🐱 Interesting clickbait, op-eds, fluff pieces and other smaller stories

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/24/caitlyn-jenner-halloween-costume-sparks-social-media-outrage-.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...een-costume-labeled-817515?utm_source=twitter

It's nowhere near October, but one ensemble is already on track to be named the most controversial Halloween costume of 2015.

Social media users were out in full force on Monday criticizing several Halloween retailers for offering a Caitlyn Jenner costume reminiscent of the former-athlete's Vanity Fair cover earlier this year.

While Jenner's supporters condemned the costume as "transphobic" and "disgusting" on Twitter, Spirit Halloween, a retailer that carries the costume, defended the getup.

"At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes," said Lisa Barr, senior director of marking at Spirit Halloween. "We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that."

 

[NoReturn]

Horror as river otter drags child off a dock and underwater in vicious attack... before beast met grim end

https://archive.is/a9IzF

Pour one out in memory of @Otterly ...

My otter didnu nuffin.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

There's a cheerleader from America's Got Talent who killed herself.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13856905/Americas-Got-Talent-emily-gold-dead.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20240916190047/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13856905/Americas-Got-Talent-emily-gold-dead.html

A California school is in shock after the sudden death of a popular student just a month after her dance troupe wowed judges on America's Got Talent.

Emily Gold, 17, was found dead under a bridge in an apparent suicide on the eastbound 210 Highway in Rancho Cucamonga just before midnight on Friday.

She had been part of the Los Osos High School dance group that reached the quarter finals of this year's AGT with their high-energy routine.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Sorry for double posting but if some people suggest the title should be the other way around, someone will shout "that's antisemitism".

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/09/israel_must_free_itself_from_dependency_on_washington.html

https://ghostarchive.org/archive/fmdNj

September 17, 2024

Israel must free itself from dependency on Washington​

By Joseph Puder


The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been in an intense state of alert in recent weeks. Israel is anticipating a retaliatory attack from the Islamic Republic of Iran or from its proxy, Lebanese Hezb’allah, allegedly in response to last month’s elimination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezb’allah’s chief of staff Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

For Israel and Israelis, this is an unacceptable situation. The 24/7 alert has taken a particular toll among the Air Force reservist pilots and ground crews, who must be away from their families and jobs. The overall Israeli economy, including the agricultural sector, has also suffered enormously. And, most critically, the war and the anxiety over the hostages continues to seriously impact the national morale and the psychological well-being of many in Israel.
As exhibited in previous situations, Israel would have launched a preventive strike against both Iran and Hezb’allah. However, in consideration of the Biden-Harris administration’s demand that they avoid doing so for fear that an Israeli strike might trigger a wider regional war, Israeli leaders have refrained.

 

[Safir]

Pacifist troon murdered a pro-hohol activist in Russia.
telegram

Google translate

A queer blogger confessed to killing a political activist in St. Petersburg. The guy came to surrender to the police himself and wrote a statement against himself The day before, 20-year-old Alexander Sinko killed 53-year-old Vitaly Ioffe at about 7 p.m. The blogger claimed that someone tried to rape him. Immediately after the murder, he took his victim's phone number and started calling subscribers to his Telegram channel to tell them what had happened, and tried to find out what to do next and even thought about a possible escape to another country. He also shared photos of the murdered man. At some point, he even tried to commit suicide, but instead went to Vyborg, where he surrendered to the police at the local station. At first, the police did not believe the blogger, greeted his statement with laughter and offered to call an ambulance. However, Alexander was later detained. In the near future, he should be transported from Vyborg to St. Petersburg. Sinko calls himself a girl, regularly dyes his hair and wears dresses, and is also an LGBT* activist.

*The LGBT movement is recognized as extremist in Russia and is banned.

lib news
Google translate

20 stab wounds and a confession through laughter. What is known about the murder of a St. Petersburg activist

Early in the morning of September 17, a cheerful guy visited the police department in Vyborg and confessed to the murder. At first, they didn’t even take the laughing applicant seriously. They asked where he killed. On Prospekt Nauki. They called colleagues in the Kalininsky District, they broke down the door and saw something terrible. 20 stab wounds, the murdered man is a very prominent St. Petersburg activist of late. In fact, this is an ordinary everyday incident. What makes it interesting for Fontanka readers is the main characters - the victim and the man who confessed to the murder. We suggest getting to know them better.

Suspect

20-year-old Alexander is from Novosibirsk. He defines himself as an activist in the queer and psycho-sphere [meaning, he was a muhmentalhealth awareness activist and promoter of the rapy --S]. As a person who knows him not only online told Fontanka, Sasha had a family in his hometown, but the relationship was strained. He himself said that his relatives did not accept him after coming out [the Russian word is literally `kaming-aut`]. He did not want to stay in Novosibirsk after coming of age. In the city, he, by his own words, was subjected to sexual violence. The first time before he was 18. He wrote about the second incident in his blog and found help in the form of subscribers. They, as they say, came to sort things out with the offender, the parties were separated by the police, but it did not come to a criminal case.

Alexander applied for a gender change, but the transition was prevented by the tightening of legislation. Over the past few years, he managed to live in Moscow and St. Petersburg, participated in actions in support of LGBT* and other things, brought parcels to prisoners. In the Telegram channel, he wrote that the geography is even wider: in a year, he changed twenty apartments and roommates in six cities.

Alexander wrote that he was interested in clinical psychology and was getting an education in this field, but he did not specify what kind or where. In August, he shared with his subscribers the good news of being admitted to an external correspondence course and was preparing to take the Unified State Exam, catching up on the 10th grade curriculum in two months.

