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Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

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Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#261

Post by pkaye »

nicolas_t wrote: post #212
zapita wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect. The French like to complain about their taxes, but it's not that different from California. Employee protection regulation absolutely is problematic in France, because it over-protect relatively small groups at the expense of everyone else. Small and medium-sized businesses are most affected by this. The transition from 40-ish people to 200-ish people is where the system really breaks down for Fren…

No different than California? Let's see. I don't know the numbers well in Cali but I know what I paid in France. I'd be curious to see what one would pay in California for a similar situation. For a 100,000 euros income as a sole proprietorship, I paid 42% altogether. From those 42%, 7% were income tax, the remaining 35% were Charges sociales which covers healthcare, unemployment and retirement benefits. When French…

In California it probably adds up to 35% for an average person making $100k. Lots of variables like if you are married, have kids, own a house, etc. And health care benefits depends of the employer through the ACA is helping for the time being.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#262

Post by [deleted] »

chrischen wrote: post #243
kodablah wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just about what they did, it's also about why. It was a liked tweet. (Why bring up US foreign policy again? Many don't agree with those decisions either and it's unrelated.)

I’m simply replying to your comment that America do in fact enact policies to further its own political goals all the time. In fact the US is a frequent offender of doing so to influce foreign countries while at least China usually focuses on itself. If you meant just the American people, well not all Chinese side with China on the Tibet issue, but most do. But then that’s personal opinions and you can’t really blame…

[deleted]

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#263

Post by muzani »

corobo wrote: post #21

The meat of the story is that Omaha man worked for Marriott hotels on customer support. Their support system allows their agents to like tweets. The man appears to have inadvertently clicked like on a tweet while dealing with a large influx of support messages (due to a promo going on) thanking Marriott for listing Tibet as its own country which was a huge no-no due to Mariott's presence in China. Execs fire him as a…

"If liking a tweet will infuriate the largest (by population) country in the world, maybe $14/hr support agents shouldn't be able to one-click like tweets.

Another question does occur - if it's such a big deal for them, why is/was Tibet listed as its own country in their system that prompted the liked tweet in the first place?"

> I really hope this doesn't become the moral of all this.

It's two very rare mistakes in a row. One listing Tibet, which actually got noticed. Another was the misclick, which also got noticed.

But it would be extremely costly if we suddenly had a confirmation dialog on low level employees liking tweets, or if every form drop-down needs to be approved by senior management.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#264

Post by um_ya »

andrepd wrote: post #213
JPKab wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gets abused for sure, but more often, businesses get to fire bad employees, and this means they are more likely to give some people a chance who wouldn't get one otherwise. Hiring in certain countries is very risky, because it is so costly to fire a bad employee.

More often, you assert. But have you got any evidence to say so?

Can confirm, I run a business. The biggest expense to my company are the employees. All the regulatory requirements and bullshit that comes along with it, not to mention the risk of an employee suing the company for whatever reason. There's a lot of risk hiring employees, that's why I try to minimize the number of employees I have to hire, whenever possible.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#265

Post by mistermann »

letslightafire wrote: post #99
thisacctforreal wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cute, but for anyone who thinks China and the US are similar, please research the persecution of Falun Gong. Here's some heavily sarcastic coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_cURws4UaY

China Uncensored is a horribly biased news site which is funded by the Falun Gong. Not saying that China's treatment of Falun Gong isn't terrible but China Uncensored is a pretty bad news source. I'd put it akin to some fake news sites.

> I'd put it akin to some fake news sites.

Could you provide any actual evidence of any "fake news" that they've broadcast? Or in 2018 is simply an association with another group proof enough?

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#266

Post by probably_not »

michaelmrose wrote: post #135

Lets be real about America's relationship with China. They are our enemies. Both parties seek to dominate the globe even if nobody is anxious to do so bullets and bombs. Both parties have values that can never be reconciled. How do you reconcile the notion that man ought to be free with a society that believes in lifelong servitude and a mans proper place under each others boots. A society that poisons its people and…

I am neither American nor Chinese, but your oversimplification will be taken more seriously if

(i) US stops borrowing insane amounts of money from China to fund its grand lifestyle (aka beggars cannot be choosers)

(ii) you could spend some time introspecting on the said grand lifestyle which plays a major role in having to deal mainly with first world problems (are we living our ideals?) vs third world ones (how to manage so many poor people without access to a lot of resources?)

(iii) US itself didn't have an extremely hypocritical stance wherever it suits them. I don't see too many Americans talking about the labor rights in oil rich countries

You know, its a complex system. Although I do agree with your thesis (no company should bow to these kind of petty demands), its not because the demand is coming from China. I would say the same thing to those who profit from, say, the lunatic patent system imposed via US on other countries.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#267

Post by bm1362 »

nicolas_t wrote: post #212
zapita wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect. The French like to complain about their taxes, but it's not that different from California. Employee protection regulation absolutely is problematic in France, because it over-protect relatively small groups at the expense of everyone else. Small and medium-sized businesses are most affected by this. The transition from 40-ish people to 200-ish people is where the system really breaks down for Fren…

No different than California? Let's see. I don't know the numbers well in Cali but I know what I paid in France. I'd be curious to see what one would pay in California for a similar situation. For a 100,000 euros income as a sole proprietorship, I paid 42% altogether. From those 42%, 7% were income tax, the remaining 35% were Charges sociales which covers healthcare, unemployment and retirement benefits. When French…

I’m in SF and get paid 13,750 USD a month and take home $8328 after taxes (no 401k deferral) which is roughly 39.5%.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#268

Post by curun1r »

cylinder wrote: post #54
corobo wrote: post #21

The meat of the story is that Omaha man worked for Marriott hotels on customer support. Their support system allows their agents to like tweets. The man appears to have inadvertently clicked like on a tweet while dealing with a large influx of support messages (due to a promo going on) thanking Marriott for listing Tibet as its own country which was a huge no-no due to Mariott's presence in China. Execs fire him as a…

The real story is he has no employment rights because he's in America and he's "at will." They can dismiss him because they don't like his lunch selection that day and he has no rights. That's at will employment. This type of situation plays out all over the country everyday.

Or the real story is how much businesses kowtow to the Chinese government and enable their human rights abuses. I would be quite happy to see Marriott face blowback in the US and other parts of the world over this as people show their support for a free Tibet. Letting China browbeat businesses into submission for the privilege of operating in that market isn't a good thing and more businesses need to be made to decide between China and the rest of the world. Otherwise, the Chinese government will continue to get away with this.

But it was the Chinese government that blew a single like out of proportion and threatened Marriott with millions of dollars in lost business. Marriott's response to scapegoat and fire the individual to appease China makes complete sense so long as we continue to allow companies to get away with that behavior. It won't stop until we make an example out of one or two companies to show that they at least need to consider the financial ramifications of appeasement too.

Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job

#269

Post by mistermann »

rubyn00bie wrote: post #233

There is only one person to blame for this and it is the executive in charge. What a fucking chicken shit and horrible leader to throw his subordinate under the bus for what is a process and institutional problem. I️ wont be using the Marriot again (not that I️ wouldve).

I think some blame belongs with Western leadership who've created this monster. Without companies falling over themselves to set up shop in China, and Western governments not stopping to think about the geopolitical ramifications, China never would have amassed this much power in so little time, obviously with a lack of corresponding wisdom.

Unfortunately, there's now no going back, lest we cause a recession! China will be the de facto leader of the world very soon, and when that happens the Marriots or any of us won't have the option of refusing their requests - you will do it, or else.

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