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I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

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Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#151

If his timeline and application are true, he was technically still the chairman of his company while working at McDonald's, if in name only. > 10/99-10/01: chairman, i-traffic (an agency.com company) > 10/00-10/00: counterperson, mcdonald's (4th & broadway, nyc) I sometimes think about going back to work at food service jobs after I retire, just to keep busy. I enjoyed those jobs as a high school and college student,…

I did this between jobs (and slightly overlapping) for a while, about 6 months. It didn't pay the bills and I got a seemingly permanent repetitive stress injury from working in the kitchen, but it was fun and an excellent change of pace. My god I was never confused about how to do a task and when I left work I was just done, there was no todo list hanging over my head.

Reminds me of a summer job I had once, sitting at a machine assembling the plastic part of toilet blocks. I sat at one end where my job was to place a foam slice rough-side up onto the plastic bit appearing in front of me. Pssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. 8 hours a day, break every two hours where I'd spent some of that money on a snack, CD player with pirated music doing its thing.

I mean I only spent two weeks or so doing that if I recall correctly, the rest of my time there was supplying the eight or so machines (times five people per machine) with parts and taking the finished boxes away, but still.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always say thankyou. Got three raw burgers at a restaurant this summer and just asked for them to be cooked. They gave us new ones, took an hour longer. Still tipped 20% and thanked them sincerely and said not to worry about it. The waiter got choked up. I'm not going to be an ass in front of my kids. I worked manual labour planting trees for ten seasons, know what it's like to struggle.

Never be an *ss in front of anyones kids. I always also say thank you, and to I'll add to p.o.c. "Have a blessed day." I got that from my friend answering machine. Thanks Solomon, I will. I dug ditches for just one season, and I can still feel it sometimes. The struggle is hard and it real.

>>Never be an *ss in front of anyones kids.

My personal principle always is to be polite with everybody. Like that's default mode of operation. No matter what you do with them. You might not buy from them, you might not hire from them, you might even want to keep distance from them. That should have no nothing to do with how you talk with them.

Separate speaking from doing.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#154
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to sleep, but you are wrong about the calories. Kurzgesagt has a really interesting video on it: https://youtu.be/lPrjP4A_X4s The caloric part quite blew my mind. I know its not the most scientific source but digging deeper in it it does seem to match up.

Herman Pontzer, an anthropology professor, talks quite a bit about a study he did on the calorie needs of people who are highly active on this podcast: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/examining-energy-evoluti... Spoiler alert: you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active.

> you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active.

I think I’m missing your point. How do you explain weight loss from exercising?

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in software sales in a call center. I hated my job and the highlight of my week was the Monday burrito special down the street at a place where the employees shouted "Welcome to Moe's!" whenever customers entered. When thinks ultimately fell apart at that job, I went to Moe's and somehow managed to get a job despite a lack of food service experience. I lasted a while—months, I think—but eventually got…

Oof, never become a farmer. Farming is generally something you (reluctantly?) inherit along with the farm. It's insanely expensive to buy your way in. Even if you inherit the land, the cost of buying and upkeep of machinery is extremely expensive. Everything you invest after that point (in livestock, seed, fuel, time) is a risk. Bad luck or bad weather can ruin a crop. The hours are long. The stress is monumental - s…

I think when tech people think of becoming a farmer they're thinking of doing something small like this https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/gourmet-farmer and maybe something like Clarkson's Farm (Series on Amazon Prime) rather than going to build and manage a modern industrial farm.

In some ways this idea of becoming a farmer can be thought of as rich people cosplaying at being a farmer rather than actually running a for-profit farm. For some this might work out and be an actual career that they are good at, but for others it might just be a hobby.

Though both the TV shows I mentioned show how much hard work there is in actually running a farm and producing food.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Herman Pontzer, an anthropology professor, talks quite a bit about a study he did on the calorie needs of people who are highly active on this podcast: https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-podcast/examining-energy-evoluti... Spoiler alert: you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active.