His interest in psychology was also caused by personal difficulties. According to an acquaintance, Sasha had psychological problems: he was in psychiatric clinics in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, and posted photos of his medical records with diagnoses. Lately, subpersonalities and alter egos have been mentioned more and more often in conversations, and oncology in August.

In addition to housing and cities, he also changed jobs: delivery, construction, human rights, moderating Yandex.Maps, sales, webcam. Acquaintances say that he was also an escort. This is what they thought of first when they found out about the murder.

Alexander ended up in the apartment on Prospekt Nauki in the company of Vitaly Ioffe, apparently, almost by accident. On Sunday, he broadcast a text broadcast of his attempt to commit suicide on his Telegram channel. Subscribers say it was not his first attempt. Illegal substances were also mentioned. At the same time, he said that he was asked to urgently move out of a rented apartment in the Nevsky district.

He lived there for about three months. According to the owner, during this time the studio turned into hell. Even the dishes had to be thrown out. Today, a cleaning service continues to work in the apartment: they take out the garbage, scare people with a bill that has already exceeded 50 thousand rubles [over $500 -S.]. Next, they will have to fight the mold.

The owner learned about the state of the studio from the police before the murder. They explained to her that they were looking for a drug addict. After the standard questions, they sent a photo. The woman asked the tenant to move out. He, as when they met, was polite, and quickly packed his things.

Judging by the messages, he wrote about suicide from Murino [SPb suburb -S.]. Alexander was not left without a roof over his head and on September 16 said that he was given shelter. During the night, other messages began pouring in: “A good future is cancelled… They tried to rape me… I killed… I stabbed him to death. Until the last moment, I begged them to just let me go.” Alexander communicated with his friends and subscribers for many hours. He managed to show the body and ask for help crossing the border. The latter, as they say, was more of a panic and was quickly deleted. Most suggested surrendering.

When his phone died, Alexander continued writing from the dead man’s mobile phone. He took it to Vyborg by taxi. There, early in the morning, he went to the police station and confessed to stabbing him 20 times. “They don’t believe me,” he continued to tell the story in the Telegram channel.

After the failed suicide on September 15, the blogger called doctors. As an acquaintance suggested, they were probably talking about a psychiatric ambulance. Hospitalization was allegedly denied due to "insufficient inadequacy."

Victim

53-year-old Vitaly Ioffe became known in activist circles after the spring of 2022. The trigger for the beginning of his activities, as he himself noted, was the beginning of the SMO. Several dozen times he went to pickets, advocating for the release of prisoners detained under political articles on fakes and discrediting the RF Armed Forces. Ioffe also went to the Solovetsky Stone in memory of dissident Valeria Novodvorskaya [the original Russian wokist that exemplified tumblr despite pre-dating it by half a century, now dead from fat. --S] and to the military registration and enlistment office in the Central District - with a pacifist appeal. He was repeatedly detained and released with protocols for violating COVID restrictions. He often managed to defend his innocence in court with the support of lawyers from human rights organizations.

On June 22, 2023, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Ioffe was detained while drunk during a hooligan attack on the military registration and enlistment office. Dressed in khaki and with a patch in the form of the German flag [the BRD flag --S], he knocked on the doors of the military registration and enlistment office, threatening to set it on fire. In fact, he did not cause any damage to the building, and the case ended with administrative arrest for several days.

One day, Ioffe's daughter Elena also went out with a picket. With her action, she referred to the picket of queer activist Alexander S., who went out to Gostiny Dvor the day before. Alexander went out with a poster that translates from English as follows: "Preserve the right to be yourself" - speaking out against the law banning trans-transition. Elena went out with a poster in Russian: "Let people be themselves."

Ioffe is known not only as a participant in protests, but also as a member of the community of listeners to trials for articles for political statements (in particular, 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He tried not to miss almost any trial. In the activist community, his behavior in court was perceived differently. Some spoke of him as a provocateur, some suspected him of collaborating with the security forces and asked the question: "Where was he before 2022 and where did he come from?" Ioffe himself perceived such accusations with irony and mockery and denied them.

One of the St. Petersburg activists told Fontanka that many in their community tried to stay away from Ioffe. What was disconcerting was that the man was very active in pickets, but unlike the others, he got off easy. "He pretended to be active in supporting even those people who didn't exactly treat him well or trust him," the Fontanka interlocutor said.

The activists also looked with suspicion at Vitaly Ioffe's attraction to young people. The St. Petersburg resident's last companions were much younger than him, and in the protest environment he was more attracted to young people, if not to young participants. There were also rumors of abuse on his part.

Ioffe, 20, also met his probable killer through activism. Last June, he helped the young man organize a picket near Gostiny Dvor and was nearby, providing security. When Alexander was taken to court, Vitaly followed him to help. The man also helped the young queer man find a place to stay, as he had no permanent place of residence and mostly lived at "house parties".

Vitaly's daughter was casually acquainted with his probable killer. They crossed paths with activist Sasha a couple of times, no more. On Tuesday, when the forensic scientist was working in an apartment on Nauki Avenue, the deceased's ex-wife and daughter humbly waited for the end of the investigation to take the cats.

*LGBT is banned in Russia and is recognized as an extremist organization

We also had a school hammering. 13-year-old tard boy (only child, both parents alive, married to each other, employed, higher-ed blue-collar jobs, live together) attacked his tard school, hammered a girl and sliced her throat, hammered another girl and a boy, was tackled by an elderly female teacher, ran off, tried to commit sudoku in the restrooms but unfortunately failed (uninjured). The teacher is lightly wounded, the children are severely wounded but are reportedly in stable condition.

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

Pacifist troon murdered a pro-hohol activist in Russia.

Sounds like a win-win overall.

