Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism

"turnkey solutions" is a term with a definite meaning in the construction/engineering world, they're just repurposing it into a different context where it's basically meaningless

Bill & Melinda for President. Benioff, VP. Warren Buffett, Treasury. Rabois, FCC. Thiel, Chief Justice. Ken Howery, Secretary of State. Joe Lonsdale, CIA Director. Emil Michael, Defense. Reid Hoffman, Commerce. David Sacks, SBA. Marvin Ammori, AG. Elon, NASA. Travis, Transport.

— shervin pishevar (@shervin) November 7, 2019

xp - I have seen it for years in real estate investment land

I am opening a delivery-only restaurant in some rundown real estate (cashing in on the US Thanksgiving boomlet) called Turkey ******* Solutions

take a dumpling

I don't know if this is accurate, but it's definitely scary: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/08/how-big-tech-is-dragging-us-towards-the-next-financial-crash

I don't know if this is accurate, but it's definitely scary

― Frederik B

ladies and gentlemen - THE INTERNET!

wooooow

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion

every single one of these places is a shitshow I swear to fucking god

the thing that struck me by the end of this particular story was that... they just needed more customer support people. it sounds like they did have supply and demand issues and some logistics problems, but everyone involved in this shitshow... they were just way overtasked and it sounds like they didn't have a way to have, say, contractors do first-level triage during peak periods

What's it called when you have zero sympathy for anyone involved in a story?

disgust?

I didn't realize Away was so popular. I skimmed over them once but thought they were too pricey for what they were. Does anyone have one?

Yeah, everyone in that story sucks beside Montell Williams.

I struggle to understand why someone would aspire to work for a company that sold luggage. Like this seems like the type of job that would only be appealing if it was something stable, paid well, didn't require much emotional energy, and had "normal" hours -- like repairing appliances or being a low-level civil servant

I take that back -- both appliance repair and many low-level civil service jobs seem more inherently psychologically rewarding than selling luggage.

agree with mh and obv it was the cx people who they got to talk but it’s weird none of this was falling on ops.

that said, speaking as someone who’s been working in an around various startups for like oh god 20 years now this article could have come with a trigger warning.

ah but the aspiration is to disrupt!

I've worked in and around arts non-profits for about 20 years now and the workload and under-resourced problems seem not that problematic ... this only seems nightmarish because 1. it's a dumb luggage company and 2. people treat each other like shit (granted arts non-profits tend to involve mastery of passive-aggressive tactics).

OMG Ms. Korey is so amazingly bitchy, it's perversely entertaining -- like some Glenn Close character (what was that show she was in, Damages? That character.) -- way less painful that the awful WeWork bro

I am going to help you learn the career skill of accountability. To hold you accountable...no more [paid time off] or [work from home] requests will be considered from the 6 of you...I hope everyone in this group appreciates the thoughtfulness I’ve put into creating this career development opportunity and that you’re all excited to operate consistently with our core values.

my god

seriously that one!! also:

Williams tried to smooth things over, explaining that some team members were missing calls simply when they stepped away to use the bathroom. “We all always assumed people went to the bathroom,” she responded. “Let’s please stop talking about that as if it’s a surprising Friday update.”

I get exactly what they were going for — it’s basically Warby Parker for luggage. And the framing as it being not a luggage company but a “travel lifestyle” company is very on-point for a lot of startups, because instead of selling the product, you sell this jet setting/weekend trip-taking ideal. people working there get the spillover of that image and the social cachet of working for a “cool” company, even if that means nothing in reality

hope I never work for a cool company

well, the model is maybe less warby parker than that implies, because afaik they’re mostly aiming at stylish/less expansive product

I keep thinking back to these overpriced house slippers I impulse bought from an ad. They came with some sort of branded lifestyle magazine because, while their only extant product was slippers, you were really buying the uh, home lounge experience?

