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

That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

cohost.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 492 posts

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#211

Post by bitwize »

Pannoniae wrote: post #204
bitwize wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I don't necessarily disagree with the substance but I think the logic is very sound here. Saying "you are free to choose another industry to work in." if you don't like a specific aspect of an industry is I think a quite exclusionary and condescending view. Nothing ever improves if everyone just leaves everything ranging from jobs or even entire fields when they don't like some of it. There are many people who want t…

Bringing more bigotry to the industry is not improving it. There was a subtext of "bigots are not welcome here".

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#212

Post by blindriver »

grimgoldgo wrote: post #123
kristiandupont wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it very hard to believe that you are arguing in good faith at this point.

I have had a different life from you. I've been homeless, I've been wealthy, I've lived in many cultures and communities from suburbs to communes. I've worked tech I've worked as day labor moving soil by hand. I guarantee you that language (and especially the use of curse words), varies wildly .

Fuck you.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I didn't mean that pejoratively, I actually meant it in the supportive context as in: "Fuck you, I support you."

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#213

Post by ben_w »

eusto wrote: post #159
ben_w wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a free speech absolutist[0], but if there's one speech one ought to be free to do, it's to write mean things about a government body (or deals with one) in a country that has a constitutional right to free speech. [0] neither is the US, despite what it says; I am however a free-speech maximalist , and the differences between these positions includes but is not limited to acknowledging that some speech chills…

I'm assuming the "fuck you" was the one that fired her. However you choose to understand free speech, being needlessly rude as a media representative of a company should get you fired.

Assuming accurate reporting, in the absence of a social media clause that, when shown, your boss agrees you don't need to sign? Doesn't pass the sniff test.

(Curiously, I've just seen someone walk past me with "duck off" printed on their T-shirt. But then, culture here in Germany is much more liberal about both word and deed — it's American cultural norms that made the autocorrupt inside my quote marks).

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#214

Post by lelanthran »

newaccount74 wrote: post #45
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…

If you fire someone for a few insults on Twitter then you belong in Kindergarten, not in a management position. Boy, I'm so happy I don't work for anyone, I'd hate to have to deal with sensitive pricks that think they can dictate what their employees say on social media.

> If you fire someone for a few insults on Twitter then you belong in Kindergarten, not in a management position.

Nonsense; no company allows any employee to publicly hurl insults at a large paying customer.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#215

Post by eusto »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #90
reflexco wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's absolutely not about how "counterculture" her opinions are. It's about using offensive language. She probably would have avoided all trouble if instead of talking down a fellow participant of the conference, she plugged her beliefs in pacifism in a positive manner.

TBH I don't know that she would have fared much better. One, because it sounds like the Air Force guy is thin-skinned, and two, because even peaceful anti-war protestors have generally been met with disdain and/or tear gas. But I also dislike the idea that offensive language is somehow not pacifist behavior, whereas developing weapons of war is perfectly fine so long as you're polite about it. Regardless of how you f…

She faced concequences for her actions as an employee, not as an activist of peace. Offensive language as an employee, especially when directed at the customer, usually gets you fired.

She wasn't whistle blowing/revealing any inside information. She wasn't adding anything to the topic of the conversation. She publicly made a rude personal comment at a conference from a platform which connects the company with its current and prospective customers. I'm surprised the company dragged this for so long. If this was a waiter at a restaurant saying "fuck you" to this guy while eating there, I'm sure they wouldn't even have had a chance to finish their shift.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#216

Post by spondylosaurus »

wiseowise wrote: post #191
spondylosaurus wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...What else is the DoD making weapons for? Fun? Children's birthday parties?

Do you really want to play the game? > The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. You very well understand what I mean. If your stance is anything military - that’s fine, but your arguments are straw and you know that.

National security isn't political???

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#217

Post by newaccount74 »

supriyo-biswas wrote: post #175

This has been upvoted by many people on HN, so I guess it has some value for folks here, but can anyone enlighten me as to how this outrage porn is supposed to result in curious conversation? (For anyone wondering, I flagged it.)

It's an interesting insight into work place politics inside a big tech company. It's certainly interesting to hear that even though you may be a well paid professional, your employment is still at the whims of a bunch of spineless execs who'd prefer to fire an employee that they paid a lot of money to hire, rather than finding a way to deal with Twitter drama in a reasonable way.

I found it especially interesting that the DoD dude apparently had a history of using his position to get people fired who insulted him on Twitter (or at least trying to do so).

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#218

Post by mlatu »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #193
spondylosaurus wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but does it follow that "attending on behalf of" equates to "representing the company's official views and opinions"? I guess what I'm really asking is whether an outside observer would genuinely assume her tweets were indicative of VMware's official stances on anything, or whether they'd assume she was just one cog in their employee machine. Or maybe it's somewhere in the middle.

Given that it caused the Chief Software Officer of a major customer to view it negatively, I think that proves an outside observer viewed it as representing some of the company's views. For something like government, it doesn't really matter what the official stance of the company is. If you think a single employee is going to try to sneak a backdoor into the software you're buying and the company isn't trying hard e…

is an "employee of a major customer" an "outside observer"?

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#219

Post by bobsmooth »

camillomiller wrote: post #77
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…

>Do you realize you are all reinforcing that business must come always first before personal expression?

Yes, businesses exist to do business not be a place where you can discuss your feelings.

Re: That Time I Posted Myself Out Of a Job

#220

Post by swarnie »

theobeers wrote: post #100

She was right to speak out, and her employer was within its rights to fire her. As long as she subsequently found a job at a company that comes closer to sharing her values, it sounds like a win-win.

Speak out against what exactly?

Defence is one of the most vital sectors in a countries continued existence, coming just after food and water.

Post reply on HN