Unpacking Mark Zuckerberg’s Midlife Crisis

Michael Calore: Only 54 percent?

Lauren Goode: Yeah, no, 38 percent said fair, which did surprise me.

Michael Calore: That is very surprising.

Zoë Schiffer: No love for their fellow employees.

Lauren Goode: And then 12.6 percent, I was like, are these people trolling? Said they hope to see more.

Zoë Schiffer: Oh my God.

Lauren Goode: I know. That’s evil.

Michael Calore: I mean—

Zoë Schiffer: Go work at X.

Michael Calore: Yeah, go work at X.

Lauren Goode: Be hardcore. That’s a plug for Zoë’s book.

Zoë Schiffer: Thank you.

Michael Calore: The concept of, “We’re going to fire you because you’re fulfilling your incorrect basic need with this credit that we’re giving you to fulfill your basic need. It’s just wild.

Lauren Goode: Right? I think the idea behind the $25 Grubhub credit is you’re working late, so here’s some food to keep you sustained while you continue to toil away at your desk. And someone says, “Well, I’m going to go to Rite Aid and buy toothpaste instead” or whatever, “or order toothpaste instead.” And maybe they’re eating—

Zoë Schiffer: Doesn’t seem like the toothpaste. We don’t know.

Lauren Goode: We don’t know. Doesn’t seem like a major or fireable infraction. But in fact, we don’t know the whole story. We don’t know if they were low performers or something else was going on, but this is what we know.

Michael Calore: Wow.

Lauren Goode: I mean, this is what Blind tells us. So it must be true.

Michael Calore: That half of the employees who responded to that question have a heart.

Lauren Goode: Exactly.

Michael Calore: OK. Zoë, what have you overheard in Silicon Valley?

Zoë Schiffer: Mine’s more of an overseen, if you will, but does the phrase “Juul money” mean anything to you guys?

Michael Calore: No.

Zoë Schiffer: OK.

Lauren Goode: No. Is it like a crypto thing?

Zoë Schiffer: No. OK. So Juul, the vaping company.

Michael Calore: Oh, I thought you were going to talk about the singer.

Zoë Schiffer: Oh yeah. We’re going to talk about music now. No, Juul the vaping company recently settled a class action lawsuit, and those payments have been hitting the bank accounts of Gen Z. And there’s a TikTok trend now where they’re posting what they’re going to do with all their Juul money. I mean, some of the payments are like $8,000, which—