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We were tipped to this article about Etsy in the WSJ about how they get free comunal vegan gourmet lunches once a week in the office, and... have a DJ booth. Oh and the Phone rooms make an appearance via a reference. (See I told you they would be popular on the media tour.)
A DJ Booth? Must be 2010's version halfpipe.
Your fees at work. At least something is working there.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
More Etsy office features to enrage you
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26 Comments:
Well at least they're having fun. Grrrr
I think the top of my head just blew off from the pent up steam emanating from my ears. What a thumb to the nose to the sellers! I am so furious, I'm taking my blood pressure meds as I type!
So glad they have so much fun at "work"...crap, crap, crap! You'd think they'd try to keep a low profile with everyone up in arms about their playrooms already. So much for a serious work ethic...be we all knew they didn't have one to begin with.
Boy, that was a great story about how great it is to work for Etsy. Too bad there was nothing in the article about the problems at Etsy, the rampant and random shop shutdowns, the censorship, the b.s. and the complete lack of customer service. Now THAT would have made for better journalism, in my opinion.
head-desk
I don't know what to say other than that I totally believe it.
They're irresponsible, they're unprofessional, they're unethical... there's really nothing more to say. Other than, I suppose, that they're apparently fed like stray cats by the equivalent of some batshit insane old lady. It's perfect.
Did my eyes deceive me, or did a location referred to as "Dumbo" appear in that article?
Undoubtedly, that has some NY cultural significance, but I don't care, I will draw my own conclusion.
The main reason this article irks me is that the prevailing reason they don't advertise, or don't have this feature or function is not enough money and/or staff to do it.
Yet, they have plenty of money for parties, DJ booths, old farmhouse tables in a full kitchen and weekly meals prepared by a personal chef using organic, local ingredients for 85 staff members who work in the Brooklyn office(not counting the CA and German staff).
Yes, lots of companies buy lunch/dinner for their staff once in awhile. Not to this extreme though, the pizza and subs my DH's company buys pales in comparison. I can't even imagine how much these meals cost and how much they are paying this chef to fix them. Hell, it cost me around $50 just to buy hotdogs for half that many people for an end of year school function.
I never want to hear a thing out of Etsy about not having the money or staff for something.
The thing is, I would not begrudge them any 'fun' work environment if everything was working smoothly. As long as they fuck up on a daily basis showing off pictures of phone booths and DJ booths are just beyond ridiculous and a huge slap in the face of those people who fell into the Etsy trap.
That was what I was going to say, Fantasy.
those lunches are NOT vegan, they talk about eggs and milk and honey and all sorts of non-vegan things. might wanna correct that on the original post.
I don't think those are vegan lunches, since they mentioned fluke and ricotta cheese.
Man, but they can't try hard enough to be cool, can they. *eyeroll*
My first impression:
"Fluke. I guess they ARE what they eat."
I've decided not to renew any of my etsy items, as I really hate having a bill each month.
I know I keep mentioning this, but we're trying to start up a FREE alternative called efreeme.com so please everyone come post there! (list 20 items and we'll even give you $5)
yeah, where is DUMBO?
" And Etsy isn't exactly a place that attracts suits, but rather fashionable young people with tattoos, vintage concert T-shirts and clothes they made in their living room."
Ummmm you think it might be because "suits" have NO desire to work in such an UNPROFESSIONAL atmosphere?
Professionals would take one look around there and run away screaming. Too bad they take their knowledge and skills away along with them. Etsy could use a few (or 85) "suits" working there.
this was a really bad (or really good depending on your POV) article to read just before answering Etsy's new "how are we doing, what can we do for you" survey
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6550590
Well, WSJ is more than a little stuck on the $180 million Etsy number because they mention Etsy (in passing) in an article today about indie clothing designers. Other sites like Smashing Darling were featured, but the WSJ, just like the NYT, hear "$180 million" and tell their junior reporters to fluff a fluff piece because Etsy fell off the map several month ago.
No one is talking about Etsy, mentioning Etsy, or shopping on Etsy, so I guess the $180 million is the only thing they have going for them. (Etsy is absent from any mentions in the tech blog world which means nothing is happening on Etsy worth noting, a fact most sellers already know.)
Need I wonder about an unlicensed (perhaps) apt kitchen cooking weekly meals like I wonder about all the gazillion unlicensed food sources on Etsy and wonder why anyone would trust Etsy as a source for FOOD? When few trust that anything on the whole fucking site is actually, really handmade?
