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Poor in Tech

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Re: Poor in Tech

#91
post #31

Instead of seeing the bright side of life, in which this person clearly vastly improved their situation in life, all they can see is what they don’t have. “I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I had the only fat body in the building.” I’m sorry, but no, being poor doesn’t make you fat. Your eating choices make you fat. Poor people have agency too. Agency is not something you buy. This is comin…

There are food deserts in the USA, where you literally can't buy high quality food like vegetables in a large area, and have to resort to only eating the highly processed and highly unhealthy food. These food deserts usually are located in the poorer neighbourhoods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

TIL, thank you!

Re: Poor in Tech

#92
They. I kept seeing the word "they", and wondering about it. Was it really every single person in the company that thought you were joking about your GED, or was it a handful that you told?

Attributing the actions of a few individuals to an entire group is a quick way to engender feelings of alienation in yourself. Pro tip: don't do that.

Re: Poor in Tech

#93

> I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I was afraid to seek mentorship from anyone above me, convinced that even asking would seem like bothersome begging. I watched the people around me network effortlessly, assured of favors and good words put in. I could only think in terms of what I could offer and how I could survive; they were thinking on the next level where they never had to wonder if…

But... they’re literally there to teach you stuff. And they like you better if you show interest.

Why would you not ask the teacher stuff.

Re: Poor in Tech

#94
How much of that experience is true in USA startup scene? I feel like this might be a special case for SF. Because here in Canada most of the people who work at tech aren’t rich at all and they tend to be more nerdy than snobby. I guess fintech scene might be more classist though.

Re: Poor in Tech

#95
post #12

> Gym membership was included in my benefits. I went half a dozen times before it was made crystal clear to me that I did not belong. I would be curious about this one. What did happened in the gym? Not really doubting, some people in gyms are quite unfriendly when you dont look fit. But I am still curious what happened there.

in my experience at the gym, you don't need to communicate with anyone at all. you take the free equipment, you lift, you make sure to put everything in its place, you shower and go home. wtf?

Re: Poor in Tech

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea I mostly agree. For example not greeting cleaning lady has nothing to do with being rich or poor. It is just manners and some of us do it and some don't.

Sorry to say, but you’re being extremely naive if you think you’re right. People are awful to supporting staff and show them no respect on the regular.

And this is across class lines, no?

Re: Poor in Tech

#97
A lot of this list just reads that they have coworkers who are jerks. Not interacting with cleaning staff? That seems like a personal problem. And I’ve seen plenty of frugal VPs that drive 15 year old cars and make their own lunch.

That said, I was also pretty horrified once when I was waiting in the lunch line and heard the person in front of me complaining that their six month $100k bonus wasn’t as high as they thought it would be right as the person making their plate of free food handed it over to them. There’s always going to be at least some rude, thoughtless people; the best thing you can do is to try to avoid hiring them.

Re: Poor in Tech

#98
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found that bit surprising one. For European startup long weekend in Greece isn't that special. The flights can be quite cheap and Greece generally isn't that expensive country. A few hundred all together could probably be done.

Sure, but it’s quite a flight from San Francisco

Yeah, and I don’t think there are any direct flights, so it’s even more painful. Best-case scenario is a stop in Frankfurt, IIRC.

Re: Poor in Tech

#99

Assuming the trip to Greece was a joke was pretty good, as was the comment about hearing other people’s hobbies and just thinking about the expense. There are definitely cultural signifiers from wealth. Discussing housing endlessly is the biggest one.

Are indoor rock climbing and adult soccer known to be especially expensive activities? I haven't done much indoor rock climbing, but I've done a lot of adult soccer, mostly for free.

Re: Poor in Tech

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine you got it right with the "get out of the gym if you are not already fit". It's amazing how badly people act towards people starting out on their fitness.

Literally never seen this happen. 98% guarantee the stigma is in the obese person’s own head more than anything. It’s just easier to transfer the responsibility to ”an unfriendly environment” than taking responsibility & control of your own feelings and actions

I think it varies a lot by gym.

Ironically (for this thread), all the private rich-person gyms I've been to have mostly been populated by people who were not in good shape, and everybody was very friendly.

But these were also "health clubs" in the old school sense, not a fancy gym like Equinox where I would never even set foot.

Edit: I also have heard enough gym bullying stories to believe that it can and does happen, but it seems maybe only under circumstances that I have never been in.

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