Live data from Hacker News

Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

ft.com

141–150 of 188 posts

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#141
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would it be like if the goals of that subreddit were accomplished? - Would it be that most people could choose not to work? (I.e under some kind of UBI program?) I’d like to not have to work ;) - Would it be that the benefits and pay for many jobs would be vastly improved? That also sounds pretty nice. - Maybe it’d be that companies have to compete harder to be actually nice places to work. Also a good thing. Wh…

The phone and computer you are using, the vaccine that protects you from covid, the medicines that keep you living when you get sick, these are the products of thousand years of hard work from past generations. People wanting to "abolish work" may rather leech on society, it is a consequence of social media brainwashing: gambling, crypto, FIRE, 4hww, etc. These concepts have wide scale, harmful implications for the f…

Are you arguing against:

* What you feel /r/antiwork stands for based upon your interpretation of the title?

* What a couple of anonymous posters on the forum wrote?

* What the essays in the FAQ actually argue for?

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have news for you. Your manager is just implementing his managers agenda, and so forth-- which almost always goes straight back to a VP or C level guy. Managers generally have very little latitude-- they're given X many resources to do a task in Y amount of time, and that has been chosen for them. I am not defending bad managers-- but, they are there precisely to deliver to you the bad work environment that the CEO…

The CEO isn't to blame either. He has to make his investors happy. This is because there are investment opportunities based on rent seeking that have an artificially high return on investment. The CEO must beat those unsustainable returns.

> The CEO isn't to blame either. He has to make his investors happy.

So you are saying the buck stops at the heads of the rich class? Sounds like Marxism is back on the menu for the 21st century, we can all be the "investors" if the means of production don't belong to the old investors.

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#144

I wonder what would happen if private sector wage-based jobs were forbidden. If essentially your only option as an entrepreneur/company were to pay in equity/profit-sharing. The labor equivalent of, on the capital front, religions that forbid lending with interest but allow equity investing. I wonder if the complexity/transaction costs/uncertainty/governance problems would kill the economy or if it would be possible…

How would you compensate work if their equity position needs to be maintained in perpetuity but the value of their work remains the same? If I worked retail at Nordstroms in 2006, I would have needed to earn pennies a week to balance out the next 60 to 70 years of equity I have in the company.

well maybe if you made $20/h in cash and the share price is $20 you get 1 share/h. You can sell it (so you dont need to keep the equity in perpetuity) but if you live off $15, that you can have $5 (plus/minus appreciation/depreciation &dividends) shares in 60y time is a feature not a bug. Or maybe you have some mechanism whereby people have to sell back their shares when they leave (like partners at professional service firms).

A classic economist would say that the 1st example proves that its the same as cash and thus nothing much should change, but behaviourally there is endowment bias etc. I wouldn't be surprised if paying people in savings/investments and then letting them liquidate would result in a much higher saving/investment rate than giving them cash and expecting them to invest.

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#145
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have news for you. Your manager is just implementing his managers agenda, and so forth-- which almost always goes straight back to a VP or C level guy. Managers generally have very little latitude-- they're given X many resources to do a task in Y amount of time, and that has been chosen for them. I am not defending bad managers-- but, they are there precisely to deliver to you the bad work environment that the CEO…

I am aware of that, but my definition of a good manager is someone who was forward looking and focused on clearing roadblocks to allow the team to function properly, and can get the team aligned with the business needs. If I am being asked to go above and beyond in a role, but the same is not being asked of my coworkers, or I see HR policy against staff being enforced selectively, this is the classic 'bad management'…

> someone who was forward looking and focused on clearing roadblocks to allow the team to function properly, and can get the team aligned with the business needs.

Restaurant management is more like "Four necessary people didn't show up today, so you get to juggle bussing tables and doing dishes while you argue with the ones who did turn up about the extra work they'll have to do."

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#146
approximately 10% of Singapore's workers are robots. We as smarter, wealthier nations should be able to significantly reduce if not eliminate most menial employment. Of course it should be said that robots don't earn a wage and pay taxes so I wont pretend the government has any great incentive to see such technologies implemented.

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#148

It shouldn't be completely dismissed, but I think the forum is more about how an unhappy (or angry) minority have found each other, and the people that like to read their stories. I don't think that r/antiwork should be taken as representative of anything, including a broader movement. It's the same with twitter, there is a committed vocal and angry group, but it's not real life

Though I'm not one to generally say this or that subreddit should be banned, reddit has destroyed many a thousand times less subversive ones than this in the past, like /r/whitebeautyart. So I don't see why this kind of nihilistic, apathetic, passive attitude should be encouraged. Yes, something like this actually deserves to be removed, especially when it reaches critical mass. Because it does more harm than good to…

> nihilistic, apathetic, passive

Whatever r/antiwork is, it's none of these three things.

For contrast: nihilism would be proudly not wearing a mask in public spaces during a pandemic, because reasons, and then bragging about it.

> something like this actually deserves to be removed

Absolutely. Because complaining about wage theft is worse than actual wage theft.

Imagine a world that censored complaining. That'd be a world without Outlaw Country. That's not a world want to live in.

Johnny Paycheck - Take This Job and Shove It https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj2iGAifSNI

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#149
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have news for you. Your manager is just implementing his managers agenda, and so forth-- which almost always goes straight back to a VP or C level guy. Managers generally have very little latitude-- they're given X many resources to do a task in Y amount of time, and that has been chosen for them. I am not defending bad managers-- but, they are there precisely to deliver to you the bad work environment that the CEO…

I am aware of that, but my definition of a good manager is someone who was forward looking and focused on clearing roadblocks to allow the team to function properly, and can get the team aligned with the business needs. If I am being asked to go above and beyond in a role, but the same is not being asked of my coworkers, or I see HR policy against staff being enforced selectively, this is the classic 'bad management'…

This is a very white collar view of a manager. Hourly wage workers have a relationship that is much more like supervisor or overseer. They actively police your activities, timing, behavior, in ways office workers don't deal with near as much.

Anyway why do you care so much about what your coworkers are doing or how policies are being applied to them? You don't know what's going on with them, why not just focus on your work.

Re: Reddit ‘antiwork’ forum booms as millions of Americans quit jobs

#150

It shouldn't be completely dismissed, but I think the forum is more about how an unhappy (or angry) minority have found each other, and the people that like to read their stories. I don't think that r/antiwork should be taken as representative of anything, including a broader movement. It's the same with twitter, there is a committed vocal and angry group, but it's not real life

[dead]
Post reply on HN