I Triggered a Government Investigation into Microsoft (Update)
Posted by MacroMegaHard@reddit | programming | View on Reddit | 286 comments
A while back I posted my article regarding the internal problems at Microsoft, and my complaint about the company, and received a lot of support across platforms from those both still inside the company and outside of the company who have been impacted by Microsoft's recent culture and morale crisis amid widespread corruption, wrongful terminations, replacement of workers with nonfunctional AI tools, alleged H1B visa abuse, and layoffs at the company.
However, the Redmond and Sysadmin subreddits seemed... different. I'm not sure if there are bots astroturfing or what, but after my initial post due to the number of Microsoft supporters in these subreddits I decided to take it down. Well, I regret that and decided to post an update to double down instead.
For all of you sysadmins out there frustrated by Microsoft's nonfunctional support, I'm there with you, and was wondering what your thoughts are on this topic - specifically what is going on at these tech companies.
lighthawk16@reddit
Wow, OP is a douche and a half based on these posts and responses... I can see why he was fired.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
That still doesn't explain any of the other wrongful terminations I've mentioned in the blog article with the same complaints which is one reason I included so many other people's comments
Would you prefer that I'm less confident (less "douchey")? That doesn't seem like that would be effective either
Plenty of people I know all over the company were fired recently, many even with 5+ years of experience there
lighthawk16@reddit
Yeah I don't know about them, but you're the wrong dude to spearhead this endeavor. You're not a douche because of confidence, it's how you are communicating, making assumptions, and having strange expectations of every other person here. Maybe the others fired were wrong to associate with you.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Ok so you recommend that I delete the whole thing and just keep it a private suit for my own personal gain instead? I can't really say I had many expectations at all
Maybe if somebody else wants to spearhead it, they should do it already because the only reason I decided to myself is because nobody seems to be stepping up to the plate and we are all tired of just sitting on our hands for this perfect person to materialize who is never going to come
meatsting@reddit
what is it that you are actually trying to achieve here?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well I would say it doesn't seem good to be that folks are telling me that they are fired on family medical leave or lying about folks or giving them inactionable and retaliatory PIPs, or just ignoring ADA requests directly from a doctor, or wrongfully terminating and laying off thousands of workers every month
In most places with folks in real life these seem like mainstream ideas, but maybe not in the programming subreddit. Here, that makes me "unwell" or a "douche" I guess, haha
I think at this point I find it hard to take any of these comments seriously and am just entertained at responding to them in increasingly more sarcastic ways
Ideally though the goal would be accountability for these tech companies, but if folks in the programming subreddit would prefer, we can just waste time bantering about who is more socially aware and not picking up on arbitrary social cues on online forums to conform and keep one'a mouth shut and talk about how anybody that criticizes faceless megacorporations needs to get some kind of medical "help"
Probably less meaningful overall but I didn't really expect much and entertaining nonetheless
meatsting@reddit
If what you take away from all of the comments here is that everyone else is wrong, you are going to have a hard life going forward. No doubt you already have.
I wish you luck and I hope you find the courage to face your demons someday. Much love.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditBotHunters/s/lfkbHHRN8V
Yeah man
"Everybody"
Lol
Hope some day you get a pay raise and can afford an apartment in redmond, keep going with the Microsoft support.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yes I'm feeling the love and luck and concerns beamed straight to me by these posts, haha
There isn't much need to face my demons when some of these redditors are playing the role already
Little comment trolls with surface level analysis of the situation making childish ad hominem insults and passive aggressive responses or kafka trap tautological reasoning are the bain of my existence but keep me entertained and engaged
I like how you assume you just speak for literally everyone, like you are the center of the universe haha
Please, get help
I don't think you realize how wildly unpopular your position is outside of this subreddit
recycled_ideas@reddit
There is absolutely nothing you can do about this. You don't have standing to sue on their behalf and hearsay stories of what they've encountered isn't going to achieve anything in a government investigation. If anything your behaviour makes their claims, should they choose to put them forward less believable. Most commonly when shit like this happens companies offer big payouts and the people affected take it and walk.
In terms of your own termination, unless you have a literal smoking gun where you can prove conclusively that they fired you for an illegal reason these posts have completely tanked any chance of you winning because you come across as a combative, aggressive, unhinged asshole and that would be enough to justify firing you in jurisdictions with much stronger protections than any US state. If you take this to court Microsoft will pull up this blog post and ask the judge or jury "Come on, tell me you wouldn't fire this guy" and the case will be over.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well if there is no case anyways there is no real incentive I have to keep quiet about it from an optics perspective then right? I don't have much faith in attorneys or the investigators to do the right thing, and that's one reason public accountability has to also be a part of this instead of just relying on the rubber stamp
I do have hours and hours of footage and audios showing that the IT support was not functional and the physical assets themselves as well as the ADA request - I don't think you can get more clear than that in light of all the other evidence
I encourage them to read the blog post in the court, the fact is this is just a Kafka trap that you could use in any case regardless of the complaint or situation.
"This person deserves to be terminated because he is the type to complain about his wrongful termination"
Kafka trap
recycled_ideas@reddit
No. Not because you're the type of person to complain about wrongful termination.
Because you an aggressive, combative, ass.
Multiple people have tried to give you advice and help you and your response is completely uncontrolled aggression.
Knowing absolutely nothing else about you, if someone who worked for me was as aggressive and combative towards people trying to help them I'd fire them in a damned second.
The problem is that whether or not Microsoft did bad things is irrelevant to your case, the only question that matters is whether they fired you for an illegal reason and the problem you have is that any reasonable person would fire someone who treats others the way we've seen you treat them on the spot with cause.
That's your problem.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Lol okay man
Your comment is pretty irrelevant to me honestly
You certainly don't seem interested when other people are reporting these issues they are experiencing in the industry
Guess I'm just aggressive for pushing back even though I have no history of violence
recycled_ideas@reddit
Other people experiencing issues is irrelevant to your specific case. Microsoft could be summarily executing people by the thousands and it wouldn't affect your wrongful termination case one iota.
You are aggressive and combative and that doesn't require any physical violence at all. You push back instinctively you ignore advice and criticism and you treat people who disagree with you poorly.
That's just from what I've seen you post here.
Still makes you angry though doesn't it, but then everything does.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man you got me
Your coworkers are getting assassinated by the thousands just keep your mouth shut like a coward or you might get assassinated too
Got it, you definitely are on the right side here and showed me, haha
In either case I'm pretty sure the folks doing the assassinating are the real villains and not me chief
recycled_ideas@reddit
That's not what I said and you are yet again combative and aggressive.
Your case comes down to exactly one question, were you fired for a reason that is prohibited by US law. In your specific instance were you fired for whistle blowing.
Your problem is that your attitude gives literally anyone reason to fire you that isn't your whistleblowing.
You might be right about everything you're saying, but that doesn't make a lick of difference to your case.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Bro not everybody that disagrees with you is aggressive or out to get you in a combative way
They might just be countering what you have to say
One problem here is that what you are saying is unfalsifiable and tautological - you could claim anybody has an "attitude problem" simply for saying something that you find to be inconvenient, and if I'm dealing with people that are easily convinced by these kinds of arguments I know I'm not dealing with anybody that is rational enough to care about what they think anyways
recycled_ideas@reddit
You have been told this by two dozen people in this sub at least.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah these same spammers calling me random childish insults like "asshole" and "douche" and "crazy" for speaking up about worker rights are definitely credible, right? Haha
But then I'll hear how I'm combative when responding to their brain broken takes about the situation or just straight up denial of facts like the whistleblower retaliation at Boeing
I'm sorry but the last thing that is going to compel me to feel like dropping the situation is a few reddit trolls
recycled_ideas@reddit
You are beyond help my friend.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah thanks man, you have been really helpful
speedster217@reddit
You keep repeating that like it even matters at all in the face of layoffs.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
That's my whole point - you can be as professional, agreeable, competent, loyal, and technically capable as possible, and at the end of the day, it doesn't always matter
Folks in this subreddit seem to think "only low performers" who are "difficult to work with" can get a PIP or wrongfully terminated or laid off. Im not sure they are in the loop with the state of the tech industry right now if they have a take like that so detached from reality
In my case they could not even provide basic functional assets to do tasking which could even at minimum turn on
speedster217@reddit
We're aware of the state of the industry and how anyone can get laid off by these companies, despite their performance.
Do you actually think your schizo posting is going to change that? You read as very irrational and I don't understand how you think this changes anything. Layoffs suck and we're all vulnerable to them, but you don't have a plan or clear goals with this post.
The fact that you're defending your article by saying "Oh I'm too sleepy to have done a good job" shows really bad planning on your part. Maybe delay the release of the article after you have time to sleep and edit it?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Sure, perhaps you have some insights about specific edits that could make it more accessible? At the the of the article I stated that the next steps will be explored after the investigation is completed. Perhaps organizing a larger movement could be one direction to take it, and a possible class action suit
worthwhilewrongdoing@reddit
I doubt your downvotes are coming (mostly?) from bots.
I'm sympathetic to your claims but, in general, if you're presenting information to Reddit you need to present it in nice, easily digestible, pre-cut chunks and make the conclusions very simple to find. You're lucky if anyone reads the article here at all, and if they go there and realize it's going to take more than a minute or two to synthesize your information you're toast.
This often goes double if you're posting in places where the standard narratives are different than what you're trying to show. Here in /r/programming for instance, you have a lot of folks who survived repeated layoffs and believe that 1) it was solely the quality of their work that saved them, and 2) there must be something wrong with you if you got the axe because they, as good programmers, did not. To believe anything else is really scary, and you're going to get a lot of pushback.
I would rewrite your article and break it down into much smaller bits. Keep the claims simple, don't get tangled up in things that aren't completely relevant, and stay in track with why there was an investigation and what you hope it finds.
Good luck. ❤️
PGSylphir@reddit
I was going to read the article, but the way OP replies to everyone with extreme rudeness and stubbornness convinced me it's not worth. No matter how much OP denies it, I'm sure he was fired for good reason. This is sounding to me like victim mentality.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditBotHunters/s/lfkbHHRN8V
Dude recently found dead on campus and thousands of layoffs and wrongful terminations
"Don't be a victim bro"
Yeah man. You totally aren't being rude or dismissive at all.
PGSylphir@reddit
You seriously need mental help, urgently, you have very deep mental issues and I am worried about you.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditBotHunters/s/lfkbHHRN8V
"Quick, get the doctor!"
