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A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

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Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#61

Post by ocdtrekkie »

camjohnson26 wrote: post #7
crankylinuxuser wrote: post #3

The days when someone can start as a janitor or in the mailroom and climb to the top is done. Companies used to hire everyone in the company. Janitors were part of the company. So was mailroom staff. So were secretaries. Everybody was part of the whole. Now, companies contract out everything but their core thing. Janitors come from a low-paid 3rd party service. Mailrooms are no longer a thing (there's no such thing a…

That’s a fatalist outlook. The ceo in the article was humble enough to recognize a good idea when he saw it and not judge the presenter by where he came from. Most bosses would’ve laughed him out of the room when he held out his arms and said he thought they could win this much market share. Credentials can only get you so far, at some point intuition is important. Leaders and recruiters need to pay more attention to…

I mean, my assumption is the CEO at the time he asked this, was already thinking about the potential of the product itself as a good idea at that point in the presentation. He already knew he was talking to the janitor, I doubt he really expected a realistic estimate of market share.

But yeah, I think a huge part here is actually that Montañez went with the best he could do, he didn't snap back about not knowing or get awkwardly uncomfortable about being out of his element or his knowledge base. He presented his idea enthusiastically and he stood by it. And I think you can pick up that sort of attitude in people, and that's what may have moved him past "contributed an idea" to "worth including in continuing to develop it".

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#62

Post by [deleted] »

throwawaycanuck wrote: post #48
tylerhou wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender. Except, as the article shows, diversity often does increase revenue share. Flamin' hot cheetos were invented by a Mexican immigrant who realized that Frito-Lay didn't have any products which appealed to Latino people. EDIT: Changed Latinx to Latino.

>Latinx There is no faster way to discredit your argument than using absurd language like latinx. I've yet to meet a latino person who referred to themselves as anything else.

[deleted]

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#63

Post by cycrutchfield »

bduerst wrote: post #55
polartx wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad literally went from putting the chips in the boxes when he was 23 years old, to overseeing the construction of a brand new manufacturing plant (and running it), to managing scores of plants at HQ in his 40's. Frito-Lay however, is not immune from boneheaded decisions. After 20someodd years of employment, and a trophy case full of awards, he and some of his [white male] colleagues were laid off in favor of crea…

> he and some of his [white male] colleagues were laid off in favor of creating a more 'diverse' management roster. No disrespect is intended with this question, but are you sure that was the real reason? I've seen people get laid off before search for reasons why they specifically were singled out, and come up with some pretty biased excuses for themselves when it was really something fairly mundane. Even when their…

It’s either sour grapes post-hoc rationalization or it’s just alt-right fanfic. If it were actually real, he would have filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#64

Post by intuitionist »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #33
irrational wrote: post #11

“I do have a Ph.D.,” he responded. “I’ve been poor, hungry and determined.” Love that.

I hate it. I think it belittles Ph.D's and denigrates the people who don't have them suggesting that you need to deflect the question because you [sarcasm] couldn't possibly have a skill set that's of high worth unless you actually had done a Ph.D [/sarcasm]. Bleurgh. FWIW my highest level of qualification is a bachelor's degree and I work in a position that doesn't require any formal training at all.

sounds like you are a Ph.D., but the Kanye West version

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#65

Post by pkaye »

hanniabu wrote: post #23
rootedbox wrote: post #9

Frito Lay was a great place to work at because they did promote up, and they also hired the best. I would often be in meetings where one logistics manager went to MIT and the other logistics manager would be someone who started at a plant boxing chips.

That's the way to work in my opinion. I worked at a place where just because I had an engineering degree I was around 25 years old managing a manufacturing plant full of 40+ year olds that have been working the lines since they graduated high school. It makes absolutely no sense. The best I could do was just make sure they had all the supplies and everything they needed because they knew every machines and issue insi…

My first job out of college was as a mechanical engineer. I joined a big company and later found out is was just as a lone engineer in the technician team. I felt a little left out from the R&D action. But it turned out to be the best thing for me. The techs were thrilled to have an engineer to design around issues pestering them for ages. I in turn got lots of hands on experience working in the factory and labs and realizing what makes a good design. I really learned the ins and outs of what we were building. A few years later the company reorganized and I was pulled into the core R&D team but I was better prepared for it.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#66

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

rosterface wrote: post #53
tylerhou wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At the end of the day, revenue-per-share is pretty indifferent to age, race, or gender. Except, as the article shows, diversity often does increase revenue share. Flamin' hot cheetos were invented by a Mexican immigrant who realized that Frito-Lay didn't have any products which appealed to Latino people. EDIT: Changed Latinx to Latino.

My Mexican family loves Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (for real) and hates the term “latinx”. Just fyi but it’s considered racist in a lot of Mexican communities.

why is it considered racist? I can think of some arguments against the term but am having a hard time figuring that one out. Maybe because they perceive it as having been coined by people from outside their group and/or changing the topic to focus on gender > racial justice?

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#67

Post by malvosenior »

g_sch wrote: post #60
throwawaycanuck wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Latinx There is no faster way to discredit your argument than using absurd language like latinx. I've yet to meet a latino person who referred to themselves as anything else.

I'm interested (and somewhat taken aback) by the intensity of the reactions to this term. Maybe it's a generational/political thing? For my part, I know significantly more people who refer to themselves as "Latinx" than "Latino".

People don't like it because it's a political term that doesn't exist for any reason other than to make a political statement. It's a modification of language around the core identity of a group of people, people who did not advocate for the term's usage and still resist it.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#68

Post by eloff »

g_sch wrote: post #60
throwawaycanuck wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Latinx There is no faster way to discredit your argument than using absurd language like latinx. I've yet to meet a latino person who referred to themselves as anything else.

I'm interested (and somewhat taken aback) by the intensity of the reactions to this term. Maybe it's a generational/political thing? For my part, I know significantly more people who refer to themselves as "Latinx" than "Latino".

Fwiw I lived ten years in Latin America, married a Latina, and have never even heard the term Latinx before. It's probably not common in Latin America.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#69

Post by paulcole »

polartx wrote: post #27
rootedbox wrote: post #9

Frito Lay was a great place to work at because they did promote up, and they also hired the best. I would often be in meetings where one logistics manager went to MIT and the other logistics manager would be someone who started at a plant boxing chips.

My dad literally went from putting the chips in the boxes when he was 23 years old, to overseeing the construction of a brand new manufacturing plant (and running it), to managing scores of plants at HQ in his 40's. Frito-Lay however, is not immune from boneheaded decisions. After 20someodd years of employment, and a trophy case full of awards, he and some of his [white male] colleagues were laid off in favor of crea…

Maybe your dad just wasn’t as good at his job anymore and wanted to blame minorities for it? Probably unlikely because I don’t think anything like this has ever happened in America before, but I guess it is a remote possibility.

Re: A janitor at Frito-Lay invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (2017)

#70

Post by rosterface »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #66
rosterface wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Mexican family loves Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (for real) and hates the term “latinx”. Just fyi but it’s considered racist in a lot of Mexican communities.

why is it considered racist? I can think of some arguments against the term but am having a hard time figuring that one out. Maybe because they perceive it as having been coined by people from outside their group and/or changing the topic to focus on gender > racial justice?

Yes, that’s why they consider it racist. For the most part it’s a term from white academia. I don’t think anyone really wants to be told that the words they’ve used to describe themselves for generations must be changed, especially by people from another ethnicity all together.
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