This was a really fun read. I’ve only read a couple short stories ever that so narrowly focus on the technology of today, but I think it’s great. Such an effective and entertaining way of discussing what’s in the news cycle.
I agree the format is interesting. What are some other examples of short stories about technology, recent or less so?
The Layoff
161–170 of 175 posts
Re: The Layoff
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does the last line of https://cdn.xeiaso.net/cgi-cdn/wtf say?
I am XeDN fra (instance ID 4d89706f61e778) running /nix/store/l4wc41rg57ajwmcci3gvxs605z891zka-xedn-20240210195656/bin/xedn Connected using ipv6
Roger, I'll go get hacking. Until then, grab the version on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/layoff-xe-iaso-fefqe
Soon I will migrate XeDN storage to Tigris and then we should never have this problem ever again.
Re: The Layoff
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> one of 2024s gifts to humanity You think that started in 2024? You sweet summer child
There aren't many ways to get more condescending than this. Congrats.
It was just an offhand comment. The first time I remember it happening to me was 2012, and I know it wasn't new then.
Re: The Layoff
#164Maybe 6 months ahead of it's time. Maybe.
I would categorize this as science fiction. But I agree that this is very likely to happen. Spoilers: This story is about a tech worker. I wonder how the same story would unfold when the company uses this technology to fire HR workers, because they don't need them any more.
It’s implicit. All the consultants ask is the worker to manager ratio and the Hr ratio.
Meta decided to change both in their layoffs for example.
Re: The Layoff
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone at my work created a secret bot that scrapes the outlook contacts list and diffs it from the previous day, each day. This way we get daily updates whenever a new person is onboarded or offboarded. As employees we now have more clarity about the state of layoffs and hiring decisions that most of the management team does. I suggest doing the same within your org if you can.
Someone had done this at a previous company I worked at. You’d subscribe to a mailing list and get a daily/weekly summary of joiners, leavers and title changes. Pretty useful. When management eventually found out they were seemingly supportive, but in the next layoff they made sure to reach out to the owner to make him “pause” the tool just before the layoffs started. When the mailing list was unpaused again the laid…
That’s really dystopian. “We’ve always been at war with Sales and Accounting”.
Re: The Layoff
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the politics internally are nutty enough you can do alot with this sort of skullduggery… It only works if it’s secret or the folks are oblivious. I worked at a place where this sort of thing was done. It became practice to setup fake meetings or conduct real meetings with vague titles as a misdirection. The other scenario is if you let consultants inside the firewall. Big 5 guys always gather intel on org charts a…
> I worked at a place where this sort of thing was done. It became practice to setup fake meetings or conduct real meetings with vague titles as a misdirection. I don't get it.
You’re negotiating with Cisco. “Terms discussion / Arista” with key players.
You’re fighting with Big Consultant A. “Team Sync / Big Consultant B Principal”
When competing for resources, we’d sometimes imply that fake skunk works projects exist.
It depends on an environment toxic enough that people are spying on your calendar. Many big companies are.
Re: The Layoff
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've heard from a friend that the way they found someone was laid off was by Google Calendar suddenly removing the person that was laid off from invites while in a 1:1 with their manager. The manager had no context. That kind of inhuman feeling is what exemplifies the state of layoffs in the modern day.
Last time I was laid off (2022) it worked this way. It was a remote job - I was pulled into a random 1:1 meeting with my manager and immediately afterward I found all my permissions/access was gone.
Last time I was laid off (exactly 1 month ago) even my manager (allegedly) didn't know I was laid off until after my offboarding meeting with HR. Neither did the manager of the consulting engagement to which I was assigned (thankfully my now-former employer didn't terminate my accounts until noon, which gave me time to reach out to her on Slack and coordinate returning the client-issued laptop I had just received days prior).
Re: The Layoff
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
2024? It happened to me in 2020, right after Covid. I was unable to reach a colleague, thought he was sick (not unusual, he had health issues often). Until the “standup” rolled around and we were told he was laid off. Apparently he himself found out after most of his logins were shut off. Corporate world is as gutless as it is soulless
My biggest complaint is that lying is just completely endemic. The best liars, who lie so well you question if they're lying when it's right in front of you, are at the top, and you just progress down from there with everyone playing along to known lies. Finding and working in areas with people who care about the truth is like a priceless haven.
Apply that to academia and education lol
Re: The Layoff
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I worked at a place where this sort of thing was done. It became practice to setup fake meetings or conduct real meetings with vague titles as a misdirection. I don't get it.
You’re negotiating with Cisco. “Terms discussion / Arista” with key players. You’re fighting with Big Consultant A. “Team Sync / Big Consultant B Principal” When competing for resources, we’d sometimes imply that fake skunk works projects exist. It depends on an environment toxic enough that people are spying on your calendar. Many big companies are.
That can be fixed by adjusting calendar meeting name visibility. They don't need to see what you're doing in detail.
Re: The Layoff
#170No need for the disclaimer. I know this is fake because Scroogle would never do anything as personal as a 1:1 when laying people off.
I'd love to not have to put a disclaimer there, but legal counsel advised me to.
In case you're being serious: did you actually retain legal counsel for this blog post? Why?