Doctor: what seems to be the problem?
"Doctor he seems to be... responding to reddit posts in a dismissive way"
surprise Pikachu face
Dun dun dunnnnnn
This is why I can't take these reddit comments seriously anymore, they are literally some of the dumbest brain broken takes I've ever heard in my entire life, and if you think that sounds mean these same posters also frequently sling childish insults too
Then the minute I mention that Microsoft didn't fulfill the ADA request suddenly they don't really care about me not getting the help that I needed
Lol
ansi4150@reddit
yea, never blaming the victim, but anyone who survived layoffs know the type of guy who is while not terrible, no one would jump to his defense. Those guys tend to get targeted first, because no one really likes interacting with them. It's an easy cut that no one really misses.
I clicked the thread ready to be sympathetic, but jesus, the dude managed to alienate the audience whose predisposition is to be supportive to a laid off engineer.
So I looked at his resume because it's linked at the link. Over what appears to be nearly 15-year career, it looks like he rarely lasted at a job for longer than an year, other than when he was "consulting/freelancing". His "about me" section almost reads like a parody to a narcist's poem. It's hilarious because I'm pretty sure the dude meant every word.
This is too much work to be a troll. Something about the way he got fired must have touched a nerve, and started a crusade.
PGSylphir@reddit
Some trolls can be VERY dedicated to the bit but yeah I dont think hes a troll just an asshole.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Your reddit avatar is literally a troll
Lol
PGSylphir@reddit
Dude you're still here? you SERIOUSLY need some mental counselling. I'm out of concern recommending you see a therapist.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The mental health professionals literally wrote the ADA request lol
Why are you still here exactly? You like trolling? Your support of Microsoft is certainly not that popular outside of this subreddit
I think you need to get help, get out and touch grass, and all of that sort of thing
PGSylphir@reddit
I haven't supported Microsoft once, I am not trolling.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
That's good
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
You are the reason that working conditions are not improving
"How dare you complain about violations of workers rights - you asshole! Now get back in line and support your corporate overlords, don't question them, you seem difficult to work with if you do!" (Kafka trap)
Right?
This subreddit is wild to me because everybody I've seen in real life and who dm me literally from the company who still work there seem to have the opposite opinions, haha
You can try to be as polite, patient, respectful, loyal, and professional as you can and in the end you can get axed anyways
People seem more concerned about tone than the actual circumstances which is why things just keep getting worse which isn't in their own best interest
PGSylphir@reddit
you're insufferable
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I'm sorry if criticizing Microsoft is so uncomfortable to you, maybe you should get some help and touch some grass or try some exposure therapy to help you deal with things like corporate accountability because we are going to need alot more of it when these companies are creating a techno dystopia we are all forced to live in
I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but this whole stream of low quality responses dogpiling me trying to get me to feel insecure about myself implying I'm just antisocial or crazy or an asshole I guess in your words is like a joke, I'm sorry; but it just is. I can't take it seriously when there isn't even any constructive feedback here or even any engagement with the material in the article, like in this subreddit you have more people concerned about tone than the fact that a dude was literally recently found dead on campus recently due to burnout
Who is the douche here exactly? I'm legitimately not trying to be a douche here or combative, I just have no idea how to even respond to you, you haven't actually provided any real criticism beyond "don't speak bad about Microsoft or you are an asshole troll and deserved to get laid off"
Again, that's literally just a Kafka trap, it's a tautology, i have no idea how to respond to that because you aren't even providing anything rational to say to respond to. Like what is the suggestion or constructive feedback other than just to keep my mouth shut?
PGSylphir@reddit
every feedback possible has already been given to you, you just deflect it all and refuse to listen. I would've fired you too
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The "feedback" in this subreddit is:
1.) You must have been terminated because you are the type to complain about it (Kafka trap) 2.) For legal reasons you better keep your mouth shut 3.) If you don't you are an asshole/troll/crazy/insert ad hominem in the blank
The only reason I'm not listening is because the "advice" here seems to be stupid
idiotsecant@reddit
This entire thread is full of people telling you that you're exhausting. Maybe consider whether this calls for some introspection.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
These reddit comments are exhausting, if you want to help edit the article or the optics - I'm definitely open to that
What I'm not going to do is just keep my mouth shut and accept the situation or let somebody straight up lie or try to character assassinate me, or be convinced of much by dogpiling low quality posts and childish insults to try to pressure me to genuflect to an increasingly less popular faceless megacorporation
If people think that's mean, I'm sorry, maybe try being more useful or put a little more effort in, some of these comments are impossible to take seriously
chucker23n@reddit
You keep offering that to people, and… why? For whom? Who's the audience of that long rant other than yourself?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well for starters the folks that message and email me on a daily basis thanking me for going public about it
The main reason is some people are saying that the article could be structured better or have a better narrative flow
chucker23n@reddit
You still haven't expressed anywhere what you're even going public about, other than presumably having lost a job.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The first article "The Problem with Microsoft" outlined the large scale layoffs and wrongful terminations and specifics detailing my own example with the ADA noncompliance, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination, as well as statements by others with similar complaints at the company. This was an article that attracted alot of attention and widespread positive reception, but redditors in the Redmond and sysadmin subreddits claimed it was bad to go public with it.
PGSylphir@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
read this, you need it.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Ah yes, because I'm selfish for expecting basic respect and adequate working conditions like functional assets that can at minimum turn on, the ability to afford to buy a home, ADA to be upheld, and my coworkers to not be laid off and wrongfully terminated at scale with disingenuous and inactionable PIPs all for a quick buck for Microsoft shareholders and executive leadership
How horrible and selfish of me to question a faceless megacorporation lol
I think you need to read this more than I do my friend. Unless you are getting paid in some way, please, go outside and touch some grass instead of wasting your time defending one of the most bloated and heavily criticized companies on the planet in history - I'm pretty sure they are going to be just fine without you
chucker23n@reddit
You know one way working conditions improve? By being a better teammate. I've never worked with you, but from what I've read of what you yourself have written, let's just say "I know the type". Narcissistic, arrogant, zero self-reflection. Chances are that's why Microsoft fired you: neither your supervisor nor your peers enjoyed working with you. You think it's that they don't recognize your inimitable genius, and it's not.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man, just get better. I'm sure that is going to fix the state of the industry - you figured it out, and why thousands of others have been impacted
People are just not enjoyable enough and need to just get better - preferably by silently accepting violations of labor law, or in being the scapegoat when they dont have access to any basic functional assets that can even at minimum turn on for them to do any tasking. Then if they complain about it later, that is retroactively evidence of their fault. Kafka trap... again
We have a genius over here
Like I'm sorry if that sounds mean, but I hope you realize how absurd your comment is when literally even the CEO now is admitting there is a bigger problem at the company. Where is your self reflection, exactly? I guess you think that everybody discussing this is just part of some kind of conspiracy making it up?
Yeah man. You figured it out
ansi4150@reddit
Agreed, I'm not about to spend any more of Friday evening on this.
Happy weekend to y'all
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Sounds like deliberate sabotage then and you are pretty much supporting my argument
Deliberate targeting
And yeah it's pretty easy to say if you did survive the layoffs, but given the thousands that didn't, and that were issued inactionable PIPs, it's quite easy to find others that want to interact with me about it actually, which is why it's getting hundreds of thousands of views across platforms
The average tenure for roles at these tech companies is... 2 years
Keep up the support for Microsoft, maybe one day you will get a pay raise
Lol
edmazing@reddit
Maybe he built an AI to troll for him. Playing the long con. I had to read his about me for myself. It's got a good piece of advice "Ghost him like a null pointer exception."
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Then why don't you leave? You aren't really that helpful honestly
edmazing@reddit
Nah I'm gonna have some popcorn and watch this train wreck.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Good then buckle up because a few reddit trolls (possibly astroturfed, because their opinions are not popular and yet strangely seem to be disproportionate here and don't seem to appear on many other platforms or in real life) are not going to deter me in any way
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
Some of these comments are so low quality, surface level, and reactionary, that it makes me wonder if perhaps they were created by Microsoft contractors or management
Even I've been entertained by the sheer stupidity at this point
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah it's easy for anybody who survived the layoffs to think that way
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
In the tech sector the average tenure is shorter at around 2-3 years. Large tech companies often see even shorter tenure at 1-3 years, and especially for software engineers and developers the average tenure is about 2 years.
Yeah man. I'm just a narcissist troll when folks are getting fired on family medical leave and I'm the only one saying something about it.
But microsoft leadership, they could do nothing wrong
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
So far constructive feedback seems to be that the article could use better personal narrative structure and less screenshots and I should be less dismissive of comments
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Sure thing I guess I try to present ideas as though I'm writing a densely packed science paper rather than a public facing blog post
Kissaki0@reddit
Scientific papers have an abstract.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Alright I can try to condense or better structure the blog article
greenknight@reddit
If it's a science paper format you need an abstract. I'm in agreement here
International_Cell_3@reddit
I mean this sincerely - you should delete this and your blog post. This is the kind of thing that makes you look like a disgruntled former employee at best, but disturbed and unwell at worst. This kind of posting makes you look far worse than Microsoft.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I can say it's not worse than the internal documentation at Microsoft
I can try to edit the article to be more clear or concise after I sleep because my sleep cycle is messed up because I've been traveling
Maybe you can tell me specifically what to edit so you might find it more clear for you to read, I've done things like highlighting to emphasize certain ideas and folks said they didn't like that, I've tried to bring in lots of supporting comments from people from many perspectives and links as references and that might be overwhelming, when I post my own anecdote alone i hear folks claim that it's not substantiated
Overall I try to write for a 10 minute read which I assumed was typical
International_Cell_3@reddit
So there's two things here. The first is a question that any lawyer would ask you: "what outcome do you want to achieve?" You don't have to answer that in a reply to me, but it should be the genesis of whatever action you take next and how you do it.
As a work of writing the problem is not the length of the content. It is the lack of structure, choice of language, and dump of seemingly random and uncorrelated images that tell a story more about the emotional state of the author instead of whatever story they are trying to tell.
My initial reaction to reading your post is that it is the writing of someone who is unwell. My other reaction, which is coming from a place of unsolicited professional advice: you need to focus less on how you feel about this situation and more about how others' perception of you is affected by your reaction to it.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Please leave speculations about my health to my doctor, the amount of pathologizing by folks who think they are experts at diagnosing medical conditions over the internet is crazy to me
To be upset about a situation like this is completely rational
I can try to restructure the post to have a more easily followed narrative but I did write it late at night which could explain some of this
deja-roo@reddit
But it doesn't have to be public.
