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Comment by wfunction | Hacker News Reader

And this is how you create a world where you can't trust anyone to follow through with their commitments.

That world doesn't need to be created, it's the world we have now.

Very dependent on who you work with.

Of course the people exist (and that's why there's contracts to begin with... though it's also to clarify what's being agreed upon), but a lot of society is predicated on 99% of people not being jerks.

>but a lot of society is predicated on 99% of people not being jerks

Maybe thats why the 1% are so successful then.

Being a jerk is like being (and very correlated to) short volatility[1]. Most of the time it's profitable. Every once in a while the world goes upside down, all the jerks are rounded up, have their stuff confiscated, tortured, and killed.

- 1789 French Revolution (Aristocracy rounded up and killed)

- 1911 Chinese Revolution (Ruling class rounded up and killed)

- 1917 Russian Revolution (Ruling class rounded up and killed)

- 1966 Chinese Cultural Revolution (Landholders rounded up and killed)

- 2003 Iraq War (Ruling class killed)

- 2011 Libyan War (Ruling class rounded up and killed)

[1] Buy short volatility with SVXY https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSEARCA:SVXY

I would say that most of the jerks are not among the most successful people (though perhaps there are more jerks than non-jerks up there...)

If they don't like it that way they should offer some minimum term of employment or a two-way minimum notice period.

I think the situation is already balanced in terms of expectations that both parties won't be dicks. If a company gave you a job offer, and then rescinded it the day before you started, after you've quit your previous job, you would be perfectly justified screaming from the rooftops that the company dicked you over.

But ultimately there is nothing contractually stopping either party from being dicks, which is what we expect contracts to provide.

If you pressure people to agree to something, it's your own damn fault if they change their mind.

Give people time to consider their options, and they 'll be less likely to change their mind.

At my place, reneging carries a significant negative tone (it is also where I learned the word). It is also deeply against the culture here to miss commitments willfully and without notice.

In particular, one tentative but reneged new hire was on a visa from India. I'm not sure what happens there. Though I'm not sure if the visa was sponsored by my place or not.

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