this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 216 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What an absolute joke. Just let people work from home, you absolute dinosaurs.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (4 children)

But then you can't siphon off 99$ a night from them!

Come on, everyone! We gotta get those profits up!

[–] penguin 19 points 1 year ago

It has nothing to do with profits. It's more profitable to have everyone work from home. Upper managers and executives simply prefer having everyone in the office because they like it. It's their preference.

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[–] [email protected] 195 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Isn't that the dream for a capitalist! Labor that sleeps at work. Google takes it a step further and asks employees to pay for being able to sleep at work.

[–] JohnDClay 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

They just need to implement a full company score!

Edit: Meant company store, but I'll leave the original

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[–] [email protected] 157 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Next they will start issueing company scrip, then a company town around the YouTube mines.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Companies will start using crypto as a way to recreate what scrip was back before it was banned. Meta made a play for that a few years back but luckily they failed.

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[–] [email protected] 133 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Sooooooooooome people say man is made out of mud, the poor man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood, skin and bone, a mind that's weak and a back thats strong.... You move 16 tons... whadaya get? Another day older and deeper in debt... St. Peter don'tcha call me because I can't go...

I owe my soul.... to the company store.....

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

Obligatory reference to the Joe VS the volcano version of 16 tons

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[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Fucking company town. Google has become a real shit company. Switch your default search to duck duck go or anything else people!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] thal3s 115 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The advertisement entices workers to make the jump, even for a short while, to its on-campus hotel, saying: “Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction,” CNBC reported.

Did these stupid motherfuckers read their own ad??

No commute and extra sleep? That sounds great!

No wonder everyone is trying to WFH - the very same reasons you just listed.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It may be cheaper than a hotel or apartment, but why should an employee have to pay to go to work when they could be working remotely?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

"Because fuck you, that's why."

-Google

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Never pay your employer to do your job, are we in another great depression?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

This hotel has been there for a while for visiting employees, paid for by the company. People wanted this option if, for example, you lived in Brazil, wanted to visit the US, but didn't have any reason to book a business trip because you don't work with anyone at headquarters. I'm going to guess that most paying guests won't be reporting for work during their stays, but will be grabbing a solid 3 meals a day, plus snacks.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In other news, Google opens the cheapest hotel in California

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

You can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

[–] [email protected] 61 points 1 year ago (8 children)

No way. I don't want my employer to also be my landlord. Nothing good could come of that.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You commit 16 lines, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt

St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Some people say a man is made outta blood. A code monkey's made out of Fritos and crud. Fritos and crud and skin and bone. A back that's weak and a mind that's strong...

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Sounds illegal until I realized its tech workers who refuse to unionize and think they are getting paid bank but to live like a virtual slave.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

As one in the industry, it's incredibly frustrating. Colleagues have been saying "oh, we get all of these perks and get nice salaries, we don't need a union" while others are bucket-crabbing with "you make big money, why do you need a union?", both overlooking the immense amounts of unpaid overtime that are endemic. Then, there's the push for RTO, which does nothing to benefit employees and would be readily prevented by strong unions.

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (5 children)

isnt this the opposite direction prospective employees would be going? who the hell is looking to live at their job?

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Next up will be these tech companies offering company script to buy things at the company store while paying that rent to the company room. You know, to help transition into the new indentured working environment.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago

Reminds me of company towns. We're definitely regressing.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait till they start 3 shift bed rotation like in chinese factories. For the discounted price of 59.99

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

New product: Google Landlord

Also, just based on the fact that they're a data analytics and AI company, and their public privacy and security track record with their services, I'd genuinely be worried what kind of "guest experience analytics" is going on at that "hotel." Is there a camera in the shower? You don't know.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (12 children)

All these comments comparing this to company scrip are profoundly ignorant, and are downright insulting to the victims of robber barons and capitalism in Appalachia. Google pays salaries in USD. They don't pay a worker 10 GoogleBucks per ton. Google doesn't force their workers to live at Google tenements or stay at Google hotels. Hell, they don't even force you to go into a Google office. All they'll do is make a note on your "permanent record" at performance review time if you were in the office less than 60% of the time. In coal country, if you showed up at a picket line instead of the mine, they'd send in Pinkerton goons to murder you, and the mayor too.

Call me a bootlicker, I don't care, but I actually think this is brilliant on Google's part. Median rent in Mountain View for a 1br is $3600/mo. They're renting rooms to their high-paid employees for ~15% less than market rent, right on campus, avoiding them from pricing out another local family if all they need is a place to sleep. Sillycon Valley is a terrible place to live. It's a place to go for a couple years, make a bunch of money, live worse than a broke student, and GTFO as soon as possible. It's like working on an offshore oil rig, with the gender ratio to match...

Unlike the coal towns' usurious pricing to a captive market (another day older and deeper in debt), Google is almost certainly losing money on this hotel. They don't care. They shell out twice as much for a temporary apartment with every corporate relocation package they give to new hires.

Google would like to build more market rate housing to meet demand. Unfortunately, building any new housing is illegal because the real estate cartel runs City Council, so Google takes over an existing hotel and prices it like an apartment. It's the reverse Airbnb. You love to see it. It's not a silver bullet. There are no silver bullets when the cartel cornered the local housing market 15 years ago, but every little bit to undermine their stranglehold on power helps. FDR and Stalin were natural enemies, and yet they both recognized in that moment, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Same goes here. Critical support for Google.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I agree. These are all great reasons to not work there anymore. There are other workplaces that don’t operate like a plantation, and are happy to pluck googles best and brightest from the clutches of an unappreciative plantation owner. This biggest difference is Google employees are not enslaved, and can leave at will.

It’s clear google doesn’t want their working class to work there. Fantastic idea!

Charging employees $99/night for the pleasure of staying on the masters plantation is a stupid test, and the best way to pass is not to play.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

While I get your point, here's the other issue with how this is framed.

The advertisement entices workers to make the jump, even for a short while, to its on-campus hotel, saying: “Just imagine no commute to the office in the morning and instead, you could have an extra hour of sleep and less friction,” CNBC reported. “Next, you could walk out of your room and quickly grab a delicious breakfast or get a workout in before work starts.” It adds that after the end of the work day, “you could enjoy a quiet evening on top of the rooftop deck or take in one of the fun local activities.”

I can imagine that, at least except for the rooftop deck. Working from home. Without having to pay $99/night.

They could avoid this whole thing by simply just not forcing people to go back to the office.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Everyone who pays that is a dumbass. I'd rather sleep in my car or spend that money at a regular hotel not associated with my employer.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Anyone who pays that has fuck-you money, they work at Google.

That said, "transition to the hybrid workplace" is something I wouldn't do.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago

Didn't gage company towns making a comeback on my 2023 Bingo card

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I remember my internship at google 10y ago, with all the free perks, service to make you forget about chores, the cool attitude, etc...

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Saint Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

We've gone from "work from home" back to "live from work" at an astounding pace. That's... good? No, wait, the opposite. Fuck this society and the parasitic husks who direct it in this manner.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

God this dystopia is so boring

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Meanwhile, at my government job, we are paying people to live in our government supplied houses because we need people on sight.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

$99 a night? That's cheaper than most apartments there....

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah wtf I just looked and it says avg 1bdrm is $3500+

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago

That doesn't make it ok.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

the fact that google is charging employees more than motels on the side of the road is surprising, 99 a night is still about 3k a month. granted i know its for temporary until the employee can relocate but, not much of an incentive.

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