996 • Hacker News Board

Re: 996

#181

Post by feisuzhu » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #125

grantdong wrote: post #18

In China, its birthplace, '996' always seen as practice of failed management. Because for at least half of the 72-hour workweek, most employee will mentally checkout (in Chinese we call this 摸鱼). Although middle managers know their subordinates are inefficient, they still impose working hour KPI on their team, so they can demonstrate their own value to upper management.

Touch fish?

It's an over-simplification of Chinese idiom "浑水摸鱼", which is literally 'catching fish in muddy water'. Origninated from Thirty-Six Stratagems (三十六计). It generally mean "to take advantage of a chaotic situation or a crisis". It is later extended to express slacking off.

Re: 996

#182

Post by rvba » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

What are the 10B companies from China that invented anything new btw?

Re: 996

#183

Post by blacksmith_tb » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:58 PM UTC

alkakKnbhhh wrote: post #135

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some benefit from having a pool of people with enough funds to take investment risks that the rank and file can't. They can outmaneuver any planned economy. The problem in the US is that those people have engineered themselves a disproportionate wealth disparity that doesn't generate a collective benefit.

[flagged]

That's a novel take on diversity, but I think your window is too small. The US was full of similar anti-immigrant sentiment a century ago, directed at southern and eastern European new arrivals. Today no one is calling for Poles and Italians to be deported. The "melting pot" can work, if no one is actively trying to kick it over.

Re: 996

#184

Post by SomaticPirate » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #23

When founders put 996 in their job descriptions or Tweet about their 996 culture it’s a helpful signal to avoid that company. The only time I’d actually consider crazy schedules was if I was the founder with a huge equity stake and a once in a lifetime opportunity that would benefit from a short period of 996. For average employees? Absolutely not. If someone wants extraordinary hours they need to be providing extrao…

We need to collate this. Is there a repo where we can mention companies that do this? I’ve talked to HR reps who extol their amazing work life balance only to find engineering is expected to work close to a 996

Re: 996

#185

Post by scubbo » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

robterrell wrote: post #106

Aurornis wrote: post #23

When founders put 996 in their job descriptions or Tweet about their 996 culture it’s a helpful signal to avoid that company. The only time I’d actually consider crazy schedules was if I was the founder with a huge equity stake and a once in a lifetime opportunity that would benefit from a short period of 996. For average employees? Absolutely not. If someone wants extraordinary hours they need to be providing extrao…

If you're smart enough to get hired for one of these roles, and you're willing to work 996, be just a little bit smarter and found your own startup and take all the upside.

> and take all the upside

And all of the risk.

Encouraging anyone to start their own company is deeply irresponsible. Most startups fail. If you're needing encouragement to do it - if you're not already fully deluded that you're the special snowflake unique genius who will succeed where all others have failed - you shouldn't be doing it.

Re: 996

#186

Post by criddell » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

chasebank wrote: post #45

For those like me who didn’t know what 996 was: it stands for working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

My first thought was 9 hour days, 9 days in a row, then 6 days off. At first it sounds nice, but I know out of those 9 hours there would be 4-5 truly great hours and the rest would be meh.

Re: 996

#187

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

jasoneckert wrote: post #8

A note of caution: everything is relative, and details are important. If you love what you do (artist, self-employed, etc.) a 996 culture can be considered a good thing as a certain amount of "good" stress allows us to feel self-actualized. As is a 996 culture that provides for work-life balance. For example, working from home with flex time for 12 hours where you get to take long breaks whenever you feel like it to…

[deleted]

Re: 996

#188

Post by jeremyjh » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #160

supportengineer wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have absolutely zero faith that the current political ruling class will “come to their senses”. All you have to do is observe their current behavior and you will come to the same conclusion. When billionaires show you who they are, believe them the first time. They have not lived through a depression and neither have they lived through any major world wars. They will be curious to see how bad it can get and they be…

Neither have they lived through any serious social upheaval.

They probably won’t, either.

Re: 996

#189

Post by didgetmaster » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 3:59 PM UTC

andsoitis wrote: post #117

analognoise wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? When America was strongest, we had a large and increasing middle class, and the top marginal tax rate was above 70% - it was in the 90s. We don’t need “the elite” - they don’t actually “create jobs”, and the “engine of the economy” is just a convenient vehicle for the rich (and private equity) to ruin the middle class further - it was never about “efficient markets”. If anything what we’ve seen over the last 40…

> When America was strongest, we had a large and increasing middle class, and the top marginal tax rate was above 70% - it was in the 90s. I think you got this wrong. According to my sources the highest marginal income tax rate was 39.6%. It was during the 50s, 60s, and 70s that it never dipped below 70%. Source: https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Free_Resources/Federal-Inco... The other thing is that different dimensi…

The 'tax the rich' crowd loves to quote the top marginal rates from 50 years ago; but did anyone ever really pay those rates?

Tax shelters were common in those days with the rich paying accountants and tax attorneys to find ways of avoiding those astronomical rates.

Re: 996

#190

Post by analognoise » Sat, Sep 06, 2025, 4:00 PM UTC

alkakKnbhhh wrote: post #135

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is some benefit from having a pool of people with enough funds to take investment risks that the rank and file can't. They can outmaneuver any planned economy. The problem in the US is that those people have engineered themselves a disproportionate wealth disparity that doesn't generate a collective benefit.

[flagged]

Considering our success so far, it’s obvious it’s succeeding. You’d have to ignore your eyes and ears to think a multiracial secular democratic country can succeed.

What’s amazing is that racists seem to be trying to screw it up on purpose, then to claim it doesn’t work. “Starve the beast” but for social cohesion. They’re always surprised when they get bitten by the monster they created.

The rich never had “noblesse oblige” - we used to shoot at the factory owner when they didn’t pay us.

I’m not sure what to do with such a limited understanding of history and such an obvious blind spot as this, but then I remember: you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.