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I won't restate what's already been posted here about why it's obviously not a good idea to call out and bad mouth your employer on social media, but if the tiered food policy is truly happening ("Hey everybody, free brownies and smoothies downstairs (but not for you lowly customer service reps.)"), that's a bad management decision that's penny thrifty but pound foolish in the outcome for morale.
Not that free snacks will completely turn around issues that may exist between management and the employees, but it seems like having such a blatant "haves and have nots" policy is squandering a good opportunity to build up some goodwill by allowing everyone (the "professional" level employees and the entry level customer service reps.) to break bread at the table together.
Well I dunno, it depends on the situation. My company has a large sales department and they are frequently treated to a buffet-style breakfast and lunch in their section of the building. I walk right past it without even considering taking any of it for myself because I'm not in the sales department.
Sometimes they go on "sale-a-thons" where they're encouraged to come in early, stay late, and work through lunch. That being the case, it's only fair that the company should incentivize that with some free grub. It's not even GOOD free grub.
Doesn't affect my morale at all.
We rarely get free food up in software development. Again, doesn't affect my morale. I almost certainly wouldn't want their food anyway. It's always pizza or breakfast tacos. Yuck.
Well I dunno, it depends on the situation. My company has a large sales department and they are frequently treated to a buffet-style breakfast and lunch in their section of the building. I walk right past it without even considering taking any of it for myself because I'm not in the sales department. Sometimes they go on "sale-a-thons" where they're encouraged to come in early, stay late, and work through lunch. That being the case, it's only fair that the company should incentivize that with some free grub. It's not even GOOD free grub. Doesn't affect my morale at all. We rarely get free food up in software development. Again, doesn't affect my morale. I almost certainly wouldn't want their food anyway. It's always pizza or breakfast tacos. Yuck.
Intel uses contract employees for most of their janitorial/service/maintenance employees. Those employees are given a different color badges so that they can't get free coffee and snacks given to other employees. That wouldn't bother you? You can make the coffee but you aren't considered worthy enough to drink it?
Aguiniga also finds it galling to be singled out by her badge color at Intel. Contract workers get green badges, staffers get blue. “We have to pay for coffee and soda. The blue badges, they get free snacks. We help sustain Intel just like the tech workers do, but we don’t get those perks.” Cafeteria workers at Intel rally over low wages
"Work ethic is not something that develops from entitlement. Quite the opposite, in fact. It develops when you realize there are a million other people who could perform your job and you are lucky to have one. It comes from sucking up the bad aspects and focusing on the good and above all it comes from humility. It comes from modesty. And those are two things, based on your article, that you clearly do not possess."
"You wanted to write memes? Darling, you just became one." - Stephanie Williams
Intel uses contract employees for most of their janitorial/service/maintenance employees. Those employees are given a different color badges so that they can't get free coffee and snacks given to other employees. That wouldn't bother you? You can make the coffee but you aren't considered worthy enough to drink it?
Aguiniga also finds it galling to be singled out by her badge color at Intel. Contract workers get green badges, staffers get blue. “We have to pay for coffee and soda. The blue badges, they get free snacks. We help sustain Intel just like the tech workers do, but we don’t get those perks.” Cafeteria workers at Intel rally over low wages
Do you also cry over the workers in a hospital cafeteria who prepare food for the doctors but aren't able to eat for free?
Do you also cry over the workers in a hospital cafeteria who prepare food for the doctors but aren't able to eat for free?
Almost all cafeterias provide a free meal for their kitchen staff. Same with Casinos, most of the large ones have an employee cafeteria where EVERYONE who works there, even the folks who empty ashtrays and clean toilets, can get a free meal while they are working.
well said! And the girl we are talking about lives 40 miles from San Francisco and pays $1200 a month and doesn't turn the heater on because she can't afford a $120 utility bill. Another article I posted in this thread about tech company bus drivers describes a woman who gets four hours sleep because she has a 4 hour round trip commute from Stockton and a man who lives in his car. These people are stuck in an economy that they have no control over and virtually no way to influence changing it.
Intel uses contract employees for most of their janitorial/service/maintenance employees. Those employees are given a different color badges so that they can't get free coffee and snacks given to other employees. That wouldn't bother you? You can make the coffee but you aren't considered worthy enough to drink it?
Aguiniga also finds it galling to be singled out by her badge color at Intel. Contract workers get green badges, staffers get blue. “We have to pay for coffee and soda. The blue badges, they get free snacks. We help sustain Intel just like the tech workers do, but we don’t get those perks.” Cafeteria workers at Intel rally over low wages
I don't work at Intel...our working culture in this part of the country is not like that for the most part.
Some companies I've worked for have different-colored badges for contractors, but they got just as much free coffee as anyone else. I haven't seen free snacks since the dot.com days. Silicon Valley this ain't. Also...we make our own coffee here. We don't have maintenance or service employees doing it for us. We're lucky if our facilities guys remember to put cups and napkins in the break room. I rarely hear anyone complaining about it, though.
Again, Silicon Valley this ain't.
My company does not have janitors on staff (they use a third-party contractor). However, our contracted cleaning lady (only one for a massive three-story building) eats her lunch in the breakroom and drinks the same coffee as the rest of us. She's not even an employee of Acme Cheese Slice Company (where I work). But nobody here cares.
The only thing I've seen people here get territorial about is bottled water. Some departments here order it in for their staff. Others don't. Prepare to have your head bitten off if you raid another department's water bottle stash.
I'm a tech worker and have been for 18 years. I don't advocate for, nor do I support, special treatment for developers on a daily, permanent basis.
If work is requiring us to stay late or come in on a weekend, then sure...they should provide some food. But I would say that about ANY department, not just us. If HR has to pull an all-nighter, someone should call for pizza.
I'm still baffled by why this girl didn't get roommates, or pick up a PT job in addition to her job at Yelp...
She could have split her rent in half or even in thirds by getting a roommate.
Not sure about San Francisco now, but many cities now use occupancy permits to prevent people from having roommates, with the argument that having more people in a housing unit than it was originally intended for leads to crime and other issues. It can literally be a criminal offense to have roommates (both for the landlord and the original tenant).
I would not be at all surprised if most bay area cities have these restrictions since they are especially popular in high rent areas (and keep demand up, keeping rent high).
I don't work at Intel...our working culture in this part of the country is not like that for the most part.
I agree, this seems to be most common in SF and Silicon Valley tech companies, I don't think it's typical of other parts of the country
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