Millenial complains to CEO in open letter; finds out that the real minimum wage is $0

[The Big Ragu]

I didn't see this until this morning:



I am sure there are going to be different opinions about this, although I personally don't get it. I read it like it was something out of the Onion; clueless millenial entitlement gone awry. I know others will read it in terms of what she is owned in life at the expense of someone else: fairness, a "living wages," etc. Or maybe not. She sounded so ridiculous to me, I was wondering if she could really be anyone's poster child for socialist doctrine.

In any case, she made a choice to live in one the costliest places in the country on a $12-an-hour paycheck (a job she willingly applied for and took). And then wrote a whiny, snarky open letter to the CEO whining about her life (her expensive rent, the internet connection and phone she can't afford, and all the rice she has to eat to get by) and her pay (calling out the guy who started and grew the company about his net worth.).

She is no longer employed by him.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

So basically, this person didn't bother to look at what her salary was going to be and what rent was going to be and realize this wasn't going to work.

 

[LongTimeListener]

The only thing that makes this even somewhat redeemable is that the company she worked for (and ripped into) was Yelp, which of course is based on the idea of destroying companies' reputations online with no filter. So that was fun.

Otherwise, though -- yeah she seems to be of the belief that she has a birthright to live in the least affordable city in the United States.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Her Twitter profile plainly states she's "better at thinking about things than actually doing them."

Good luck with that.

 

[Brian]

Everyone has these pauvre de moi mid-20s moments. Most of us were smart enough to not publish them for general consumption. This is what journals and shrinks (WHICH SHE CAN'T AFFORD BECAUSE... YELP!) used to be for. Now everyone thinks they need to share them with the world.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Agreed on that.
I am embarrassed someone could be so foolish and then broadcast it to the world.

 

[cranberry]

She thought her stupid letter would lead people to discover her oh-so-cleverness and catapult her career to fame and fortune.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

She doesn't mention having a roommate either. So I guess she decided living on her own in the Bay area was a fantastic idea on her salary. Does this girl have parents? Didn't either of them say, "hey ****head, there's no way you can afford this on what you'll make."

I bought a brand new car in 2005. I sat in the salesman's office for 20 minutes crunching numbers before I finally pulled the trigger. "Rent is this much....car payment this much....cable...phone.....that leaves me....****, I forgot electric....and my credit card.....Okay, fine. I'll take it."

 

[Big Circus]

Don't worry! There are millennials willing to take an equally clueless, myopic stance opposing her.

29-year-old millennial rips 25-year-old Yelp employee who got fired after complaining about her salary

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Good response here:

29-year-old millennial rips 25-year-old Yelp employee who got fired after complaining about her salary

 

[LongTimeListener]

Don't worry! There are millennials willing to take an equally clueless, myopic stance opposing her.

29-year-old millennial rips 25-year-old Yelp employee who got fired after complaining about her salary

What's clueless and myopic about this?

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

And on and on ...

 

[Big Circus]

What's clueless and myopic about this?

The piece's fundamental assertion is that being offered a job by a bartender (a family friend, no less) out of the blue is equivalent to getting somewhere based on hard work and merit. It's unbearably smug and condescending.

I should note that I'm not defending the original piece.

 

[MisterCreosote]

These women seriously think anyone is going to read THREE of these novellas?

Jesus. Talk about self-important longform writers who need editors...

 

[Gator]

I remember one time after landing my first journo gig, after paying first and last at my new apartment, I had to borrow $20 from a good friend to get through the week. I was mortified. He didn't care, because he was a friend, but it just went against everything I believed in.

Listening to her, and the people she worked with beg, is just embarassing. I honestly feel bad for her. Not her situation (which I laughed at relentlessly), but the fact that she has no issue with this mentality. And if she was my daughter, I might change the locks on the family home. Then again, I can only assume her parents had a hand in this the-world-owes-me-because-I'm-me outlook.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I could do with out her picture with her smug smile and "any idea how fast you were going?" glasses, but a solid takedown regardless.

 

[dirtybird]

I remember one time after landing my first journo gig, after paying first and last at my new apartment, I had to borrow $20 from a good friend to get through the week. I was mortified. He didn't care, because he was a friend, but it just went against everything I believed in.

Listening to her, and the people she worked with beg, is just embarassing. I honestly feel bad for her. Not her situation (which I laughed at relentlessly), but the fact that she has no issue with this mentality. And if she was my daughter, I might change the locks on the family home. Then again, I can only assume her parents had a hand in this the-world-owes-me-because-I'm-me outlook.

Then how would she follow the path of the "Hard worker" and live at home for a year?

 

[LongTimeListener]

The piece's fundamental assertion is that being offered a job by a bartender (a family friend, no less) out of the blue is equivalent to getting somewhere based on hard work and merit. It's unbearably smug and condescending.

I should note that I'm not defending the original piece.

She was offered a hostess job. That's pretty much how those jobs are offered -- someone knows someone who needs a job.

It was neither clueless nor myopic, nor is it smug or condescending. It's an account of someone who needed money and went to work.

 

[swingline]

Seriously, this is all satire, right?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Seriously, this is all satire, right?

When I saw the 36-year-old weigh in, the thought did cross my mind that all of these people are being paid to promote Medium.