Facebook Building a Company Town 159
cold fjord writes "The Wall Street Journal reports, 'Facebook Inc.'s sprawling campus in Menlo Park, Calif., is so full of cushy perks that some employees may never want to go home. ... The social network said this week it is working with a local developer to build a $120 million, 394-unit housing community within walking distance of its offices. ... the 630,000 square-foot rental property will include everything from a sports bar to a doggy day care. Even in Silicon Valley, where tech companies compete to lure coveted engineers with over-the-top perks and offices that resemble adult playgrounds, Facebook's plan breaks new ground. A Facebook spokeswoman said employee retention wasn't a major factor in the real estate push. "We're certainly excited to have more housing options closer to campus, but we believe that people work at Facebook because what they do is rewarding and they believe in our mission," she said. Some employees had inquired about places to live near the corporate campus, she said ... The development conjures up memories of so-called "company towns" at the turn of the 20th century, where American factory workers lived in communities owned by their employer and were provided housing, health care, law enforcement, church and just about every other service necessary.'"
I owe info to the company store (Score:5, Funny)
Some people say a man is made outta mud
A code monkey's got Mountain Dew for his blood
Dew in the blood and Cheeto bones
A bad back and carpal tunnel syndrome
You click 16 likes and whaddaya get?
Another ad targeted to your regret
Can't get a new job for what my profile showed
I owe info to the company store
I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my laptop and I coded a line
I coded PHP and in Javascript
And off to Menlo Park then I was shipped
You click 16 likes and whaddaya get?
Another ad targeted to your regret
Can't get a new job for what my profile showed
I owe info to the company store
If you see me comin', better step aside
The Dew and Cheetos made me a little too wide
A little too wide and a little too old
But for Facebook's perks my soul I've sold
You click 16 likes and whaddaya get?
Another ad targeted to your regret
Can't get a new job for what my profile showed
I owe info to the company store
Key Features (Score:5, Funny)
Everyone is needy and constantly pesters you to be their "friend"
The town bulletin board is full of trite comics and jokes (and nothing useful)
Traveling salesmen do recon by eavesdropping on all your conversations and then show up at your door to sell you everything they think you want to buy
Every few weeks, someone walks into a stranger's home after dark, takes off all their clothes and tells everyone about embarrassing personal matters before they realize they got off at the wrong bus stop
The population numbers are inflated because everyone uses multiple identities and fake IDs
Public works tears down all the infrastructure and rebuilds everything from scratch every year (the townsfolk protest about it for 5 minutes before relenting)
Re:Not really (Score:5, Funny)
Yep. Buying an orchard in the 1950's, in the Valley of Heart's Delight, was the way to go.
misread (Score:5, Funny)
"to a doggy day care"
I originally read that as "dodgy day care" ...
-John
Re:accidental lie by omission. (Score:5, Funny)
So you may owe your soul to the company store, but fortunately, you can pay in Zynga tokens.
Re:Not really (Score:5, Funny)
Still, even a teacher in East Palo Alto could probably teach them not to end a sentence with a preposition... .
I'm assuming East Palo Alto is a largely Hispanic area then, because not ending a sentence with a preposition is fine for Spanish and for French (remember, the English elite were mostly French, hence words like élite), but English is a different language. This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.