You are getting pretty good advice and ignoring it.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Ah so the real advice is to just delete it and go away
Got it
deja-roo@reddit
If you are actually thinking about legal action, then yes, of course the real advice is to delete public statements about your case. Literally any and every lawyer would start with "do not post or speak about this publicly".
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Then I would fire that attorney and double down until I find another one. If another one could not be found I would just ramp up the bad PR until the point that I would have won in effect anyways, and we are already at the point that we have reached about 1 million views across platforms. Getting more positive responses and support than these brain broken reddit comments. Go ahead and keep it up - I've already won
deja-roo@reddit
You would keep trying new attorneys until you found one that goes against all good advice? The most standard attorney advice given in any civil case?
Would you also keep firing attorneys until you found one who thought you should talk to the cops without representation? Do you normally do the worst possible decisions in other aspects of your life or do you limit it to situations like this?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
No I would just go until finding an attorney that would understand the obvious fact that talking about this is not illegal at all and since I'm paying the attorney, they can either help win a legal case or I'll find somebody else - I'm not paying them to be a nanny telling me that I should keep my mouth shut unless I have to
If you actually read the article you would understand why it might actually be necessary - after going public, I've got folks messaging me every day now supporting the case
So... you are a cop? I've had experience talking to cops. The last one I talked back to quit the next month. Truth is the best defense
No, it would not explain the situation. Microsoft failed to provide me any functional assets that could even at minimum turn on after issuing an inactionable PIP. If it did explain the situation, then that would be called whistleblower retaliation, wouldn't it?
The fact that you are wasting your time trying to change my mind makes me wonder what makes you so invested unless you have a conflict of interest.
But really it shouldn't even matter - even if the only reason is just because I don't want to. And I don't really have to explain myself, that is a right that I have, and that is also not illegal, and there is no reason to have to choose between a case and keeping my mouth shut except by legal order
Plenty of other people were thanking me for doing so even today in other subreddits
deja-roo@reddit
Nobody said it's illegal for you to talk about your case. Nobody said you need anyone's permission.
Everybody has been telling you that any attorney would tell you not to because you are hurting your case.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Are you a judge? An attorney? An expert?
No? Then by your logic your comment seems pretty irrelevant honestly
Seems that by going public I've only gotten more support
If I get the rubber stamp at the end that isn't much my concern because if folks don't do the right thing I'll go public about that too, which is worth more to me than any measly settlement they might try to flitter
Sounds like it might need a billboard next and with the support I'm getting could easily plaster redmond with them
The attorney can do their job or find another client - I'm not here to play games or hire a nanny
deja-roo@reddit
You clearly haven't made any effort to understand anyone else's logic. No, that's not "by my logic". My logic is you should listen to the expert (the attorney), not fire him for not sharing your completely foolish and naive opinion about publicly speaking about cases that could potentially enter litigation. My logic is that you don't have any experience or training that would enable you to have an informed opinion on whether what you're doing here would compromise your case. Which is why any and every attorney would tell you to stop.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
You are still online? Get some help. You are too obsessed about what some random dude on the internet is saying about microsoft
You still aren't an expert, so by your own logic your opinion is pretty inconsequential. You speak in generalities with no context making statements as though you speak on behalf of all attorneys when you aren't even one yourself
"Any attorney will tell you ____" How do you know? You are about as clueless as anybody who isn't an attorney by your own reasoning
I decided a while back many of these comments are pretty dumb and I usually reply to them while I'm at the gym on the elliptical to keep me amused to practice responding to trolls
deja-roo@reddit
What logic? Are you confusing me with someone else? My logic is that you should defer to an expert, not shop experts until you find one that believes what you do about process and law.
Because I've hired attorneys before. My girlfriend owns a law firm. My dad is a lawyer. Every single beginning piece of advice in a case like yours is "don't speak about this publicly".
Dozens of people have told you the same thing. You've gotten a lot of good advice, you're just not capable of taking it.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The advice is to keep my mouth shut instead of building momentum for a larger tech accountability movement because you think i should feel afraid of retaliation or it might undermine my case when if there is further retaliation that is just going to make them look worse and I've not violated any NDAs and if folks want to no do the right thing I'll just go public with that too
No i don't want to, it's really a simple as that - and it has nothing to do with the case or investigation
The idea that folks need permission from an attorney and a rubber stamp to speak freely is just simply inaccurate
So you keep saying that I'm not an expert and should only be taking advice from experts, and yet you aren't an expert yourself, so again your opinion to me is pretty inconsequential
Even if you were an attorney I was paying for, you would be working for me - not the other way around - and the first thing I would ask is why? Why am I required to keep my mouth shut?
If they can't find me any reason other than "it can be used to retaliate against you" without specifics especially when retaliation itself is illegal, or vague ambiguous claims that it would "make me look bad" when how I look on reddit has nothing to do with the case at all, I would just tell them to stop telling me what to do and get back to their job I'm paying them for
If the court wants to read my reddit replies in the court, I would highly recommend it - many of the responses I've given and the number of baseless and childish accusations I've received only makes my detractors look worse.
This idea that posting these things "makes me look bad" is a matter of opinion, and has nothing to do with ADA noncompliance at all. I could easily bring up how management was said to verbally berate employees on the team which is something I heard directly from my coworker
If they want to build a case based on me responding to reddit trolls that would be the most ridiculous weak case I can imagine - and then if the judge or investigators want to avoid doing the right thing because they dont like some posts on reddit then I'll go public with that too
D3PyroGS@reddit
the cope here is tough to read. seems like it's time to find a little vacation from this because it's consumed your ego. get a therapist and a lawyer (in that order) cuz you clearly have a lot to work through here
best of luck
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The doctor literally wrote the ADA request lol
D3PyroGS@reddit
I'm not the guy from the previous comment you responded to. Maybe you mistook me for him? Otherwise I'm not sure why you're accusing me of brain broken takes, name calling, or claiming to be/not be a lawyer... I did, however, respond a few days ago and you said "You seem to be pretty insightful" so I assume you just didn't know who you were responding to.
There's nothing passive aggressive here. I'm empathetic with your situation, dislike how Microsoft does business, and am partially through a full OS migration to Linux. If Microsoft can be brought down a peg, that would be a win in my book. My last response was terse, but I can elaborate.
To be totally frank with you, it seems as though your losing your job hit you really hard in the ego, and that has put you into full "protection" mode, preventing you from seeing anyone's perspective but your own, and treating anyone who disagrees with your message or rhetoric as an antagonist. Maybe that assessment seems like an attack on you, but it isn't. It's not a value judgment, just a 3rd party perspective with intent to help you process what's happening.
Your resulting self-preservation offensive has led you to a lot of very weak rhetoric, like
The picture this thread paints overall though is that you can be a difficult and unpleasant person to work with. Sorry. But if you intend to go to court with Microsoft over any of this, it's ample data for them to point to as corroborating evidence of a bad "culture fit" reason for your dismissal. It might also reveal many other things that you won't realize until it's too late. Whether you leave your blog and all of these comments up is your decision - nobody can make you delete them - but if you haven't yet talked to a lawyer then you're flying blind, and it doesn't seem like you've reckoned with that yet.
To reiterate bluntly and clearly: until you lawyer up against a trillion dollar company, you have no idea what you're doing.
But more importantly, don't neglect your own mental health in all of this. That's why I recommend finding a therapist who you can trust to help you navigate the complex emotions you are feeling, because your emotions are going to be in the driver's seat of your crusade until you work through them. And to this point, it does not seem like they have led you to a good place...
So again, best of luck to you in your quest for justice. I hope you find some peace in all of this, and a new position where you feel you are treated fairly.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Go away clippy your opinion is irrelevant
D3PyroGS@reddit
It isn't. It's a simple acknowledgement that the way you behave toward others matters in a case like this.
You're putting words in my mouth. Stop. I never said you deserved to be terminated. Nor did I say that "failing to keep your mouth" shut has anything to do with the unpleasantness. That all comes down to how you have interacted here, and I think despite your phrasing here you do understand this.
Don't do that. I didn't say that you were "purely emotional" or that "it's all an irrational delusion". You made that extrapolation yourself and without warrant. This and the previous false quote is part of the unpleasantness I'm referring to.
I'm sorry you feel this way but I understand where you're coming from. I think a lot of people do care, including myself, but the hostility in your responses has turned them off. While simultaneously painting a clear enough picture of your mental state to be material to the conversation, thus it being mentioned by multiple people.
I don't see how the two things are related. I'm sure that people have thanked you for going public. But it really has no bearing for whether it's a good legal strategy, which is the angle everyone here was coming from when they said to take your stuff down.
And to be honest, yes I do think it is irrational for you to be taking such a strong stance on posting publicly (with your name attached) without having actually consulted a lawyer. Doubly so for stating elsewhere that you would ignore/fire lawyers who tell you not to speak publicly yet. For an issue that's clearly so important to you, your stance is very incongruent.
You ask good questions about why you shouldn't share all of this publicly, but to the wrong audience. You don't need answers from reddit, you need them from legal counsel.
That may well be true, but if you didn't care, you wouldn't respond. 😉
Anyway I think you've heard everything you need to hear at this point. I think your next step is to at some point engage with it from a place of objectivity rather than of one that concludes gaslighting or botting.
Again, best of luck and I hope you can find other ex-MS employees who are willing to join your cause and can be of more help. 👍
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yes, your accusation is a Kafka trap. In refuting what you have to say, I'm "unpleasant" which is evidence of my guilt. That is tautological reasoning.
I am not really sure what your point is here, maybe you should step away and consider what hundreds of others are saying about the situation, and that you don't need a rubber stamp from an attorney to speak freely about corporate corruption, and there is nothing about that that implies "mistreating" anybody or is a sign of being mentally unwell - quite the opposite actually
chucker23n@reddit
Kind of.
If I were your lawyer, I'd want it deleted because opposing counsel is gonna have a field day with it. They're gonna make a case that you're simply unwell, disgruntled, angry, rather than have a concrete case against your former employer.
If I were your friend, I'd want it deleted because why are you airing so much laundry in public?
If I were a potential future employer (I am), I wouldn't hire you because you don't seem to conduct yourself maturely and professionally.
If I were an IT professional (I am), I'd want it deleted because you're making people with actual cases of H1B abuse, ADA non-compliance, etc. look silly.
