Reading this tweet thread, the authors website, and then their gofundme has me curious how much is being left out. I'm empathetic for someone losing their job, especially over voicing a health concern, but after reading everything available, something doesn't feel right.
This excerpt from their GoFundMe makes it seem like this is the person who's unhappy and silent on every team theyre on, and only decides to "get one back" when they finally get let go after the employer has exhausted all attempts at finding a team they can be productive on.
> I worked at Apple for six years. I experienced misconduct and abuse on every team I was on, but I pushed through it. I knew if I spoke up about it, my career in tech would be over.
Regardless, I empathize with this person losing their job, and hope they can find a career where they can be happy and productive.
You are making unsubstantiated claims about the person. If the reasons apple used such ad disclosing confidential info is correct then at that should be easily provable. Have you seen any evidence of apple claiming the person is difficult to work with or are you attacking them based on instinct? This isn't exactly the first person who has made similar claims about working at apple [1] , I only hear similar stories about apple in the tech industry. The apartment breakin and other criminal techniques, I can assure you apple isn't the only one, this kind of a thing happens (i know first hand!).
Unfortunately, this person is better of finding a job elsewhere and trying to live their lives. Not a fight they can win.
I had a friend who was fired from, or quit, every job he had for nearly a decade. He response was always the same, "the boss is a moron" or "the people there are idiots". We had a long conversation where I laid it out for him. The odds that after 10 years everyone he worked with was an idiot or a moron were pretty slim and the only thing every single one of the those people had in common was him.
Fortunately he took me seriously and had a lot of growth in a short period of time. He's been at his last job for 15 years and moved to the head of his department and gets a bit of a laugh now when he hears that people working for him think he's a moron.
You're a good friend for respectfully helping someone detect counterproductive ideologies. Fortunately your friend is receptive to logic, I'm glad it is going better for them. Thanks for relaying this story, it made me feel good! Have a good weekend :)
I’d love to know how you achieved that. I’ve had friends like that and they don’t want to hear it, or refuse to acknowledge their own issues. Only after many many years and many issues has one admitted perhaps he’s not a good fit for corporate culture (still not fully acknowledging his role there).
He and I have had a very close relationship for a very long time. That had a lot to do with him taking me seriously and me willing to spend the time needed to talk with him. While I call it a conversation, it was a lot of conversations over several months. And after many of them he wouldn't talk to me for a few weeks. It really was a process. Without the underlying relationship I suspect one or the other of us would have simply walked away from the other. But that is a hard thing to explain in a short HN post.
To be fair, for some people, it is the case that everyone they work with is a moron. For example, high IQ / low EQ can lead to a position where:
- You won't get higher-end jobs due to low EQ
- Lower-end jobs, you'll be surrounded by people who, relative to you, are morons
There are lots of other situations like this, and it's tough. I've rarely found myself in this position, but part of that is luck. College pedigree and early resume slots make a big difference. I have friends who were less fortunate.
It's worth noting that the high IQ / low EQ example above is relative -- this can be a FAANG-level tech person working for an average tech firm, a mediocre programmer working tech support, and all the way down. There's a very deep pit of crappy jobs, all the way down to a pretty good mathematician I knew who ended up driving a bus.
"Low EQ" can also be a proxy for other things which would preclude a higher-end job, from being an immigrant with poor English skills (or otherwise facing discrimination), to complex distractions (e.g. having serious health problems, a litigation, or a family situation, or otherwise).
I've read some of her writings about superfund sites, her battle with apple where she publicly shared every mildly problematic or offensive email / communication she'd ever received, etc.
I don't blame Apple at all for getting rid of her. She comes across (even while giving her side of the story) as unhinged and awful to work with. I have to wonder if maybe this is an ongoing mental health crisis or something.
I agree both can be true, I can understand reserving judgement but I disagree with the analysis that because something else unrelated the person did in the past, their current claim is invalidated.
Do you think we have a responsibility towards people who aren't in the know, or who might have circumstances that make it hard to leave (for example, immigration processing)?
Victim implies it was outside of their control, and without forewarning, while knowing what you're engaging in ahead of time would negate that designation.
