My comments to a NYT article, whose link is here

https://nyti.ms/3Xeb8eh#permid=122462774

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Many of us have our own nightmarish work experiences, coupled with some occasional good things.

I worked at an airplane company that used to be based in Seattle, then moved its headquarters to Chicago, and recently to Arlington Virginia.

Some of the projects were a great combination of software and mathematics, which were challenging and interesting.

Unfortunately, the work environment was crowded, noisy, and distracting, which made it very difficult to concentrate on the myriad details. Some of the lower-level managers were aware of the problem and sympathetic to our concerns. Unfortunately the upper-level managers were not.

A friend of mine, whom I had never worked with at any job, had a PhD in math, had written a [poor] book on math anxiety, and was currently underemployed.

The company had an employee referral program, so I put in a good work for him, and he came in for an interview, which turned out to be not much more than a social visit.

The company made him an offer, which he accepted. I had been with the company for 7 years and had made some good contributions in some technically challenging areas. Nevertheless, they gave him a starting salary greater than my current salary.

He turned out to be a disaster, not doing any work, and, instead of working the 8-4;30 shift, would walk out of the office and go home at 10:45 AM. When I raised the issue with him, he said "You take care of you, and I'll take care of me.

It took management a year to notice