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Comment by port98 | Hacker News Reader

All these lists of what we have and haven't seen are merely anecdotal. That Tim Bray (and others in the last thread) has not seen it does not mean it never happens.

Conversely, while I have seen people crying and get a superficial 7-day PIP so the boss can rapid-fire someone litigation-free, I know that doesn't mean it happens everywhere. Likely all this has happened at MS/Goog/FB as well.

So is the culture toxicity level here above industry average? I think it is slightly, but it's not a huge deal if you're competent; those who are mediocre performers will be impacted most.

The "frugality" is annoying though. Total comp is comparatively low, we pay our own parking $250/mo (and you still might not have a spot!), no free snacks or even soda, and until last year, we had to steal a monitor from ex-employees just to have a 2nd.

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It is a huge deal even if you're competent. No one knows if they will have cancer, and even competent people are impacted by bad policies such as no maternity/paternity leave. This argument that people that don't allow themselves to be exploited or that don't like to work at Amazon are mediocre is intellectually bankrupt.

>but it's not a huge deal if you're competent; those who are mediocre performers will be impacted most.

That's not how it happens in real life. You get a mediocre manager who then gets rid of the competent people. In a toxic environment, no one is safe ever. And that is precisely the goal of the environment.

> we pay our own parking $250/mo

Are you saying you have to pay for the privilege of parking at work? That's insane when Microsoft and the larger Bay Area companies are willing to provide free transportation to employees

To be fair, Microsoft and the big Silicon Valley companies have suburban campuses. Amazon is in the middle of a big city.

I think the parking allowance is something like $130/month.

I'd still be surprised to pay for parking. I recently interned in Seattle, and the Bellevue Microsoft offices all had employee parking. Google's office in Lake Union was also attached to a parking garage for employees.

Parking is a perk that only some employees take advantage of. The rest take public transit. Why should the employees who choose to drive to work, which is basically the most selfish form of transit, get a bonus, whereas the people who take public transit to work get nothing? Keep in mind amazon isn't located out in the suburbs where land is cheap enough to pave a bunch of it - it is right in seattle.

By that logic, why should the people who don't have a convenient work shuttle route to work "get nothing?"

Expecting employees to pay for parking is like expecting them to cover costs for business-related travel

Because you are expected to make the decisions about where to work that has a realistic commute time. If I need to take a helicopter to get to work, should the company pay for it?

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