there and have no way of knowing if this whole story isn't made up. What's the point and purpose of a current employee(?) at Apple running to Medium at posting such such a public article?

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#178
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In reality, price discovery does not require any such monopoly. For example, the stock market is highly efficient at price discovery, yet there is no single monopolistic buyer who chooses prices for everyone who wants to purchase a stock. I am aware of the debate as to whether index funds should be illegal (e.g. [1]), but I don't find them super compelling. Index investors are not, in fact, passive, they are merely i…

Unions don't exist to improve price discovery per se , they exist to reduce the power imbalance between massive autocratic organizations given great power (for good reason) by the state and individual workers, on a broad set of issues that does usually include compensation.

I'm perfectly happy with that "power imbalance", whatever that means. Why can't the union refuse to protect non-union workers against this "imbalance"?

It sounds like the union needs special legally granted monopoly powers to sell me services I don't actually want. The term for that is "rent seeking", actually.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#179
post #65

Sorry, Indians are not minorities in tech. Sheesh, my DSP class in grad school was 25 asians and 3 whites.

OP's milking that victim card for all it's worth.

Why is this the victim card? It's an anecdote that one persons grad class is a certain way. How does this reflect on the demographics of the industry? I've been to many companies that are majority white male.

Re: Harassment at Apple: A personal perspective

#180
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing I miss from the article: did she try to talk to her harassers directly before going to a manager? Maybe I misread something but it seems like this did not happen, yet this should always be the first step. I understand where you're coming from. But... there should be no need for one adult to educate another that bad behavior is unacceptable. Hi! I know you enjoy punching me from behind when I'm doing…

thank you :-) i think that is the point of the article .. we are in a chicken and egg situation here .. no one believes women when they say there are problems and hence there is no progress ..

> no one believes women when they say there are problems and hence there is no progress ..

There are huge public awareness campaigns around all of these issues.

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