Didn't realize it was ok for any employer to fight with their employee as a norm.. you're saying the boxing ring is apple right? And the shit treatment is what anyone should expect going in? Ok, well I don't see why you would think she knew, it sounds like she is alerting potential employees and any government labor regulators of the work conditions so they can avoid the boxing ring as you put it and have a referree make sure the boxing match was fair and legal.
I think you're extending the metaphor a bit beyond what is useful. The original comment says "If Apple is known toxic and you still go to work there". Other comments then criticize this as victim blaming, but it's not. If you know a company is toxic and you choose to work there then you are not a victim, you are willingly exposing yourself to a toxic company the same way a boxer exposes himself to the blows of another boxer.
My comment doesn't say it's okay for Apple to be toxic, fighting with employees is a norm, or that she did know. My comment is differentiating the hypothetical "If you know it is toxic and you work there you are not a victim" from the victim blaming "You shouldn't have been wearing that".
Have you considered that toxic workplaces shouldn't exist and should probably be shut down? What makes you think they're entitled to keep their business operating?
So if someone warns you that you could get raped walking down a road and you did get raped, you're not a victim? After all you could have taken a different road? Would your logic translate that way? I know rape is a hyperbole but it serves to make my point and make it easy for you to prove me wrong.
Do you have a reason to believe they already knew it was toxic? (If you meant me, I don't work or worked for apple). If you read the thread, they had significant investment in apple making it hard for them to leave.
It depends. Some of Apple’s internal systems are very specialized. People who have been there for a long time could grow dependent on its idiosyncratic systems and processes. This isn’t exclusive to engineering.
Of course, the same could be said of other large corporations.
Everything I can find suggests she was a product manager. Not an engineer. These skills translate to other companies.
Further I’d suggest if you’re an engineer where only one company in the world can employ you, and you’re not getting fuck you money from it, you’ve done it wrong.
BadRabbit, you seem to be very invested in this topic, judging by your reply to my comment and now this one, so I must ask: Are you the person depicted in this topic, or in some way related to them?
I am not the person nor in any way related to them other than a common employer at one point and I say claims of Apple’s toxicity should be investigated, reflexive paranoid suspicion of critics of Apple’s company culture be damned.
What amount of wealth makes a company inherently guilty of all accusations? As Ive expressed in other posts, I don't hold Apple in high regard as a company at all, I merely find her claims to give me an impression that counters what she is asserting.
My point is that regardless of the validity of her claims, this is a good opportunity for society to draw closer inspection towards Apple. It’s similar to how Susan Fowler’s revelations finally provided the opportunity for society to turn its attention towards Uber.
No one is saying Apple is inherently guilty, but it has assumed a societal perception of inherent innocence, skating by with lack of inspection while other tech giants have not. And all that wealth correlates to power and influence, does it not? And generally it should behoove us to inspect the powerful and influential.
For too long any criticism of Apple has been easily shut down, even though they’re not even the plucky underdog on the verge of bankruptcy they once were!
Not invested in the topic at all but somehow people are trying ad-hominem against me to protect apple. You know, this only reinforces my suspicion that apple is beyond toxic, likely crossed over the criminal boundary!
@dang , if you see this, please look into these people's behavior on this post.
I am in no way related to this person or apple. I read about the post here, not even on twitter. I just happen to have a pet peeve for victim blamers and people jumping to conclusions too early, almost as if they are conspiring or have an ulterior motive. Check my post history if you want proof.
Ashley "caught" her officemate doing something naughty, y'all.
-----------------
In the OP thread she complains the Superfund site hasn't been tested for 6 years. What such sociopaths conveniently leave leave out is whether it's a legal requirement to test it within 6 years. It's not. Such tests cannot be conducted on the whim of an employee.
Great detective work! But wait, the scrollbar is parallel to the edge of the screen. Hmm, did you somehow think that edge of the blacked out portion is the edge of the screen?
> maybe this is an ongoing mental health crisis or something.
Assuming you are right (a big assumption) cutting off her health insurance is one poor way of handling the situation. This is a very dark side of employer provided health insurance in systems that don’t really have socialised healthcare.
I do not see how US voters’ representatives not voting for taxpayer funded healthcare, or at least not removing the tax advantage for employer subsidized health insurance is under Apple’s purview.
It’s not, it’s the systems fault. Cutting off access to healthcare is potentially devastating and it seems incredible to me that an employment dispute could end up preventing someone getting healthcare.
