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

I am an Uber survivor

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 841 posts

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#101

Post by unityByFreedom »

grzm wrote: post #91
unityByFreedom wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sigh just trying to lighten the mood with a joke. -2 for that. Thanks HN. He did use the present tense :-P serious comment: I think it's great these stories are getting out. Now women know what they will face at Uber. And perhaps someone will have the strength to sue them for discrimination.

Yeah, this can be a pretty serious crowd (which I actually think is a strength of HN, as humor can be so easily misinterpreted on Internet forums). You've likely noticed how contentious and combative this topic has been in particular. A lot of people seem to be looking for any excuse to undercut another's comments. While that wasn't your intent, the lack of good faith that some people grant others can lead to unfortu…

> That's why I commented, by the way: to point out you may be misunderstanding your parent, not assuming you were acting in bad faith.

> Anyway, I hope you have a better day :) Be well.

Thanks, you too! =)

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#102

Post by jacobolus »

MaxfordAndSons wrote: post #65
joezydeco wrote: post #28

"In essence, the HR department blackmailed me that if I make noise, I’d be fired. I was distraught by the HR department’s response especially considering that most of the HR folks I dealt with were women." Say it over and over, say it loud, and say it to every single person entering the US workforce from day one: H/R ACTS AND WILL ALWAYS ACT IN THE COMPANY'S BEST INTERESTS. NOT YOURS. Amy's situation was grave, and k…

The genius of labeling it "human resources" just struck me. As an employee (and human) it seems reasonable to interpret it as "resources for humans" and thus assume it would be there to help. But its true meaning, to execs/stakeholders/corporate persons, is "[the department which manages the] human resources".

This is not really an obscure secret.

Wikipedia: “Human resources are the people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy. [...] A human-resources department (HR department) of an organization performs human resource management, overseeing various aspects of employment, such as compliance with labour law and employment standards, administration of employee benefits, and some aspects of recruitment and dismissal.”

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#103

Post by ubercore »

mjolk wrote: post #73
tatterdemalion wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should put your reputation on the line when you make such vile comments. Your profile says you're the "technical founder on a bootstrapping startup," I want to make sure I never use your product, do business with your company, or take calls from your recruiters.

Please tell me what is "vile" about saying "I believe Susan, but this blogpost strains credibility. If the author is being honest, I hope she speaks to an attorney".

> My default is "show me the evidence", but I believe Susan Fowler's account because she put her reputation on the line and I was willing to trust that she left, opposed to got fired, due to non-performance reasons based on being able to somewhat approximate/confirm her technical abilities.

... is a privileged viewpoint, and offensive to me. The author doesn't have to prove to your satisfaction that this happened to her to write this article.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#104

Post by [deleted] »

jordigh wrote: post #95

> tried to trigger me Man, I really wish the internet hadn't decided that "trigger" means to anger or upset someone instead of the original meaning: provoke an anxiety or panic attack, like lighting firecrackers around war veterans. Not that what Uber is doing here to "Amy" isn't despicable. I'm just a little bothered by this relatively frivolous usage of the word "trigger" compared to the original purpose for using…

[deleted]

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#105

Post by 31reasons »

Jemmeh wrote: post #100
31reasons wrote: post #70

It is very strange to me when I read these "Survivor" stories. I really can't relate to them not because I am a male and don't work in Silicon Valley but because I know I can and I have quit companies because I couldn't tolerate to work there. There is not fucking reason to keep suffering at a company for whatever reason. QUIT as soon as you feel unhappy let alone you come to a point where they "break" you. Are you k…

Uber is huge, it's recognizable, it's got interesting problems. Susan Fowler even wrote a bestselling book related to some of her work there. You get to work with a lot of smart people. That's a lot of motivation to try to stay despite bad things happening. It's easy to say in hindsight how bad it was, but I'd say most people want to try to do a good job and will expect some problems that they will just "have to deal…

She wrote: "Even though I don’t work at Uber any longer, the damage that was done to me by Uber’s work environment ruined my spirit."

you have stay until they kill your spirit just because Uber is a cool company?

I can imagine people keep staying there if they have to feed their hungry children and pay mortgage in a very bad economy, but not just because its a "Cool" company.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#106

Post by naravara »

joezydeco wrote: post #28

"In essence, the HR department blackmailed me that if I make noise, I’d be fired. I was distraught by the HR department’s response especially considering that most of the HR folks I dealt with were women." Say it over and over, say it loud, and say it to every single person entering the US workforce from day one: H/R ACTS AND WILL ALWAYS ACT IN THE COMPANY'S BEST INTERESTS. NOT YOURS. Amy's situation was grave, and k…

>H/R ACTS AND WILL ALWAYS ACT IN THE COMPANY'S BEST INTERESTS. NOT YOURS.

Point of order here. HR acts in management's best interests, not necessarily the company's. It's pretty clear that HR's actions here are not in the company's best interests given how much of a shitfest this has been for Uber. They gave cover for people who were not acting in Uber's best interests and, as a result, Uber lost all their goodwill, they're bleeding talent, and you'd have to be delusional to think toxic norms like this haven't been affecting their morale and productivity.

Management's interests are separate from the best interests of the company. Shareholder interests are separate from the best interests of the company. A company is made up of employees, management, shareholders, AND clients all together. All of them are stakeholders and its best interests are the things that properly balance the needs of everyone to fulfill its mission or goal. It's neoliberal bullshit to claim that only management and shareholders matter, and the sooner we accept that the sooner we can make our corporate governance tack into a sane direction.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#108

Post by CPLX »

jordigh wrote: post #95

> tried to trigger me Man, I really wish the internet hadn't decided that "trigger" means to anger or upset someone instead of the original meaning: provoke an anxiety or panic attack, like lighting firecrackers around war veterans. Not that what Uber is doing here to "Amy" isn't despicable. I'm just a little bothered by this relatively frivolous usage of the word "trigger" compared to the original purpose for using…

The word has lots of original meanings, many of which are quite disparate:

"Large price increases could trigger demands for even larger wage increases."

"His unpleasant remark triggered an argument that almost cost them their friendship"

"Studies show that lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue for Americans."

And so on. The usage you're citing is relatively recent jargon.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#109

Post by ubercore »

mjolk wrote: post #61
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If the culture at Uber was as rampantly ridiculous as described in this blogpost, men and women would be falling over themselves to tell their stories. Is this post not proof of that? Especially so soon after Ms. Fowler's account. Perhaps the floodgates are now open.

> Is this post not proof of that? Especially so soon after Ms. Fowler's account. Perhaps the floodgates are now open. The difference being that Susan Fowler's story was realistic. This blogpost is absurd and just adds noise that would compete with credible accounts.

Are you a female engineer at Uber? I would think that would be a reasonable baseline for criticizing the credibility of this story.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#110

Post by fictioncircle »

joezydeco wrote: post #28

"In essence, the HR department blackmailed me that if I make noise, I’d be fired. I was distraught by the HR department’s response especially considering that most of the HR folks I dealt with were women." Say it over and over, say it loud, and say it to every single person entering the US workforce from day one: H/R ACTS AND WILL ALWAYS ACT IN THE COMPANY'S BEST INTERESTS. NOT YOURS. Amy's situation was grave, and k…

> Amy's situation was grave, and kudos to her for getting out. But everyone should read these stories and burn this line into their heads permanently.

Yes but the company's best interest is to support Amy and fire Mike#2.

The reason is that if there is credible evidence of this behavior, she has easy settlement on par with Mike's value to the company (unless that is measured in 8 figures which is unlikely since at the end of the day, if they paid him $500k...they could replace him for $500k).

Post reply on HN