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Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

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Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#161

Post by ouddv »

cryptozeus wrote: post #133
not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #124

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Interesting that he would pay by cash

Cash was often the fastest way to pay back then.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#162

Post by unixhero »

not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #124

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Tipping for a convenience item at the till really really sucks. Am I the only one sane on this? Best regards Norway

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#163

Post by isodev »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #140
stouset wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That depends on whether it's table service, or whether you yourself go to the counter to buy your drink. Until very recently, that was the dividing line for tips (except at bars).

How cruel can one be to try to come up with such a "line"? In my mind it goes like this:

If you're served by a human and tips are not included in normal pay by law, you tip.

If it's a country where people can't live with just the one job, you tip a lot.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#164

Post by lmpdev »

not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #124

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

Tipping is a fundamentally flawed and exploitative system

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#165

Post by cryptica »

pensatoio wrote: post #145
not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #124

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

[flagged]

Yes it's weird. It's basically charity re-framed as capitalism. As if it's the waiter's performance which determines their tip as opposed to just blind luck.

If each waiter could provide their own menu on which they could set their own prices individually and take their own hidden cut, then that would be fair capitalism.

They'd make a lot more money because consumers would be too lazy or too embarrassed to ask a different waiter for their version of the menu...

That would be a much better culture for workers.

Unfortunately the current system is set up to make every form of payment for labor into a charity. So workers are always in the position of begging their boss or customers and they are never in the position of intermediating transactions.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#166

Post by renewiltord »

isodev wrote: post #163
DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends on whether it's table service, or whether you yourself go to the counter to buy your drink. Until very recently, that was the dividing line for tips (except at bars).

How cruel can one be to try to come up with such a "line"? In my mind it goes like this: If you're served by a human and tips are not included in normal pay by law, you tip. If it's a country where people can't live with just the one job, you tip a lot.

Disappointed that you haven’t sent me my money for being parent to my comment. Do you need ETH address to tip to?

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#167

Post by hyperhopper »

hermanradtke wrote: post #36

> Much like Gary Bernhardt's talk, which was panned because he made the problem statement and solution so obvious that people didn't realize they'd learned something non-trivial I really want to see this video, but I cannot find it anywhere. I checked https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcGKfGEEONaDvuLDFFKRf... but I believe Gary asks that his videos not be shown (which I am fine with). I also checked https://www.…

His "using you're types good" talk being censored is my go-to example for how "cancel culture" and "wokeness" has gone too far, a good useful talk not meant to be harmful to anybody, with no evidence that anybody was hurt by it, is removed from the world for the far reaching fear that one day some person might not be happy about it.

The fact that years later people still want to learn from it and nobody has every talked about it being an issue shows we have gone too far as a society on the side of caution and never doing anything that wouldn't stand up to a fortune 10 HR exec panel.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#168

Post by unixhero »

cyberax wrote: post #144
legitster wrote: post #75

Having spent some time at the Microsoft campus, I can tell you this is basically the consensus view from employees today. Ballmer was not a cool, trendy, or fun CEO who people rallied behind - but he more or less "got the job done". He was the captain of a massive ship with a turning radius the size of a continent guiding it through icebergs. Azure's success was specifically set in motion under Ballmer. Owed to the f…

I remember working with Microsoft as a client in 2000-s, it was awesome. We started as a startup, and enrolled in a BizSpark program. It gave us basically free access to Microsoft tools and with very responsive support. We later transitioned into volume licensing, that also was simple and straightforward. The business side of Microsoft was a streamlined unstoppable train at that point. The technical side, not so much…

They missed the mark on mobile oses and appstores.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#169

Post by booleandilemma »

pensatoio wrote: post #145
not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #124

Funny story. I used to see Steve almost every weekday for a couple of years. I can't speak to his business skills, but I can attest that he never once offered a tip for his daily black iced tea. We'd even have it ready for him before he showed up so he never had to wait! He would pay with cash, and I'd hand him his change and drink, and that was that. It's funny to me now: one of the richest men in the world and he n…

[flagged]

Absolutely. I hope the tip screen on tablets goes away soon.

Re: Steve Ballmer was an underrated CEO

#170

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

isodev wrote: post #163
DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends on whether it's table service, or whether you yourself go to the counter to buy your drink. Until very recently, that was the dividing line for tips (except at bars).

How cruel can one be to try to come up with such a "line"? In my mind it goes like this: If you're served by a human and tips are not included in normal pay by law, you tip. If it's a country where people can't live with just the one job, you tip a lot.

Cruel?

There are a set of pretty arbitrary customs about where you tip and where you don't tip. You would be considered a weirdo if you tipped at the grocery store. In the US, you have to tip at sit-down restaurants.

Traditionally, in the US, people rarely tipped when they had to go to the counter to order and pick up food.

That's just the custom, though it seems to be rapidly changing, so that basically any food or drink service now involves tipping.

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