Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet • Hacker News Board

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#441

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:37 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #299

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hospital you might be denied visitation rights I don't understand this. If I turn up at the hospital you're in and claim you are my (opposite sex) spouse (with the same surname), do the hospital staff demand to see a certificate of marriage registration and then perform a search to ensure there is no state issued marriage annulment?

No, but consider the situation where A elopes with B (but doesn't get legally married) against the wishes of A's parents, and they have a child C. A tragic car accident puts A and C in the hospital but A is in a coma, and by the time B gets to the hospital A's parents are there and disputing B's eligibility to attend at the bedside of family members.

Ah yep, that's a very good point and quite obvious now you point it out.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#442

Post by JSDave » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:38 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #211

placeybordeaux wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of the people who oppose residential development near work sites are to blame. Period. Are you saying that is the only thing that is keeping the bay area's cost of living high?

Housing costs are exaggerated in San Francisco by orders of magnitude more than every other component of cost of living.

There are other factors that also push up housing costs. placeybordeaux just disagrees that NIMBYism is the ONLY factor. I don't know if NIMBYism is even the primary factor.

For example, we have a small public transit network resulting in few options for high density construction.

There's a construction labor shortage that will likely worsen.

There's a sudden surge in jobs.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

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Post by ThrustVectoring » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:41 PM UTC

greglindahl wrote: post #426

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really need some regional or state-driven action to drive down housing prices in critical areas. It'd be pretty straightforward - make a "Zoning Authority" tax and levy it on counties, cities, and neighborhoods that do not meet a development target. Want to be an obstructionist NIMBY? I'm fine with that if we're charging you $10k/yr for the privilege.

There is a regional authority which tries to force communities to match new office space with new housing in the same city. And there's state action on the way to force local areas to approve dense developments near transit hubs like Caltrain. Obviously this isn't doing enough today, but there is action happening.

Which politicians are behind this, and where can I learn more? I wish to write them a letter stating my approval and donate to their political efforts.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

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Post by jimbokun » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:41 PM UTC

derekdahmer wrote: post #195

> A spokeswoman for Facebook said none of the company’s contingent or contract workers have access to facilities such as clinics, gyms, or bring-your-child-to-work days One thing I liked about AirBnB was their entire staff including cafeteria workers and security guards were full-time employees who ate the same food, had access to the same facilities and events, and went through the first week 'bootcamp' alongside de…

Being allowed to access a health care clinic would provide much more than empathy, that would be a massive economic benefit when insurance costs are so high in the US.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#445

Post by Danihan » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:43 PM UTC

kafkaesq wrote: post #418

Danihan wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood

And so now we have strict liability law.

Considering that, I don't believe this case, really justifies your (apparent) paranoia against the free market.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#446

Post by wbl » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC

Danihan wrote: post #405

wbl wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When every city in the bay thinks that way we get a situation where only the lucky get to live here.

And that's a bad thing why? Why shouldn't there be nice, exclusive areas to live in, just like there are exclusive schools to attend and exclusive companies to work for?

It's one thing to have Central Park West. It's another to have an entire region whose service workers commute from 3 hours away, whose public schools are off-limits to the poor, whose landlords got rich off of others labor.

I see we welcome immigrants sign on the homes of people who have driven out anyone making less then $100,000 a year. It's shocking to see so many want to slam the doors of opportunity and a better life in the face of the less fortunate.

Go have your enclave, but don't ask the state to help pay for your schools, roads, and pension costs while higher education support is massively cut.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

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Post by linkregister » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:51 PM UTC

openforce wrote: post #404

IanDrake wrote: post #303

If you're going to be featured in an article highlighting your financial difficulty, move the $450 Dyson fan, 65" DLP TV, and overhead projector out of the frame. It begins to erode their footing and make you question their priorities. I have friends that make much less than these folks. Some can barely make ends meet and sometimes I will help them with their personal finances. Which is when I usually discover why th…

Question - Why is this down voted? Isn't living within your means a basic idea in major parts of the world?

This is a great question. Those electronics are actually rational purchases, considering their situation.

The total value of the entertainment devices is around $2500. Spread out over 3 years (the length of time they've lived there), this equates to about $70/mo.

These devices offer a lower-cost option than taking the family out to eat twice per month, cable television, or for each of the adults to go out to a tavern once per month.

In other words, $70/mo wouldn't bring great opportunity to them but allows a low-cost way to blow off steam. Gardening, cooking, or athletics would be nice recreational options at similar costs, but they don't have a yard, nor a kitchen, nor do they likely have the time for scheduled athletics if they work varied shifts. Hence, the electronics are by far the most rational choices for entertainment.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#448

Post by nunez » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:51 PM UTC

eitally wrote: post #318

derekdahmer wrote: post #195

> A spokeswoman for Facebook said none of the company’s contingent or contract workers have access to facilities such as clinics, gyms, or bring-your-child-to-work days One thing I liked about AirBnB was their entire staff including cafeteria workers and security guards were full-time employees who ate the same food, had access to the same facilities and events, and went through the first week 'bootcamp' alongside de…

I don't know if this was a special circumstance, but I shared a table with a security guard during my noogler orientation. That made a similar impact on me (and we stay in touch even now, actually). But, at Google, there is also a strong differentiation between full time employees and everybody else (temps, vendors, contractors), with clear and consistently impressed rules about what non-FTEs are allowed to see and d…

100% true.

I was a FTE there a few years ago. If you were a TVC (temp, vendor or contractor), you got no access to ANYTHING. Security guards were always nearby the cafes checking people's badges and clearing them through.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#449

Post by booleandilemma » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:58 PM UTC

kafkaesq wrote: post #293

tyingq wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are excluded from events because they are working not for Facebook, but a food service company that contracts for Facebook. Works the other way around too. I've done contract programming, on site, for a blue collar heavy business. I didn't get invited to their functions either. I made more than the the average worker there, because our jobs were not the same.

They are excluded from events because they are working not for Facebook, but a food service company that contracts for Facebook. This may be technically true, but ultimately it's just window dressing. And for FB (and many other companies that play the same game with its more expendable workers), a convenient dodge in terms of both expenses and liabilities. If you show up at Facebook's building every morning, work in…

This is pretty standard, isn't it?

The people who clean my company's office don't attend our town hall meetings, eat lunch with us, or take part in our 401k.

They may be working at Facebook, but they work for their own company.

Re: Cafeteria workers at Facebook struggle to make ends meet

#450

Post by tzs » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 9:58 PM UTC

oneshot908 wrote: post #260

canadian_voter wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might want to look into not being married. Wow. Just wow. For some people, marriage is more than a financial arrangement. They'd also save a bundle by not having kids. Maybe they should sell one of them, it would help pay for the others?

Sadly, the US tax code rewards not getting married, doubly so if both partners are high earners (see the marriage penalty). If you don't like this, don't concern troll, instead, ask your representatives why this continues to exist.

The US tax code also rewards people getting married, typically when the partners have very different incomes (see marriage bonus).

Marriage penalties and bonuses are a consequence of joint filing combined with a progressive rate structure. They continue to exist because to get rid of them would require giving up either join filing or progressive rates, and it is very unlikely that people would go for giving up one or both of those.