Name a good reason this article exists, and has been crossposted to ten subreddits, other than narcissism?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well, firstly, you aren't likely a lawyer
I would encourage the opposing counsel to read the comments if they want - it would be especially entertaining though completely irrelevant to the case
If you read the article you would know why I made it public... but I'm not sure you did
If you are a potential employer, I wouldn't want to work for you if you believe that folks should be quiet about violations of worker rights and corporate gaslighting. That has nothing to do with maturity - what seems immature to me is failing to provide your employees the basic functional assets that can even turn on to do tasking, and then try to scapegoat your engineers after you have offshored all of your critical IT support. I'm better off taking principal and professor positions at universities and schools in China, or getting a permit for developing mining operations in East Timor to avoid working with you
What is unprofessional is as the largest corporation on the planet in history, management wants to lie to their employees and tell them they have the option between a 45 day PIP or a severance, then 4 days in to the PIP fire them while they have had no opportunity to even do any tasking without the severance
Your personal opinion about this is not really a concern to me if you find the wrongful terminations silly
chucker23n@reddit
Correct.
It's quite relevant, because it's easy to defame you as an unreliable witness.
I did not. I've already told you why. It's written for an audience of one, which is yourself.
You can go on and on about various maladies of the world, but they aren't really relevant to why you don't have a job.
Huh?
What… Foxconn?
I don't. I find them quite concerning. I just don't believe yours is one, and every comment of yours doubles down on that perception.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The reason it is important to read the article is that I've mentioned context like that there are hours of audio and video evidence as well as the physical assets themselves, which exist regardless of people like posts on reddit they use to defame a person for being "unreliable"
Can't be more unreliable than Microsift IT support
Defamation can happen regardless, even if I didn't post on reddit
I can go on about the maladies of the world, you are correct. I've chosen to go on about the violations of worker protections at Microsoft. Maybe you should be a part of holding these people accountable instead of wasting your time convincing people not to say anything
Yes... Microsoft was recently the largest market cap corporation in the world... in history.
You are certainly free to have your own opinion about whether or not my termination was justified - fortunately for me though its provable that they did not provide the basic functional assets required for me to do any tasking that could even at minimum turn on, failed to comply with my doctor's ADA request, and provided an inactionable PIP. These are also issues that are known and widespread in the company.
I honestly don't know that to tell you, you seem to think the best advice is to agreeably and quietly accept the situation. Rather than advocate for a larger discussion and awareness of the issues in the industry, you want these matters to be limited to an audience of one person. I doubt you are really interested in doing much of anything about these matters honestly
DoomAndFNAF@reddit
Yeah lmao. Have you even spoken to a lawyer?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah but you really don't need a lawyer for permission to speak freely about these things, that's a basic right you have
I'm not really too worried about Microsoft retaliation at this point to be honest with you
Are you a legal expert? Even if I lose a suit the information is out there and they are just going to look worse in the long run if they want to retaliate
I've also not violated NDAs with any of the content in the article
jabiko@reddit
You realize that any future employer that reads your blog post is not going to try to understand the intricate details of the situation.
Instead they will just think "what a dumpster fire" and move on to the next candidate.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man that's why meta and anthropic and plenty of other companies have been reaching out me on a daily basis
Currently traveling in China and thinking about just becoming a professor or the principal of a school or university instead of working in tech in the United States right now, just look at the AI bubble
leros@reddit
Regardless of your points of view, talking about a lawsuit online is just going to hurt you 99% of the time. This thread isn't going great which is maybe a sign you should recognize.
Not to mention, promoting this is really risky because outside of this lawsuit, it's going to make future employers not want to risk hiring you.
leros@reddit
Regardless of your points of view, talking about a lawsuit online is just going to hurt you 99% of the time. This thread isn't going great which is maybe a sign you should recognize.
Regardless, promoting this is really risky because outside of this lawsuit, it's going to make future employers not want to risk hiring you.
I-baLL@reddit
Now go back and read it. And if you find it hard to read when you're the one who wrote it then you'll understand what people are trying to say to you. Nobody is telling you to delete it. They're telling you to restructure it and make it easier to read
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Perhaps you could assist with some edits you might find to make it more accessible? Do you have any suggested edits?
International_Cell_3@reddit
To be less charitable, you need to work on sounding less like a crazy person.
Maybe you should internalize the meta feedback that many people on the internet are telling you that your writing makes you seem unwell.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
What is the constructive feedback in this subreddit? The only consistent feedback is to just keep quiet and don't respond when you receive a comment that isn't true
Just one example was a comment response to my comment about Boeing that claimed that nobody was speculating about extrajuducial killings of whistleblowers at Boeing. Brother even the BBC is alluding to that
So what is your suggestion? Just keep quiet? Don't discuss corporate corruption? Mindlessly accept worker rights violations? The criticism isn't even clear or consistent other than the idea that any criticism at all just sounds crazy by virtue of it being criticism, which is a Kafka trap
Like am I wrong?
If folks want me to delete this post I can do it but advocating against public organization around these topics is literally just against their own best interest, and it doesn't make me a "douche" or "asshole" or "troll" or "crazy"
These kinds of responses are honestly just kind of childish, and it makes it hard for me to take them seriously
International_Cell_3@reddit
Heres some concrete feedback then.
Stay on message. When you deviate you sound like a crank. Don't comment on the Boeing whistleblower, don't comment on H1-B issues, don't comment on H1-B visas, etc. If you have a story to tell, then tell that story. One major reason you sound like a crazy person is because you're unable to keep focus.
Edit aggressively. Hone your message and delete anything unrelated to it.
Choose your audience before you write. This subreddit is the wrong place for this content and I'm shocked it wasn't deleted. Communication can be amplified if it falls on the ears of people ready to hear it.
Finally, it's not enough to be right and it's not enough to tell the truth. People will not believe you if keep telling your story in this way.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The problem is most of these "unanswered questions" are explored in greater depth in the original article and this blog post was supposed to be an update, and I guess most people failed to look at it or saw the link to the original and just automatically assume if they don't know what is going on it must be because I'm crazy rather than actually look at the details
That is unfortunate, but I can probably simplify things so that it is impossible to miss these details unless done so pretty deliberately - at which point I'm not dealing with rational people anyways to really care what they think
I can try to edit for more clarity but H1B and AI DEFINITELY are a part of all of this - even Bernie Sanders has talked about both and the way in which they are being used to displace workers this month
The pattern of wrongful terminations is not isolated to Microsoft, which is why i mentioned Boeing as well
chucker23n@reddit
Great. But you're not Bernie Sanders.
As are the lizard people, I bet.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I honestly have no idea how to even respond to your comment because I never claimed either of these things (I'm Bernie Sanders and there are some lizard people or something i guess)
Please get some help, wishing you the best, and go touch grass and all that
International_Cell_3@reddit
Get help.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The doctor was literally the one that filled out the ADA request if you even bothered to read the article, haha
This is why I was saying it feels like some of these subreddits are astroturfed, this isn't even engaging with the issues I've brought up here it's just a lazy method of trying to imply anybody that steps out of line is crazy in some way no matter how legitimate what they have to say is, and isn't like the kind of responses I've seen on other platforms
jabiko@reddit
I'm moderately impressed that you submitted this to no less than 10 subreddits:
Zulban@reddit
What's wrong with doing that? Sometimes I do the same. I get 300 points in some, 5 in others, and shadow banned in others. Impossible to know in advance. Reddit is a fucking mess.
chucker23n@reddit
They can do it, but it's unclear what their goal is.
Or it's a combination of the three and they aren't being smart about it.
Zulban@reddit
I wasn't defending this post specifically, I'm just not sure about criticizing cross posting.
jabiko@reddit
I wasn't criticizing cross-posting per se. Just that the OP took a shotgun-crossposting approach and posted it to some subreddits where this kind of content is clearly off-topic
idebugthusiexist@reddit
chucker23n@reddit
They're doing a pretty bad job at it.
chucker23n@reddit
Guess they'll complain about wrongful termination, ADA non-compliance, corruption, and widespread corruption at Reddit (^= his posts were deleted) soon.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Doesn't seem to be a problem on other subreddits or platforms for some reason
Almost like the problem isn't me
If they get deleted it would make me stop and think - yeah, that was pretty messed up honestly, and I would probably mention that in my next article that gets hundreds of thousands of views
Your little reddit comment crew isn't working bro
Lol
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Some of these were recommended by mods privately
axonxorz@reddit
*checks post timestamps*
sure boss
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I can verify if you really need it
But either way this is not really something that is best kept on one subreddit alone but crossposted to many
SheepyJello@reddit
i read your blog update, is the new info all the reddit responses? I do worry that a good portion of the update and half of this post is just focused on how well received your reddit posts were. Because that has no relevance to your case or microsoft’s culture.
So it sounds like you have a lawsuit on the way and then a state investigation into microsoft? Unless you were discriminated under a protected class i dont know how you can have a case. Are you allowed to share more about the state investigation?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
You would probably have answered all your own questions if you read it
Clearly you missed the ADA request in the original article for starters
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah, there was a report-it-now case i filed before my PIP and then there was the refusal to comply with my doctor's ADA request, and the wrongful termination after claiming I did not meet expectations when they didn't even play out the agreed upon 45 day PIP period and could not provide the basic functional Microsoft assets that could even at minimum turn on I needed to do any tasking
There is an investigation but I can't go into specifics that could violate NDAs
manueldigital@reddit
at the same time I still don't know wtf the case is about, besides generic vague blabla lmao
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Folks in other subreddits seem to think there might be astroturfing in this subreddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditBotHunters/s/JEYGax4SOc
doctorlongghost@reddit
I’ve been laid off a couple times. Is this your first? Because it really sounds like you are waaay too invested in this.
You really come off as grasping at any possible straws to paint yourself as an aggrieved party when all that you suffered from was working for a shitty company. Big fucking deal. That happens to all of us if you’re in the industry long enough.
