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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

#251

Post by SilasX »

dsr_ wrote: post #57
henraldp wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should minimum wage jobs pay well enough to raise a family in Palo Alto?

Yes. The minimum wage in Palo Alto must support a family in Palo Alto, or within a very reasonable commute.

In order to rigorously capture the notion of a "reasonable commute", I've suggested we stop thinking in terms of nominal wages and start thinking in terms of "DIPHLoW": [real] discretionary income per hour lost to work.

Discretionary income = subtract off taxes and housing.

Hours lost to work = time at work plus time commuting or anything you have to regularly do to be able to work.

That way, the measure is less susceptible to the dismissal of "just move farther out" -- that has a cost in terms of increasing hours lost to work and therefore decreasing DIPHLoW.

It also highlights the impact of housing costs -- anything that keeps them from going down is effectively keeping DIPHloW down too.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#252

Post by angersock »

perfectstorm wrote: post #244
rhaps0dy wrote: post #238

>Nicole watches large amounts of leftover food go into the compost – food she’s not allowed to take home Why is she not allowed to take it home? It would be free for whoever her employer is, it would help her and her family. Also I really dislike wasting food.

One of the reasons for disallowing employees from taking home food is that they will lose their motivation to sell food if they get to keep the unsold food after business hours. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the deli employees hide expensive food from customers and take it home after work because it's "unsold". My cousin worked at Walmart during Black Friday sales and he has told me that his coworkers hide popul…

That's the dumbest goddamn thing I've ever heard, least of all because a TV on sale on Black Friday is pretty far from a nice sandwich.

This sort of selfish reasoning--"but but but what about the poors that might somehow abuse the system"--is cancerous, and you sir or madam are a shitty person for suggesting it.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#253

Post by notacoward »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #243
notacoward wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to travel to Facebook HQ once a month, unless I'm traveling to some other FB facility. Since I switch hotels and run in the mornings, this has given me a good opportunity to see what's going on in several different neighborhoods. One constant seems to be a pretty high number of camper vans, or sometimes plain old utility vans, parked semi-permanently on side street. I'm sure some of these are just there becaus…

>I have to travel to Facebook HQ once a month, unless I'm traveling to some other FB facility. I'm curious, is this because of your role or do all FB employees do this if they work outside of MPK?

Most FB employees are expected to work in a specific local facility most of the time, and have no particular travel requirement. I flipped that on its head; I save on my daily commute by WFH most of the time, and pay it back with the monthly trip. In the end I think it works out roughly equal. It's partly tied to my role, partly to leverage applied when I was being hired, and it seems to be unusual enough that my colleagues often look at me funny when I mention it.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#254

Post by anigbrowl »

wutbrodo wrote: post #240
canadian_voter wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> Wow. Just wow. For some people, marriage is more than a financial arrangement. Marriage in the legal sense and marriage in the religious/personal/emotional commitment sense are not the same thing. I don't think you're necessarily _always_ wrong, but I also don't see why you think it's so universal that people should load a specific legal status with so much emotional weight and be unable to separate it from the act…

It sounds like you've never been married. It's not a matter of getting the government to approve, it's a matter of getting other people to recognize it. If you have a common-law marriage but it's not documented then if your spouse falls ill and taken to hospital you might be denied visitation rights, for example.

I suggest you read some court filings/legal articles on the gay marriage cases from a few years ago to get an understanding of why people sued to have the right to get legally married, over and above just having an emotional commitment.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#255

Post by oneshot908 »

derekdahmer wrote: post #195

> A spokeswoman for Facebook said none of the company’s contingent or contract workers have access to facilities such as clinics, gyms, or bring-your-child-to-work days One thing I liked about AirBnB was their entire staff including cafeteria workers and security guards were full-time employees who ate the same food, had access to the same facilities and events, and went through the first week 'bootcamp' alongside de…

See also senior and older FB engineers being discouraged from participating in perks and events intended for younger and junior employees because FB can multitask at sucking.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#256

Post by BrandonMarc »

In the end, the article reads as an advertisement for the union they're joining. That's probably the general purpose of the article anyway.

That said, it does drive home the overall point that "inequality" is a very complicated issue, and for all the good PR that Facebook and Zuckerberg have, they're just as guilty, inasmuch as there is any real guilt to assign.

Facebook certainly has the money, and if they do indeed care about wealth inequality, they would do well to start at their own doorstep. So this worker is a contractor. So what? Very convenient; result still stands.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#257

Post by jimrandomh »

This is a problem with zoning in the area. Paying these workers more money would enable them to move out of a garage, but the amount of housing would stay the same, causing prices to rise until someone else is forced into a garage. Unfortunately, local governments in the south Bay area are controlled by people who want to maximize the price of their houses, injury to the poor and middle class be damned.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#258

Post by ryandrake »

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.

Sorry for having to be "that guy" but they're living in Menlo Park for crying out loud! I'd love to live in Menlo Park too, but I can't afford it, so instead I live 2 hours away and commute to work like everyone else. In the Bay Area, living close to work is pretty much a luxury for the rich.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#260

Post by oneshot908 »

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?

Sadly, the US tax code rewards not getting married, doubly so if both partners are high earners (see the marriage penalty). If you don't like this, don't concern troll, instead, ask your representatives why this continues to exist.
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