True, this isn't caused by Apple per se, but the threat of terminating someone's health insurance coverage is coercive, and companies can choose how to play that card.
In the organization I work with, we commonly offer to pay COBRA premiums for several months for employees whose behavior appears to be in the context of a mental health crisis, yet they persist in engaging in threatening behaviors and would rather separate than take medical leave.
This unfortunately is related to the lack of insight that is common during symptom exacerbations of serious mental illness, but we feel it is our last option to try to A) help the person recover even if they don't work with us anymore and B) hopefully help attenuate any threat they may pose to themselves or our organization.
Approx 20K employees, and I think this probably only happens <10x a year. "Commonly" is in the context of employees that are subjects of our formal threat assessments. These are individuals that we have recommended that they take medical leave in lieu of separation, but opt not to.
The very first "scandal" she uncovered at Apple was her getting feedback on a presentation from another employee. She called it sexism and publicly shared private messages which basically proofed it was just that, professional feedback.
It looks a lot like this is a mental health issue rather than actual wrongdoings at Apple. What she is doing now might really harm her ability to ever get hired again by a company in SV.
A) they’re looking for a problem where none may exist
B) they have no context on working with her, listening to her presentations, and her previous dialogues with her manager
Her entire MO starting with her apartment housing “scandal” is to be a resilient victim fighting the oppressors. As you dig in you can quickly see she’s a nutcase who wants issues and a blind detached twitter army backing her to validate her despite none of these people actually having any real context to what’s going on.
Because I’ve read a ton of her material, and I work for Apple so I have some idea of what it’s like internally (although it’s a big company and many experiences are different). I also don’t have that context of working with her so I can look at that text message thread and easily imagine the problem is her affect and not some gender issue. She’s trying to provide absolute proof, but it’s very one sided and inconclusive by itself. Which just goes to show how she twists everything going on to be a great plot of the world against her. I’ve known people like this, and they’re disasters.
Look at this thread and her twitter bio. She’s trying to wear victimhood on her sleeve as a primary identity. Why post this random thread rehashing everything you’ve already posted a million times and all the press you’ve tried to put out? She WANTS to be a giant victim. Remember we’re talking about being fired; no one physically abused her, no one poisoned her, etc. Yet you’d have to assume as much given she doesn’t want to move on with her life. If you read the commments she gets on twitter it’s clear she’s getting what she wants from them (encouragement and sympathy), but ultimately she’s shooting herself in the foot. Who would ever want to hire her again, or provide her housing (after her whole anti-apartment rant toxicity rant)?
How about she's making it her identity because she feels unheard and that the US justice system is so toothless that they've not done basic investigations after hundreds of complaints have come in?
America doesn't give a shit about corporate culture even when they're toxic and actually illegal. She has a full right to keep talking about it and keep bringing attention to it.
Your defense, even though you're just a basic employee, is pathetic and tone deaf. As a random employee you have absolutely zero idea of what's happening at the scale of a company like apple. Claiming otherwise is disengenous.
There needs to be a federal investigation of these claims at apple, and if found that she was lying then we could make claims like this.
I’m sure she’d be very happy to know that she can very extremely loud on Twitter and blogs and get people like yourself calling for federal investigation into her claims.
I also said nothing about my role; your attempts to discredit me are against HN guidelines, are assumptions on your behalf, irrelevant to the discussion, and are quite rude.
> Your defense, even though you're just a basic employee, is pathetic and tone deaf
Was this necessary?
Because it would affect my perception of your comment, I must ask, do you work at Apple, and are you the person, or closely related to the person this is about?
Seems bad but I also have no context for this. She’s commented on the radar when it was created, so it’s not like it’s some hidden secret. I can see internally she also blacked out bits like the summary that are very strange edits as they’re not secrets at all… like indications that this is tagged literally as a joke task.
It easily could have been a joke rather than malicious… perhaps she had a ton of work to do and this radar was a tongue-in-cheek way of acknowledging that.
That’s the problem with these pieces of “proof” — when it’s one sided and completely devoid of commentary from the other people involved, it’s easy to spin a story one way or another.
In fact, looking at that and her editing choices only further confirms to me she’s grasping at straws and it’s not at all what it purports to be publicly.
