The growing inequality of who gets to work from home • Hacker News Board

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#121

Post by ekianjo » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:41 PM UTC

madsbuch wrote: post #24

throwup238 wrote: post #2

The same inequality exists with drug testing too. A lot of low wage roles get drug tested on a regular basis while higher paying careers don’t. Outside the military, pilots rarely get tested despite the fact they’re responsible for many more lives than fork lift operators or truck drivers (who often do get tested). Doctors pretty much only get tested if they botch a surgery or someone reports them. Lawyers? Wallstree…

this comment represent a weird sentiment: if you drugt test in one field, you should equally drug test I all fields. How many airplanes crashed due to The pilot being on drugs? it seems like introducing a whole machinery to just have the same resting is an industrial scale waste of resources. However, people regularly die because of drunk and tired drivers.

> How many airplanes crashed due to The pilot being on drugs?

good question, but there is just no way to get an answer

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#122

Post by deepsquirrelnet » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:44 PM UTC

krystianantoni wrote: post #16

The discussion is pulled by big income of office space owners and builders. Secondly there is shortage of good mid and line management that cannot cope without looking over shoulder due to various reasons. Any argument to support their profit is good.

I agree. Notably missing from the conversation is the struggling commercial real estate industry and investments that have already been committed into that market.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#123

Post by creato » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:45 PM UTC

sshine wrote: post #25

madsbuch wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this comment represent a weird sentiment: if you drugt test in one field, you should equally drug test I all fields. How many airplanes crashed due to The pilot being on drugs? it seems like introducing a whole machinery to just have the same resting is an industrial scale waste of resources. However, people regularly die because of drunk and tired drivers.

There is some implicit assumption that drug testing is a safety measure. I am quite convinced it is a productivity measure.

It’s solely a way for insurance companies to get out of paying claims.

If drug testing was motivated by productivity, amphetamines wouldn’t be tested for.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#124

Post by solardev » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:49 PM UTC

autoexec wrote: post #68

mschuster91 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So everybody needs to be miserable as if you are not miserable the rest of miserable people will look at you and say: That's not fair!! I am miserable so you must be miserable too! This argument gets used a lot in politics, whenever a situation is to be improved people claim "but we suffered, that's not fair!!!". Personally, I know this from fellow second-generation migrants here in Germany that are opposed to how…

Crab mentality is dangerous. It seems like a lot of people would rather pull others down to where they are than allow everyone to be lifted up to somewhere better.

Do crabs do that?

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#125

Post by foogazi » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:51 PM UTC

unsupp0rted wrote: post #23

The other day I phoned a service provider and the lady’s kid was babbling in the background and a children’s show was playing throughout the call. I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Either invest in voice isolation or don’t work from home. Functionally this lady brought her kid to my home office and blasted a cartoon during our meeting. Is this harsh of me and an unpopular opinion? Yes. I agree that Human bein…

I've had it happen and my reaction has been "I get it, everyone is going through stuff, it's awesome that they get to be working during the pandemic"

I do despise the call center background noise where I'm hearing other people making calls. but the person on the phone has no control over that. I'll take WHF over RTO any day

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#126

Post by lawgimenez » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:57 PM UTC

unsupp0rted wrote: post #73

em-bee wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a cultural problem. in asia and africa people take their kids to work all the time. part of this is because parents can't afford childcare, but part of it is also: "why not?". i find our western attitude towards kids disturbing. after living 15 years in china i have come to realize that western, and even more so the european, and especially the german and austrian attitude towards work and school is much more…

As an intentional non-parent who lived for a decade in several Asian countries: work calls are for doing work. Serious people don’t let their kids talk over their meetings.

Chill with the attitude, you have no idea what she’s been through with her kid. Maybe the kid just got off from a tantrum or something.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#127

Post by IshKebab » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:58 PM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #109

midasuni wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kid tax is at 50k, if you have student loans and 2 kids the marginal tax at 50-60k is 69%, then back to 42% for 60-100, then upto 62% 100-125, then 40% upto 150, then 45% above that. (Numbers approximate)

It's also worth noting that £100k in the UK puts you firmly into the top 5% of earners (according to the IFS anyway).

Even so, you can't agree that the marginal tax graph makes any sense at all.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#128

Post by unsupp0rted » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 3:58 PM UTC

redcobra762 wrote: post #120

unsupp0rted wrote: post #23

The other day I phoned a service provider and the lady’s kid was babbling in the background and a children’s show was playing throughout the call. I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Either invest in voice isolation or don’t work from home. Functionally this lady brought her kid to my home office and blasted a cartoon during our meeting. Is this harsh of me and an unpopular opinion? Yes. I agree that Human bein…

I presume you said nothing to alert her to the issue, of course? Just got emotional about it and secretly resented the woman for having children…

Of course I didn’t mention it. What would this have accomplished, other than upsetting her and establishing an adversarial call?

I was calling in to get a task done. I got it done as quickly as possible and moved on.

Next time if I get her again, I’ll request a different agent by name, who was professional and capable last time.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#129

Post by alchemist1e9 » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 4:07 PM UTC

vladvasiliu wrote: post #75

autoexec wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crab mentality is dangerous. It seems like a lot of people would rather pull others down to where they are than allow everyone to be lifted up to somewhere better.

Indeed. But it seems widespread. The issue seems to be that many people don't consider their situation in absolute terms, but tend to look at how others have it. An interesting book on the subject is Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior (original German title: Der Neid: Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft) by Helmut Schoeck.

That book is incredibly relevant to current trends. While envy in small societies spurred improvement, in today’s complex societies it breeds destructive tendencies, vast disparity in achievement makes envy less about motivation and more about resentment, fueling calls for collectivism and redistribution. The rise of Progressive politics might be less about fairness and more about an unaddressed, deep-seated envy. We know historically there are only destructive outcomes for policies rooted in such emotions, rather than constructive societal development.

Re: The growing inequality of who gets to work from home

#130

Post by jvaseniselv » Sun, Jan 21, 2024, 4:11 PM UTC

unsupp0rted wrote: post #23

The other day I phoned a service provider and the lady’s kid was babbling in the background and a children’s show was playing throughout the call. I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. Either invest in voice isolation or don’t work from home. Functionally this lady brought her kid to my home office and blasted a cartoon during our meeting. Is this harsh of me and an unpopular opinion? Yes. I agree that Human bein…

I think this is an overreaction. It was likely as simple as hanging up and calling again, if it bothered you so much. Or did you consider providing some polite feedback that the background noise was distracting you, I have had people buy headphones advertised as noise canceling and assume they work well but only realize they didn't until pointed out to them. Or did you even consider that she might work from an office and just had an off day - had a malfunctioning headset for the day or had a sick kid at home and so opted to work remotely for the day.

Also, is this even about working from home? I have worked in multiple offices which had open layouts and other meetings/conversations going on in desks around me and very distracting too.

Personally, imho, I work remotely and have a quiet room to myself but I also understand that other people I work with have lives too, and if it really bothers me I just tell them that politely, if you are courteous then its likely most people are going to be to you too, and do what they can to help. It makes me wonder if you have already made up your mind about the person you spoke to and about work from home and are finding reasons to justify it.