"It doesn't have to be like this // All we need to do is make sure we keep talking" (that's Pink Floyd)
144 karma · joined January 3, 2023
Why? For starters, some companies are rich, and they can afford to waste a lot of money. Think of all of those interviews you've been on that waste your time and that of the interview loop, even though it's clear that they have never intended to hire. Or maybe just 1 in 500. (One company I was hired at boasted to me about the "500". Ugh.)
Or, at least in the trading world, things can be very secretive. You might have the skills to contribute, but no one will even talk to you, for fear that you'll steal the secret sauce.
Mostly it's just simple managerial incompetence.
The employer/employee match is sort of like a key and lock. In order for it to work, _all_ of the pins have to align. It's not enough to be a skilled, team-player, etc., employee. Your employer also has to bring several things to the table. Sometimes they just don't.
We have little choice about that, but we could also materially support efforts to end armed conflict.
One thing that's become obvious to me in recent years is that it's important to go to the source material if you really want to know what's going on. Media summaries (not to mention the Twitterati) are often misleading or incomplete.
Adams is definitely a modern satirist. And he is one in a time when edgy humor is absolutely radioactive. He has his FU money, though, and is obviously somewhat aspy (again, like me).
As to the survey question, which is the first in their survey, it's literally worded, "It's OK to be white." (agree, disagree, not sure, etc).
Those of us here are "with it" enough to realize that this incantation was born from a 4chan op (presumably meant to help uptight people look stupid). But, the survey respondents would generally be unaware of that context.
Rasmussen itself was pretty fearless in going there. Not fearless enough to add, "It's OK to be black.". But still, props given.
Adams is smart enough to know that this would be the end of Dilbert distribution in mainstream newspapers.
What's his motivation? Not sure. But puncturing the current bubble of awful isn't the worst start.
What would be better? He mentions education. Okay, start with that. What would it take to ensure that every child in America got an excellent education? Hell, even what would it take to ensure that every _black_ child in America got an excellent education? Everything we're doing right now is awful and counterproductive. We need to reset and follow the guidance of those who could plausibly improve the situation. That's not the cancel crowd.
I've ridden thousands of miles, and the only bit of infrastructure that ever helped was wide shoulders, preferably with a bright white line demarcating.
It's not. Bicyclists regularly terrorize pedestrians on sidewalks, even when there are excellent purpose-built bike paths mere meters away. At intersections, they regularly flip back and forth between being "like bicycles" and "like pedestrians", making them dangerously unpredictable. They pound on cars when they feel they should have the right of way (they don't). Even when they are in the bike lane, a quarter of the time they're riding against the flow of traffic. No lights, no reflectors, dressed in black at night. The most bicycle-sympathetic drivers struggle to avoid hitting these knuckleheads.
It's a sad situation.
Next time you're bicycling down the sidewalk, remember that this is how pedestrians feel about _you_.
A dirty secret of many Republicans is that they're pretty okay with illegal immigration as it's been in the 80s and 90s. Pseudo slave labor, deport as needed, etc. Needless to say, this seems unethical (even if the immigrants in question might be okay with it).
We have no better solution than to let our legislature fight this out. But, whatever laws they come up with need to be followed and strictly enforced. Failure to do so has led to abject misery, and it will only get worse.
You might not agree with the law, but the alternative is leading to far worse suffering. Ironically, the fentanyl crisis will probably turn the tide, rather than pedestrian ethical concerns.
(I'm quite old, so don't really have a dog in this fight, aside from a general well wish for the young. Beyond that, I was a "far-left" Green for most of my years. I've not changed much, but the world sure has.)
But, being against illegal immigration is currently considered "right wing", and in a lot of contexts will get you fired, vilified, and perhaps beaten.
There's your example.
(I'm a child of immigrants, and don't particularly have an opinion of how much immigration is good. I do, though, believe this amount should be determined by legislative process and then tightly enforced.)
Note that OP stipulated that there were "no unwanted advances". Is this even a real problem?
1. An object that serves as a focal point of attention and admiration.
2. Something that serves to guide. [French, Ursa Minor (which contains the guiding star Polaris), from Latin cynosūra, from Greek kunosoura, dog's tail, Ursa Minor : kunos, genitive of kuōn, dog; see kwon- in Indo-European roots + ourā, tail; see ors- in Indo-European roots.]
(from thefreedictionary.com)
Personally, I love learning the occasional new word. "sinecure" is useful, as is "copacetic".
Don't move away from family. There's no there there.
If your mate doesn't have your back, leave. Give them a heads-up and 90 days. That's it.
Consider going to church. I'm considering it. I've been wrapped around the axle my whole life about whether it's "true". I'm starting to think that that's missing the point. If nothing else, watch the South Park Mormon episode--that really turned my head around.
That's okay. You're not writing a resume to get hired. You're writing a resume to interest the places you'd like to work and repel the places you'd be miserable at.
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” --Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Money not quite FAANG, but solid, and didn't depend on employer stock prices, which is a big plus. Some tech was cutting edge; some was many years out of date.
As always, the devil is in the particulars of position. If possible, don't move your family, sell your house, etc., until you're six to twelve months in. It's like one of those Sherlock Holmes stories--it can take a while to realize just how bad a bad situation is.
You might not be bothered by the value of X and the effect in this case, but extrapolating to society as a whole, this is about to become a huge problem.
In short, it's hard to tell whether something that seems awful now might not turn out to be good in the long run.
There were many other such instances, most worse and that were direct attacks against me. I probably could have won a lawsuit, but that's foolishness. If you're in a situation like that, run away as fast as you can!
My suggestion there is to think of a plausible fib that won't raise flags. You could make up a consulting jaunt or maybe a dying relative you had to take care of. Or just say you needed a sabbatical. This might seem unethical, but my read is that employers really _want_ to see you "act normal", which in our society means lying about certain things in a professional context.
It's a tradeoff, but there's more to life than money.
I've only had one job that I quit "for cause". It looked like the best job I ever had, and would have been, except that my boss was a psychopath. It wasn't a close call, and I was seriously interviewing within three months of starting.
Except for unusual cases, all jobs are about the same. Any given job might be a bad fit for you personally.
Limited advice: If you're working with or for someone evil, leave ASAP. As for discretionary quits, keep in mind that your new job could be a lot worse, and you won't know until it's too late.