Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I am an Uber survivor

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 841 posts

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#381

Post by mememachine »

wlamartin wrote: post #323
mememachine wrote: post #254

>I wonder (doubt) if they've ever been abused. It's hard for someone who has been abused to come forward, let alone stand up to an abuser. If they dont stand up for themselves on any level, then they simply arent being abused i dont believe. If you cant express your own discomfort, its not anyone but your fault youre uncomfortable. This is a hard truth. (copied from my other comment in this thread) I'll give you a cl…

I think this is far from truth, never mind hard truth and your example is way off point. I would say there are actions which clearly don't need an indication from the aggrieved party to recognise as abuse, such as seriously telling someone to "quit being a whiny bitch" from a position of power, in front of a team, in the workplace. You don't need to be a mind reader to understand this is not acceptable behaviour. The…

>There are clearly cases in which attempting to stand up to abusive behaviour has the potential to cause more problems (at the very least in the short term) than by staying silent

You seem to be confusing "standing up to abuse" and "indicating that behavior is abusive." The second is very risk-free and what I demand from anyone who wants to call themselves a victim.

Again, it doesnt have to be verbal. But if youre making a special effort to hide it, I dont sympathize.

In other words, if your "abuser" is reasonably unaware, for whatever reason, that you view their behavior as abusive, then you lose victim status.

I want to go further with this. Just because youre uncomfortable, doesnt mean its unreasonable discomfort. Youre getting paid to WORK, which is by its nature uncomfortable. Often times "stop being a whiney bitch" is accurate (although obviously usually inappropriate.)

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#382

Post by [deleted] »

idiot_stick wrote: post #33

We live in a world of fake news, but anyone who questions an anonymous blog post during a media hype-cycle surrounding Uber's sexual harassment allegations is flagged? It's important to be more diligent in these times, not less.

[deleted]

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#383

Post by mirimir »

hsod wrote: post #327
macsj200 wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What specifically is the move forward here, though? I suppose hn as a community has the power to boycott applying to the company, but how else can we drive internal change from an external position? Uninstalling the app and simply choosing to use a competitor's services are another option, but sapping the entire organization of revenue seems like it would hurt drivers and developers at least as much as management, if…

Consumer action like boycotts and social media posting is nice, but I think the solution to this problem is lawsuits. Victims can seek redress through the courts, which both compensates them and holds the company directly to account for their actions. For a lot of reasons participating in lawsuits is challenging for the victims, and I am in no way criticizing any individual for not going through all of that. I just t…

How about a class action?

Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.

Jock v. Sterling Jewelers Inc.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#384

Post by dragonwriter »

favorited wrote: post #361
losteverything wrote: post #309

Two comments Future Amy's should always be prepared to start recording at a moment's notice. Think Roger Ailes If you ignore a verbal wrong said to someone else and you don't say something, then it is like you said it yourself.

> Future Amy's should always be prepared to start recording at a moment's notice It's not always that simple. California is a 2-party consent state. INAL, but my understanding is that a private conversation (in a non-public place) means all parties have an expectation of privacy, which makes recording that conversation without the consent of all parties a felony. Presumably, getting consent from your harasser to reco…

Except that the offense seems to be a misdemeanor (max incarceration is not > 1 year), I think your description is correct.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#385

Post by djsumdog »

31reasons wrote: post #105
Jemmeh wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber is huge, it's recognizable, it's got interesting problems. Susan Fowler even wrote a bestselling book related to some of her work there. You get to work with a lot of smart people. That's a lot of motivation to try to stay despite bad things happening. It's easy to say in hindsight how bad it was, but I'd say most people want to try to do a good job and will expect some problems that they will just "have to deal…

She wrote: "Even though I don’t work at Uber any longer, the damage that was done to me by Uber’s work environment ruined my spirit." you have stay until they kill your spirit just because Uber is a cool company? I can imagine people keep staying there if they have to feed their hungry children and pay mortgage in a very bad economy, but not just because its a "Cool" company.

I don't know why you're getting down-voated. In American culture, people feel trapped. I wrote about this a few years back: http://khanism.org/perspective/trapped-in-the-cubical/

And I also wrote about the dangers of job loyalty a few years later: http://khanism.org/society/loyalty/

It's like the Milgram experiments: people often don't realize they have options. They don't want to be one of those people who "keep switching jobs." My longest job on my CV is 2.5 years. Most are only 1 year. I worried a bit about job loyalty until I realized no one even read the dates on my resume. Average turnaround in our industry is 13 months.

You can get a new job. If you're afraid of jumping too much, don't have more than three a year. Surely 1/3 of those is going to be tolerable/not-horrible enough to get a nice 13 months on your CV. If you're in IT as a dev, admin or some kind of engineer, there is a ton of interesting work. I agree with you totally. There is no reason to stay in a shit job. There is plenty of interesting and challenging work in good places for both men and women in our industry.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#386

Post by jlewis7272 »

user5994461 wrote: post #148

Let's forget about the drama for a minute and focus on running an actual business. It seems like a lot people are about to leave Uber and that's a business opportunity! Here's a list of Uber employees that can be recruited away with little to moderate effort: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrent...

Not sure I would want to hire some of them, if they think this behavior is normal.

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#389

Post by [deleted] »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #51
mjolk wrote: post #39

> I am afraid to make my name public. Let’s call me Amy. For reasons only the #ubervictims know, let’s refer to the villain of this story as Mike#2. My default is "show me the evidence", but I believe Susan Fowler's account because she put her reputation on the line and I was willing to trust that she left, opposed to got fired, due to non-performance reasons based on being able to somewhat approximate/confirm her te…

>If the culture at Uber was as rampantly ridiculous as described in this blogpost, men and women would be falling over themselves to tell their stories. Is this post not proof of that? Especially so soon after Ms. Fowler's account. Perhaps the floodgates are now open.

[deleted]

Re: I am an Uber survivor

#390

Post by everybodyknows »

tyre wrote: post #175
bphogan wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 r…

Yes, the investigator's _reputation_ is put at stake. But, reputation in the eyes of whom?

1. The public at large, who want to see standards of civic probity upheld? Or, 2. Future clients, who will want value for their money?

Delivering #2 requires writing up a designed narrative, in magisterial rhetoric. A narrative that hides all the dirt that isn't likely to come out anyway, and redirects culpability toward low-ranking dispensables, whether guilt or not.

Post reply on HN