The millennial generation is, at times, a clueless one. Or, at least certain millennials are clueless. That may explain then why 25-year old Talia Jane ranted to Yelp CEO, Jeremy Stoppelman, about her job Jane was employed in customer service for Yelp’s Eat24 delivery service when she sent out the open letter over Medium.
Jane was shortly thereafter fired. Stoppelman tweeted out that he had nothing to do with the decision. Despite the inappropriate tone of her letter, Stoppelman even seems to be taking some of it to heart.
1/5 Late last night I read Talia’s medium contribution and want to acknowledge her point that the cost of living in SF is far too high.
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
2/5 I have been focused on this issue, backing anti-NIMBY group SFBARF and speaking out frequently about the need to lower cost of housing.
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
3/5 I’ve not been personally involved in Talia being let go and it was not because she posted a Medium letter directed at me.
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
5/5 entry level jobs migrate to where costs of living are lower. Have already announced we are growing EAT24 support in AZ for this reason.
— Jeremy Stoppelman (@jeremys) February 20, 2016
Relevant or important or not, Jane’s points were hardly communicated in the appropriate manner. She starts her letter off with “Dear Jeremy,” and it only gets worse from there.
Her long letter includes irrelevant anecdotal tidbits which do not belong in communication to a CEO, but rather a personal blog. She whines, complains, and seeks to guilt the company which has employed her.
Sadly, Jane is not alone in her situation. But, she is a college graduate. She should be able to market herself as such and be able to take better than a minimum wage job she says pays $8.15 after taxes.
Her letter also expresses a naivety about sacrifices to make in life, about where she ought to live. Does she not know that San Francisco is the most expensive place to live? Has she heard of getting roommates? What about financial help from or living with her father? What about other careers besides media?
She also asks that her company treat its employees as charity recipients. And oh, there’s that attitude again:
Jane shared in an update to her letter that she was let go, something that she said was “entirely unplanned (but I guess not completely unexpected?).” She is asking for financial help in the meantime. She “guess[es it’s] not completely unexpected?” That may be the first smart thought Jane has had in the whole letter. Her situation is an unfortunate one, but if she’s not grateful for her job, why should Yelp be expected to keep her on?