“They don’t believe me,” he continued to tell the story in the Telegram channel.

Hahah, just imagining Russian police ignoring a killer trying to confess because he seems too big a homo to have done it.

 

[Safir]

Hahah, just imagining Russian police ignoring a killer trying to confess because he seems too big a homo to have done it.

It's not tat he was too much of a homo to have done it, but on the balance of probabilities he was much more likely to be an "influencer" than a murderer. Turns out he was both, sike!

Three months of trooning in a rented apartment:


According to the landlady, "someone else" was paying the rent, on time. No noise complaints.
The cops were looking for him because of his drug dealing and alerted the landlady to the state of the apartment, upon which she told him to gtfo. He immediately got out (without cleaning), moved in with the elderly faggot, and killed him that night. I bet she's now unironically happy about the $500 cleaning bill.

 

[AnOminous]

Three months of trooning in a rented apartment:

Do troons just somehow spontaneously generate random garbage in their environment?

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

Do troons just somehow spontaneously generate random garbage in their environment?

Too busy focusing on themselves, thinking that's all that matters. They look at a literal fucking wreck with no redeeming qualities outside their onlyfans success and theyll think "Omg wish I was him xoxo". Meanwhile you'll see normal people be exposed to a boring person with great hobbies, living space and be enamored, imagining what a great life they'd give you.

So once again, troons fail to understand a female quality, ie. "live man to man, rejecting the concept of a career. Be hot and fuck a CEO".

 

[TerrifyingPterodactyl]

Sounds like a bunch of work from home people are going to get BTFO by Amazon.

Original-https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rto-employee-coffee-badging-office-2024-9
Archive-.is
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rto-employee-coffee-badging-office-2024-9

Spoiler

I work at Amazon, and I plan on 'coffee badging' instead of working from the office 5 days a week
As told to Jyoti Mann

Sep 18, 2024, 3:46 AM MDT

Amazon announced a return-to-office mandate requiring five days a week in the office from January.
One employee in Germany told Business Insider that he planned to continue "coffee badging."
The engineer said the new mandate was a "betrayal" and had eroded employees' trust in leaders.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with an Amazon worker in Germany who was granted anonymity to protect his privacy. His identity and employment have been verified by Business Insider. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Amazon notified all employees on Monday about the new return-to-office mandate requiring us to come into the office five days a week starting in January.

My entire team was very shocked and worried. Some people want to leave the company. This is a betrayal to many people, especially those who were hired as remote workers, and it is eroding our trust.

Before Amazon made the announcement this week, I already had a feeling that a stricter return-to-office mandate was coming in 2025. That's because the leadership had made it very clear through the last mandate that this was the direction it was going to take, and in the past few months, things have become much stricter.

In Germany, Amazon in June started enforcing the mandate that requires us to be in the office three days a week, but unlike in the US, we aren't required to come in for a certain number of hours a day. People are still trying to adjust to the last return-to-office push.

I live very close to the office, so I'm not personally so worried about having to do another two days in the office because I can just come in and swipe my badge, stay for 15 minutes, and go back, so we still have some flexibility.

I think the return-to-office policy is being used as a tool to carry out silent layoffs, as I've seen many bright engineers leave the company since the last mandate.
People are definitely terrified about what this will mean for them. A few colleagues have told me they are considering leaving the company, even for lower-paying jobs.

Having a flexible remote-working policy did not have a big impact on productivity.
If you create an atmosphere of growth and drive people, they will always deliver, regardless of where they work.

I think this has been sufficient as long as people do their jobs to the best of their abilities. I see the value in coming together occasionally and brainstorming, but it's unnecessary to always work from the office.

The new mandate will be difficult for many people who moved away from the office during the pandemic, have childcare commitments, or experience social anxiety.

Apart from the RTO announcement, I found out in the news that Amazon plans to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers at least 15% by the end of next year's first quarter. It was a surprise because we already have a resource crunch. We have fewer people doing a lot more work, which has meant that I, and some other employees, have felt unhappy.

Now with Amazon wanting to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers, things may get very difficult for employees. On many teams, there are between eight and 12 people managed by one person; ideally, it would be six people under one manager. So some managers are already overburdened.

If Amazon ends up cutting middle managers, it would affect everyone because one manager overseeing so many people would mean that you don't have enough time to have conversations around career development and that you can't work on innovation or stakeholder engagement.

The consensus among other Amazon employees I've spoken with is that they plan to leave when the economy and job market improve. They are already frustrated and under a lot of stress, and the new RTO policy and worries that there may be job cuts are increasing the tension.

I think other Big Tech companies will follow suit and require employees to return to the office five days a week, too.

A spokesperson for Amazon told BI they observed that being in the office together makes it easier for employees to learn, model, collaborate, and be better connected to one another. They added that the return-to-office guidance was an effort to strengthen its culture.

Correction: September 18, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misdescribed Amazon's plan to cut managers. It plans to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of next year's first quarter, not cut 15% of middle managers.

Are you a tech worker with insight to share? Contact the reporter, Jyoti Mann, via the encrypted messaging app Signal (jyotimann.11) or email (jmann@businessinsider.com) from a nonwork device.

 

[NoReturn]

an Amazon worker in Germany

>in Germany
That kind of changes things too, don't it?

Here are some others, also from BI

I was going into Amazon's office 5 days a week before the RTO push. It's helped me focus and bond with teammates.

• Luka Emrashvili has worked as a software development engineer at Amazon since 2022.
• He started going into the office five days a week long before Amazon announced its RTO push this week.
• Emrashvili said in-person work has improved his focus and helped his team bond.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Luka Emrashvili, 24, an Amazon software engineer based in New York, about the company's decision to require employees to be in the office five days a week. Business Insider verified Emrashvili's employment with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I view working at Amazon as a big career achievement.