Not me.
DUMBO: Down under the Manhattan bridge overpass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUMBO,_Brooklyn
Since I spent most of my life working in information technologies, my mind is full of young, unorthodox companies that are thriving and can point to great success. Google comes to mind first of all--but look at Twitter, Facebook--any number of others that have joined the mainstream. They are generating value for their owners, their workers, their customers, and society in general.
I keep trying to figure out what differentiates Etsy from some of these other, successful organizations. Google has employee perks beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but it appears to me that everyone who works there is very focused. Facebook management has been a bit naive lately in terms of security, but they seem to have gotten the message from their users and are putting themselves back on track. Microsoft wrote the book on perks and benefits a generation ago, but when times got tough, the perks were gone until the company got back on track. In its time, it was certainly a company of young rebels.
I think it has something to do with defining a core mission and core values and sticking to those, no matter what, until the organization begins to succeed and then thrive. It takes hellish amounts of really hard work to do that. I am beginning to think the youngsters at Etsy are so focused on the outward appearance of things that they've neglected the middle step--the very hard work, the focus--even the pain--that follow the original idea and enable the company to grow.
WSJ is enamored of Etsy because it is a company of young people who seem to have a good bottom line. Whether that can be sustained remains to be seen, and I have my doubts.
OMG, I'm so sick of Etsy I'm not sure why I even stay there.
Are you diggin' the pop ups that show up on very freaky ass page of the site now? I'm SO furious.....
I think my head actually did just explode.
Here's the thing for me. I have worked in funky and creative workplaces. That served really good food a couple of times a week..whole shebang.
Know what? Thats because people LIVED there, and worked their asses off, 18 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week. It had the comforts of home because it WAS home, essentially.
If Etsy was this hugely effective, organized, professional and functional place that got it done with class and skill...I wouldn't fucking care if they had an office in a treehouse and had water balloon fights every lunch.
I would HOPE they had it.
I mean..I am not in that office. I have no idea what it's like to work there....maybe its so dysfunctional that its a constant state of stressful panic. But mostly...I am thinking there are 30 people working their asses off and 55 fucking off. Thats surely what It seems like.
Sigh. The elitist nature of it all really chafes.
I would love to see someone go in there for a job interview and then video tape the tour that they're given. Show us all what the atmosphere really is, what people are doing at any random given moment in time.
I'd love to see a video of everyone hanging at the DJ booths, gossiping, etc while they're computers and phones sit there all lonely and unused.
I just opened a store on Diana's efreeme site. Here's hoping for a better experience than with Etsy!
This is all so 1999. I worked in Silicon Valley during the height of the dot com boom, before the bubble burst. All of the hipster companies wanted Foozeball tables and game rooms. Two of the companies I worked for blew through millions a year--and went bankrupt, but both had frat house embellishments that cost more than my current mortgage.
.... "found out that there is "funny" coding on her page that somehow tightly links her shop on Etsy to a closed shop. A lot of others who are "invisible" to Google have this funny coding on the pages. So, it's looking like it may be something Etsy is doing after all."
I found this in an offsite forum. Do you guys have any tech experts to investigate this? They're at it again!
Amazing. And teachers have to buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets. My mom's company no longer supplies coffee cups, sugar, things like that (and she works for a huge, national firm).
Companies all over the country are finding little ways to cut costs (like no longer offering coffee to employees) but etsy? Gets Djs, and non-vegan vegan meals. I wonder if those vegan meals have bacon. Because both vegan AND bacon are trendy you know. Maybe there's some owl in there too.
Fuckwads. Is rome burning?
Funny they are eating a VEGAN lunch. I left etsy because of all the FUR promos they have been doing. The Whoa Canada with a dress made of fox, coyote, and raccoon was too gross. Complete hypocrites. I didn't mind that some people sold fur items, but I hate that when posted this in IDEAS "Can etsy not promote fur as glamourous" my thread was closed and that really pissed me off. How is that sharing ideas? I hope the staff CHOKES on their vegan lunch!!!
and to think i've been unemployed for two years+ and was thinking they were using what little money i was generating by private sales to make things better for my shop and others.... how delusional have i been ... i would have been better off putting that money towards food, clothing, gas, car payments ... gees ....
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