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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

#271

Post by troygoode »

oneshot908 wrote: post #268
steffan wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Can you elaborate? I don't recall ever seeing anything of the sort while I worked there.

There are all sorts of wonderful shop classes and related perks at FB. Older and senior talent in my experience is discouraged from attending these classes. Maybe they weren't always that way or maybe someone smacked them with a clue bat over that behavior, don't know...

"shop classes"? like... woodworking?

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#272

Post by canadian_voter »

anigbrowl wrote: post #254
wutbrodo wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 ge…

Bingo.

Marriage is a responsibility, but it also provides rights. A system that financially punishes marriage is cruel.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#274

Post by nathan_f77 »

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?

> For some people, marriage is more than a financial arrangement.

For sure, but you don't have to tell the government about it. You can still have a ceremony and wear rings and swear you'll live together until you die. Informally, you can pretty much have whatever kind of marriage you want, even a polygamous one. No-one is going to stop a bunch of people from living together as roommates in some kind of committed relationship. Although I just checked, and some of these relationships are actually illegal in Canada [1]. I think it's really just to protect minors, and they don't care what a bunch of adults are doing.

EDIT: Haha I also just noticed your username

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_polygamy#North_Ame...

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#275

Post by derekdahmer »

danso wrote: post #204
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…

Thanks for mentioning this example. Every time I see complaints of how FB (or any big company) should not be using contractors, I'm at a loss to think of companies that employ this kind of support staff. I think most of the companies I've worked have generally outsourced cafeteria and janitorial work, albeit these companies were in much more affordable metros.

It's a lost opportunity that companies who view themselves as socially progressive and invest heavily in marketing and PR around inclusivity then continue inadvertently maintaining an internal class system of knowledge vs service workers.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#276

Post by FLUX-YOU »

kevmo wrote: post #261
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.

Apparently good money does not translate into a liveable wage. "Stop grandstanding and take care of your own house first" is more of the message of this article, I'd say.

"$x is a 'good wage'" has always been a simple and loaded statement, but with the media highlighting economic inequality (esp. around tech and silicon valley) for so long, news & people now commonly discuss cost-of-living with wages and now look at the net value as the talking point.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#277

Post by igravious »

rhaps0dy wrote: post #230
bykovich2 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Totally off-topic but considering the primary sense of `literally' is being figuratively eroded all around me, “with no figuration” might be the best option we'll end up with. I wish I could insure it never came to pass.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#278

Post by codebook »

bykovich2 wrote: post #224
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.

But my family (4 persons) lived at apartment ($2600/month) in south bay with 90k/year income. 80k/year wasn't that bad if they pay more than $1000/month for that garage.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#279

Post by ocschwar »

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #269
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's a lot of truth to it: raise their wages, and in a heartbeat, those workers will see their rents rise. This offers a brilliant solution, just in the other direction. Let's lower the wages of programmers in the area. As their wages decrease the price of real estate will go down!

Why not get rid of political NIMBYism? Aritficially reducing housing supply to increase demand is morally wrong.

The fact is Apple, Facebook and Google have not been able to do that already, despite all three companies and their employees showing interest in doing precisely that.

Turns out our democratic processes have not yet been entirely subverted, for better and for worse.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#280

Post by bashinator »

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?

Marriage being for love is a fairly recent re-definition of the institution. For most of human history the social and financial contract has been far more important than peoples' feelings.
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