“Hey, buddy, this doesn’t work!” he shouted at the engineer, another employee told Duhigg. “Did you do this?”
“You mean, program the robot?” the engineer said. “Or design that tool?”
“Did you f— do this?” Musk asked him.
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to?” the engineer replied apologetically.
“You’re a f— idiot!” Musk shouted back. “Get the f— out and don’t come back!”
Wow.
I figured he was engineering clueless. No wonder Tesla vehicles have issues.
It gets worse.
“After Model S engineer Cristina Balan emailed Musk about what she saw as serious safety issues in product design, she was escorted to what she thought would be a face-to-face with him. Instead, she was led into a security room and fired.
For years Balan has been trying to sue Tesla for defamation. But Tesla lawyers have been able to keep Balan's evidence from being presented to a judge.”
“One way Tesla lowered its injury numbers, according to "Reveal," was by denying ambulance service to some injured factory workers who requested it. Medical staff were told not to call 911 without management permission.”
This is horrific! At one point their injury rates topped that of sawmills and meat cutters (some of the most dangerous industries). Rather than document injuries, they hid them. One person was sent to the hospital by Lyft instead of an ambulance.
Space-X sounds like hell.
“Former SpaceX engineer Ashley Kosak published an essay online in 2021 that described a culture in which sexism ran rampant and the company did nothing to stop it. She described “countless men” making sexual advances. After one male co-worker “ran his hand over my shirt, from my lower waist to my chest,” she reported the incident but said no one followed up and the man remained on her team.”
“ SpaceX did not respond to the Verge’s allegations. The publication did obtain an email written by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell that said the company takes sexual harassment seriously, and that ‘we also know we can always do better.’”
Of course they know they can do better. What they DIDN’T say is that they WILL do better.
Usually when they mean “we take it seriously” is they run it by legal and say, “how can we avoid a lawsuit.” I’ve seen this movie.