I definitely felt bad for the low-level employees in this story! I've mentioned working for shitty startups before, that bit about "oh you don't have to work late but I will be doing it..." manipulative bullshit is very familiar to me

tbf away is also aiming for stylish/less expensive... but with absurd cx overhead

The worst job I ever had in my life was project manager for all the new 4meric4n 4pp4arel stores that were opening during their heyday. It seemed like a cool job at the time but it was horrific. I quit that job in under 6 months. But not before I got to hear d0v's desire to have 'pussy lips pussy lips pussy lips' on the signage for one of the stores.

I very much prefer companies that are not cool.

jeeesus

seeing those slack screenshots was....if not outright triggering, something close. nothing wrong with Slack really, just that all my worst jobs used it. very glad my current one doesn't

honestly if I started somewhere that used it and they outlawed private non-work chats I'd consider bouncing right then and there. Slack is mainly as popular as it is (imo) because it gives you a place to vent to each other that is prohibitively difficult for your employer to access!

^^ xpost it's somehow comforting that i wasn't the only one... i still like Slack tho

Not to get all mar1ssa on this thread but I have had a lot of jobs at cool places and neither this company or warby parker are cool.

any kind of company 'core values' used against workers is some sociopathic forced teaming bs. People need to learn to protect themselves from it.

they're not cool but they are Brands Your Friends Have Heard Of with active instas

you guys already covered this re: "cool companies" but I left this post in an open tab so you get it anyway

The thing that stands out to me from the article is the listing of other hot brands that apparently thrive on this direct-to-consumer model: Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, Glossier, Everlane - meanwhile I've been buying luggage and clothes for myself and my family from old ass catalog brands like LL Bean and Lands End for decades and 1) nobody cares 2) don't recall any big stories about them being fucked up to work in (they might be, it just doesn't make the news because see (1)

There's a manager in a parallel group to mine who has tried to institute a "no side conversations about projects" rule because he thinks there should be an actual meeting he's invited to when things are worked out. It's ridiculous and not taken seriously because it's the dumbest micro-managing overreach and he really just thinks he should be involved in every interaction. I think we violated that rule about 20 times this week, lol

I've realized I can put up with a lot of bullshit at work so long as there's none of that hyper micromanagement shit going on, drives me absolutely n u t s

Taking advantage of young, naive workers who over-identify with brands and think themselves too smart to need a union is the bread and butter of tech companies. Dell pulled all of this shit when I worked there like twenty years ago, and the support workers ate it up/burned out in the same pattern.

never forget what they did to the "dude you're getting a Dell" guy, I still haven't forgiven them for that

Not surprising they canned that guy when he got caught buying pot. Dell is really puritanical about drugs. A tech I knew was discovered to have used LSD in high school, and they unceremoniously fired him. Not arrested for possession, mind you. His manager just found out he had taken LSD once, and said it meant he had lied on his job application.

I need a new hardshell lg suitcase and am considering this Away luggage, but the only thing that seems to be favorable is that it has a lifetime guarantee (for the life of the company, which hmmm). But shipping a 30" thing to be fixed seems really annoying.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/6/20999091/away-ceo-steph-korey-apology-employees-toxic-work-slack-logs-luggage-brand

fuckin brain genious over here

Managing people is extremely hard and they are making it even harder by absorbing all the terrible Lean In, Goop, live/work/love shit that they should completely ignore.

It's not even 'Warby Parker for luggage' because Warby Parker has a much more accessible price point and was fillin the gap of not being owned by Luxxotica who completely dominate everything eyewear related. I am still trying to figure out this popularity besides them advertising on instagram during an optimal time.

the suitcases have batteries

My main go-to is still a 2000yen Don Quijote find from 15 years ago lol. I bought it to supplement my Samsonite and it has replaced it.

But you have to take out the battery to check the bag. Also a lot of airports now have tons of charging stations even if you don't have lounge access so it seems like a meh perk.

xpost Oh, I will check out the local DonQ in Jan. I was planning on getting a bag from somewhere then. Typically, the actual hardshell is always fine but it's the handles and wheels that go first and crack out of the shell.

check out the death stranding thread

I also don't want a suitcase with a baby in a bubble.

eBags.com have their own house brand and they hold up incredibly well. I still use a weekender backpack I bought from them 15 years ago, it goes with me on basically every trip

Hard shells are ridiculous btw, idgi