That's not about smartness or dumbness, though. I don't think intelligence is correlated with poverty much, but poverty is additional difficulty, so they have to work harder for the same thing as someone who isn't poor.
> I don't think intelligence is correlated with poverty much This is contrary to the available science. IQ and earnings are strongly correlated.
One aspect is that there's at least partial causality the opposite way. While earnings are correlated with IQ, they are even more correlated with your family earnings/socioeconomic status (SES); and there are many aspects of how low SES screws up childhood development and education (on average, not necessarily for all individuals) that would result, among other things, in lower IQ test results. I.e. it's a reasonable hypothesis that the correlation implies that low intelligence makes it hard to be rich just as much as being poor prevents one from developing and applying their intelligence.
> But when you put kids from poor parents into rich households they will continue to do poorly. Have you considered it’s because being a poor child is itself a traumatic experience that isn’t magically cured by being ripped away from family and put into an environment of material abundance?
> Have you considered it’s because being a poor child is itself a traumatic experience that isn’t magically cured by being ripped away from family and put into an environment of material abundance? What you've said is unfalsifiable voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Even if someone proved you wrong here and started the experiment with the poor child at newborn level, which is what people do when these bad faith criticisms are lobbe…
No I literally mean food and housing insecurity are traumatic for children, both of which are common in poverty. This is well studied.
"Because they have never been poor, they had no idea what I might do. Why would I steal, when everyone clearly has enough?" The assertion that "poor people are more likely to be dishonest" betrays a view of poor people that isn't very nice. Rich people are just as likely to steal if they think they can get away with it.
> Rich people are just as likely to steal if they think they can get away with it.
This assumes, that the motivation for stealing is .... the expectation to get away with it.
What if one of the two parties (rich, poor) has another motivation like... hunger... :-)
Would that scew the statistics ?
How and why do people write these idealist but still obviously false claims, like here: "The rich and poor are just equally (likely to steal)" ?
"Three paychecks is a month and a half of income (rent and two car payments by my fevered calculations, which never stop)" Pay attention to those last three words. This is very important. I've been on both sides too, and to me those words are like a slap in the face: stark reality. If you're poor enough (relative to the costs of your life) you are at a constant exhausting deficit because you CANNOT stop calculating a…
That phrase "emergency mode" really hits home the underlying mental mode that drives an understanding of the situation.
It only takes a few trigger words or phrases to take us back to past trauma and difficulties, like the tremors before an earthquake.
I have first-hand experience of the "caste" system that can emerge in tech environments. It was my experience that our colleagues in the lower caste told scare stories (and you see the odd firing/letting go early to feel they are real) and you feel distant from the "upper" caste. But actual factual reality in my specific experience was a basically fair system with strong accountability. I was grateful, and benefitted from the experience overall. It is hard in such environments to "be normal" because the primitive part of the brain is in "fear mode". That part of the brain actually makes the most important decisions in your life.
What is the way through? My opinion is to try and make honest real connection at a human level with your colleagues but that is actually hard to do. That is why the part of the story I found most painful was the comment about "bleached cotton". It was a delicate moment where friendship could have started but was cut off.
Lastly, I thought it was an endearing turn of phrase to first introduce the engineer as someone from Harvard. And then later refer to the person as "Harvard" (instead of the engineer's actual name or some pronoun).
I started to sympathize and even being admirative at times, then it got darker. One word: theft. Taking advantage of free snacks, fine, it is what they are for. Taking stuff back home is borderline but ok. Not handing back the $350 headphones because no one is looking, definitely not ok. The way she described the situation as "everyone is rich so no need to lock thing up and check everything" instead of "people trust…
> theft
Seems to go both ways. Another paragraph described being the lowest paid worker. It seems that they asked her what sort of comp she was expecting, she produced a shockingly low number, and they just accepted the number and moved on. I think that’s basically unethical on the employer’s part. They should have basically ignored what she’d said and offered something they thought was reasonable (obviously that still advantages people who go into the negotiation in a better position, but it doesn’t feel so grossly unfair). Is what they did theft? Strictly speaking no, but it feels no better than any other scam taking advantage of lack of information to get a massive discount. When I was first interviewing for jobs, I asked a friend of mine (in a somewhat related role elsewhere) how much money I should ask for and it’s a good job they never asked me how much I wanted because his estimate was massively below what I was offered.