The more I think about this the madder I get, because it discredits to me those who are actually getting abused and their ability to tell a story and be believed.
Let’s look at the facts with this:
1. She blacks out context and parts from the beginning that tag this as a joke task.
2. She comments on this right away, so it’s not hidden from her.
3. If you’re trying to abuse a co-worker, are you really going to do it not only with permanent record, tagged as a joke, but also comment “MUAHAHAHAHA”? Like some generic evil villain?
Notice she doesn’t give ANY context around this, who the people are, and what this could possibly be referring to. When you look at this with all the other “evidence” across her claims at Apple and beyond, she had negative credibility in my mind.
Keep in mind her job category (from what I can surmise about these people) is one that involves a ton of work and corralling cats. Apple is notorious for high ambitions which can stressfully lead to a lot of work, and the timing of this is around product announcements when people work their asses off. I just don’t see it.
> What she is doing now might really harm her ability to ever get hired again by a company in SV.
If what Apple is doing is representative of how companies deal with things in SV, then good riddance. There are plenty of companies not in SV that don't intimidate employees.
The person claiming to be Ashley is posting in this thread, and their past posts have evidence of them sockpuppeting another post about this issue months ago, except its about their apartment being built on toxic waste, while this one is about their office being built on toxic waste.
Why do your past posts about your other toxic waste issue use the word "she" when referring to yourself? Why do you feel the need to do this? Facts stand by themselves, and this behavior only detracts from any actual credibility you might have had.
Gjøvik’s claims should be investigated. But regardless of their validity, this opportunity should be taken to discuss the work culture at Apple, which has long escaped scrutiny unlike other corporate giants such as Amazon or Ballmer-era Microsoft.
Clearly crazy person throws out unsubstantiated complaints along with a bunch of complaining about non issues, and you think that's justification to put a company under scrutity? Ok commissar.
I can't agree with "clearly crazy" but I can agree with the fact that the presence of complaints in an org that size should not garner some wider scrutiny until they become substantiated with timely and specific complaints that get reported to the correct authorities, not to gofundme and the court of public opinion. Most of us don't work at Apple, and as we've been invited to spectate this matter, we just have to keep reading until something inside us says "yeah this sounds about right".
Too many things about Apple invite scrutiny on a legitimate basis, like lapses in privacy or their 'dont complain to the press, it never helps' policy for application developers. In this age of enhanced always on connectivity there are going to be a lot of complaints, some true and some misguided, and treating each vague criticism (I choose the word vague because an accusation that remains nonspecific inspires skepticism) with a full investigation is a drain on resources that could be otherwise devoted to the overt egregious transgressions currently in process, like the ones I mentioned before.
As someone who has worked at Apple, I believe their work culture should be further scrutinized, at least to the same degree all major companies have had their internal cultures examined.
> you think that's justification to put a company under scrutity
The reality is that most companies probably should be under more scrutiny, especially the largest ones in the world. They have such massive amounts of power that society needs to make sure the power isn’t being used to harm society. IMO, this example isn’t why we should start putting Apple under scrutiny, but a reminder to continue doing so. It reminds us that bad things are happening at even the most respected companies — whether or not every report ends up being substantiated.
Advocating for increased corporate scrutiny across the board is totally orthogonal to advocating for increased scrutiny of a particular company based on the isolated rantings of this wombat.
It's actually quite concerning and even a little suspicious that so many defamatory comments are linking criticism of the workplace with mental illness.
That and questioning her experiences with sexism at Apple. I see people claiming to work for Apple having a go at her too, which I'm guessing are male.
A huge thing if true, and not worth it. However it is exactly the kind of thing a person who in paranoid would believe.
What is more likely, a big company is breaking into employees home and impersonating the police, or Apple has employed somebody with an undiscovered mental illness?
There's several follow-up articles that share that they were working with the police, and the badged Apple employees were retired police officers who were sworn in during these searches.
TLDR, nothing happened because they didn't break the law
This was widely reported at the time. I don't know about the impersonating police, and I don't think they broke in (I guess it depends on your interpretation) but here is an article with some info... https://www.cnet.com/news/the-lost-prototype-iphone-a-year-l...
