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Is my advice too mercenary?

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Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#191

Post by nobody9999 »

replygirl wrote: post #182
nobody9999 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So have I, and I stopped purchasing insurance because I cannot find the coverage I want. I need a specific variant of a certain operation which is only performed by a few surgeons in the country, and the one surgeon in New York who offers it only takes Aetna for that operation. Aetna reentered marketplaces starting 2022, but I'm moving and the operation has a year-plus waitlist, so I'm SOL. It has made a ton of sens…

no worries, i didn't feel attacked, just pushing back because prior to the edit you said emphatically that what i stated was not true

>no worries, i didn't feel attacked, just pushing back because prior to the edit you said emphatically that what i stated was not true

I'm glad.

My initial statement was categorical and not specific only to me. You were right to call me out on that. Thanks.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#192

Post by [deleted] »

danaris wrote: post #160
engineer_22 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter argument, is that relying on benevolent government to ensure a desired outcome is just as naive. In both cases, the holders of power are people . You're just trading one person for another.

You're trading one person who has no accountability to you in particular or the populace in general with a group of people who have at least some meaningful accountability. That's not an even trade.

[deleted]

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#193

Post by deltree7 »

guelo wrote: post #183
kbenson wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…

It worked and was stable for decades because unions ensured a balance of power between capital and labor. NAFTA and other pro-capital regulation broke that balance and shifted the balance towards capital.

[flagged]

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#194

Post by PragmaticPulp »

A4ET8a8uTh0 wrote: post #187
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. The problem with these advice columns is that they aren't saying "don't give your all to a company". They end up saying "your company is the enemy ". The original article that this blog refers to was titled "Exit interviews are a trap", which many pointed out was a gross exaggeration. It assumes that every company perform…

I read the article and I disagree. It does not say it either explicitly or implicitly. The article only urges the reader to think of the benefits to themselves first.. like a company would. I don't think it is an unreasonable approach.

> I read the article and I disagree. It does not say it either explicitly or implicitly. The article only urges the reader to think of the benefits to themselves first.. like a company would.

This article is a response to criticisms of a previous article where the author was definitely very mercenary and suggested the only purpose of the exit interview was to “trap” the employee into giving information that their managers could use against them later… somehow.

It seems this article was meant to walk back some of the aggressiveness.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#195

Post by Volundr »

noncoml wrote: post #109
duxup wrote: post #22

I’m not inclined to do an exit interview because I’ve likely already expressed my opinions. I do think the “the company doesn’t care about you” type advice does require some nuance. Different companies make different choices and just because someone moves from mega corporation to mega corp doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust anyone… There’s space in between giving your entire self to a company and imagining everyone is…

My experiences while at Cisco about 4-5 years ago: 1st experience: Told my boss I am leaving. My boss’s boss calls me in a room , tells me he has some great projects for me and that we will work together on them. I agree. Turns out it was his last day! 2nd experience: Similar situation, told my boss I am going to a startup. Boss’s boss calls me and gives me a lecture about how it is a bad idea to go to a startup. I l…

As an ex-manager recently returned to IC work... This is awful, I'd never treat someone this way. I tried to always be respectful of my employees, to the point of recommending to leaving employees that they not take our counter, that they are leaving for a reason and now that they've made the choice I recommend they explore it, and they can always come by if it was a mistake. With the knowledge and backing of my CIO.

Point being not all management is like this and I hope you've found somewhere that respects you.

I think collectively too many of us are too willing to ignore red flags and it let's people/companies like this succeed.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#196

Post by vmception »

uoaei wrote: post #65
vmception wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Society is collaborative, the private sector of society is not. Its a flawed incentive model that most of society periodically navigates through. These are different things than society as a whole. It is aspirational to want something else and be in an environment to rely on different advice. You are either conflating society and the private sector or projecting something I have no idea about. (I dont really understa…

Innovation rate in a society is roughly proportional to the branching factor of the possible futures that that society engenders. One way to reduce the branching factor is to consume (or store) resources that others may use to innovate. "Taking up space" in society corresponds to collecting and storing resources beyond the share which makes you productive, such that an opportunity cost is incurred. Insofar as there i…

The for-profit corporation can survive with “mercenaries” coming and going, compared to the risk averse co-dependent people married to their fake corporation family, the largest and most profitable ones have very high actual and expected attrition, tech workers finally normalizing 1-2 year stints and being okay professionally for the next stint.

