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Comment by selestify | Hacker News Reader

You continued to work for 3 months without getting paid?

This is a really good thing to highlight for new employees - you may think there is a lot of oversight in companies doing the right thing but be defensive about your labour. If benefits or pay are being withheld assume they will never materialize.

This property should also be applied to "salary increase freezes" or promised bonuses in lieu of raises. Unless the money is in your pocket (or the company has a literally terrible HR person who actually put things solidly in writing i.e. a promisory note) then any intangible compensation is likely to never be realized. And if there is a salary increase freeze the thing that won't happen next year (I guarantee it) is that they'll double up everyone's expected salary increase - you may still be in a freeze, or that freeze may be lifted so you all get normal CoL increases.

When you're an employee be incredibly defensive about what you offer - your employer is being even more defensive, I can guarantee it.

We'd been working there for about 2 years at that point, had always got paid, had been the same team since day 0 so we had no reason to doubt the "I'm just waiting for the next investment to clear in the company account then I'll pay you everything you're owed" message. Plus the arrogance and naivety of "it's a tech company, he needs us to do anything so he's got to pay us eventually".

Just can't help myself to mention the eerie similarity with being a factory worker in Russia in the early 90-ies: people would too work for months without getting paid, and for pretty much the same reasons. Plus, when you see with your own eyes that the product is still being made and even shipped, surely at some point the money will clear?

It's almost like a workplace Stockholm Syndrome!

It happened to my wife, who was paid for 18mo and given lots of "options". People were steadily laid off around her until she was asked of she would work without pay? Because if you say no you're laid off and nobody wants that. I helped to convince her to quit. Company folded when she left ...

It may also have been payment in lieu of notice or holiday.

Given the context that seems unlikely - and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level. Most employers will either evaporate or pay out unused annual vacation so you're looking at a year's accrual at most (we can be over generous and say they may have had five weeks owed) - plus any in lieu time which usually caps out at three weeks.

> and it's genuinely hard to rack up a three month severance liability at most companies these days unless you're C-level.

This isn't true in the UK

To be honest I don't pay attention to my paychecks. I work in Silicon Valley and have things direct deposited into my bank account, which I never check.

Theoretically, my current (and past) employers could have left out a dozen paychecks and I may not have noticed.

I don't think it's that unusual. If he doesn't have any money in his bank account it may be more noticeable.

what is the relevance of working in Silicon Valley?

I think GP thinks it is more polite than saying “I’m so rich, I don’t even know if I get paid.” But I don’t think so and seems pretty cringy.

There was a post written a while ago by someone saying what it was like to be poor when they got their first job in SV. One of the exact points was that they had colleagues who didn't really mind if they missed a couple of months of salary... they wouldn't notice as they had no need to look. Just like GP. It was totally incomprehensible for her, as someone who had to live paycheck to paycheck.

My only real response to this kind of humblebrag is... good for you!?

> My only real response to this kind of humblebrag

"Humble"?

Yeah, I’m not offended or anything. Good for GGP and whatnot, just trying to explain.

It was funny working with some people who didn’t really need the money. It was/is always an alien concept for me. We had a cool startup we were working with and they were in “stealth mode” for two years without any revenue or funding, just working without any income. Must be nice.

(Semi-)Obliquely bragging about how much one is paid, AFAICS.

Don't you have any notifications for transfers? People could steal your identity or card details and you wouldn't even notice?

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