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Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

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Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#141
post #80
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firing someone for taking three days off to handle a family emergency is not reasonable. Your opinion of whether the emergency was caused by risky behavior is irrelevant.

Firing somebody for not working is clearly sensible. Your opinion of whether Yelp's action is reasonable is irrelevant.

Real talk, I've worked for some horrible employers back home in Wichita, but -never- has any fired me for taking time off due to an emergency. If anything, they said, "go and take care of it." And that was that. I don't know what part of the world you come from but even in Kansas (a very socially and economically conservative state) we don't haggle people over three days off for an emergency. We suck it up and deal with it.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#142
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Yelp didn't vote for her to be a single mom, or for her BF to go on a risky outdoor activity to get injured, or for her to take a loan @ 300% interest (lol wat?). For some reason people seem to think they deserve special treatment for the choices that they made that didn't turn out so well. Yelp is a company. Its relation with her is that of business, service in exchange for currency on agreed upon work conditio…

Exactly my thoughts. Also I don't understand the "single mom" part. Society does not owe any special treatment to a single mom, not more than any other mom. Single mother is a choice of an independent woman and if she cant afford it she should probably not make it. Instead of being thankful for an employer to have given an opportunity in first place she is ranting against her employer, this is going to make it diffic…

Just remind me to -never- look to whatever firms you work at for a job. Because if they tolerate someone like you they gotta be more robotic than Rubio.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#143
And that's capitalism for you, kids.

Quoting: "I do not rely on the state to care for my son."

Not being from the USA and seeign the place this human being is in, it hurt me reading that justification.

Goddamm, that is what state is for! You have been fed all that capitalist bullshit for so long that don't see that another way of living is possible?

Are people waiting for private companies to help them in moments of need? That's what a welfare state is for. Just look at Europe, for all the jokes about french-strikes, taxes, corruption and whatelse we are not as fucked as this.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#144
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A slave could have chosen not to work and would have been beaten. She could have chosen not to work and wouldn't have been able to feed herself and her children. To me this looks like a situation which is at least related. Not exactly the same, but not completely different.

A slave can't chose to work somewhere else though. She could chose to work somewhere else with cheaper conditions.

A slave can escape though. It's all a matter of degrees, and where one draws the line between 'slavery' and 'freedom' depends entirely on one's world view. Personally I believe the crucial element is the psychology of a human being, and I believe that by that measure, 'true' freedom is much rarer than we think.

On the level of societies, I think a world where everyone would have too much freedom might actually not lead to optimal individual or collective happiness, and I think finding the balance is incredibly complicated.

All that said, I think the relative lack of security and freedom for many people in the US is a travesty and not fitting for a country that puts freedom front and center.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#146
post #99
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we made a list of every large company that violated a reasonable code of human morality.. the wheel was spun and today's public outrage is at Yelp. This stuff happens all the time. Sure we get outraged at the random story we come across every now and then, but largely we are numb to it. I just think the most valuable thing we can do to prevent these situations is have deeper discussions on the macro level instead…

I'm British and living in the UK, so under law I can't be fired for taking time off for an emergency with any of my dependents, and I'm entitled to "parental leave" for things like appointments[1]. This is the absolute minimum I would expect a country to afford its citizens. This is how this problem should be dealt with at the macro level. I find it saddening to see the micro-level impact of not having these sorts of…

We shouldn't need a law for this. From the facts presented in the article seems like a case where an employer can "do the right thing".

Weird thing is HR let her go after the Talia Jayne issue the other day - HR dept should be plugged in to a lot more stuff than just this single employee's situation.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#147
post #146
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm British and living in the UK, so under law I can't be fired for taking time off for an emergency with any of my dependents, and I'm entitled to "parental leave" for things like appointments[1]. This is the absolute minimum I would expect a country to afford its citizens. This is how this problem should be dealt with at the macro level. I find it saddening to see the micro-level impact of not having these sorts of…

We shouldn't need a law for this. From the facts presented in the article seems like a case where an employer can "do the right thing". Weird thing is HR let her go after the Talia Jayne issue the other day - HR dept should be plugged in to a lot more stuff than just this single employee's situation.

"do the right thing" for a corp. is to maximize profits, full stop.

Labour laws exist to keep unfettered capitalism in check.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#148
post #23

Not to distract from the content of the piece, but she took a 300% loan? THREE HUNDRED PERCENT? Could she have gotten a better loan? I'm under the impression that most banks offer loans at more reasonable rates. Also, how is Yelp able to retain salespeople in the Bay Area if they pay only $2k/month? The salary is clearly under the cost of living. On topic: please don't let all the particularities of this case distrac…

Perhaps she means 130%, which is already insanely high? I can't imagine even a loan shark practising 300%.

Some title loans (automobile) charge 10% per week, which if left unpaid, will amount to 520% per annum. Hence why payday loan stores compete for every corner in impoverished areas.

Re: Yelp Fired a Single Mother Today: Me

#150
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For similar reasons people take out tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands in loans to go to college: a promise of a better future, a little bit of risk and debt now for a life-changing career, and a better future for her children. It's quite possible she was sold the position on the basis of "well, in 3-6 months time, we'll reevaluate and get you up the ladder". She may have seen it as a life-changing oppor…

I don't understand how we can assign culpability after only hearing one side of the story though..

hate to agree with you(nothing personal), but people do tend to exploit beneficial systems. So, the few end up ruining a well-meaning support network for the truly needy.
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