[neilk]

I wouldn't go so far as to call Google "evil" for reducing perks, but the microkitchens were a lot better before. They used to be overflowing with goodies, many perishable. After the bean-counter moment it was all dry cereal and prepackaged snacks.

For me it was just a "shrug, whatever" moment. I realized that as a growing public company Google wanted to control costs more.

And I might be weird, but excessive perks creep me out a little. I worry about it warping my mind too much. One day during my time at Google, I was in a grocery store and felt mild outrage at the thought that they were going to charge me for food.

Once you're used to a perk, it's another fishhook the company has embedded into your flesh.

[copper]

I imagine her main gripe would be that the free food was treated as a component of her compensation, and then withdrawn for the perfectly rational (but unrelated) reason of cutting costs.If someone did that to my salary (and it's happened a few times, for various reasons), that would generate a certain amount of ill-will.

[neilk]

That was her fault. She acknowledges her naïveté in accepting this as part of her salary negotiation, but strangely clings to her outrage as well.

[wisty]

It's also their fault. They made an offer they weren't planning on keeping. And they lose the most - an irate employee is a dead loss to an organization, but still gets a paycheck (until they more on or get fired, which takes a long time).

[copper]

That's true. I'd say that time is pretty much the only thing that can heal outrage about such things, though.

[jes]

I've found that doing some introspection helps me to deal with situations where I'm upset.

[mjwalshe]

Well that's human nature people get far more upset about losing something losing $20 a day in free food feels much worse than gaining the same amount in pay.

[mvgoogler]

"After the bean-counter moment it was all dry cereal and prepackaged snacks."

You must be going to different MKs than I do. My experience is the MKs have always had (at least since Dec 2008, when I started) plenty of seasonal fresh fruit, pre-made salads and sandwiches in addition to the dried cereals and pre-packaged snacks. <shrug>

The perks are nice but are far from the top of the list of things that I would miss about working here - working with world class people, the opportunity to work on huge problems at scale, the amount that's invested in internal tools and processes, a culture that allows and even encourages you to question management - those are the types of things that I would miss.

The perks are just nice extras.

[zem]

yeah, i've been working there a few months, and the perks are very nice, but the people i get to work with, and the deep belief in code quality, are what makes it such a pleasure to work there. (that said, i'd be seriously upset if the shuttles were taken away).