Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

shkspr.mobi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 348 posts

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#31

Post by ThinkBeat »

I worked at one of those companies that earned ridiculous money refinancing peoples homes during the run-up to the financial crisis. (Yes, I now know it was quite unethical)

They had a boiler room team of salespeople who made an insane amount of money. We are talking six figures a month. They were not at all highly skilled or had any financial background or degree.

Their bonuses could be a luxury car. (or once a horse).

I worked on the IT side. We made the software that basically did all the work. It included instructions of a spiel to sell loans, how to get around various excuses and such. And it did all the work with filing the required paperwork ensuring all the required information was there, sending out information to the people who refinanced all that crap. You could, in practice, take someone from the street, set them up with this software and they could sell loans. (this is not as far fetched as it may sound).

I have so many stories about my time there but anyways, the IT team was not at all highly paid, nor very appreciated. One Christmas we knew we were getting a bonus, and given what we knew about bonuses being handed out we were kinda excited.

Wanna guess what it was?

A $50 gift card for a ham.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#33

Post by cuddlecake »

maxxxxx wrote: post #23
mabbo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... had they read the book? Or just heard it was popular? I'm trying to mentally justify how this isn't the craziest, stupidest idea ever.

They probably didn’t read it. “Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance “.

Curious. I once read that quote somewhere, but I don't remember where.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#34

Post by StavrosK »

We need to find a name for a gesture so small in its generosity that it ends up being offensive. No bonus would have left me disappointed, but a $50 bonus would have made me angry.

Like when Delta gave a food voucher to make up for a 5-hour delay on a 30-minute file. The voucher was for $3. Fuck Delta.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#35

Post by robohoe »

xeromal wrote: post #25
duxup wrote: post #5

At a company I worked at it was bonus time. Bonuses had been a point of contention forever as the company always bugled the metrics and despite a lot of talk bonuses were hard to account for. So anyway they announce a "Christmas Bonus": $50.... I mean I'll take $50 but it felt like such an empty gesture. Just a few years earlier I had gotten $150 bonus while working at a pizza joint. The HR person who sent out the su…

Yeah, I got something similar to that. Make 6 figures and got a 200$ yearly bonus. I'd rather have no bonus. haha

Plus you'll be taxed on that $200!

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#36

Post by itronitron »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #20

I read this and was immediately reminded of David Sedaris' short story about working as a Macy's Elf: >I spend all day lying to people, saying, "You look so pretty," and "Santa can't wait to visit with you. You're all he talks about. It's just not Christmas without you. You're Santa's favorite person in the entire tri-state area." > >Sometimes I lay it on really thick. "Aren't you the princess of Rongovia? Santa said…

I particularly liked Sedaris' rendition of 'Away in a Manger' sung straight from the heart.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#37

Post by anon9070970 »

cuddlecake wrote: post #33
maxxxxx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They probably didn’t read it. “Don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance “.

Curious. I once read that quote somewhere, but I don't remember where.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#38

Post by futureastronaut »

maxxxxx wrote: post #29
xeromal wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I got something similar to that. Make 6 figures and got a 200$ yearly bonus. I'd rather have no bonus. haha

Or when a team works 6 weekends in a row, give them 3 days extra off and make it sound generous.

I worked in a startup eng. org that worked everybody to the bone for several months with a dubious SOA overhaul. The prize was a cheap open bar. At least it looked like an open bar, privately reserved and such. We each got two raffle-style tickets to exchange for drinks, lest us peons get carried away. Three days off? That would've been amazing.

Re: The worst morale-boosting gesture I've experienced

#40

Post by radcon »

I worked for a company that was always handing out cheap tokens of their "appreciation" (we all knew they didn't appreciate the employees but I guess they figured pretending might reduce turnover). Sometimes it was a free pretzel or water ice, other times it was a Thank You email that sounded like it was written by some cheap marketing AI. You could also get a "Shout Out" in the monthly newsletter that nobody read, but only if you twisted your coworkers' arms enough to submit one. In the end, all their efforts only served as constant reminders of how little the executives actually appreciated everyone, which decreased morale and increased turnover.

There's something extra depressing about working for a company where the millionaire executives think workers can be placated with 25-cent junk food. I think that company is still limping along somehow, which is great because the new Glassdoor reviews are usually pretty amusing.

Also, if you want to see an example of morale boosting gone wrong the Healthineers song is pretty great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5LiUrezV6k

Post reply on HN