I'm from Georgia in Eastern Europe, where working for a Big Tech company like Amazon is a big dream for a lot of young professionals.
I applied to Amazon shortly after moving to the US to complete my bachelor's degree. I was offered a role as a software development engineer in November 2021 and my start date was July 2022.
For most of my time at Amazon, I've been going into the office five days a week. It's helped me focus and separate work from life.
When Amazon RTO rules started requiring people to come into the office three days a week, I noticed that in-person work helped me and my team collaborate better.
Everyone has their own opinion on the new five-day-a-week RTO policy, but I value in-person connection.

I didn't enjoy working remotely at Amazon​

When I joined Amazon, I worked fully remotely. The office wasn't closed, but no one would come in, so I'd be alone if I went.
I found it challenging to onboard remotely. I was trying to get used to the company's systems, learn the culture, and connect with my team from home, but online meetings and conversations made me feel isolated. I found it hard to build relationships and understand how things worked.
Roughly a month after I started, I decided to work in the office five days a week. It helped me separate my home and work lives, but the office was still pretty empty.
I remember that other people who came in weren't doing so on a daily basis, more like three times a week.

I was hopeful that the 3-day rule would help rebuild the office culture​

In February 2023, Amazon announced that employees would have to come in three times a week.
I remember colleagues feeling uncertain about how they'd be able to adjust.
I was glad it would incentivize people to come back to the office and rebuild the office culture that COVID-19 took away. In software engineering, it's so helpful to collaborate on problem-solving through whiteboard sessions or chatting at someone's desk.
There was a "Badge Report" for tracking your days in the office. I heard rumors about Amazon employees "coffee badging" on the news, but I don't personally know of anyone who's done it.

In-person work has helped my team collaborate and improved my focus​

I heard about Amazon's new RTO policy, requiring employees to come in five days a week, on Monday.
Again, it wasn't a big change for me.
I usually work at Amazon's office near Bryant Park, and my commute takes around 15 minutes, but others have long commutes, and it might be more challenging for them to come in every day.
When we were fully remote, everything had to be scheduled and there wasn't room for spontaneous discussions or brainstorming. Now, if I have a quick question, I can just walk over to someone's desk. Those in-person conversations lead to new ideas we wouldn't have had otherwise.
Being in the same space builds a stronger sense of community, too. We've had more informal conversations over lunch or in the hallway that have helped us bond.
The office environment helps me focus better. We have adjustable desks that allow you to stand up if you're tired of sitting, and I can personalize my workplace. I prefer it to working from home.
I really value in-person interactions, meetings, and collaboration, but everyone has their own preference. I still think that ideally, people should be able to choose what is most productive for them.

A spokesperson for Amazon previously told BI the return-to-office guidance was an effort to strengthen its culture. They added they had observed that in-office work makes it easier for employees to learn, model, and collaborate.
Do you have a personal story about RTO policies at work? Email ccheong@businessinsider.com

Amazon's RTO is mostly a bad idea, but one group will benefit

• Amazon will require workers to be in the office five days a week next year.
• The move follows 15 months of hybrid work and reflects a trend of some employers retaking power.
• Experts warn the mandate could harm morale and retention, especially among high performers.

Sorry, Amazon employees. Your home office might soon start gathering dust.

CEO Andy Jassy announced on Monday that starting next year, Amazon employees must be in the office five days a week.

Some CEOs might be tempted to exert that same level of control.

Yet, experts caution that the cost of calling remote or hybrid workers back to their cubicles five days a week could be high enough in terms of morale and retention that bosses should tread carefully.

Just look at what's already happening inside Amazon, where angry workers are looking for ways to leave or not comply.

"What ever happened to 'Striving to be Earth's Best Employer," one employee wrote in a company Slack channel focused on RTO issues, as Business Insider previously reported. The comment was a reference to the company's leadership principles.

Amazon's announcement comes after 15 months of hybrid work — employees had to be in three times a week. It's the latest sign that employers are retaking power, even if it doesn't always benefit them.

Some employers like Amazon are looking to take back power
In the pandemic era, the labor market favored office workers. Employees were swept up in the Great Resignation, job-hopping to get the most money and perks, while many employers struggled to fill open positions. Fearful of losing top talent, companies kept flexible work options to win over applicants and retain employees.

But in recent years, companies like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have required some or all of their employees to come in five days a week.

"There is a sense that the talent market is cooling off, and they might not be at risk of people leaving because they have fewer options," Caitlin Duffy, a senior research director in the Gartner HR practice, told BI.

That might not be the case, though. Several experts agreed that returning to the office five times a week is a bad idea.

"There is a mythology of the on-site work experience that leaders believe in and hold onto that isn't supported by the data," Duffy said.

She pointed to Gartner's research that showed organizations saw no performance gains once they made workers come back, and such mandates can cause other problems. Oftentimes, introverted employees work better outside the office, and some people find that the pressure of in-person work can stifle productivity and deep thinking, Duffy said.

Another area that often suffers is morale.

Julia Hobsbawm, who runs the consultancy Workathon and whose latest book is "Working Assumptions," told BI that Amazon's decision is a sign that corporate America is in a management crisis in which bosses don't trust their management skills — or their workers.

That antipathy from some bosses is why, she said, desk workers and blue-collar workers have never been closer regarding feeling exploited and exhausted.

"They're now treating white-collar workers like factory-floor workers," Hobsbawm said, referring to Amazon's decision.

Amazon's Jassy said the decision is intended, in part, to boost innovation and the company's culture.

