It’s like saying that the people working in the slaughter houses are actually kind folk who do like animals and care deeply for their well being. That can be absolutely true, but they still work for a slaughter house. Your care and trust doesn’t matter a bit because the fundamental nature of the organization is that it profits from cruelty. I understand it pays well, and that maybe they are trying to be nice and all, but yeah there’s only so much purity of heart you can insist while still working for the slaughter house that is Facebook.
I actually think this analogy is the very opposite of what you may be trying to explain.
A lot of people that work at slaughterhouses do so because they have no other choice. It is the best opportunity that's afforded to them. It is a job that causes trauma for many, often has long, grueling hours, and doesn't pay well.
Working at Facebook couldn't be further from that situation. Never mind the obvious perks (the tech, the white collar work, the gourmet food, I hear there's also a wood shop where you can go do woodworking on your break, the half a million dollar salary, etc etc etc). But the overwhelming majority of these people have the whole world of job opportunities to choose from, if they're willing to take a pay cut from an INSANELY HIGH salary to just a VERY HIGH salary.
So in that sense, they couldn't be further away from working at a slaughterhouse. The fact is, they could quite literally work anywhere else (any other company or any other city/country with remote work now), and they choose not to. It's not desperation but the textbook case of golden handcuffs.
It's very, very difficult to say no to 500k a year. I'm not even sure I could say no if I were in that position. I'd probably tell myself "Just coast for two more years and both my kids won't have to pay for college" or something like that, and keep going.
I have said no to a Facebook offer before (I actually recommend everybody apply to Facebook, they give great offers you can use for negotiation elsewhere and it wastes their time). Like you said, we’re talking about the differences between insanely and very high here. I don’t think a 20% increase in TC is worth making the world a worse place, and I’d hope for most people that’s not a hard decision.