And if aspects of your treatment were illegal it doesn’t seem to me from a cursory review that any of it was so glaring that it could possibly warrant the energy and hysteria that you are bringing to what is mostly a case of sour grapes. 🍇
You would have been better served to drop one bitchy blog post and move on.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well the last time I was wrongfully terminated was Boeing in 2019 and there is some speculation that they have been assassinating whistleblowers, so when I get these sorts of dismissive comments on reddit like what is going on which disrupts people's lives at such a fundamental level is no big deal, it does bother me and gives me less confidence in the public in general for any kind of meaningful change
I guess I could just quit the whole thing and drink some margaritas on the beach in Bangkok instead but I think that might actually be sort of a boring way of being to be honest
deja-roo@reddit
There has also been some speculation that the world is flat.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man you sure showed me
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68534703
Got some conspiracy theorists at the BBC
This is proof there is no reason to take these reddit comments seriously anymore
deja-roo@reddit
Did you actually read the article you posted? Absolutely nothing in that article speculated that Boeing has been assassinating whistleblowers.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://youtu.be/X1ykxqTyR2o?si=pkzKT45hwJo7I0Wz
Maybe try the CNN article they make it more obvious
deja-roo@reddit
Didn't take long to go from posting a BBC article that didn't support what you said at all to fully off the rails with a conspiracy theory youtube video.
No shock there.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I'm not really sure what to tell you, I claimed that an extrajudicial killing was alleged, and it certainly has been alleged - the family is literally trying to sue Boeing and I gave you a link to a video with a YouTuber with over 100k subs claiming it was an extrajudicial killing
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyje8e8rdlo
Honestly wouldn't be the craziest thing I've heard back in the US recently that was labeled a "conspiracy theory" and ended up to be true (epstein?) Lol
But yeah, I claimed it has been alleged, and it definitely has. Do I know for a fact? No, but honestly wouldn't be surprised based on things I've seen come out of the US recently
deja-roo@reddit
People who think Boeing is killing whistleblowers are stupid. I know there are stupid people on Youtube. I lived through 2020 and saw just how stupid it was.
The family is suing them for wrongful death.
Again, I know people say stupid shit on the internet. People have alleged that the earth is flat. That doesn't mean shit.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Cool story bro either way Boeing did some messed up stuff here and it has been alleged
KevinCarbonara@reddit
No, there isn't.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man, let me guess, the next comment is going to be a disingenuous recommendation for me to "get help"
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/21/business/boeing-whistleblower-family-lawsuit-death-intl
You are confident in yourself but it's not clear to me how you just know that isn't accurate when multiple news sources, including reputable ones like the BBC allude to it
Again, I've also said that it is a speculation - I'm not claiming to know for certain, but you just being so sure of yourself is definitely not honest
This is why it is difficult to not come across as "rude," I'm honestly not sure how to even begin when there are such low quality responses
KevinCarbonara@reddit
Your straw men speak for themselves.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah that's why it's in CNN and BBC articles, just "pure wild accusation," and it was completely my original idea
Either I'm a great journalist who beat all the mainstream news outlets to the punch or you are completely full of yourself, and I'm not sure you are going to like either option
Anybody can do the basic calculation as to which is more likely and they are free to believe what they want I guess
KevinCarbonara@reddit
It's not. You're lying. Or else you're so gone that you can't tell the difference.
We did. Literally everyone can see you're full of crap.
chucker23n@reddit
Sure.
So… what exactly did you blow the whistle on at Boeing? And what are you now blowing the whistle on at Microsoft?
idiotsecant@reddit
This is a really excellent example of why people find your whole 'thing' exhausting. What does this random conspiracy theory about boeing assassinating people have to do with you being fired from boeing? You reflexively look for something to blame anytime anything even remotely negative comes within a thousand feet of you. I can't imagine what it would have been like to work with you.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
My whole "thing?" What do you mean what exactly?
Let me guess. The Kafka trap - the mere fact that I'm pushing back is evidence of my guilt
You find it exhausting because you are having to do all sorts of mental gymnastics to try to defend a faceless megacorporation that is getting more unpopular by the day, with a CEO that just came out recently admitting to many of these issues.
You might say that when Boeing workers are being wrongfully terminated after reporting safety violations that might have something to do with my abrupt firing when I reported a safety issue - but either way, it didn't seem relevant to this conversation. I didn't even want to bring in the Boeing thing, but these commenters didn't want to stay on topic and wanted to bring up other places I've worked. Next I'll hear that after covid when meta did mass layoffs including of lingtime employees that was my fault too, and if I respond I'm "aggressive" or "unwell" or "difficult"
If you don't like not being able to emotionally manipulate people and don't like to scapegoat employees there generally isn't a problem. But if you are an employer that wants to lie about me or other coworkers and expects me to be the scapegoat when you can't even provide basic functional assets that can at minimum turn on, then yeah, you might not have a good time
UnidentifiedBlobject@reddit
Jesus. Americans are weird. Employment shouldn’t be like this. What happened to him and you by the sounds of it is WRONG. Grow some balls like OP and stand up for yourself.
frosty_balls@reddit
I can’t imagine any lawyer would want you posting this online. Jesus Christ
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Good to weed out the useless attorneys who lack any spine
Nothing I've done here is illegal or compromises my case - at worst it just gives Microsoft more incentive to try to find additional creative ways to retaliate, which they can try to do but in the end will just make them look worse
I think the main issue here is too many people have this mentality that they think they can't speak freely about these things which is what has gotten us collectively into this spot to begin with
Anybody that steps out of line is "unwell" or crazy or emotionally disturbed and so on. It's a self reinforcing problem that I lose more confidence every day can be solved
deja-roo@reddit
You're going to weed out the ones who don't have a similar legal education to you lol
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
What law school did you go to? You seem to be an expert
deja-roo@reddit
I did not go to law school, which is why I would follow the advice of lawyers who would say to delete this, not fire them until I find an attorney that matches my legal expertise, which is what you seem to be intent on doing.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Oh so by your logic your opinion is pretty irrelevant
It's a good thing a lawyer would be working for me, not the other way around
deja-roo@reddit
You clearly haven't made any effort to understand anyone else's logic. No, that's not "by my logic". My logic is you should listen to the expert (the attorney), not fire him for not sharing your completely foolish and naive opinion about publicly speaking about cases that could potentially enter litigation. My logic is that you don't have any experience or training that would enable you to have an informed opinion on whether what you're doing here would compromise your case.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Cool story bro
frosty_balls@reddit
The only lawyers left are going to be ones thirsty for jobs. What does every lawyer say almost universally to their clients? It's shut the fuck up Friday, learn it.
I'd love to know what universe you think a lawyer would greenlight you posting a 10000 page manifesto about how scorned you feel about losing your job. Imagine if you put this much time & energy into literally anything else.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The blog post was a 10 minute read - I think you mean over 10000 views in just 5 hours; not 10000 pages
And we are just getting started - so folks better be doing the right thing whether or not it gets the rubber stamp. I don't need permission to exercise my rights, brother. I hire an attorney to win a suit, not tone police me and boss me around. If they want to control me, maybe they can start paying me instead
You seem to think the way hiring an attorney works is like hiring a boss - if I'm going to have a boss I expect to get paid for it with the assets and working conditions I need to succeed
Would have put my time and effort into my job instead but looks like that is not an option and they couldn't even provide assets that could at minimum even turn on when I was employed to get anything done anyways
frosty_balls@reddit
I know that there are very rare cases where an attorney would recommend their client post a giant manifesto online, at their own website, where the opposing attorney's have an easy time capturing that and using that to their advantage.
In an actual whistleblower retaliation case the whistleblower is typically more strategic, quiet and never enters public spectacle territory as you have.
Also the while PIP -> Termination -> Retaliation claim is a tale as old as time from scorned workers. It might be time to do some reflection on what actually happened with your job there.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
They could not provide assets required to do any tasking that could at minimum even turn on.
I'm not sure what to tell you, that is a fact
You can claim it's unpleasant to say this or my article is rambling because I've provided so many examples of issues at the company and screenshots of others with the same complaints that its hard to follow, but at the end of the day, basic required support requested directly by my doctor was not provided - and I'm far from the only person with these complaints at the company
And if the whole thing is dismissed they can certainly do that, but at that point I'm dealing with folks who aren't rational or interested in the evidence anyways, and I'll probably make a blog article about that too where even more folks will be emailing me in agreement about the situation
frosty_balls@reddit
Vague, nonspecific. What assets, what tasks. Weird you don't specify.
Volume doesn't automatically make things clear, your post reads like an unhinged scorned narcissist big mad at "the man" for terminating your employment.
This is the only thing that matters, and again, you are vague and non-specific. My hunch is your request was not reasonable.
And there it is, narcissist craves validation for their inflated ego.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I'm really honestly not sure what to tell you. You claim that the article is vague and non-specific, but all the details about assets like the SAW are included in the article and original article. You claim that nothing I've discussed matters (including specific tasks and examples I've mentioned) but yet ask what tasks specifically I've been referring to
The request was provided in the original article which was a single sentence - training, documentation, and support - and yet you claim you don't know what they were, and that basic requirements like these are unreasonable - even though they are technically required to do tasking to begin with. If you read the article you would be aware of why all of these examples were relevant.
You claim I'm the narcissist while the management at one of the largest market cap corporations on the planet I've discussed here is not to blame after deciding to lay off their engineers and offshore all their IT support in spite of record profits
Your perception is definitely warped and I'm not sure that its worth trying to change your mind because you seem bent on impulsively just looking for reasons to disregard anything I've said
manueldigital@reddit
you should really stop that self-pity tinfoil hat shit... if you think you got a "case", and respond here to 100s of comments, at least be f*ing specific, dude.
what assets? you haven't received a company machine? and if you're not able to solve problems on your own ("documentation so bad" bla), then being pip'ed is the logical consequence
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Haha these comments are wild
There is no conspiracy theory here brother, you don't have to look very far to find many of these issues I've mentioned discussed in mainstream news outlets
I give all sorts of specific examples and I'm told it's too long and rambling and needed to just get to the point. Then all the "rambling incoherent" information is glossed over which describes everything the responses are asking about (assets like the SAW).
If these are the kind of takes people are having when folks bring up labor law violations we are so cooked in the US
Many things missing from the docs included permissions that are needed, which you would also know if you actually read the details. Snapshots even include comments by coworkers talking about the infeasibility of onboarding without proper onboarding docs and the missing information.
I don't get these kind of takes on other platforms which seriously makes me question the authenticity of some of these responses
frosty_balls@reddit
It really sounds like you were a miserable narcissistic colleague - like documentation sucks no matter where you go. Theres always gaps, improve it or put on your adult pants and learn careers aren’t magical utopias and sometimes you have to put in effort in them.