"Before the pandemic, it was not a given that folks could work remotely two days a week, and that will also be true moving forward— our expectation is that people will be in the office outside of extenuating circumstances," Jassy wrote in the announcement.

He didn't address retention, though he did say he'd like to see fewer managers to help speed decision-making.

Sluggish hiring in tech since the pandemic boom could mean that more workers will line up to join Amazon, even with a requirement to spend five days in the office.

More Amazon workers could quit
Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, who's conducted research on remote work, told BI in an email that Amazon's decision could result in a 20% to 30% spike in its employees quitting.

Research from Gartner shows that requiring workers to be in the office resulted in decreased intention to stay at a company, especially among high-performing employees.

Bloom also noted that Amazon's move is the opposite of what's been found to encourage workers to stay. He pointed to research he and several collaborators had done that was published in June in the journal Nature. It found that when the travel company Trip.com rolled back its office requirement to three days from five, the company saw quit rates drop by about one-third. Bloom added that workers value hybrid work setups about the same as an 8% pay hike.

That said, getting workers to quit could be part of the point, he said, referring to Jassy's memo mentioning wanting thinner management ranks.

"The problem with this is often the best employees leave as they have the best outside options," Bloom wrote.

Already, it appears that Amazon has seen more fully remote workers depart the company compared with those located close to a corporate hub. According to Live Data Technologies, a provider of real-time employment data, Amazon has seen a more dramatic outflow of employees who are not in a location that would be workable for an RTO mandate.

The biggest beneficiaries may be Gen Z
There is one group, in particular, who might benefit from being in the office more — and who are often up for it: younger employees.

Deborah McGee, president and CEO of PZI Group, a consultancy focused on human resources outsourcing, told BI that being back in the office is particularly beneficial for younger workers who lost out on mentoring opportunities because the pandemic forced remote work. She said that in her own career in consulting, being in the right place often made a big difference.

"Business happens in the hallways," McGee said. "Business happens in the parking lots. Business happens after hours. It doesn't always happen when you're trying to ping someone remotely."

The office is often where you get noticed, learn by observing, and meet your mentors. In fact, Gen Z was the only demographic in Gartner's research that did not see a decrease in intent to stay in response to on-site mandates.

"They're missing out on it because they're not having those normal day-to-day type conversations and storytelling that happens from an older generation to the next generation," McGee said.

Whether it helps or hurts in the long run, there is some irony in the fact that Amazon is calling workers back to the office when the company's massive cloud-computing business is part of what underpins the ability of many desk workers to do their jobs from anywhere, Hobsbawm said.

"They regard all of their workers as if they were human robots that they can just instruct. And unfortunately, that won't work," she said. "And it won't work partly because of the very technology that companies like Amazon have ushered in."

The list of major companies requiring employees to return to the office

• Many major companies are requiring employees to return to the office full or part-time.
• Business Insider compiled a running list of the companies calling employees back.
• The list includes companies like Amazon, Apple, and BlackRock.

On Monday, Amazon mandated corporate workers return to the office five days a week beginning January 2nd.

The Seattle-based tech giant is just one of the many companies calling their employees back to the office following the pandemic as COVID-19 restrictions have eased.

Major employers, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have also abandoned the hybrid attendance policy they adopted during the pandemic and instead implemented full return-to-office mandates.

Several executives and leaders have said they believe productivity increases when workers are in the office together, while others hope to increase in-person collaboration. Even some CEOs who previously praised the flexibility of remote work have started backpedaling, pressuring workers to comply with RTO mandates with threats to track attendance or even fire employees who don't comply.
Here's a list, in alphabetical order, of major companies requiring employees to return to offices. Business Insider will update this list regularly.

Amazon​

CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a September 16 memo that Amazon would be pulling the plug on remote work starting next year.
"We've decided that we're going to return to being in the office the way we were before the onset of COVID," Jassy said. "When we look back over the last five years, we continue to believe that the advantages of being together in the office are significant."
The CEO cited easier employee collaboration and connection and said in-person work would strengthen the company's culture, echoing his February 2023 memo, which mandated employees spend at least three days a week in the office.
Not everyone agrees. Some Amazon employees have taken to an internal Slack channel to criticize the new RTO policy, Business Insider's Ashley Stewart first reported, with one staffer writing that it is "significantly more strict and out of its mind" than pre-Covid operations.
"This is not 'going back' to how it was before," they wrote. "It's just going backwards."
The critical reaction is reminiscent of employees' response to last year's surprise return-to-office rule. Thousands of Amazon workers joined a Slack channel to share their thoughts, with some even organizing to file a petition against the change.

Apple​

In August 2022, Apple's senior leaders told workers they had to return to the office at least three days a week after previously requiring two days a week. CEO Tim Cook said the decision was meant to restore "in-person collaboration." Some employees fought back and issued a petition shortly after the announcement, arguing that staffers can do "exceptional work" from home.
Despite the pushback, Apple's hybrid work program launched the following month and is still in place.

BlackRock​

Last year, BlackRock mandated employees return to the office four days a week. The investment firm, which is headquartered in New York City, intended to bring employees into its then newly leased office space — which spans 1 million square feet across 15 floors, according to Hudson Yards.
In a May 2023 memo sent by the company's COO, Rob Goldstein, and the head of human resources, Caroline Heller, the execs wrote: "Career development happens in teaching moments between team members, and it is accelerated during market-moving moments, when we step up and get into the mix. All of this requires us to be together in the office."
Additionally, the memo notified staffers that the firm is giving them the opportunity to work remotely for two weeks during a time period that is relevant in their country, in an effort to offer "seasonal flexibility."

