Worker fired from Yelp after she complains about her compensation (San Francisco: construction, minimum wage)

[ccm123]

I feel bad for her as another human being, earning low wages in an expensive area of the country and being unable to make ends meet. However, anybody that complains about their employer publicly, will get fired, regardless of their position in the company. For her to be surprised that her termination would come so quickly, is naive at best.

[aramax666]

Twitter says: "We agree with her comments about the high costs of living in San Francisco, which is why we announced in December that we are expanding our Eat24 customer support team into our Phoenix office where will pay the same wage."

did she just axe the jobs of her colleagues. Bitching about income inequality can have unintended consequences.

[BicoastalAnn]

I'm a millenial and I graduated during the recession, taking on an internship that paid pretty much this salary for about a year. I got a better job after that (still peanuts by Bay Area standards), but didn't let lifestyle creep get to me and continued having roommates until I moved in with my SO. I don't get how anyone in SF can live alone if they make <$80k. That's not sustainable. Even my friends making $150k+ had roommates! It was just considered normal for your 20's.

FWIW I also majored in English.... but common sense isn't a major any school offers. :P Basic math should've been mastered in primary school. She reallllly should've had another job lined up before going on this public rant.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by BicoastalAnn

I'm a millenial and I graduated during the recession, taking on an internship that paid pretty much this salary for about a year. I got a better job after that (still peanuts by Bay Area standards), but didn't let lifestyle creep get to me and continued having roommates until I moved in with my SO. I don't get how anyone in SF can live alone if they make <$80k. That's not sustainable. Even my friends making $150k+ had roommates! It was just considered normal for your 20's.

FWIW I also majored in English.... but common sense isn't a major any school offers. :P Basic math should've been mastered in primary school. She reallllly should've had another job lined up before going on this public rant.

I'd argue it's fairly normal in your 30's, too, around here. I can only think of a couple people I know that live completely alone (no friends, no gf/bf/wif/husband). And these people have all have been living in their apartment for a while (rent controlled - couldn't afford a place now). Everyone else I know has someone else (or multiple people) to help pay the rent/mortgage.


I think we can all agree this girl wasn't really the best planner (why not have roommates? Why not live with dad? Why not get another job? etc.), and going on the internet to complain was probably very ill-advised (obviously).

But I do wonder why Yelp even decided to set up their customer service center here in the first place. They could probably pay their low-paying employees half of what they make here in some low cost metro, and the employees would still have a much better life than here. And Yelp would save a lot of money. I guess they're just figuring this out now with their move to AZ...

I mean, I'd get it if Yelp were a new company...naturally they'd just grow where they are. But Yelp has been around for a long time, so to me it looks like bad business decisions on their end contributing to these types of scenarios, too.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by NewbieHere

I read the letter and I think she complained too much. Share a room with somebody to reduce expense. Don't take the job if you can't afford to live there.

Me, too.

Heck, when I moved to the Bay Area 19 years ago, I made $12 an hour, which certainly went further then compared to now, yet I figured out very quickly that I needed to have roommates, even though I previously had a 1BR apartment of my own in a less expensive city.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by jade408

I think she makes valid points. It is pretty ridiculous our minimum wage isn't remotely close to a living wage for even a single 20 something who can compromise on food quality, location and all sorts of stuff.

The problem in the Bay Area is you can't fix a housing shortage by jacking up the minimum wage. The lowest earners will always be outbid for housing. The only way to fix a housing shortage is to actually build some.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

The problem in the Bay Area is you can't fix a housing shortage by jacking up the minimum wage. The lowest earners will always be outbid for housing. The only way to fix a housing shortage is to actually build some.

True, but we all know that won't happen at a pace that it needs to happen at - there's just too much damn resistance, especially outside of the urban areas.

In a realistic sense, what do we do as a society here? I don't necesarilly think jacking up the minimum wage is the answer, but I also know new housing constructuion will still only be a trickle vs. the waterfall we need in number of units to make any meaningful difference in affordability...

Do we do nothing? Can we do anything? Maybe there isn't anything we can do (which is a bit depressing).

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by BroadwayDiva

There's something wrong with her story. $120.00/month Pg&E bill for an apartment?

Wow, I missed that. My PG&E bill was peaked at $37 this winter, and that's the highest it's ever been!

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Down in a Hole

And not everyone can be a doctor or is good at Math, this is something that your "common sense" should have told you.

Don't they teach addition and subtraction in elementary school? Per my previous post, I was a Sociology major and I figured out 19 years ago that my $12 an hour wage would go a lot further if I got roommates. Not exactly advanced math there.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by HockeyMac18

But I do wonder why Yelp even decided to set up their customer service center here in the first place. They could probably pay their low-paying employees half of what they make here in some low cost metro, and the employees would still have a much better life than here. And Yelp would save a lot of money. I guess they're just figuring this out now with their move to AZ...
I mean, I'd get it if Yelp were a new company...naturally they'd just grow where they are. But Yelp has been around for a long time, so to me it looks like bad business decisions on their end contributing to these types of scenarios, too.

I posted that same thing on another thread about this same subject. Rather than pay their customer service reps the same thing that at Mc Donald's burger flipper earns in SF, why didn't they just outsource CS to a call center in a lower COL state, at least they wouldn't be trying to wipe egg of their face right now.