> you burn basically the same number of calories per day sitting on your butt as you do being quite physically active. I think I’m missing your point. How do you explain weight loss from exercising?

People tend to lose weight from dieting, not exercise. Unless you're training for a marathon or something, even vigorous exercise tends to burn so few calories that an hour at the gym can be erased with a single trip to McDonald's.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#157
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oof, never become a farmer. Farming is generally something you (reluctantly?) inherit along with the farm. It's insanely expensive to buy your way in. Even if you inherit the land, the cost of buying and upkeep of machinery is extremely expensive. Everything you invest after that point (in livestock, seed, fuel, time) is a risk. Bad luck or bad weather can ruin a crop. The hours are long. The stress is monumental - s…

I think when tech people think of becoming a farmer they're thinking of doing something small like this https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/gourmet-farmer and maybe something like Clarkson's Farm (Series on Amazon Prime) rather than going to build and manage a modern industrial farm. In some ways this idea of becoming a farmer can be thought of as rich people cosplaying at being a farmer rather than actually ru…

Hence the term "hobby farm". It is a retirement dream: buy some land, hire some locals to do the lifting, and spend a few months each year pretending to be a farmer ... but one not fettered by financial concerns. Such people toy with various farm-related schemes but invariably settle in to a low-work pace with a few farm animals as pets, a back acre strewn with the various implements they bought and discarded after a season or two. Clarkson seems pretty open about this. I'm not sure whether he means to be entertaining, to show the absurdity of the process, or whether he actually enjoys it.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#158
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oof, never become a farmer. Farming is generally something you (reluctantly?) inherit along with the farm. It's insanely expensive to buy your way in. Even if you inherit the land, the cost of buying and upkeep of machinery is extremely expensive. Everything you invest after that point (in livestock, seed, fuel, time) is a risk. Bad luck or bad weather can ruin a crop. The hours are long. The stress is monumental - s…

I think when tech people think of becoming a farmer they're thinking of doing something small like this https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/gourmet-farmer and maybe something like Clarkson's Farm (Series on Amazon Prime) rather than going to build and manage a modern industrial farm. In some ways this idea of becoming a farmer can be thought of as rich people cosplaying at being a farmer rather than actually ru…

Worth noting that Clarkson's farm would have been a catastrophic failure but for the money pumped into it by the TV show.

Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#159
post #71

I met Heifermann once during a project and I thought he was a grounded person. I remember one thing he did was paying not for ad slots, but to change your background to a dalmation spotted print for a promotion, with a link. This was long before CSS, etc. He made his money just when the idea of value being divorced from real product to virtual metrics, “chasing eyeballs,” etc. was getting hot. The days when you sold…

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Re: I was a 20-something dethroned dotcom ceo that went to work at mcdonald's (2000)

#160
post #2

"10/[20]00-10/[20]00: counterperson, mcdonald's" Does that mean he worked there for one month or less? I checked his Linkedin, the job isn't listed. Jan 2002 he started a new photo startup ("50M+ members posted a billion photos"), then co-founder&CEO of meetup. It's a good time capsule of what his thinking was in 2000 but I wonder if it was more than a break. At my office job I, too, often think I should drive an Ube…

I used to work in software sales in a call center. I hated my job and the highlight of my week was the Monday burrito special down the street at a place where the employees shouted "Welcome to Moe's!" whenever customers entered. When thinks ultimately fell apart at that job, I went to Moe's and somehow managed to get a job despite a lack of food service experience. I lasted a while—months, I think—but eventually got…

This happened to me, and I actually did it. I burned out of an IT job and joined an intentional community where I worked with people with disabilities on a farm. There was also a vegetable garden and a craft shop. I lived there for two years. It was an Americorps position, and I made $150 a month (although housing and food from the organic farm were all free). Probably the most formative two years of my life, although afterward it was definitely hard to explain to employers why I decided to take an Americorps position in my 30s. I never went back to work in IT, although I still read about programming/the IT world almost every day.
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