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Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

theguardian.com

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Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#221

Post by thanksgiving »

alextheparrot wrote: post #27
thanksgiving wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They earn too much to qualify for state health care, but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer. They frequently struggle to find enough money for basics like food and clothes for their children. Victor recently borrowed money from his mother to hold a birthday party for one of his daughters, and from a friend to pay for a dentist appointment. This one might be a little unpopular but it…

Do you have any idea of a situation where means testing results in better outcomes? I tend to be wary of hard and fast rules regarding most anything, so I'm hoping you can round out your comment and, by proxy, possibly my opinion.

> I tend to be wary of hard and fast rules regarding most anything, so I'm hoping you can round out your comment and, by proxy, possibly my opinion.

As you should be. I tend to be wary of absolutes as well. The "right" has been very efficient with dog-whistling and the window of discourse (Overton window) by taking things to the extreme and tugging on people's heart strings using fear and hatred as driving forces.

I am sure means-testing is good in a lot of scenarios. It is definitely more efficient than my crude "proposal"[1]. It makes "sense", right? Nobody has infinite resources so we should try to focus where we need it most. If humans were rational, this would be a good answer. Unfortunately, we are not rational, level-headed beings. We are emotional, irrational, overgrown infants living in our own bubbles.

What do you think?

[1] It is not actually a proposal, more of a thought experiment.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#222

Post by gnopgnip »

notyourwork wrote: post #178
koolba wrote: post #174

> They earn too much to qualify for state healthcare, but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer. They frequently struggle to find enough money for basics like food and clothes for their children. Victor recently borrowed money from his mother to hold a birthday party for one of his daughters, and from a friend to pay for a dentist appointment. They might want to look into not being marri…

> but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer. This is what is wrong with health care in the US. How can this not be considered a serious flaw in the way the system is currently structured?

Because wages are not tied to family size but the means test for state provided benefits are. They should also apply even if they are married and talk to a social worker.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#223

Post by jazzyk »

pacaro wrote: post #203
bsimpson wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a large company, and it frustrates me that they rely so heavily on contractors for campus support positions. At the same time, the incentives are pointed that way. It's easier to hire vendors to manage non-core services (food, massage, etc.) than to develop those processes in-house. At the same time, it's cheaper to not have to provide equal benefits to vendor employees. The lack of access to on-site medic…

Yeah, this happened at Microsoft. Back in the day there wasn't such a clear line between contractors and FTEs. The lawsuit did a lot of damage in both directions. It's not clear who benefitted other than the attorneys. Also, if you make these roles direct employees, then you can get into an awkward position wrt 401K contributions, if the delta between your highest and lowest payed employees is too great. My understan…

>The lawsuit did a lot of damage in both directions. It's not clear who benefitted other than the attorneys.

That lawsuit single-handedly created an additional layer of intermediaries (whole industry, really), which eats up ~30% of consulting revenue and provides close to zero value.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#224

Post by bykovich2 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #208

They're living in their parents garage. With the single biggest cost of living(housing) removed, I'm curious how they can't afford life at 80k/yr. Besides for housing, cost of living does not need to be particularly higher in SV than elsewhere. Either that, or the parents are charging them market rate to live in the garage, which is probably illegal anyway...

How do you figure that "besides for housing, cost of living does not need to be particularly higher in SV than elsewhere"? While housing is undeniably the most wildly out-of-control expense in Silicon Valley, the rest of the essentials of life ain't cheap either.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#225

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

jeffdavis wrote: post #185

They make decent money -- good money even. This is really an article about the high housing costs in the Bay Area. I don't see any other real message here. All of the people who oppose residential development near work sites are to blame. Period.

The article never mentions what hours they get, just their hourly rate. It's not fair to say they're making good money.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#226

Post by thanksgiving »

maxerickson wrote: post #181
humanrebar wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A more middle ground solution would be to keep means testing but turn hard cut-offs into smoother ramp-downs. Making a few grand more shouldn't lose you benefits worth much more.

They are objecting to wealth transfer, I doubt making it more effective matters to them.

> They are objecting to wealth transfer, I doubt making it more effective matters to them.

There are some "well-meaning" people who support shutting down all government entitlement programs. They will never admit to it but they see it as competition to religious "charity" and that more people would "find" {{ $deity }} if they had nowhere else to turn.

There is no I can to say to these "well-meaning" people.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#227

Post by sauronlord »

canadian_voter wrote: post #198
koolba wrote: post #174

> They earn too much to qualify for state healthcare, but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer. They frequently struggle to find enough money for basics like food and clothes for their children. Victor recently borrowed money from his mother to hold a birthday party for one of his daughters, and from a friend to pay for a dentist appointment. They might want to look into not being marri…

They might want to look into not being married. Wow. Just wow. For some people, marriage is more than a financial arrangement. They'd also save a bundle by not having kids. Maybe they should sell one of them, it would help pay for the others?

Wrong.

Legal marriage by definition is JUST that. It is a Civil partnership aka. business agreement.

If it's not JUST that for them, then why would they sign JUST that?

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#228

Post by redthrowaway »

canadian_voter wrote: post #198
koolba wrote: post #174

> They earn too much to qualify for state healthcare, but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer. They frequently struggle to find enough money for basics like food and clothes for their children. Victor recently borrowed money from his mother to hold a birthday party for one of his daughters, and from a friend to pay for a dentist appointment. They might want to look into not being marri…

They might want to look into not being married. Wow. Just wow. For some people, marriage is more than a financial arrangement. They'd also save a bundle by not having kids. Maybe they should sell one of them, it would help pay for the others?

He's pointing out the absurdity of various incentives that exist, not defending them.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#229

Post by turc1656 »

rhizome wrote: post #48
cabaalis wrote: post #4

Serious question, politics aside. How many jobs have been prior filled by teenagers or recent college graduates, that are no longer being filled by those groups for whatever reason? Is every single type of profession required to support a family of 4? Edit: 5, per the photo on the article

It's been a long time since I've seen teenagers (or the college-aged) working at a grocery store, or even Target.

Really? That's odd, because that's at least half the staff where I live for all of those types of positions.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#230

Post by rhaps0dy »

bykovich2 wrote: post #176
myroon5 wrote: post #164

Almost 80k/year in salary leaves a family stuck in a garage over there? That's absurd

The cost of living in the Bay Area is -- and I say this with no figuration -- frightening. It provokes genuine fear in me.

Har, "with no figuration" is a good substitute for old "literally". Thanks.

I only frightens me figuratively, but that may be because I don't plan on moving there.

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