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

411–420 of 841 posts

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#411

Post by kristofferR »

bigiain wrote: post #398
sounds wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amy, I believe your story because it is a second independent set of events that closely parallels Susan's story. You do not need to suffer more indignity by "being outed." Best of luck!

I also believe your story Amy, and strongly suggest you think _very_ carefully before providing any sort pf "proof" to people who demand it, and view those people with intense suspicion. And reledi? Grow up man - give up on your "not all men" attitude - trying desperately to preserve your own dignity by failing to acknowledge that our industry treats women in ways with should shame all men, and that your "Holy Grail"…

What you think about "not all men" seems to dependent on whether you believe that the concept of original sin is immoral or not.

I don't think I should feel shame because someone I had no control over, which incidentally had the same gender/skin color/nationality/ethnicity as me, did something wrong.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#412

Post by lubesGordi »

diebir wrote: post #354

Without getting into any details this: "Once in a group chat, team members referred to a new Asian American recruit as slanty eye joe" seems very strange to me. The Uber tech org is like 80%+ foreign born, this makes pretty much zero sense. Disclaimer: I work for Uber.

You work for Uber but are you in the SV offices? The culture probably varies quite a bit depending on where you are.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#413

Post by bigiain »

indifferentalex wrote: post #237
reledi wrote: post #134

Amy, many people believe your story. But based on the flags this story is getting, many don't, at least not yet. Is there any way you can verify the authenticity of your story without losing your anonymity to the public? For example, would Susan be able to verify you as an ex-employee?

I agree, this is the only thing that I've been wondering, otherwise it really is, for me personally, the end of any interaction with the company, it is unforgivable if true.

Do you have _any_ basis at all for your suggestion that _all_ of the stories you hear in private and public about the leadership and management of Uber being toxic all the way from the top are ever worth "wondering" about their truthfulness? Is _any_ of Uber's public behaviour worthy of giving them the benefit of the doubt? They're rotten through and through - and here you have the audacity and insensitivity to question individual accounts of poor treatment at the hands of the clearly reprehensible garbage in control of the company? _Seriously?_

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#414

Post by stale2002 »

favorited wrote: post #361
losteverything wrote: post #309

Two comments Future Amy's should always be prepared to start recording at a moment's notice. Think Roger Ailes If you ignore a verbal wrong said to someone else and you don't say something, then it is like you said it yourself.

> Future Amy's should always be prepared to start recording at a moment's notice It's not always that simple. California is a 2-party consent state. INAL, but my understanding is that a private conversation (in a non-public place) means all parties have an expectation of privacy, which makes recording that conversation without the consent of all parties a felony. Presumably, getting consent from your harasser to reco…

What are they going to do? Sue you? This stuff is hard to prosecute. And if they start prosecuting... well... then their sexual harassment behavior will be made public.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#415

Post by foldr »

legostormtroopr wrote: post #346
jhgaylor wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? The pay gap is real and was nearly an aside in the article. This article is about a woman being mistreated by men in tech. This comment seems to be as well.

Because if true and provable, this is a federal case that she can sue over and win. In reality the wage gap is rarely as cut and dry as "women get paid less than men for the same jobs".

Not everyone is champing at the bit to sue people whenever the opportunity arises.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#416

Post by zem »

uptownfunk wrote: post #183
leggomylibro wrote: post #132

>Travis is well known to protect high performing team leaders no matter how abusive they are towards their employees. The HR team was known to be deftly[sic] afraid of Travis’s tendency to blame and ridicule the women and yell at HR whenever they went in with complaints of abuse. I heard about Travis personally congratulating Mike#2 for meeting strict deadlines months after I complained to HR about my abuse. This is…

Maybe I've watched too much Suits and The Good Wife, but it just seems that it's all futile. They're a huge corp, if you file suit against them they'll hit back harder with bigger and badder lawyers, and you either settle out of court, or play the lotto with the court system and try your hand at a judgement with whatever lawyers you can afford. It's really sad how stacked the odds seem.

agreed, watching "the good wife" has been uncomfortably educational about how the system works.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#417

Post by solidsnack9000 »

tyre wrote: post #338
mcmoose75 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good deal of this is the entire system of control Uber has (or really, hasn't) implemented here. We already know that managers at Uber use reviews to punish those on their team that are at all critical of them (especially for ethic issues). The "20 men on her team", even if they did want to say something, could reasonably expect to have their careers (and potentially a material amount of Uber stock vesting) impacte…

If Uber had implemented a good system of control, we wouldn't be talking about this in the first place. The question is what do we do when there isn't a good system. Yes, there is risk to speaking out. It wouldn't be brave to do so if there were no risk. I do think it takes people who are already in a relative position of power to minorities and women in tech–which includes men at the same level—saying that this will…

> If Uber had implemented a good system of control, we wouldn't be talking about this in the first place.

The system of control doesn't have to be optimized for good. In a situation like this -- where managers seem to operate without fear of reporting or push back from underlings -- there likely is a lot of control in place already.

> Yes, there is risk to speaking out. It wouldn't be brave to do so if there were no risk.

The same could be said of the victims themselves and highlights the problem with this attitude: betting on bravery is long odds.

If workers are highly dependent on managers' approval -- not of their work, but of their opinions, character, manner -- then they will learn to keep their heads down and go along to get along. It's too late when something like this happens.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#418

Post by xapata »

mememachine wrote: post #378
iak8god wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suppose you have a pattern of behavior around me that offends and discomforts me. If I speak out, and complain, and you continue, you are probably being abusive (although not necessarily.) On the otherhand, if I make no attempt to express my discomfort in any way (doesnt mean verbal, could be anything), then the fault lies with ME, the supposed victim. Bullshit. This kind of criticism might occasionally apply when…

>Personally, the uber story absolutely did not read that way. The issue is with people in these comments making overly broad claims. From my comment. Again, I specifically addressed this. Did you read my comment?

If you're not talking about this situation at Uber, then why is your comment relevant?

Despite your claim that you're discussing other situations, it seems like you are trying to say the post author is a "victim" rather than a victim.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#419

Post by bigiain »

alinspired wrote: post #408

what every man needs to ask himself and reflect on: - would i stand up to a pig in the room - would i stand up to a pig in the room that is way up the ladder

- and have I had my snout in the trough alongside my coworkers so long that I don't even realise the rest of the world can all see my curly tail...

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#420

Post by walterstucco »

jakobegger wrote: post #376
jastingo wrote: post #257

I'm not in the business of defending Uber - quite the contrary - but reading through the comments it seems that most people are assuming that this post by an anonymous person is 100% true. These types of posts are worrying to me. Why could this post not have been crafted by someone at Lyft? Or one of Uber's many other detractors? Given the PR nightmare that Uber is in why not pile on while the public seems primed for…

Everyone believes the story because it sounds plausible. It's not the first time we've heard of very bad culture at Uber, and it fits the ways they have been reported to treat their drivers, etc. Most of the women who left Uber didn't publicly announce why they did. Now we're seeing a plausible explanation.

As much as I oppose to Uber philosophy, technology.and their work and HR policies (I even think it's dangerous for the future of mobility), I still think plausible is not enough for news to be news. It's merely enough for bar stories. I respect so much journalism that I don't want enough, I want facts, names, proofs and the smocking gun.
Post reply on HN