For the people who don't know they can operate this way, now they have advice on how to.

Society wont be worse off because more employees are looking out for themselves instead of falling for company rhetoric. Just as the article said, if you aspire for something else, support a unionization effort.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#197

Post by thegrimmest »

drewcoo wrote: post #180
thegrimmest wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all social services, including police and fire safety, were privatized I think enforcing the law has been a government function from the times the first laws were laid down. Fire services were a private function, and this actually works fine in sparsely populated areas where fires are not likely to spread in temperate climates. The only reason fire services are public is because of the inherent risk to everyone tha…

We're talking US, right? There were only private police until 1838 in Boston: https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/ And only private firefighters until 1853 in Cincinnati: http://www.fireserviceinfo.com/history.html Ben Franklin offered America's first fire insurance. Privatized insurance and firefighters in Phili in those days: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/08/am...

I'm not sure what you mean "private police" - the Boston night watch, which predated the 1838 professional police force, were given powers by the town government[1]. I can't find any references to how the night watch was funded, but surely the town government was involved.

Edit:

> The duties of the Watch, as appears by the order, were to be performed in turn by the inhabitants; they were not "citizen soldiers," but citizen Watchmen, and having an interest in their work, no doubt did it well.

- A chronological history of the Boston watch and police by Savage, Edward H.[2]

Savage seems to indicate that the night watch was performed in turn by the inhabitants of the community, by order of the government, and there is no mention they were paid. This doesn't seem like a private service to me.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Watch

2. https://archive.org/details/achronologicalh01savagoog/page/n...

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#198

Post by jseban »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #5

It truly is shocking that health insurance is tied to employment status. I really think this is a large part of the trend towards overt ruthlessness in the USA, no one has their back so they have no ones back, as people age and experience medical bankruptcy (or narrowly avoid it at great cost) they are realizing this ruthlessness in our system.

In that case, why should your home be tied to employment status? Food? It's at least as important for your survival as health insurance.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#199

Post by the_jeremy »

noncoml wrote: post #109
duxup wrote: post #22

I’m not inclined to do an exit interview because I’ve likely already expressed my opinions. I do think the “the company doesn’t care about you” type advice does require some nuance. Different companies make different choices and just because someone moves from mega corporation to mega corp doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust anyone… There’s space in between giving your entire self to a company and imagining everyone is…

My experiences while at Cisco about 4-5 years ago: 1st experience: Told my boss I am leaving. My boss’s boss calls me in a room , tells me he has some great projects for me and that we will work together on them. I agree. Turns out it was his last day! 2nd experience: Similar situation, told my boss I am going to a startup. Boss’s boss calls me and gives me a lecture about how it is a bad idea to go to a startup. I l…

Was talking to my manager about how there were opportunities for more money at other companies (like, 20% more, not huge amounts). She said she would work on getting comp adjusted for me, then 3 months later said she couldn't. I asked if my company would counter-offer if I got a better offer, she said no.

I got an offer for a lot more (+60%). My company immediately matched. Don't trust management.

Re: Is my advice too mercenary?

#200

Post by CPLX »

kbenson wrote: post #126
rmason wrote: post #91

There was a time in America a generation or two ago when you could give your all to a company. Here in Michigan there were a number of small towns where a single employer would dominate. If the town needed something, like a baseball park the owner would simply write a check. If a loyal employee had a health crisis that insurance didn't cover the company owner would write a check. When there were tough economic times…

How is that any different than some fiefdom ruled over by some noble? The whole point of democracy and elective government is that you can't rely on a system like that to be consistently good, whether it's the Duke's son squandering all the wealth and not listening to the people or a shift in management at the company. Just because sometimes there were benevolent companies that decided to contribute to their communit…

The vast majority of what makes society work is variations on the honor system. You can like it or hate it but it's better for everyone when we all agree on that.
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