I actually doubt there’s any. Seems like there’s a column of people who are so unwilling to stomach any criticism of Apple at any level, and freely act as corporate defenders pro bono. It is both maddening and puzzling. I’ve noticed this on HN for years.
I thought the issue was that her manager provided feedback to her, and then complimented her. I didn't even realize she had this this issue around the "triple Superfund toxic waste dump".
Is this the bay area? You can't move an inch of contaminated soil without a HUGE hassle, so I'm kind of curious ignoring apple how people were being allowed to be exposed in their office without adequate safety to a triple superfund toxic waste dump. Building inspector, planning clearance? No one caught this?
I find it interesting that everytime something like this comes up: a person (usually female) gets fired from a tech firm and alleges abuse and toxic work place, the response from the Hacker News crowd is is heavily negative (to the person) and tries to say the person is crazy/overly sensitive/hysterical.
I'm not saying this specific person is right, but if the argument in the comments of "if everyone you work with is a moron, then maybe the problem is you" is true (and I think it can be) then we must consider that some of these stories are true and some people (and it appears to be often women) are being treated abysmally at work.
If Apple can scan people's photos (just in case there's something nasty there) then they should welcome government investigation of their workplaces (just in case).
I find it interesting that every time this topic comes up there’s a comment like yours that spreads falsehoods and distortions about the state of HN. For example, won’t find much love for Bizzard’s sexism:
It's so hard to take her seriously. She's now saying she was suspended, which isn't true. She is on the record and quoted as saying she requested paid admin leave when they wouldn't give her a paid exit and offered medical leave instead. She tweeted about an unreleased product, and then acts like she somehow has no idea what IP leak they are talking about.
If she would lie about these things, how are we to believe anything else she says?
Anyone can just read her Twitter feed where she posted the articles she's quoted in and her emails to Apple's HR and find that she's at least partially full of shit.
She's absolutely delusional to think that Apple is trying to discredit her. She discredits herself.
It appears that user Micropsia is claiming to be Ashley, in this thread. Judging by their past post history, it appears in the past they have participated in discussions about Ashley while pretending to be someone else, using the word "she" when referring to themselves.
Because talking about yourself in the third person isn't intentionally misleading people into thinking it's someone supporting you, as opposed to you supporting yourself?
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 221 ms ] threadThis excerpt from their GoFundMe makes it seem like this is the person who's unhappy and silent on every team theyre on, and only decides to "get one back" when they finally get let go after the employer has exhausted all attempts at finding a team they can be productive on.
> I worked at Apple for six years. I experienced misconduct and abuse on every team I was on, but I pushed through it. I knew if I spoke up about it, my career in tech would be over.
Regardless, I empathize with this person losing their job, and hope they can find a career where they can be happy and productive.
Unfortunately, this person is better of finding a job elsewhere and trying to live their lives. Not a fight they can win.
[1] https://www.teamblind.com/post/Apple-Toxic-Work-Environment-...
his sentence was clearly speculation, and not a "claim". The people here suggesting mental health issue are on much thinner ice
Fortunately he took me seriously and had a lot of growth in a short period of time. He's been at his last job for 15 years and moved to the head of his department and gets a bit of a laugh now when he hears that people working for him think he's a moron.
- You won't get higher-end jobs due to low EQ
- Lower-end jobs, you'll be surrounded by people who, relative to you, are morons
There are lots of other situations like this, and it's tough. I've rarely found myself in this position, but part of that is luck. College pedigree and early resume slots make a big difference. I have friends who were less fortunate.
It's worth noting that the high IQ / low EQ example above is relative -- this can be a FAANG-level tech person working for an average tech firm, a mediocre programmer working tech support, and all the way down. There's a very deep pit of crappy jobs, all the way down to a pretty good mathematician I knew who ended up driving a bus.
"Low EQ" can also be a proxy for other things which would preclude a higher-end job, from being an immigrant with poor English skills (or otherwise facing discrimination), to complex distractions (e.g. having serious health problems, a litigation, or a family situation, or otherwise).
I don't blame Apple at all for getting rid of her. She comes across (even while giving her side of the story) as unhinged and awful to work with. I have to wonder if maybe this is an ongoing mental health crisis or something.
