this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
1133 points (96.9% liked)
Programmer Humor
22752 readers
384 users here now
Welcome to Programmer Humor!
This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!
For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.
Rules
- Keep content in english
- No advertisements
- Posts must be related to programming or programmer topics
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Amateurs!
At Thermo Fischer, you had to work for 5 years before you got the branded Tshirt! And a base all cap.
Besides the odd biro, never once did I ever use company merch outside of an office. Definitely never used the shitty backpacks or laptop bags. Those got donated to good will.
Always thought that company merch is cringe. There may be a small minority of companies that do awesome things that aren't immoral, but the majority aren't.
OpenSUSE gives out cute little chameleon plushies and if that's wrong I don't want to be right.
The merchiest company in my country is one that does online casino software. Worst part is, they have the highest quality merch so people actually use it. I've seen the logo on like Thule backpacks and shit.
Hasn't gotten me to go work for them, but they're damn good at reminding people that they exist.
I'd always assumed they gave them a salary as well. Thats what I have at my job.
Is it a fair agreement if the only salaries you can find only pay subsistence wages?
At what point does it cross into slavery?
Most of the time we spend alive we have little to no control over how we spend it, sure we could do "anything", but only until you run out of money.
Well I think a big issue with that is monetary policy. Which bids up the price of goods using debt, as everything becomes financialized. It used to be a mortgage had a real physical cost as a lump of gold moved around, now its just numbers in a computer created out of the ether, and this bids up the cost of living in order to derive what we call economic growth. A transfer from the young to the old essentially.
The 2% inflation we attempt to achieve is after hedonic adjustments, substitutions, and investments are taken out, and so the money supply grows at 10% a year as people are clinging by the skin of their teeth to eek out more aggregate demand to attempt to infinitely grow an economy.
The 2% inflation was decided in the 90s with no real logic put forth as to where it would lead, and its obviously lead to huge bubbles and asset inequality as people try to profit off the first mover advantage of their debt being debased, as the CPI was progressively modified to loosen the money supply to promote more economic growth over time.
In the late 80's they removed housing appreciation from the CPI for instance, and what do you expect that did to home prices? They did that to fix another problem with the CPI, which was that raising interest rates raised inflation during Volcker, making it a feedback loop that lead to the double digit increase in rates. So it was already broken and it was then patched like it was a car held together with duct tape.
You still get company swag? In the 2010's, I got a ton of it, but not anymore. Maybe it is just that the company I was working at got too cheap to give out swag and when I switched jobs, I joined another cheapskate, but I assumed that it was the same everywhere.
I have enough company and recruiter swag collected during the good years that I have not needed to buy t-shirts, especially because I generally wear a collared shirt over them, so I don't care what logos and slogans they have.
I'm union blue collar, but yeah there's still branded swag and free meals/snacks during most meetings or training OT at least where I'm at.
Canadian plant, Texan ULC.
Just buy a seam ripper, and sanitize your branded sweater/blanket/jacket/etc from their embroidered trademark.
Isopropyl alcohol or xylene can take off most printed/transfer logos on plastic or metal objects.
Worst case scenario you give it to someone else/homeless so it doesn’t end up in a landfill or wastefully recycling an otherwise usable product.
I like the look of the stencil/shape left behind by a removed logo.
Feels rebellious.
Meh I don’t like wearing the logo outside but we get a decent number of hoodies and sweatpants which are great for WFH/indoors days. Usually a decent brand and comfy.
Buy a seam ripper, then spend every boring waste of time meeting picking out the logo stitching, find a new job when you're done.
I work for Microsoft. When I had a kid they sent a "care package" with some items. But literally every item had "Microsoft" or "Met Life" (our employee life insurance I think) all over everything.
I ripped the "met life" shirt off of the snoopy plush and trashed everything else.
It's not just limited to backpacks. They try to turn everything, even a kids blanket, into a fucking ad. It's so gross.
You can't send some cheap items to your employee without branding it with an ad.
I don't work for MetLife. Why the fuck would that even be on there? I guess they want to keep reminding me to get life insurance because I'm a kid. Like, holy fuck, I hate this shit.
Fuck Microsoft. Fuck their support of genocide. I didn't even choose to work here. They bought my startup company for pennies on the dollar during Covid.
I ripped the "met life" shirt off of the snoopy plush and trashed everything else.
Trashing was maybe unnecessary? Could've donated it to those in need.
However I do support the sentiment. Fuck Microsoft. Hopefully you'll be able to find employment that is more fulfilling and less genocidal. (This is not a stab at you, I get working for an evil company and wanting to get away from it).
It’s probably also because of tax. Here in the Netherlands, you cannot provide any clothes without a logo of a certain size. Otherwise it would be seen as ‘wages’. True to some extent. This is why companies here print their logos on stuff (even for newborn rompers).
Fuck Microsoft. Fuck their support of genocide.
I've been avoiding Microsoft like the plague because of other reasons for a long time, so I didn't know about this.
In the Netherlands it's Doppers
Wait, what.
I have to buy company merch, if I want it. Well, I did get a tote shopping bag one day..
view more: next ›