That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job • Hacker News Board

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#71

Post by znpy » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:55 AM UTC

parineum wrote: post #15

constantly wrote: post #4

I would have fired this person as soon as humanly possible for basically (actually) telling customers of the company to go F themselves, and making horribly insensitive and inappropriate jokes at their expense. imho the point of this article seems to be to tell the story where big bad VMWare or the target of VMWare’s employee’s ire stomped on poor VMWare employee, but I think it makes the employee look bad. I would a…

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Like, yeah, the guy was being thin-skinned and over reactive but publicly accusing your employer's client of war crimes should get you fired. If you're upset that your employer is dealing with these people, quit. Work for someone you don't hate.

If you think what your employer does is unacceptable you shouldn’t work for them (even if this happens via an acquisition).

But most people are extremely hypocritical, and will gladly ignore their “ideals” in the name of the holy fat paycheque.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#72

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:55 AM UTC

morelisp wrote: post #36

wiseowise wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re not even technically right. Leave your edgy fursona (is that how they call it?) to your personal life.

> VMware is committed to harnessing the power of human difference by enabling a workplace where we can all be proud to be our authentic selves.

[deleted]

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#73

Post by iLoveOncall » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:56 AM UTC

cmdli wrote: post #24

> "Being as I’m not an idiot, I elect to bring a witness of my own (@lizthegrey ). She slightly livetweeted that conversation until VP VMware tells her to stop. " This, I think, is the point that caused the firing. It's pretty clear that if you choose a witness who then posts everything publicly that you are not discussing in good faith. Like, it's your right to speak your mind, and maybe you think you are in the mor…

I mean this is just baffling to me, why is VMWare even allowing her to bring a random person external to the company as a witness to a meeting related to a company's employee, and then that person decides to TWEET that meeting?

It sounds like some weird joke. What goes in those people's head?

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#74

Post by grimgoldgo » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:56 AM UTC

parineum wrote: post #35

morelisp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> publicly accusing your employer's client of war crimes What other factual statements should you not be allowed to make about your employer's clients?

If you read the rest of my comment, I don't actually have a problem with accusing people of war crimes. I think it's assinine to think one could do so and hope to continue to be paid by those people though. I would think that someone so ready to stand on this moral high ground wouldn't want that money but I guess when it actually comes to backing up her morals, she'll take the money instead.

So, free speech doesn't extend to criticism of the government? People should lose their jobs because they said mean words on Twitter?

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#75

Post by re-thc » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:57 AM UTC

cmdli wrote: post #24

> "Being as I’m not an idiot, I elect to bring a witness of my own (@lizthegrey ). She slightly livetweeted that conversation until VP VMware tells her to stop. " This, I think, is the point that caused the firing. It's pretty clear that if you choose a witness who then posts everything publicly that you are not discussing in good faith. Like, it's your right to speak your mind, and maybe you think you are in the mor…

> that you are not discussing in good faith

I'd think a VP (many levels above) coming to DM someone for a private chat isn't likely coming in good faith to begin with so it goes both ways.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#76

Post by parineum » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:57 AM UTC

mock-possum wrote: post #5

Wow. What a rats nest of drama to wander into. I feel like there is something - not necessarily something legal - about the fact that the author was attending the convention on behalf of her employer; she was tweeting ‘on the clock,’ if I understand correctly. Otherwise, I’m not sure how that kind of policy could possibly be reasonable. People get to hold their own opinions, and they get to hold forth on those opinio…

> People get to hold their own opinions

The oft-repeated "The first amendment doesn't apply to corporations!" slogan when defending the banning of people from various social media applies here. The company she works for doesn't have to employ her if they disagree with her opinions. Isn't that the goal of all these doxxing Twitter mobs when they find someone who said the n-word on video?

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#77

Post by camillomiller » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:57 AM UTC

King-Aaron wrote: post #18

> Being as I’m not an idiot Well, I'm afraid to say after reading this, I have to disagree. Common sense would have made me consider not posting an inflammatory tweet like that, to be perfectly honest.

Do you realize you are all reinforcing that business must come always first before personal expression? It is factual that one person was touting instruments of war, but by most comments here that’s seen as “the right” because it’s representing “business”. What you’re all saying implicitly is that the rights of a corporate employer to make money are always above the freedom to personal expression, by contract, by law and so on. So if that is always true as many commenters seem to believe, I reiterate that you’re all confirming that contributing to corporate capitalism is incompatible with personal freedom.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#78

Post by rewmie » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:57 AM UTC

morelisp wrote: post #19

parineum wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Like, yeah, the guy was being thin-skinned and over reactive but publicly accusing your employer's client of war crimes should get you fired. If you're upset that your employer is dealing with these people, quit. Work for someone you don't hate.

> publicly accusing your employer's client of war crimes What other factual statements should you not be allowed to make about your employer's clients?

> What other factual statements should you not be allowed to make about your employer's clients?

The author seemed perfectly fine with getting paid by their employer, but somehow felt morally justified to openly criticize the way they got their paycheck. It sounds like a very selective self-righteous position.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#79

Post by yuliyp » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:58 AM UTC

grimgoldgo wrote: post #20

josephcsible wrote: post #6

If you publicly make personal attacks against employees of your employer's biggest customer, isn't firing you a completely reasonable thing for your employer to do?

Is saying "the blood never washes off" the hands of this DoD employee really a personal attack? I mean, it certainly seems like a consistent and reasonably widely held belief that military industrial complex jobs cost lives. There's of course the opposite opinion too. I'm not interested in trying to demonstrate that one opinion is right or wrong, just that like, is this really an attack ?

Yes. There's a difference between saying "I would like to avoid you because your industry costs lives" and "I'd shake your hand, but, y'know, the blood never washes off". They're both basically statements about the same thing, except one is an attack while the other is merely expressing disapproval.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#80

Post by galkk » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 6:58 AM UTC

That person should've been fired, and it happened. Good riddance.

So what did I see "Fuck you" for slide where army officer praises Kubernetes and calls to join them. Then accusing him for blood on his hands. Then also connecting inability to negotiate better severance package when firing happened with Trump era...

My opinion always is: if in any shape or form your posts are related to work (e.g. that person was tweeting about conference attendance, that conference attendance was on behalf of her employer, for fucks sake), then you should have separate account and strictly separate your opinions.

The things that I read both in post and in referenced tweets, actually, did remind me about Timnit Gebru and her story with Google (opinion below is my own and in no means reflect anything else, as Google is my employer). I was curious about Gebru and read her twitter for some time after her departure. God lord, the toxicity is over the top. I even learned a bit of the anti-white racist dictionary such as "white aligned". But, of course, as I'm eastern European immigrant, I still speak from the historical position of patriarchal white privilege, so my opinion doesn't matter.