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Comment by golergka | Hacker News Reader

OK, so this guy's problem with Google is that it doesn't give all of its perks to all employees? Why the hell would the company treat employees from significantly different labour markets the same way in the first place? Is there some crazy assumption that any employee should be equally valuable to the company?

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On the contrary, they wouldn't have a career doing non-parody corporate commentary art without that very behavior.

Uh, working 4am to 2:15pm has nothing to do with meal perks.

I wonder why they don't just hire people in a better timezone.

(Though eg bakers in Germany got up even earlier to make fresh bread every day.)

Being able to use the restroom when you need to is a perk?

Yes. I don't know how they organized scanning books, but in a lot of jobs it makes total sense. Do you know how a conveyor belt works, for example?

Soccer players earn millions of dollars, but they still can't go to a bathroom break in the middle of a game.

I do know how a conveyor belt works. Have you heard of contingency planning?

A soccer player is out on the field for, 45 minutes? Have you seen contracts that restricts a player's ability to use a restroom?

OK, just in case my point is not obvious: these are _examples_. These examples are illustrating a thesis that certain jobs can have good reasons for restricting employees access to the bathroom. Of course, I don't have any idea of what goes into soccer players contracts, because that's not the point.

You claimed your illustrative example as actual fact.

45 minutes would be no different than having to attend meetings during which you would not be allowed to leave to use a restroom.

Excellent point. I've had to work in retail. You don't just get to go to the bathroom because someone has to man the front desk. This is a fact of the business. If you don't like it, feel free to go somewhere else. No one is stopping you.

You seemed to have missed the 'race' aspect entirely; did you actually read the article?

I was under impression that race has correlation with education, skills and value on labour market all over US already, so if you picked a sample of random white-collar/blue-collar workers, you would see pretty much the same picture. How does it become Google's responsibility all of a sudden?

Because this guy with a grudge told you it was so.

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