Also no one is going to read your giant manifesto of bullshit to find specific examples of wherever your weirdo imagined problems are. As an adult you should be more than capable to post them here in a bullet point lost.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I would often pull all nighters but at the end of the day, there are many things that nobody can independently intuit with proprietary systems, and you really need the documentation and support to proceed.
The article ("giant manifesto") is a 10 minute read. Why bother commenting if you didn't even read about the circumstances?
Yeah man. They are all just imagined. This is how I know to not take these comments seriously lol
I can try to trim it or make it shorter i guess
manueldigital@reddit
a really wild comment would be that you are textbook dunning-kruger
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Provide engineers basic functional assets that they need to do tasking that can at minimum turn on. Then we call talk about whether I'm the issue.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
It's a good thing that a lawyer would be working for me - not the other way around
KevinCarbonara@reddit
They wouldn't. I'd guess there's a 99% chance he's lying about having a case and a lawyer. And there's a 1% chance he's telling the truth and has just violated his NDA and tanked any chance he had at winning.
XzyzZ_ZyxxZ@reddit
You mean the American " government". The one that enables Microsofts disgusting behavior?
Yeah mate, they ain't going to do shit.
chucker23n@reddit
To be clear, they mean Washington state, not the federal government.
Also, by "I trigged an investigation", they mean "I filed a complaint". They basically got a boilerplate "Thank you for contacting us" response. As best as I can tell from the mess that is this blog post, no communication since.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
This is how I know not to take some of these comments seriously because this was addressed in literally the first sentence of the article, then expanded upon in the first paragraph.
chucker23n@reddit
Ah yes, a 2014 article related to you getting fired.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I was still in college in 2014 genius
chucker23n@reddit
It simply has nothing to do with your case. Zero.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
But it could
chucker23n@reddit
You're right; we're all getting paid $200/hr to respond to your narcissistic story.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Microsoft wouldn't pay that much for non mainstream influencers
I like how I'm the narcissist when you are defending a faceless megacorporation where a dude was literally recently found dead on campus allegedly due to burnout
Seems like you are on the wrong side my man
Keep it up, maybe one day you will get a pay raise and will be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment in Redmond, but you are more likely going to be terminated and replaced with a bot in a few months instead
chucker23n@reddit
Heh, none of that makes any sense since I don't work at MS (or anywhere near Redmond).
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
You sure act like it
balianone@reddit
You're not wrong to be skeptical. It often feels like a valid concern that governments everywhere can be influenced by powerful corporate interests. The relationship between government and big business is complicated, and there's a widespread perception that policy often ends up favoring corporations over the general public.
This is partly due to the massive amounts of money spent on lobbying to influence legislation. When you see large companies seemingly avoid accountability, it's understandable to feel that the system is skewed in their favor. It's a common sentiment that economic elites and business interests have a much stronger impact on policy than the average person
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
And yet these redditors would rather dogpile the average person than spend their energy critiquing an increasingly unpopular faceless megacorporation, responding with childish insults
It's good that on other platforms I don't see this
recaffeinated@reddit
Are you a member of a union? It seems like that might be a first step (and for anyone else still employed by MS)
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
That's one problem that hasn't been cracked - tech unionization, and I'm not certain it would be entirely easy to organize that many people
TripsOverWords@reddit
Unionization isn't an unsolved problem, it's simple. Get enough people to sign and join. The video games industry recently achieved a small victory in this space.
https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/video-game-workers-launch-industry-wide-union-communications-workers-america
Unions have been demonized in the U.S.A. for generations by folks who benefit most from their absence. It's not impossible, but a difficult fight for sure. The biggest lie is that union fees are exorbitant, however folks who fall for this are unaware how much of a benefit the bargaining power can be for your salary.
The biggest challenge is avoiding employer retaliation. Starbucks' favorite tactic is to close any branches that are successful in forming a union. Tech companies have plenty of demand for employment, so replacing workers will be easy, and everyone is employed under "at-will" employment, they don't need to provide reason for termination and at the scale of FAANG and others they can hide union-squashing through reorganization and layoffs.
Good luck getting some of the most highly paid tech workers, during a time of extreme uncertainty, to stick their necks out and pursue unionization. Whenever I brought it up casually in the office, I was given the rebuke "but you work at" with a tone suggesting they were scared to even be included in the conversation.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Here is one reason it's difficult which might be one reason for the dogpiling in this subreddit with so many people supposedly being in support of Microsoft
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/91192544/whats-astroturfing-the-deceptive-campaign-strategy-explaine
Your comment is a pretty mainstream opinion and yet your comment has been downvoted. Why are the most popular takes here downvoted the most? Why are the majority of comments in support of an increasingly unpopular faceless megacorporation and not in support of an average person with pretty mainstream opinions about the state of Microsoft and the tech industry?
JimboJimmyJamJames@reddit
my brother in christ, youre comparing about astroturfing in a programming subreddit because the mods in all other subreddits nuke your posts for self-promoting your blogsite.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I never mentioned mods in other subreddits, I've been commenting about the responses in this one
Some subreddits have rules against links to personal blogs, others do not. Neither have anything to do with why I've said things feel astroturfed here
AydonusG@reddit
Complaining about the difficulty of unionizing under a company that both their major buyouts had full support unionizing in the last year. ABK and Bethesda both went union, both after being under Microsoft.
(The one you linked is actually Bethesda & ABKs union (CWA))
recaffeinated@reddit
Never easy, always worthwhile.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Here is one reason it's difficult which might be one reason for the dogpiling in this subreddit
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/91192544/whats-astroturfing-the-deceptive-campaign-strategy-explained
cake-day-on-feb-29@reddit
I'm not surprised, microshit astoturfed the Linux subreddit into believing WSL was the second coming of Christ and made sure any disagreement was removed.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Do you have evidence of that I could definitely use it
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/91192544/whats-astroturfing-the-deceptive-campaign-strategy-explained
https://youtu.be/Mdemxy8kcFU?si=Yfs7ecFl6kA37c2R
MedicOfTime@reddit
Yall are so weird for siding with the mega corp. This is a smart guy with loads of time on his hands and a cause, not a tin foil hat on the history channel.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/91192544/whats-astroturfing-the-deceptive-campaign-strategy-explained
https://youtu.be/Mdemxy8kcFU?si=Yfs7ecFl6kA37c2R
chucker23n@reddit
It's less siding with "the mega corp" and more siding with the people who used to work with OP.
UselessOptions@reddit
sure
manueldigital@reddit
Is there a substantial tldr? Sorry, but it would be helpful to have the gist right away instead of having to read 1649 documents.
nemec@reddit
guy laid off, mad about it, collecting stories about microsoft from the internet and turning that into a discrimination lawsuit
I didn't read through it all, but conspicuously absent in the blog post was any actual microsoft communications containing proof of the claims (though if any exists, it's probably better for the lawsuit not to paste it online)
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I can't include that due to NDAs - you have to be careful and work with what you can when writing about it
KevinCarbonara@reddit
If you were actually under an NDA, you have already violated it.
Slight-Bluebird-8921@reddit
You're such a boot licker.
KevinCarbonara@reddit
You have no idea what that term means.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
This is what that means
https://www.pcworld.com/article/439883/microsoft-caught-astroturfing-bloggers-again-to-promote-internet-explorer.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/91192544/whats-astroturfing-the-deceptive-campaign-strategy-explained
Slight-Bluebird-8921@reddit
Actually I do.
firebeaterr@reddit
plenty of experience, eh?
rtt445@reddit
All he talked about was shitty working conditions. I'd like to see them try to sue him for that. Any competent judge will toss it.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Bingo
The point is just to try to convince people to be afraid to talk about any of this because then they can be isolated and easier to control so nothing has to be done about it and that's it
It's the primary mechanism by which these issues can continue
balianone@reddit
The author alleges he was wrongfully terminated by Microsoft as retaliation for whistleblowing and as part of a broader pattern of disability discrimination, which he claims has now triggered a government investigation.
To clarify, while it's true that most US employment is "at-will" (meaning a company can fire someone for almost any reason), this doesn't apply if the reason is illegal. The author's claim isn't just that he was laid off, but that the termination was illegal because it was allegedly retaliatory and discriminatory, which falls under "wrongful termination"
SanityInAnarchy@reddit
It would be really useful if someone can corroborate what OP is saying, but in a... more coherent way, I guess? OP's writing seems like a stream-of-consciousness collage of grievance, especially in the original "complaint overview" post. There are definitely real problems in there, like:
But this is also mixed in with things like OP getting annoyed at being left on read, and escalating to management over it:
No information about how long, how many followup pings, etc etc. Was this someone who ignored him for days, or someone who just needed a couple minutes and maybe forgot to send an 'ack' or a 👀?
And it's also mixed in with a ton of screenshots of random Reddit comments complaining about MSFT or Azure in general, and random news articles about how bad AI coding agents are. The most recent update does the same thing.
Putting this together, it's hard not to wonder if this is... to put it in AITA terms, this feels like an Everyone Sucks Here. Some of OP's complaints paint a picture of someone who's hard to work with, though it's hard to tell. Some paint a picture of organizational dysfunction that should not be his problem, if they weren't about to PIP him over it. But then they PIP him over it, and tell him this is so much his problem that he's been ordered to break their own security policies in order to fix it.
Frankly, my advice to someone in OP's situation (at least before he was fired) is to document the dysfunction the best you can, let everyone know you're blocked, and then spend your time looking for another job.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I'm spending my time traveling
mikeblas@reddit
Once you find the post where this guy says this is the second time he was wrongfully terminated I don't think there's much left to wonder about. The OP claims he's a "whistleblower", but I haven't figured out what their claim is. The posts Ihabe read are about themselves, not the important issue they're trying to expose and remedy.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I would say it was hard to work at all without any basic functional assets that could even at minimum turn on
drcforbin@reddit
There's weird stuff in there too, like "non functional Al tools like copilot to undercut wages and working conditions to the point that employees cannot do their jobs, the inability of Microsoft to provide their engineers the bare minimum of laptop assets that can turn on in a timely manner," and a minirant about the cost of living in Redmond.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man, it's so weird that even mainstream public figures are talking about many of these things this month
drcforbin@reddit
I have not heard any mainstream public figures complain that their laptop takes too long to boot this month.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/11/microsoft-ceo-nadella-says-company-must-rebuild-trust-with-employees.html
https://futurism.com/microsoft-ceo-concerned-ai-destroy-company
"Nadella’s reflections came in response to employee concerns about a colder, more rigid culture at Microsoft, which many insiders say has led to a sharp decline in morale."