My comment doesn't say it's okay for Apple to be toxic, fighting with employees is a norm, or that she did know. My comment is differentiating the hypothetical "If you know it is toxic and you work there you are not a victim" from the victim blaming "You shouldn't have been wearing that".
Of course, the same could be said of other large corporations.
Further I’d suggest if you’re an engineer where only one company in the world can employ you, and you’re not getting fuck you money from it, you’ve done it wrong.
No one is saying Apple is inherently guilty, but it has assumed a societal perception of inherent innocence, skating by with lack of inspection while other tech giants have not. And all that wealth correlates to power and influence, does it not? And generally it should behoove us to inspect the powerful and influential.
For too long any criticism of Apple has been easily shut down, even though they’re not even the plucky underdog on the verge of bankruptcy they once were!
Not invested in the topic at all but somehow people are trying ad-hominem against me to protect apple. You know, this only reinforces my suspicion that apple is beyond toxic, likely crossed over the criminal boundary!
@dang , if you see this, please look into these people's behavior on this post.
Is this a joke? Google has been on the front page here a few times for questionable behavior alleged by (former) employees
Source: she thinks it's okay to take a creep-shot of a colleague's computer screen and post it on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ashleygjovik/status/1426572384736202758
Ashley "caught" her officemate doing something naughty, y'all.
-----------------
In the OP thread she complains the Superfund site hasn't been tested for 6 years. What such sociopaths conveniently leave leave out is whether it's a legal requirement to test it within 6 years. It's not. Such tests cannot be conducted on the whim of an employee.
Look at the scrollbar on the right. It is vertical in the picture, but not parallel to the edge of the screen, defying perspective.
Interesting that she chose to be upset about them looking at a diagram of a very old single-shot rifle or shotgun.
Assuming you are right (a big assumption) cutting off her health insurance is one poor way of handling the situation. This is a very dark side of employer provided health insurance in systems that don’t really have socialised healthcare.
In the organization I work with, we commonly offer to pay COBRA premiums for several months for employees whose behavior appears to be in the context of a mental health crisis, yet they persist in engaging in threatening behaviors and would rather separate than take medical leave.
This unfortunately is related to the lack of insight that is common during symptom exacerbations of serious mental illness, but we feel it is our last option to try to A) help the person recover even if they don't work with us anymore and B) hopefully help attenuate any threat they may pose to themselves or our organization.
How often is this happening? Or are you in a massive organisation?
It looks a lot like this is a mental health issue rather than actual wrongdoings at Apple. What she is doing now might really harm her ability to ever get hired again by a company in SV.
And no, a lot of people didn't see that as professional feedback.
B) they have no context on working with her, listening to her presentations, and her previous dialogues with her manager
Her entire MO starting with her apartment housing “scandal” is to be a resilient victim fighting the oppressors. As you dig in you can quickly see she’s a nutcase who wants issues and a blind detached twitter army backing her to validate her despite none of these people actually having any real context to what’s going on.
Look at this thread and her twitter bio. She’s trying to wear victimhood on her sleeve as a primary identity. Why post this random thread rehashing everything you’ve already posted a million times and all the press you’ve tried to put out? She WANTS to be a giant victim. Remember we’re talking about being fired; no one physically abused her, no one poisoned her, etc. Yet you’d have to assume as much given she doesn’t want to move on with her life. If you read the commments she gets on twitter it’s clear she’s getting what she wants from them (encouragement and sympathy), but ultimately she’s shooting herself in the foot. Who would ever want to hire her again, or provide her housing (after her whole anti-apartment rant toxicity rant)?
America doesn't give a shit about corporate culture even when they're toxic and actually illegal. She has a full right to keep talking about it and keep bringing attention to it.
Your defense, even though you're just a basic employee, is pathetic and tone deaf. As a random employee you have absolutely zero idea of what's happening at the scale of a company like apple. Claiming otherwise is disengenous.
There needs to be a federal investigation of these claims at apple, and if found that she was lying then we could make claims like this.
I also said nothing about my role; your attempts to discredit me are against HN guidelines, are assumptions on your behalf, irrelevant to the discussion, and are quite rude.
Was this necessary?
Because it would affect my perception of your comment, I must ask, do you work at Apple, and are you the person, or closely related to the person this is about?
