[dagmx]

As a current epileptic (spinal injury, recovered partial paralysis) I still have to deal with the fact that I'm in fact, disabled.

Working at a FAANG in silicon valley really highlights that. My commute is 4 hours a day because I have to take public transit, and working late hours is a bigger burden than unaffected people in similar life situations.

I'm completely dependent on others to take me places, even for groceries.

I dearly miss living in Vancouver where I could just walk anywhere easily and my disability wasn't a daily consideration.

But even growing up, it's a difficult disability to rationalize to myself and to others in my life.

If people want to go out for drinks, I have to explain why I don't drink since it makes me more likely to have a seizure. When friends go to clubs, I can't go (not that I enjoy it ) and just walking down the street is a crap shoot in case an ambulance or police car go by.

I've actually learned to embrace it more as part of my identity and just be up front with people so they know it up front.

It's been particularly difficult in my previous career working in entertainment, where so many newer shows and games have adopted strobing as a stylistic choice. Especially with the rise of better LED lighting. So instead I try and raise awareness with my fellow professionals so they can make better decisions to accommodate people like me when making decisions.

[jyriand]

4 hours seems like a lot. Do you still have to commute, even amid the pandemic situation?

[dagmx]

No, during the pandemic it's been completely work from home.

Which has been great. I've recovered so much of my time back. I can sleep longer etc... And my health is better.

The reason for the four hour commute (total.. Not each way), is that my wife works in the Bay as well but in the opposite direction. So we split the distance. Her commute is two hours (hour each way) since she can drive. But it's better to be closer to her place of work since if there's anything that requires us getting back home, she can respond faster (20-30 minutes in non rush hour).

[toast0]

4 hours a day, 2 hours each way is probably a bus to caltrain, a decent length caltrain ride, and then a bus to the office. Plus idle time at the caltrain stations waiting for the next leg. Plus walking time.

Sometimes you're lucky and the bus and train schedules align, but in my experience, the bus schedule will come out, aligning to caltrain, then three weeks later, caltrain adjusts their schedule, and you've got 20 minutes between drop off and pickup again. It's better if you get a corporate shuttle to pick you up from caltrain, but still. Also, if you need to stay later than normal, bus and train service drops in frequency a lot, so you might be waiting even longer.

I was just avoiding traffic, so I drove to caltrain, which avoided the waiting on one end.

[kilbuz]

Four hours seems like a realistic estimate for daily commute time for a SF <-> SV round-trip pre-COVID, especially on public transit. I did the same, it was 3-3.5 hours by car, and 4 by MUNI/Caltrain/Shuttle. If I lived closer to Caltrain in the city, it would have helped a lot.

[Red_Leaves_Flyy]

I had a 3-4 hour commute on public to my minimum wage job that was a 5 minute drive away. I can't imagine wasting that much time even if I made 2-500k or more a year. What's money without the time to enjoy it?

[kilbuz]

Agree completely, no way to live. It was not sustainable, and only required after my job switched locations. I was working on alternative arrangements, but COVID gave me that.

[anodyne33]

At the time I was a sound guy and was regularly out 'till 2:00am+, drinking the whole time and back up for work at ~8:00. You clearly know how that changed. I still went out, both of my local spots had good N/A beers (try Kaliber if you have the desire) but that was another complete lifestyle change for me. I wasn't photostrobic sensitive so I lucked out there.

[rurban]

Why don't you just live in the parking lot? 4 hours is insane

[majewsky]

I know you're probably suggesting this in good faith, but this being among the first solutions to be suggested might be one of the most Silicon-Valley things I've ever seen.

[SamBam]

"If we use inflatable tents in the parking lots, we could rent them out by the hour to shift workers. Different workers could use them during the day and during the night."

[igetspam]

When I worked at Google, a friend of mine lived in the parking lot. He had BBQs there. This was a decade ago but it's not nearly as crazy as it sounds. He could park his RV at B42 but he was plenty comfortable in the Pi lot.

[Galaxity]

That's true, but I think they're clearly joking here.

[sandworm101]

Parking lot? A truely motivated employee who cares about his job will sleep on a bedroll stored neetly under their desk. Mobility is only an issue for those slackers who choose to spend time away from the office.

(I say this as i, in all honesty, will be sleeping on a couch at work this christmas. Im in the military. There are some few jobs that require literally sleeping in your office and i was just volunteered/volentold to cover one of them over the holidays.)

[igetspam]

It's not legal. The buildings are not zoned for housing. Google interns learned this the hard way. You are not allowed to sleep at a Google office for more than three days in a row and you must have a permanent residence on file. Shipping packages to the office is OK but personal mail is not. Unless those packages are big knives or empty shell casings for reloading. (That was learned by an acquaintance.)

[sandworm101]

My "company" is not subject to the same rules. For instance, there is not a single disabled person in my division. They are specifically banned through medical standards. We are very much allowed to sleep at work. Very often we have no choice in the matter.

[RobRivera]

Lmao, I remember pulling sdo over thnaksgiving. Best. Shift. Ever.

[sandworm101]

Worst night for SDO is new years. Something will happen. Someone will be arrested. You will be talking to MPs new years day.

[dtech]

There's no bunks where it requires that?

[sandworm101]

Covid. For really important things we cannot mix teams. If we were living together and someone tested possitive, the entire team would be useless. So we are all on base but still issolating. Even contact with the food delivery people is a whole big thing. Our christmas dinners will be in paper boxes disinfected and left outside our biuldings. It's only for a couple weeks until holiday leave is over.

[testplzignore]

The parking lot is not zoned for residential use and the NIMBYs would never allow it.

[athriren]

multi-family vehicles were a bridge too far.