I've even seen Bernie Sanders this month talk about what is going on at Microsoft
One of the reasons I've included so many snapshots is to show the number of people who are reporting the same complaints- it's kind of a paradox because on one end, I'll be told the article is too rambling for including them, but if I delete them, I'll hear that I'm the only one with the issue and it's isolated to me - which is why I've invited anybody that thinks the article could be restructured to contribute to editing it.
Eric848448@reddit
It’s more accurate to think of at-will as meaning you can be fired for NO reason rather than ANY reason. There are many reasons to fire somebody that are illegal.
trpittman@reddit
In practice, you can get fired for any reason in those states lol.
Xenasis@reddit
Yeah, but if they fired someone "because they don't work hard enough" but there's an email somewhere saying "we fired John Smith because he was black and I don't trust black people" then you have a case.
ZirePhiinix@reddit
Or you fire a whole bunch of people but then they got together and identified common traits where it is illegal to fire on e.g.: sexual orientation, then the employer is going to have a really hard time saying it is just a coincidence.
OffbeatDrizzle@reddit
I feel like this can go both ways. Firing somebody because they're X doesn't meant that you are discriminating against people. People who are X might just be bad at the job
ZirePhiinix@reddit
That last sentence is literally discriminatory.
How is it possible that you can even make the statement such as "gay people are bad mechanics" without it being discriminatory? Your sexual orientation has nothing to do with your ability to fix cars.
You'll need a LOT of evidence to remotely suggest a protected CLASS of people can be bad at X. AFAIK, no such defense is remotely viable.
OffbeatDrizzle@reddit
An extreme example is if you lose an arm and your productivity drops by 50%, should I not be allowed to fire you based on performance? You would say I'm discriminating against disabled people, whereas I would argue that you can no longer do your job
ZirePhiinix@reddit
You SHOULD be able to measure productivity if the guy is missing an arm, but then that person simply isn't fit for the job. It has nothing to do with their disability.
However, if it was a call center but you keep bringing up his missing arm, then yes, because that missing arm doesn't really affect their job.
LabGecko@reddit
Seconding ZirePhiinix, there is also a mountain of evidence pointing out that most X groups do NOT coincide with an extraordinary ability or inability. Even more, previous studies saying groups of people had this or that trait were re-evaluated and proven to be based on inaccurate assumptions.
ConscientiousPath@reddit
In practice it's still useful because it catches the many idiots who will just tell you a disallowed reason.
KevinCarbonara@reddit
Sure, but you can also get compensation + your job reinstated
lqstuart@reddit
OP has chronic employability problems probably arising from behavioral issues, Microsoft fired him, the government is doing the usual cursory crap it does when someone cries civil rights abuse. OP is probably a really bright guy with a bright future and I hope he can put this behind him.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
They could not provide any basic functional assets required to do any tasking that could even at minimum turn on
"Behavioral issues"
Yeah man. You figured out why thousands have been laid off and given PIPs this past few months. People were just misbehaving and not compliant and agreeable enough apparently.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
You don't have to read the documents but I just like to include links to references
manueldigital@reddit
I'm starting to understand why you got laid off, dude...
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yeah man. The problem is me you solved it, that's why so many other people are also reporting the same issues
manueldigital@reddit
would you mind please explaining the "wrongful termination" using less than 10 000 words?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I think the challenge is, you can simply state the issue in one short string:
"Wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, ADA noncompliance."
But to understand WHY these are the case, you really need to look at the details, which can be quite lengthy. This also includes the stories of many other people at the company that have been overlooked.
omgFWTbear@reddit
Here, let me help:
“I requested ADA accommodations for a leg injury that reduced my mobility, and suddenly, despite glowing reviews, I started receiving nebulous performance complaints and was eventually PIPed out. I attempted to whistleblow along the way, but that was met with similar retaliations, seemingly exacerbating the situation.”
Instead, you’ve thrown a compiler error “Type mismatch,” over and over again. Dude, I hope opposing counsel doesn’t find this, because I’d fire you for being this unable to TLDR.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I think you fail to understand the broader issues here, which are well beyond my own personal grievances at the company
I hope opposing counsel finds it and they read it in the court room, I would definitely enjoy that regardless of the outcome because boy there is alot to cover which is why it is so lengthy
I could have made it shorter, or express the circumstances in total excruciating detail, and given that the estimated read time for this article is about 10 minutes id say the length is actually pretty standard for a blog post
Though just based on your comments already I doubt you are really interested in its success and I'm dying to hear your next criticism that is totally irrelevant to the circumstances
QuaternionsRoll@reddit
Short anecdotes are important because people can understand and connect with them, not because they are comprehensive. You’re fighting for the attention of people who generally have very little of it to spare.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Well I'm an engineer and scientist not a social media expert, but I can try to pose the ideas in a more relatable way. The way I've been conditioned over the years is that personal anecdotes carry very little weight so I usually try to substantiate things with external references
chucker23n@reddit
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
No I would say my social skills are not the problem. I have been a pretty social person and the skip admitted that I did not have a communication problem. That also does not explain why others have been reporting these same problems with wrongful terminations - even recently with over 5 years of experience at the company
Many employees at Microsoft are very introverted in their personality because of long hours debugging code looking at error logs for hours at a time, on my team one employee claimed that she was so introverted that she never found a reason to even get a driver's license... in her late 20s. She was not terminated to my knowledge
So the opposing council is going to what? Their case is going to be that I was fired because I did not "read the room" with evidence from a reddit post and that my blog article written at 2am is not structured?
I can try to restructure the blog article after I take a rest, if you have any constructive feedback, please let me know
qckpckt@reddit
You don’t understand what social skills are. That’s ok, many people don’t. You seem to equate social skills to mean “talking to other people”. That’s not what it means at all. Your posts in this thread alone are demonstrating an acute lack of both interpersonal and intrapersonal awareness.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The lack of engagement with the actual circumstances in the article and obsessive focus on arbitrary social cues by some of these comments is wild to me lol
"what, don't you see you are wrong simply because you are not getting the hint by the comment dogpiling that you need to keep your mouth shut? You are crazy, you are unpleasant, you seem unwell, you should not criticize Microsoft publicly, conform, conform, etc"
This is why I said before it feels like things are astroturfed (which is not the same thing as saying it is), you have 99% of comments just dog piling me for pushing back against assumptions made about me in the comments that are full of unrelated ad hominems and baseless comments where redditors think they are legal experts or doctors rather than discuss the main topic
Going on a date this afternoon - socialization seems pretty good honestly, and most real life humans I know hear about what I've said and are more supportive, they all dislike things like mass layoffs and wrongful terminations or ADA violations or firing people on family medical leave
I guess for pointing this out, one redditor told me I'm a "douche" for doing so. Lol, I honestly have no idea how to even respond to many of these low quality comments
D3PyroGS@reddit
why? the two things seem highly related. you've received lots of feedback saying that the article is too long, unstructured, and unfocused, resulting in people either not reading it or not understanding what you're really trying to accomplish
presumably you're trying to win people over by posting here, but the way you have interacted in the comments has pushed people away, hurting your cause. thus, the incongruency
do you actually think people are saying this? or just exaggerating for effect
haven't seen anyone make this accusation as such
true, at least from what I've seen in this thread
more specifically, if you plan to have a legal battle with Microsoft, it is unwise to post so much. a lawyer would tell you this
this just sounds like you whining
this is you protecting your own ego. something isn't astroturfing just because others disagree with what you say, or how you say it
glad to hear it, but it's totally irrelevant. you can both schedule a date and still lack social/communication skills
this comes across as extremely sour grapes, insinuating that people here support wrongful termination, ADA violations, etc. just because they aren't receiving you the way you wanted
you really should figure out what it is you are looking to achieve here, and hyper-focus on that goal. most of the comments here really are constructive and could help you do this. your biggest obstacle here seems to be your own ego, sense of victimization, and need to retaliate
you can win people over, or you can assert your correctness to everyone who gives you feedback. but you can't have both.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Would you like to help edit the article? You seem to be pretty insightful
manueldigital@reddit
you are jumping around between your "case" and completely generic, therefore just useless, statements about "so many people have gone through the same" bla, while it is not clear what actually happened (at least not for me) to you!
PGSylphir@reddit
From this thread alone I can say with 100% your social skills are terrible, even I am not that bad, and I'm autistic.
wrosecrans@reddit
Yeah when /r/programming is trying to help you talk through stuff, something has gone wrong.
deja-roo@reddit
I am going to go out on a very short limb and presume you don't have representation, because they would beg you to take this down.
deja-roo@reddit
This sentence throws up a collection of red flags. Being able to explain a complex topic in a simple manner that others can understand is a fundamental trait of a talented expert. Anecdotes/examples are merely one tool to help accomplish this.
Everything you've written here paints you as the lion's share of the problem. I wouldn't want to employ you either.
ggppjj@reddit
I believe that you have misapplied engineering principles to a social scenario. You eliminated the problem of people not giving weight to personal anecdotes by removing the anecdotes, but still wanted to communicate so have decided to overwhelm people with documentation that backs up the personal anecdotal argument that you're making to yourself and not sharing. You need to do both.
wrosecrans@reddit
Well, yeah. People absolutely don't understand the issues. Correct. And they keep explaining to you that the reason they don't understand the issues is that you haven't been particularly clear and concise in explaining them.
It's either about you having issues with accommodations, vague allegations of corruption, something about the AI being bad, or H1B abuse, you feeling the way you got PIPped out was unfair, a broader structural issue involving unspecified other people, some sort of issue in a document pile that obviously nobody here is going to sift through and synthesize on your behalf so it comes across like a deflection or a gish gallop, or maybe it has something to do with MS customer facing support for sysadmins being bad. I've done my best to skim your posts and get some sense of it, but my takeaway is so vague that I'm naturally going to be pretty dismissive of whatever it is even if it's important.
If you want to make much headway with whatever it is you are dealing with, you are absolutely gonna need to get better at the elevator pitch version of whatever it is.
omgFWTbear@reddit
No. You absolutely refuse to consider the merit of the word “synopsis,” and have a “my way or the highway” approach to every comment here.
There is a whole cottage industry to why, no matter how much better a programmer someone like you might be, individually, it is absolutely not worth the difficulty to impossibility of team collaboration.