Chipotle​

The fast-food chain announced last summer that corporate workers work in the office four days a week, Bloomberg reported. Chipotle had previously required workers to show up three days a week, according to the report.

Citigroup​

Citigroup asked its 600 US workers, who were previously eligible to work remotely, to return to the office full-time, Bloomberg reported. In a memo released by the investment firm in May, the majority of staff are reportedly still able to work a hybrid schedule, with up to two days a week outside the office.
HSBC Holding Plc and Barclays Plc also followed suit, mandating workers to come into the office five days a week, according to the report.
Vaccinated Citigroup employees across the US were asked to return to the office for at least two days a week in March 2022, an internal memo obtained by Reuters said.

Disney​

In a January 2023 memo obtained by Business Insider, CEO Bob Iger told workers that starting that March, any Disney staff member working "in a hybrid fashion" would need to return to Disney's offices four days a week.

Related stories​

In response, over 2,300 employees signed a petition asking Iger to reconsider the mandate.
"This policy will slow, or even reverse, our post-COVID recovery and growth by creating critical resource shortages and causing irreplaceable institutional knowledge loss," signees wrote, according to The Washington Post.

Goldman Sachs​

In March 2022, CEO David Solomon told Fortune that the company was asking employees to return to the office five days a week. Seven months later, he told CNBC that about 65% of staffers were working in the office.
However, some staff have failed to follow the policy a year into its implementation, causing senior managers to become frustrated and Goldman Sachs to further crack down on employees to return to the office full-time.

Google​

In March 2022, Google employees in the San Francisco Bay Area and "several other US locations" were told to return to the office for at least three days a week starting the following month.
Last year, however, the company tightened RTO expectations, telling staff in an email that office attendance would factor into their performance reviews.
Google's Chief People Officer Fiona Cicconi told workers in the memo that requests to work remotely full time will now be considered "by exception only."
Some employees expressed feeling "frustrated" with the new policy. One staffer previously told Business Insider, "We don't like being micromanaged like school kids."

IBM​

IBM has made its feelings on in-person work strictly clear — telling managers to either come into offices or get out.
The company asked all its US managers to report to an office or client location at least three days a week, according to a January memo viewed by Bloomberg.
A source told the outlet that staff would have to live within 50 miles of an IBM office or client location. The memo reportedly told employees they had until August to complete their relocation arrangements, and those who were unable to comply with the new policy must "separate from IBM."
CEO Arvind Krishna previously told the news outlet that employees' careers could suffer if they work from home. He said that although he wasn't forcing his own staffers back to the office, he thought remote workers may struggle to get promotions.

JPMorgan​

In April 2023, JPMorgan announced to employees in a memo that all managing directors must work in the office five days a week. The memo also reminded other workers of the current policy of working in-person a minimum of three days a week.
Despite some pushback from employees, CEO Jamie Dimon doubled down on the policy, saying disgruntled workers can choose to go elsewhere.
"I completely understand why someone doesn't want to commute an hour and a half every day, totally got it," he told The Economist. "Doesn't mean they have to have a job here either."
The company has also been collecting data on staff activity, including tracking attendance.

Meta​

Meta updated its remote work policies in September 2023, requiring employees to head into the office three days a week.
It had also stopped offering remote work in new job listings. People familiar with the company previously told BI that hiring managers could no longer post new jobs that list the work location as "remote" or outside of an existing office.
The company doubled down on its RTO efforts in June of this year, telling workers that their attendance would be tracked daily and failure to comply could lead to termination.
However, some employees returning to the office said they were met with a lack of space and privacy, with one worker calling the mandate "a mess."

Redfin​

In April last year, real estate company Redfin announced an updated return-to-office policy via a memo from CEO Glenn Kelman.

Related stories​

The memo noted that starting July 2023, Redfin would require "headquarters employees" who live within 20 miles of the company's Seattle, San Francisco, and Frisco offices to work from the office for a full day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Those who live beyond the 20-mile radius are required to visit the office in-person once a quarter for a day or more of meetings, the company said.
In order to hold employees accountable, the memo included a "no-exceptions" section, reading that "to determine your distance from an office, we'll use Google Maps, with the distance from your home address measured in miles driven over roads by car."

Salesforce​

Salesforce told employees in an internal memo seen by The San Francisco Standard that the majority of workers will be called back into the office four to five days a week, effective October 1.
The new policy will be mandated for select staff in sales, workplace services, data center engineering, and on-site support technicians, according to the memo.
Early last year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revised the company's annual strategic plan, including return-to-office mandates, according to a draft shared in an internal Slack message viewed by Business Insider.
The updated draft return-to-office policy required nonremote employees to work three days a week in the office and employees in "non-remote" and "customer-facing" roles to work four days a week. Engineers must work from the office 10 days per quarter, down from 20 in the initial draft, which was updated based on employee feedback.

Snap​

Snap implemented a new mandate in September 2023, requiring employees to work in an office at least four days a week. The change represented a shift from the company's former "remote first" policy, which allowed employees to work from home or elsewhere.
Employees previously told BI that some managers told them the company is able to track workers' WiFi connections to see who is complying.

Starbucks​

In a January 2023 memo to corporate staffers, then-CEO Howard Schultz said employees within commuting distance would be required to return to the office at least three days a week.
Schultz said some staff had failed to "meet their minimum promise of one day a week" and also pointed out that Starbucks baristas didn't have the "privilege" of working from home. The executive had previously said he "pleaded" with workers to come back to the office.
Starbucks employees responded by signing an open letter protesting the company's return-to-office mandate.

