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Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

businessinsider.com

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Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#461

Post by Dylan16807 »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #439
BurningFrog wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit of a company cafeteria is mostly that you don't lose half an hour walking to a restaurant, waiting in line, ordering etc. It's not about the money.

Yes, it's not about the money. It's about slavery. Tech giants want their workers to spend as much time as possible near their working places. Even during their lunch time when people are supposed to get some rest from their jobs, walk to the nearby restaurant, maybe meet some new people instead of those faces they see every f'ng day. NO! Facebook, etc. don't allow any distraction. They wrap slavery in shiny candies…

If I waste less time at lunch, I can go home earlier. That's pretty far from slavery.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#462

Post by JetSpiegel »

munificent wrote: post #208
jotux wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit this is pure speculation. There are mentions in another article[1] that some restaurant associations supported it: >The measure has the support of Gwyneth Borden, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and other local merchants. It seems suspicious that before the legislation is even introduced exceptions have been carved out for the existing big companies. [1] http://www.sfexaminer.com/…

If they tried to take the cafes away from existing tech employees, they would have a riot on their hands. Googlers and Facebookers would burn the city to the ground. It is an intensely beloved part of the job.

If those employees can act in concert like you suggest, they could form an union.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#463

Post by adventured »

pyrale wrote: post #408
ajmurmann wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians either don't give a shit about startups because they don't fill their campaign coffers or just plain don't understand the ecosystem. Techies need to take over Bay area politics.

I would really love to see techies take over, only to see them forced to acknowledge the misery they usually turn a blind eye on.

Techies have been trying to fix the disaster that is SF for a long time. They're very clearly not turning a blind eye. They're being politically obstructed by the long entrenched, old elite that control the political class.

There are only two possible solutions: take the action up several levels financially and get extremely bellicose; or wait until the owners of the political class in SF age out and lose their control.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#464

Post by JetSpiegel »

stale2002 wrote: post #403
jartelt wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the private corporation didn't like the conditions of the city zoning and development laws, they could build their office elsewhere.

Or instead we could vote these politicians out of office. There are more techies moving to the bay area every day. Sooner or later those numbers add up and we've got ourselves a real voting bloc.

So many of them are H1B workers, they don't even vote.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#465

Post by adventured »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #454
Zak wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read a number of definitions of slavery coming from a variety of political perspectives. Some go so far as to term hiring anyone who isn't independently wealthy to work for wages "slavery". None of them included giving employees perks in the hope that it will increase their productivity.

> giving employees perks in the hope that it will increase their productivity By "their", you mean the company? Because employees receive the same salary no matter their productivity. Slavers also fed their slaves, property requires upkeep costs.

> Because employees receive the same salary no matter their productivity.

No, in fact they typically do not. Drop your productivity to zero and see how your salary holds up.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#466

Post by sAbakumoff »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #461
sAbakumoff wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's not about the money. It's about slavery. Tech giants want their workers to spend as much time as possible near their working places. Even during their lunch time when people are supposed to get some rest from their jobs, walk to the nearby restaurant, maybe meet some new people instead of those faces they see every f'ng day. NO! Facebook, etc. don't allow any distraction. They wrap slavery in shiny candies…

If I waste less time at lunch, I can go home earlier. That's pretty far from slavery.

This is what I do. I spend negligible amount of time for lunch by bringing the food from home, quickly microwaving it, eating as quickly as possible. But, I am pretty sure that free food takes much longer. You want to try this sushi and that fried ice-cream..oh wait and Philz Coffee offers new beans..there are also your co-workers around and you chat with them endlessly.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#467

Post by pas »

tormeh wrote: post #450
mschuster91 wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No amount of tech worker foot traffic is going to clean up an area if the government isn't willing to police it. And policing will just drive the problem somewhere else. What America desperately needs is a new approach to a lot of issues that goes way beyond ever more police, courts and jails: - drugs and addictions (now that enough white middle class people suffer from heroin or worse, something hopefully will be…

What's worse than heroin? I thought it was the most addictive thing we knew.

carfentanil. 50 000 times stronger than heroine. (allegedly.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COduXp6Cw3g

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#468

Post by pas »

zerr wrote: post #440
dantheman wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is rush. Tell that to people who die because medical technology is delayed years. Or companies that fail or never materialize because the products take too long to produce and are too expensive. Tell that to the farmer who's crops go bad. Not everything is the same.

But dying with overworking, depression and burnout is not a solution I believe.

5 hours a day doesn't sound like overworking.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#469

Post by pas »

isostatic wrote: post #422
B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> squeeze the most from every minute Don't do that. It hurts. You.

On a good day, I work about 5 hours a day. That's non stop, from about 10.30 until about 4pm, or from about 3pm to 8pm. If I stop for lunch, I stop, and don't get back into it. So I eat lunch at my desk. It's not bad for me. 10 hour days to accomplish half the work is bad.

Why not just skip eating for those hours? Digestion disturbs brain activity anyway.

Re: Bay Area cities are cracking down on free food at tech companies

#470

Post by Dylan16807 »

jancsika wrote: post #238
ardit33 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the Communist party in Albania had a great way to deal with 'community involvment' Every first Sunday of the month (Sundays were the only days people had off, as Saturdays were actually work day), people were required to get out, and help clean out the neighborhood in 'cleaning actions'. If you didn't do it, you'd be reprimanded, and if you didn't comply you'd be sent into re-education class, on how community i…

> Anyways, this is not communist 'community involvement' level yet, but the government should have no say on a person's personal private time. Zoning itself is quite a loud say from the government about what someone may do in their personal private time in their personal private property. For example, you can't run a bakery in your personal private time in an area zoned only for residential use. Do you think zoning s…

An absolutely enormous number of problems in this country can be pointed at zoning, especially NIMBY zoning. We would be far better off wiping it all and replacing it with something like Japan's system, with residential and commercial combined into a handful of categories that are only different in the maximum size of xyz. And even the smaller zones allow small apartment buildings.
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