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I am an Uber survivor

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Re: I am an Uber survivor

#171

Post by actuallyalys »

jordigh wrote: post #122
CPLX wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word has lots of original meanings, many of which are quite disparate: "Large price increases could trigger demands for even larger wage increases." "His unpleasant remark triggered an argument that almost cost them their friendship" "Studies show that lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue for Americans." And so on. The usage you're citing is relatively recent jargon.

Yes, that's exactly the problem: it's psychological jargon. People started using it in a jargon way to try to explain to others what PTSD is like. It was supposed to evoke compassion from people if they understood what triggering someone was. Instead it became a point of ridicule and mockery, "oh, I hurt your feelings ? Did I trigger you, sweetheart?"

I think people need to realize that using psychological terms casually isn't like using other scientific concepts casually: doing so tends to trivialize mental illnesses most people already poorly understand.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#172

Post by spcelzrd »

joezydeco wrote: post #28

"In essence, the HR department blackmailed me that if I make noise, I’d be fired. I was distraught by the HR department’s response especially considering that most of the HR folks I dealt with were women." Say it over and over, say it loud, and say it to every single person entering the US workforce from day one: H/R ACTS AND WILL ALWAYS ACT IN THE COMPANY'S BEST INTERESTS. NOT YOURS. Amy's situation was grave, and k…

One of the ways HR acts in the interest of the company, is to make sure managers aren't putting the company at risk by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior. HR isn't your friend, but if they enable harassment and discrimination, they are failing in their role of corporate governance and should be replaced.

A competent CEO would take action here.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#174

Post by mjolk »

muglug wrote: post #138
mjolk wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this post not proof of that? Especially so soon after Ms. Fowler's account. Perhaps the floodgates are now open. The difference being that Susan Fowler's story was realistic. This blogpost is absurd and just adds noise that would compete with credible accounts.

What evidence do you have that it's absurd? Do you think men don't ever act like that in professional settings? Because I have know a ton of women who can assure you that they do.

> What evidence do you have that it's absurd?

None, which is exactly the level of evidence put forward in the blogpost that it even happened. Susan Fowler's account is a plausible account of a toxic environment; I default to believing her for various reasons. Claims of open/unguarded homophobia racism, sexism, fireable remarks, coworker-sexual-fanfiction are pretty severe as the consequences are steep and financial for the accused -- if this blogpost isn't hyperbole, I hope the author is reading this comment as she should be talking with a lawyer.

> Do you think men don't ever...Because I have know a ton of women...

Disproving absolutes is a fool's errand and I'm sure you know the way this is phrased, I can't argue against it.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#175

Post by tyre »

bphogan wrote: post #140
leggomylibro wrote: post #132

>Travis is well known to protect high performing team leaders no matter how abusive they are towards their employees. The HR team was known to be deftly[sic] afraid of Travis’s tendency to blame and ridicule the women and yell at HR whenever they went in with complaints of abuse. I heard about Travis personally congratulating Mike#2 for meeting strict deadlines months after I complained to HR about my abuse. This is…

Exactly. It's not an independent investigation if you hire the investigators.

Who else could hire the investigators?

It's a tricky problem, but ultimately you rely on the investigators caring more about their reputation than any one contract. If it gets out that firm X doesn't do objective reviews, then future companies in hot water won't hire them.

The real challenge here is that these investigators are not independent. Eric Holder has done prior work on behalf of Uber, which means he could reasonably be biased towards the company.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#176

Post by _xhok »

ubercore wrote: post #151
_xhok wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wanting evidence is privileged? Is everything but complete credulity now considered "privileged?" She doesn't have to, but putting it that way, people don't have to believe her. Has the word "privileged" so lost all meaning that it's privileged to merely want evidence? I reject that I'm somehow contributing to an oppressive patriarchy by wanting claims to be substantiated in the post-Enlightenment way: with proof. Pe…

It's pretty typical male privilege to enter this discussion to say "Nope, don't believe it, because it sounds unreasonable to me". It has a chilling effect. There's obviously no way to be sure of the story, but the speed with which people just presume it's fake speaks the overall lack of understanding of sexual harassment in the workplace. It's willfully ignorant to make that the basis for a discussion on this articl…

As it happens, I disagree with mjolk on this, in that I'm inclined from my experience to find Amy's story pretty believable.

However, HN has lost its mind if merely saying you don't believe a story is now flag-worthy. Why should the odiousness of a claim influence our evaluation of whether or not it's true?

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#177

Post by ohyes »

Why aren't any of these shitbags getting named?

This type of thing should ruin the guy's career.

Fair or not I'm just going to assume Travis and anyone working for him is just like this disgusting mike#2 fellow.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#178

Post by snappy173 »

leggomylibro wrote: post #132

>Travis is well known to protect high performing team leaders no matter how abusive they are towards their employees. The HR team was known to be deftly[sic] afraid of Travis’s tendency to blame and ridicule the women and yell at HR whenever they went in with complaints of abuse. I heard about Travis personally congratulating Mike#2 for meeting strict deadlines months after I complained to HR about my abuse. This is…

>"Great, retain a Chicago politician so you know you'll get the answer you're paying for."

right. regardless of where you stand on his performance as attorney general, hiring eric holder is a political move. if uber actually cared about investigating this, they wouldn't have hired a politician.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#179

Post by soheil »

harryh wrote: post #31

Why would someone write an anonymous blog post but then declare that they are: 1) A woman in her late 20s 2) Who used to work at Uber in Engineering working on database and networking scalability 3) Went to a top private college 4) has a Masters in Information Systems 5) previous to Uber worked as a Data Analyst in a tech company in the Midwest and left when it was acquired by a Chinese firm 6) Is 5 foot 7 Caucasian…

Did a search of all current/past Uber employees based on public data mainly from LI, found only 6 people with those degrees and none were female. Did another search for people who worked as Data Analyst and worked at Uber came up with 6 different people again all male. As other answers suggest the information could be twisted, but definitely not "slightly".

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#180

Post by mjolk »

ubercore wrote: post #109
mjolk wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this post not proof of that? Especially so soon after Ms. Fowler's account. Perhaps the floodgates are now open. The difference being that Susan Fowler's story was realistic. This blogpost is absurd and just adds noise that would compete with credible accounts.

Are you a female engineer at Uber? I would think that would be a reasonable baseline for criticizing the credibility of this story.

Your assertion is that only female engineers at Uber are qualified to have an opinion on anonymous claims? At the very least, your perspective is sexist.
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