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Comment by nsted | Hacker News Reader

This story hilariously epitomizes the gulf that lies between the tech scene and the rest of the population. For you a low paying job is a hobby to keep you in check, I'm sure only so long that it doesn't impede your "real job". For most, these jobs are an important source of income. Doesn't it strike you as slightly obnoxious to take such a job away from someone who needs it? I can see this story ending up in Mike Judge's "Silicon Valley". Here's a better "hack": hire smart people away from low paying jobs for your startup, pay them more, and go for a bike ride in the morning.

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I've thought about this a lot before, and there definitely is some merit to it.

I worked retail as a teenager, and the managers would give more hours to an older employee because she needed them (I was told this explicitly). I was fine with it at the time, because yeah, I was still mostly living on my parents' dime. Working in a corporate setting now, if I was told someone else at my company was getting a big raise only because they just had another kid or bought a new house, and not due to the quality of his or her work, I'm not sure how I would feel. I guess it just breaks down to whether you think like a capitalist or a communist.

YEAH to staying forever young and being white, male and without kids! No, honestly we don't have enough context. Maybe there simply wasn't anybody around willing to do the job before and if somebody would need it like in your example then maybe startup guy would "get fired"? Who knows? Context.

That's a bit different, also, have you considered that the other people were more experienced and better qualified so the manager used the age and need as an excuse to spare your feelings/morale?

That's entirely possible, but the discussion I was hoping to have was about need determining pay and/or opportunities.

There is no winning against this flawed argument.

* If OP doesn't do this, then he's a spoiled and far-removed brat who has no idea what it's like to be a real person working a normal job.

* If OP takes on a small and humbling side job, then he's obnoxious and selfish for taking away this job from someone who needs it.

* If OP volunteers for this job, then he's self-righteous and still selfish for taking away someone's job just so he can feel good and wake up early. Doesn't he know some people have no choice but to wake up at 5am and work all day to feed their family?!

* ...

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