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

Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

nypost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 535 posts

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#121

Post by [deleted] »

amscanne wrote: post #66
neuronexmachina wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The full quote from Olohan's filing is kind of peculiar, I'm curious what the deal is with "walking pace": > In response to Olohan’s request during the call for specifics as to why Google believed he was not inclusive, Google’s Employee Investigations team explained that he had shown favoritism towards high performers, which it considered “non-inclusive,” and commented on employees’ walking pace and hustle, which it…

From the original NY Post article, he was "managing director of food, beverages, and restaurants" so presumably the staff in question were food service workers, where they have to move around the kitchens or other areas as part of their duties. (I'm not claiming that "walking pace" is actually related to performance. But that was my read of how it was at least tangentially relevant, similarly to how "typing speed" mi…

[deleted]

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#122

Post by shycha20 »

ipaddr wrote: post #84
shycha20 wrote: post #60

In all honesty, if these things had happened to me, I would've kept quiet since most people won't believe a 20-something male. I was in high school when two of the girls (who were considered hot in our class) grouped me and rubbed their breasts against my back. When I told one of the lady teachers about the issue, she thought I was crazy and making things up.

[flagged]

I didn't really know what to make of it at the time, and my first thought was this is wrong. Due to my low self-esteem and lack of confidence, I was socially awkward in high school, and those girls took advantage of my position since they knew I would not take any action. At university, I told a guy who was close to me this story and he responded with "did you enjoy it though?" I replied hell no. Imagine living through your toughest times. Imagine only eating once to save some money, being bullied constantly because you can't afford good clothes, shoes, and some girls trying to take advantage of your situation. But it's not the end of the world, and life goes on.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#123

Post by scarmig »

newyankee wrote: post #118
qazpot wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

India has had a long standing culture of torturing and burning because of dowry and female foeticide. However, the judicial system instead of fixing the problem went ahead and created lopsided insane laws which are now being exploited.

The issue is instead of helping the women that actually need these laws, they are mostly exploited by a small minority of urban, educated women to their own ends.

Well, urban educated women need protections too.

The bitter pill to swallow is that there are people of all sexes and demographics who are shitty out there and whatever set of laws there is will be exploited by them for their own ends. Someone's inevitably going to get the short end of the stick, because the government actually isn't and can't be all knowing. (And nearly inevitably it's the disempowed who get the short end of the stick. Not because they're better than the powerful, but because the powerful are best positioned to take advantage of any social situation.)

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#124

Post by at_a_remove »

ipaddr wrote: post #84
shycha20 wrote: post #60

In all honesty, if these things had happened to me, I would've kept quiet since most people won't believe a 20-something male. I was in high school when two of the girls (who were considered hot in our class) grouped me and rubbed their breasts against my back. When I told one of the lady teachers about the issue, she thought I was crazy and making things up.

[flagged]

Sexual teasing can be done in a very hostile manner. You've got a great example here: two against one and groping first. This wasn't done out of any desire for him, it was a dominance move to show what they can get away with.

Had he responded, he could have been struck down, and rather harshly as I think we're all well aware. It's taunting, essentially.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#125

Post by schroeding »

seadan83 wrote: post #82
tonfreed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't be a competition. If a man abuses his power over a female (or male, for that matter) employee, then they should have the book thrown at them. The same should apply for women. I hate the level of politicisation over this, it's a shitty thing to do no matter who does it.

It's one of those, "see, woman can do X too, so why are we so focused on only men doing X" Similar too, "white people are shot by cops". Similar to "white people are discriminated against in colleges". The point is true it is shitty no matter. Though, now the conversation is shifted if a person were to focus on root causes of either problem. Overall, false equivalence.

... so don't talk about it, keep it quiet, because it "shifts the conversation"? :/

Sorry, I see your point, I know that this is used to derail conversations, you're right, but "false equivalence" kinda implies that one thing is worse than the other. It is, systematically, but it isn't, personally. If you were raped, it doesn't help you that the power dynamic is and was different in our society between genders and your chance was lower, you are still as scarred for life.