That's pretty much how I see it. Except the company's policies do not state any change to the required hours. I feel this is a deceptive employer practice (one of several I've seen). The bigger issue is that I can't see myself continuing to work here until I'm able to "retire". The work is shit. I've heard many managers will look to fire people or drive them out if they are moving up. I need the job to support my fam…
And I just had my midyear review. It was not good. Apparently I'm slow and need to be more proactive/engaged.
Sorry to hear that. Well.. I think workplaces with such mid-year reviews are often not good places to be. Such performance management systems can make individuals completely focused on their own performance grades instead of working together and helping each other. As result , happiness of everyone suffers, and everyone's performance, so it is IMHO not a sensible way to run a business. Some people game the system, some hurt other team members to make themself look better. Feels like a complete waste of time to me and makes for stress. As for being criticised for being too slow, well, maybe what should count is end result not sheer speed. But many businesses don't seem to understand that. Or you may genuinely be slow but that could be stress, its hard when you got young kids, in a better environment you could be more productive. The formula which has worked for me and I share all the time on HN is, learn skills that have strong long-term value e:g linux, command-line, python, ignore fads e:g js libraries, always go for open source if possible, not some vendor that could get bought out or change their strategy. Bottom line is , a happy life should be achievable in tech, we can take not necessarily the best-paying job, not necessarily the most kudos / status, but still have a decent satisfying job that pays enough to raise a family. I have achieved that, partly down to some "vigorous frugality" at times. ;) It's do-able but you have to research employers, talk to people who work different places, find out what its like, sometimes (non-fake) glassdoor reviews can be revealing too. And be prepared to leave jobs and take the plunge. It can be scary to take a risk when you've got kids. But sometimes has to be done. All the best :)
Not all of us went to schools that have "much wealthier people" attending, of course.
I find that hard to believe unless your country has a very stratified higher education system - which is a bad thing.
Well, my country is the US, and I am speaking from experience. I'm definitely not saying it's a good thing. It's just important to acknowledge that "the college experience" of elites and the elite-adjacent doesn't represent the common post-secondary case here.
I'm not sure I see anything wrong with not bothering the cleaning staff while they're at work. The whole reason they've been hired is to spare everyone else the time and effort involved in cleaning, so to have everyone waste time on greetings would just be demeaning their work.
Not even a "good evening" for your fellow human? I usually nod or say a quick greeting in passing as I head out for the evening. I've also thanked the guy who refills the soda can dispenser, pointing out that the company runs on caffeine. Each of these interactions takes less than 30 seconds and reminds us of our shared experience on this planet.
A nod. But if I know them, a greeting.
I just don't want to disrupt their work or impose that they have to respond back.
I think a more precise term for it might be "financially insecure". You can make things work, it involves a bit of scraping here and there, but you are one bad-luck event (unexpected medical bill, car break-down, etc.) from being unable to pay your regular bills. Being in such extreme poverty that you need to eat stolen rotten food and weeds is another category entirely.
> I think a more precise term for it might be "financially insecure". it really feels like you're sugarcoating it. if having "to steal rotten potatoes from other people's fields and eat weeds to survive" is not being poor, then i don't know what is.
They were using the term "financially insecure" for the author situation.
Manners? I don't say hi to the cleaning staff for the same reason I don't say hi to most people I see in the office: I don't know them. If I did, then I would say hi. Do others greet every single person they see in the building?
Yes. You are working late, someone comes by your desk to empty your trash. You say hi and thank you. Especially once to realize you see the same person every night.
That's a different thing. I'd say thank you if they are around me and they are doing something for me.
Would I say hi to the landscaper who is working on the garden while I was walking on the path? No. Unless we know each other, a nod is all fine.