MostlyValidUserName@reddit
"My boss kept telling me that I was underperforming and that I should be able to find a way to get unblocked when I got stuck. I responded by repeatedly explaining that the internal documentation was inadequate and sometimes wrong, and that Copilot was also unable to help. For some reason we had this same conversation repeatedly. Anyhow, one day, unexpectedly and for no reason, I was placed on a PIP and then later let go. Clearly I fell afoul of a dastardly corporate plot to misuse PIPs to effect layoffs."
GregBahm@reddit
If I recall correctly, the original post came during the post-covid layoff spree in tech. Which itself was the equal and opposite reaction to the early covid hiring spree in tech.
The impression I got was that a lot of posters upvoted this guy's post, less because they actually read the post or gave a shit about the poster, but more because there was widespread general anxiety in the industry.
Lay off enough people in any given industry, and I assume you'll spawn the same thread. Officially claiming some vague legal action against the former employer. Unofficially a bunch of sad guys hugging each other and saying they know that feel.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
This original post was literally after June of this year, I was wrongfully terminated in June.
manystripes@reddit
Do you have a link to the original post for those of us who haven't been following? All I can find is the update you're posting here
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
The original article link is included in the post
Robyrt@reddit
Why lead with your positive reddit response on a deleted post?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Maybe you can be my social media manager, my primary concern was just getting the information out there late at night (currently in China)
I deleted the initial post due to negative reddit comments which indicated to me either folks were not interested or the optics of presentation were off and it would compromise the possibility of a good outcome
I ultimately decided to give it another go
ggppjj@reddit
Maybe you can stop being rude to people who are attempting to determine what the heck you're doing. I'm not reading anything else you post from here on out if you're gonna be a smartass like that, that's for certain.
bastardoperator@reddit
I think thousands of people got laid off and that you’re not that special. If you are special you need to get a lawyer and stop talking.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Yes keep your mouth shut, that way nobody can organize
There is a difference between the mass layoffs and wrongful terminations. At Microsoft, both are going on
You only have the right to speak with the rubber stamp and permission from your attorney right?
bastardoperator@reddit
Even the police will tell you that you have a right to remain silent. It's advice, a good attorney will tell you the same thing. All you're doing at this point is serving the defense. You're putting your cards on the table ahead of time, and many times when plaintiffs do this, they lose in court because the defense was able to prepare well in advance. Yes, let your council do the talking.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
What is illegal here?
privacyplsreddit@reddit
Shocked to see the amount of people defending a trillion dollar company "just because they find OP insufferable" and that you made a long passionate post.
Especially on the website that loves to talk about billionaires and corporations destroying the world left right and center.
Keep fighting the good fight, youre not the problem. Dont let these internet weirdos get under your skin, this is a website filled with the internet's strongest hyper contrarians.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
It's hard to imagine that many subreddits are not just astroturfed in some way based on the kinds of comments... I don't see these kinds of comments on other platforms or in real life
One comment claimed that continuing to respond was "above their paygrade"
Interesting...
But I'm "crazy" to think that some of these subreddits might be astroturfed
thrilla_gorilla@reddit
I’m honestly impressed that you managed to get hired as a senior engineer in the first place.
dada_@reddit
Somehow it's heartwarming to me that, even in the era of LLMs, there are still people who write utterly meaningless nonsense like this with their own two hands.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Weird how on other subreddits, LinkedIn, and other platforms, folks don't seem to have problems reading and understanding the article which has a read time of 10 minutes (according to these redditors, that is a "manifesto" that is so long they can't understand it, lol) and are reacting positively to it
What I'm seeing is that in these comments, folks are claiming that most of the information is irrelevant or unrelated in some way, then ask about the information they aren't reading
wrenchpilot@reddit
If you got put on a PIP, you've most likely pissed someone off and/or fucked up pretty bad.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Not necessarily
In this case when asked the reason for the PIP, the manager said it was delays on my feature work, after a significant delay getting a replacement secure access workstation that could at minimum access teams - there was a whole month delay due to yubikey shortages alone
When telling my manager about this he claimed "nobody else was having problems with their SAW" in spite of the fact that I went to the office and there is footage of a large stack of them with a sticky note that said "broken," and regardless if anybody else did the fact is that mine was not functional, and they could not provide one that was
If that "pissed somebody off" to the point they start scapegoating their engineers then that seems like impulsive poor management. I am also not the only one given an inactionable PIP or complaining about these issues
Dethstroke54@reddit
Yeah, aside the face OP has successfully made an ass of himself and given credibility to the fact that maybe he was abrasive or couldn’t communicate business… has he considered the simple fact PIP is already bad and in many cases it’s just a precursor and more of a step of the process. What’s crazy is OP’s tenure was 1 year… if he has a list of cultural, political, AI complaints he’s campaigning with it’s not hard to imagine he pissed someone off or simply was seen as not being a fit.
Everyone complains and many places have political issues but if you can’t get past them enough to function you likely aren’t a good fit and should leave anyways for your own benefit.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Why is that crazy? The average time in roles at these big tech companies is 2 years.
The problem with these accusations ("he is abrasive, he is combative, he is aggressive, he is a douche, he is crazy, etc") is they are ad hominem attacks and Kafka traps - the mere fact that there is a complaint is evidence of guilt or inadequacy - the skip admitted there was not a problem with communication.
Communication was bad on the team - deliberate information siloing and lack of any documentation or even basic description for tasking - passive aggressiveness towards asking basic questions - etc.
The complaints on the blog are widespread and were published after the tenure at Microsoft.
Many on the team suggested the "culture fit" had more to do with nation of origin than "failure to communicate." That isn't my suggestion. That is what a teammate suggested.
codelinx@reddit
With the current
lqstuart@reddit
Big tech is structured in a way where people sometimes get caught in the meat grinder and are cast aside without a realistic chance to succeed. Occasionally someone will decide it’s easier to self immolate and cry Civil Rights abuse rather than find a new job.
Posting about a pending legal case on Reddit probably isn’t the best strategy, your attorney could explain why better than me.
TripsOverWords@reddit
IANAL, but generally isn't it a really really bad idea to post anything publicly about an active investigation? From your post it seems a technicality that you filed a form officially, rather than an active investigation.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
I did discuss this in the article... including the document showing that the investigation has started. I guess the general advice people get is that it's a bad idea, even though it's not actually forbidden or illegal - the main reason is that it can make it difficult to get a settlement where nobody has to actually admit to any wrong and the problem - along with any potential bad pr - just fades away in the end.
Others have suggested it could be used against me in some way, which could be the case if I've actually intentionally misrepresented anything or violated NDAs, but I haven't, and any further retaliation would be illegal, so personally, I don't really care.
I guess they could try to build a case against me based on reddit posts I've made about the topic which is what some of these comments are suggesting - which let's be honest would be laughed out of the court room, but honestly, if they want to read these reddit posts in a courtroom the sheer amusement of having the entire court have to go through every little detail surrounding this case would be worth it, and then afterwards, I would just continue to add further updates about the corruption of anybody involved refusing to hold Microsoft accountable if they refused to
Imagine if we just started issuing judgments not based on evidence in cases or what's actually going on, but the tone of posts people make on reddit
All it's doing in this case is creating a chilling effect with people and repressing any effective solidarity because people are misled into believing some vague threat is there on them if they speak up
cwmma@reddit
Look fuck Microsoft but this article is an incoherent rambling mess.
Like I belive you that they fucked you over, I just can't possibly figure out how based on this article.
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Fucked from all directions
And thousands of others too
WilliamOtakwa@reddit
bro, all LInux distros are free!
DateSuccessful9440@reddit
Man, this hits close to home. I was at a big tech firm that started pushing these "AI efficiency" tools a couple years back. We all knew they were garbage, just a box to check for some VP's presentation. They laid off a solid engineer on my team, someone who actually fixed things, while keeping the broken chatbot that just created more work for the rest of us. Seeing it happen at that scale at Microsoft is both vindicating and depressing. It’s never really about the tech, is it. It’s just spreadsheets and optics, and people get chewed up in the process. Glad someone is finally being held to account for it.
DrueFedo@reddit
Just don’t get it taken down. It’s my livelihood. And I’d be very mad.
rtt445@reddit
Power to you my dude. The crowd that took over and ruined microsoft needs to be reminded about laws and rules of this land.
JuanAG@reddit
Microsoft is dooming itself and there is nothing an end user like us could to fix it
I left Visual Studio because it was outsourced to outsorce and when it was the third level i decided it was enough, in my case was a bug/issue with the Visual C++ so wasnt so tiny detail that whocares and even than they didnt, the bug was there years later when i tested and i was happy to made the rigth call to move to JetBrains
On the other hand i found one of that "silly" issues on CLion, it was that under really concrete conditions the spell checking of the whole function go down, again, a small issue with 0 priority, i give JB a chance, i uplodaded it their Bug tracker, i was contacted by the staff for clarifications and radio silence until a few months later it was solved
Now i know that i found something in any JetBrains product i can ask for a fix and no matter how insignificant it is will be fixed, i cant say the same for MS and is why i dont use any of their products, and seeing what they are doing with Windows is just enough, they couldnt care less for a core product (MS Windows) so imagine what they care about niche ones
The__Toast@reddit
I think all of sillicon valley is going through this right now.
I think for those who have never worked outside of SV this is probably a shock, those of us who have are recognizing that sv is just turning into the rest of corporate America.
Layoffs, crappy politics and in fighting, ridiculous demands from upper management, etc. The AI hype is nothing new, before this it was VR, then block chain; it's always been a ponzi scheme or sorts.
chucker23n@reddit
Nobody is going to read four hundred screenshots with different typography. Amusing that you'd mention ADA compliance when your post is an accessibility nightmare. (The alt attributes are also set to captions rather than the text in the image.)
And by "I Triggered a Government Investigation", it appears what you mean is "I filed a complaint with the state", so you're technically correct but really stretching it.
OK, but which ones of those have anything to do with your case?
Are you saying your supervisor is corrupt?
(Can you even expand on what corruption you're referring to regarding your previous employer?)
OK, presumably you mean… of yourself.
Are you saying this is why you were fired?
Were you on an H1B visa?
Were you part of a layoff?
Your post also mentions further claims, such as:
This is a litany of bold claims. Which ones are you actually making?
MacroMegaHard@reddit (OP)
Sure I can try to edit and simplify the post to make these things more clear but my sleep cycle is messed up so after a nap
_Kine@reddit
Huh? The title says government investigation but the post doesn't mention anything about one and has no links to anything. Weird
robotmayo@reddit
MS is just gonna give cheeto in chief some sloppy and this will get thrown out but best of luck.