Remember the loaded language of "nut case" and insinuating mental health problems is not OK.
https://twitter.com/ashleygjovik/status/1426014545202479108
It easily could have been a joke rather than malicious… perhaps she had a ton of work to do and this radar was a tongue-in-cheek way of acknowledging that.
That’s the problem with these pieces of “proof” — when it’s one sided and completely devoid of commentary from the other people involved, it’s easy to spin a story one way or another.
In fact, looking at that and her editing choices only further confirms to me she’s grasping at straws and it’s not at all what it purports to be publicly.
Let’s look at the facts with this:
1. She blacks out context and parts from the beginning that tag this as a joke task.
2. She comments on this right away, so it’s not hidden from her.
3. If you’re trying to abuse a co-worker, are you really going to do it not only with permanent record, tagged as a joke, but also comment “MUAHAHAHAHA”? Like some generic evil villain?
Notice she doesn’t give ANY context around this, who the people are, and what this could possibly be referring to. When you look at this with all the other “evidence” across her claims at Apple and beyond, she had negative credibility in my mind.
Keep in mind her job category (from what I can surmise about these people) is one that involves a ton of work and corralling cats. Apple is notorious for high ambitions which can stressfully lead to a lot of work, and the timing of this is around product announcements when people work their asses off. I just don’t see it.
Your boss doesn't always have to give you perfect feedback I don't think, just like you might not always show up to work on your A game.
It's just interesting to watch this evolution in SV and facinating to hear that this is such a terrible piece of feedback.
Many / most professions have feedback that is far more direct and blunt.
If what Apple is doing is representative of how companies deal with things in SV, then good riddance. There are plenty of companies not in SV that don't intimidate employees.
Which is it?
Edit: If someone is up for some sleuthing, I wonder how many arguments come from users in common with this thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26688965
Too many things about Apple invite scrutiny on a legitimate basis, like lapses in privacy or their 'dont complain to the press, it never helps' policy for application developers. In this age of enhanced always on connectivity there are going to be a lot of complaints, some true and some misguided, and treating each vague criticism (I choose the word vague because an accusation that remains nonspecific inspires skepticism) with a full investigation is a drain on resources that could be otherwise devoted to the overt egregious transgressions currently in process, like the ones I mentioned before.
The reality is that most companies probably should be under more scrutiny, especially the largest ones in the world. They have such massive amounts of power that society needs to make sure the power isn’t being used to harm society. IMO, this example isn’t why we should start putting Apple under scrutiny, but a reminder to continue doing so. It reminds us that bad things are happening at even the most respected companies — whether or not every report ends up being substantiated.
The big shocker here isn't Apple getting rid of someone who rocked the boat too much, that's a given in $bigcorp.
It's the allegation of Apple breaking in to someone's home & impersonating the police. Now that i find shocking.
Big if true.
They certainly have the money and the expertise to do it. If this is at all a concern, what is this forum doing to prevent that from happening?
https://www.gawker.com/5856260/apples-sleazy-secret-police-l...
What is more likely, a big company is breaking into employees home and impersonating the police, or Apple has employed somebody with an undiscovered mental illness?
TLDR, nothing happened because they didn't break the law
Is this the bay area? You can't move an inch of contaminated soil without a HUGE hassle, so I'm kind of curious ignoring apple how people were being allowed to be exposed in their office without adequate safety to a triple superfund toxic waste dump. Building inspector, planning clearance? No one caught this?
I'm not saying this specific person is right, but if the argument in the comments of "if everyone you work with is a moron, then maybe the problem is you" is true (and I think it can be) then we must consider that some of these stories are true and some people (and it appears to be often women) are being treated abysmally at work.
If Apple can scan people's photos (just in case there's something nasty there) then they should welcome government investigation of their workplaces (just in case).
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27914062
All this says to me is that the facts are not on your side. But hey, let’s just ignore those and launch personal attacks on each other.
If she would lie about these things, how are we to believe anything else she says?
You clearly didn't read my story even though you said you did. It's here: https://www.ashleygjovik.com/ashleys-apple-story.html
Yes, this is Ashley. Now please everyone stop claiming anyone willing to criticize Apple is me.
She's absolutely delusional to think that Apple is trying to discredit her. She discredits herself.
https://imgur.com/5bxtTDR.png
Why are you invested so much in this?