Tesla​

In June 2022, Tesla employees were notified of a mandatory return-to-office policy.
The email from Elon Musk included wording such as "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned," and noted that everyone at Tesla must work from the office at least 40 hours a week.
Musk, who has called remote work "morally wrong," nodded to his frequent presence at Tesla factories as the reason for the business' success. "If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt," he wrote in the email.

X​

After buying X, formerly Twitter, in 2022, Musk told employees that not showing up to an office when they're able to was the same as a resignation.
Musk also told staffers in an email that remote work was no longer allowed and that employees were expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week unless given explicit approval to work elsewhere.
In 2023, X, then Twitter, National Labor Relations Board filed a formal complaint saying that X had illegally fired an employee who complained about Musk's RTO policy.
The complaint said that Yao Yue, a principal software engineer, criticized the mandate, tweeting, "don't resign, let him fire you." She also posted, "don't be fired. Seriously" in a company Slack channel.
Yue was then fired five days later and told it was due to violating an unspecified company policy.

Uber​

In a memo obtained by Business Insider, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that beginning in April 2022, Uber staffers in 35 of the company's locations were required to return to the office at least half the time. He added that on other days, staffers were allowed to work remotely and that some could be entirely remote if they got clearance from their managers.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently said remote work took away some of Uber's "most frequent customers," adding that "there is an audience who kind of stopped using us as frequently as they used to."

Walmart​

Along with slashing hundreds of jobs, Walmart also asked previously remote employees in the US to move to offices.
Staffers located in smaller offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto are additionally being directed to the company's central hubs, including its headquarters in Arkansas or New Jersey, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The retail giant will still permit hybrid schedules as long as workers come in-person most of the time, according to the outlet.

Zoom​

Zoom, the darling of remote work, said in 2022 that less than 2% of staffers work in person full time. However, last year, the video-calling company asked employees to return to the office.
Workers living within 50 miles of one of its offices were mandated to work there at least two days a week.
"We believe that a structured hybrid approach – meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams – is most effective for Zoom," a spokesperson previously said in a statement. "As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers."

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Time to prepare for Three Mile Island 2: electric boogaloo thanks to Microsoft.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/constellation-inks-power-supply-deal-with-microsoft-2024-09-20/

https://archive.ph/8QMua

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy (CEG.O), opens new tab has signed an exclusive deal with Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab to restart one of the units at the noted Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to power data centers for the tech giant, the company said on Friday.
This would be the first ever restart of a nuclear power plant in the U.S. after shutting, and shows how utilities are benefiting from a massive surge in demand from data-center operators looking to ride a boom in artificial intelligence.

Shares of the company were up nearly 8% at $224.4 premarket.
The deal would enable a restart of Unit 1 of the five-decades-old nuclear power facility in Pennsylvania that was shut in 2019 due to operational reasons. Unit 2, which was shut after a partial meltdown in 1979 - the most famous commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history - is not going to be restarted.
Constellation, which plans to spend about $1.6 billion to restart the plant, is awaiting permits and expects the facility to come online by 2028.

Under the deal, disclosed on Friday, Microsoft will purchase energy from the restarted plant for a period of 20 years.
Reuters first reported on the potential restart in July.

 

[AnOminous]

We need more nuclear power but holy fuck, Microsoft? So when the control software bluescreens, the reactor melts down?

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/police-arrest-providence-teacher-for-child-porn-sexual-assault/

https://archive.ph/xAJJs

Joseph Gannon (City of Providence photo)

Police arrest Providence teacher for child porn, sexual assault

Spoiler: ARTICLE

Nathanael Greene Middle School

by: Alexandra Leslie
Posted: Sep 20, 2024

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Providence middle school science teacher was arrested at Nathanael Greene Middle School on Friday, Target 12 has confirmed.

City spokesperson Josh Estrella said Joseph Gannon, 50, is facing one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of producing or transferring child pornography. Gannon was arrested at the school at noon on Friday. The investigation remains ongoing, according to Estrella.

Providence Public School District spokesperson Jay Wegimont told Target 12 the district worked to ensure the arrest warrant “was executed without issue.”

Wegimont said the teacher was placed on leave, but did not clarify if it was paid or unpaid.

“We cannot confirm any further information and are reaching out to members of the school community to provide the necessary supports,” Wegimont added.

A search of Gannon’s name in the R.I. Department of Education’s public educator verification portal shows that Gannon is a certified general science teacher for grades 7-12 at Nathanael Green Middle School. Gannon was listed on Nathanael Greene’s staff directory as of Friday afternoon.

“RIDE is aware of the allegations, and we take them incredibly seriously. The safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority, and we will support authorities in their investigation into this matter,” RIDE spokesperson Victor Morente told Target 12.

Target 12 obtained a copy of a joint letter from Providence Superintendent Dr. Javier Montañez and the school’s principal, W. Jackson Reilly.

“Please keep in mind that this is an allegation and no determination as to whether or not this occurred has been reached,” the letter said.

The letter explained in addition to placing the teacher on leave, the school district filed a suspected child abuse or neglect report with the R.I. Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

“Please be assured that we will continue to promptly and proactively work to address any allegation that would compromise the safety and well-being of our students,” the letter said. “Our goal is to ensure that every student grows and learns in a safe and welcoming environment.”

update: letter from the school released to the media PDF attached

The letter explained in addition to placing the teacher on leave, the school district filed a suspected child abuse or neglect report with the R.I. Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

“Please be assured that we will continue to promptly and proactively work to address any allegation that would compromise the safety and well-being of our students,” the letter said. “Our goal is to ensure that every student grows and learns in a safe and welcoming environment.”

 

[AnOminous]

Joseph Gannon (City of Providence photo)

I just automatically assume anyone with those snakebite piercings (or as I prefer to call them dick magnets) is some kind of pervert.