Maybe say this explicitly also, when talking about "false equivalence". It may be kinda hurtful to hear people say more or less "oh yeah, both shitty, but one thing is the real problem in society, let's not derail" without this very important distinction.

Because you cannot assume that everyone or even the majority makes that distinction. Everyone agrees that people getting shot is bad on the personal level for the victim, because then they are dead. But many people think a e.g. boy getting raped (regardless of the perpetrators gender) is less of a problem on the personal level for the victim.

It is not. It really is not. And it hurts, because even people you trust suddenly say shit like "for boys it's not that serious, they don't keep this baggage for the rest of their life", "they work it out fast". But it's just not true.

I know that you probably didn't mean it that way, I just wanna tell you that that's the way it may be read. Because many people actually say this and mean it in the "on the personal level, for the victim, it's not as bad" way and thus it may be very difficult not to default to the "worse" interpretation, after being burned by assuming the "better" interpretation once before.

Sorry for the nitpicking ^^'

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#126

Post by Thorrez »

SilasX wrote: post #93
Thorrez wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That article doesn't seem to say he needed the job badly.

Not in those words, no. But if you're that resentful about being laid off, and talking to the media about what a cosmic injustice it is rather than, "oh, well, I guess I can start spending some of the interest on the fortune I built up from 16 years at Google", then yes, you do still need the job badly.

I don't think he talked to the media. The article appears to just be quoting from his LinkedIn post, and other parts of his LinkedIn page. Also I'm not sure he's saying it's a cosmic injustice.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#127

Post by lelanthran »

Aunche wrote: post #61
wengo314 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is because HR exists to protect the company, not the employee. it would be a big media storm if that aforementioned reverse thing happened.

> that is because HR exists to protect the company, not the employee. This honestly makes me think that a lot of the story is heavily exaggerated. Why would HR entertain a hypothetical that could only get them in trouble?

> This honestly makes me think that a lot of the story is heavily exaggerated. Why would HR entertain a hypothetical that could only get them in trouble?

Because it ordinarily doesn't get the company in trouble? HR cannot see into the future, you know, and from their PoV, ignoring a male's complaint against a female doesn't usually result in any media firestorm, while investigating a female on the word of a male does.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#128

Post by gedy »

knocte wrote: post #101
grapehut wrote: post #72

These stories leave a bad taste in my mouth. It hasn't yet gone to court, so the guys allegations could be really be anything from the God's honest truth all the way to a complete fabrication. Yet there is a huge amount of irreparable damage by public stories like this. I was once personally on the receiving end of a complete false sexual harassment allegation from a coworker almost at random (someone I had almost no…

> I'm still a bit jaded that there are absolutely zero repercussions of making false claims. There is this crime called "false accusation", you could have chased that?

My last company punished a guy who was accused of some sort sexual harassment by a woman, and they wouldn't tell him who, when, or what the details were. He seemed genuinely confused what it could have been.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#129

Post by caminante »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #95
caminante wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Probably worth noting this story was first published by the New York Post. Take that for what you will. Instead of an ad hominem dogwhistle, please describe how the paper's political leanings could bias its reporting here. At face value, it's workplace sexual assault allegations with a power imbalance.

> Instead of an ad hominem dogwhistle I don't think that's what "dogwhistle" means. IIUC, dog-whistling is surreptitiously sending a message to some readers, but having plausible deniability and/or non-recognition for the rest of the readers.

Try this:

>I'd like to point out that CoastalCoder wrote this comment. Take that for what you will.

See? Highlighting with this phrasing aligns exactly with your definition. The framing is defaulting to negative-neutral.

Re: Google exec fired after female boss groped him at drunken bash, suit says

#130

Post by throwaway_12132 »

grapehut wrote: post #72

These stories leave a bad taste in my mouth. It hasn't yet gone to court, so the guys allegations could be really be anything from the God's honest truth all the way to a complete fabrication. Yet there is a huge amount of irreparable damage by public stories like this. I was once personally on the receiving end of a complete false sexual harassment allegation from a coworker almost at random (someone I had almost no…

[flagged]
Post reply on HN