This Gizmodo headline is a sign of the times: "Google's Sergey Brin Says Engineers Should Work 60-Hour Weeks in Office to Build AI That Could Replace Them."
Why are mega-rich executives demanding peasants return to their cubicle farms?
Because your corporate overlords' lives are absolutely nothing like yours, says a former Amazon VP who witnessed first-hand how the 0.001% live.
Ethan Andrews' Twitter post exposes the alternate reality where top executives live — one where private jets (or "PJs" in rich-speak) are just casual transportation, and personal assistants handle all those pesky life tasks that eat up normal humans' time. While Andrews admits he's pretty cushioned himself with his maid service and never having to touch a lawnmower, he paints an even more jarring picture of his former bosses' lifestyle:
- Multiple staffed vacation homes, with caretakers
- Private jets (PJs in the lingo)
- Personal assistants. Never pay a bill, get groceries, or pick up a kid when you are busy. The PA handles it all.
- Drivers (security and efficiency)
- Breathtakingly expensive and exclusive private schools for their kids
- They live wherever they want. Cost is not an obstacle
Must be nice! When you've got a pilot handling your helicopter commute while you keybump ketamine and draft tweets about how remote workers lack 'hustle culture' in the backseat, and your PA manager is overseeing your team of PAs who handle everything from your kid's therapy appointments to your next ayahuasca retreat in Peru, heading to the office probably does sound like a delightful way to spend the day.
Of course these executives, who "place work and career success very highly in their lives," are completely mystified why their workforce isn't thrilled about spending two hours a day in traffic just to sit in an office. With these circumstances, returning to the office feels very 'worth it.'"
As Andrews puts it, "Remember, they live literally in another world. This doesn't necessarily make them evil, just disconnected."
"Not evil, just disconnected" is a weird way to spell "hoarding wealth while demanding sacrifices from others," but we're not the ones with a fleet of servants and private jets. We're just the poors who barely have time to buy an $8 dozen of eggs on the way home.
Previously:
• Restaurants near Target's Minneapolis HQ demand it bring workers back to the office
• Zoom ironically tells employees they need to come back to the office
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