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/racial-attack-houston-circle-k-caught-camera

https://archive.ph/tb9qG

Racial attack at Houston Circle K caught on camera
By FOX 26 Digital
Published September 20, 2024

The Brief

• A man was subjected to a racial attack by a Circle K employee in Houston.
• The Circle K employee involved in the incident has been fired.
• The victim is considering legal action against Circle K.

Spoiler: ARTICLE

A man is seeking justice after being subjected to a racial attack by a Circle K employee in Houston, which was captured on video. The employee has since been fired.

HOUSTON - A man is seeking justice after what he calls a racial attack at a Circle K gas station.

The incident happened earlier this month and was caught on camera.

Long-time customer John Qong says he was just trying to get food for him and his pregnant girlfriend when an employee at this ‘Circle K’ gas station attacked him with racial slurs.

Here is the part of the exchange between the two men.

"Hey, hello, Chinese, Asian mother******. That, play it in your country, not in America. Get the f*** out of here."

A confrontation between a Circle K employee and a customer on September 5 was caught on camera.

Customer John Wong says he's been shopping at the gas station on Memorial Drive for over 10 years. But this was his first time experiencing racism.

Wong says the clerk refused to sell him and his girlfriend food, and instead lashed out calling him vulgar names.

"This is a complete shock to me. I have no idea why this person started berating me and saying what he was saying," said Wong.

"Circle K needs to get together and put together a program about racial sensitivity," said Civil Rights Lawyer Randall Kallinen.

After learning about the incident, a spokesperson for Circle K said they made the decision to immediately fire the employee.

In a statement, they said, "At Circle K, one of the values we live by is to do the right thing. That means acting with honesty and integrity and treating each other, our customers and our employees with dignity and respect. After learning of a confrontation between an employee and two customers two weeks ago at a Houston location, we made the decision to immediately terminate this employee for violating company policies. Earlier today, we were provided a brief 45-second smartphone video clip of this encounter recorded by the customer that included audio of the exchange. Although the video doesn’t capture the entirety of the incident, what it shows clearly goes against our values and code of conduct. Our investigation continues, and we hope to have a conversation soon with Mr. Wong, his partner and their counsel to fully understand this experience from their perspective."

Wong says he's working on lawsuit against Circle K unless they can come to terms.

 

[Breadbassket]

Walmart self checkout mistake destroys Olympic athlete’s career​

Meaggan Pettipiece, a former Olympian and NCAA Division 1 softball coach, has faced significant upheaval in her life following an incident at a Walmart self-checkout in Indiana. On March 28, Pettipiece unintentionally failed to scan $67 worth of groceries, which led to her arrest for theft, possession of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance.

The 48-year-old athlete, who represented Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and served as an alternate in 2004, had already paid for $167 worth of items when she mistakenly overlooked a few products, including asparagus and ham.

Walmart security alerted the police after noticing the unpaid items, prompting an investigation that uncovered three disposable vapes and two unopened packs of Zofran, an anti-nausea medication. Pettipiece explained that the vapes contained neither nicotine nor THC and that the medication belonged to an assistant coach who had asked her to carry it.

Despite the charges being dropped on September 19, Pettipiece has endured significant professional fallout. She resigned from her position as head coach of the Valparaiso Beacons softball team less than a week after her arrest, following a wave of negative media attention.

“It’s been five months, a living nightmare,” she lamented. “I lost my career, I lost my job, the life I was building, and it’s been really difficult.”

Pettipiece’s coaching career, which included stints at various colleges in Michigan, Ohio, and California, had positioned her as a respected figure in collegiate athletics. However, the incident has left a lasting mark on her reputation. She described the experience as “bittersweet,” expressing relief at the dismissal of the charges but sorrow for the damage inflicted on her career.

Now considering her future, Pettipiece has not ruled out a return to sports, potentially as a collegiate softball umpire. For the time being, she plans to focus on her family while contemplating her next steps. “I’m not sure of the future,” she said. “For now, I’m going to stay at home and focus on my kids. I’d like to figure out which direction I’m going to go in.”

Article Link

 

[neverendingmidi]

unintentionally failed to scan $67 worth of groceries

Unless that was a single roast, I'm gonna have to call

 

[Google.com]

2 United Airlines passengers injured when jet flying to San Francisco swerved to avoid a midair collision​

---

Article Archive

Two United Airlines passengers were injured when the plane they were taking to San Francisco maneuvered to avoid a midair collision last week.

United Airlines Flight 2428 responded to an onboard alert around 12:45 p.m. Pacific time Thursday that another aircraft was in the vicinity, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The aircraft, a Boeing 757-200, was traveling from Newark Liberty International Airport when it received a traffic collision avoidance system alert from the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center Airspace, authorities said.

According to the National Business Aviation Association, this alert may instruct the pilot to descend, climb, or adjust vertical speed.

The maneuver is a “last defense against mid-air collisions,” according to the group.

When the United flight was descending to SFO with the seat belt sign on, “it slowed its descent to account for another aircraft at a lower altitude,” United said in a statement.

“Two customers, including one who was out of their seat at the time, reported possible injuries and were transported to a hospital,” United said.

Details on the passengers’ injuries are unknown.

The aircraft landed safely at San Francisco International Airport, the FAA reported.

The FAA is investigating.

Information on the other aircraft involved in the near collision has not been released.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clock_Towers

 

[⠠⠠⠅⠑⠋⠋⠁⠇⠎ ⠠⠠⠊⠎ ⠠⠠⠁ ⠠⠠⠋⠁⠛]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clock_Towers

Possibly the least wasteful and gauche thing the Saud rats have ever done.