Google's Perks Are So Amazing, Employees Have Found Ways To Secretly Live On Campus And Avoid Paying Rent
REUTERS/Erin Siegal
Google perks are so good, some employees say they've spent weeks living on campus to avoid paying rent, according to a Quora thread.
"Technically, you weren't supposed to live at the office, but people got around that by living in their cars in the parking lot of the office or the Shoreline parking lot," one Googler writes. "[One] guy lived in the camper for 2-3 years. Showered at the gym. Did his laundry on campus. Ate every meal on campus he could. After the 2-3 years, he had saved up enough money to buy a house."
Former Google designer Brandon Oxedine says he lived on Google's campus for 3 months in 2013.
"I was in a unique situation working at Google where I had showers and food that were very convenient to me," he writes on Quora. "I lived in a Volvo station wagon...I set up a twin mattress from IKEA and put up black curtains (on the 90% blacked out windows) and slept there mostly every night."
Ben Discoe, a Google [X] UI programmer, says he lived on Google's campus for 13 months.
"I had a house payment and alimony to pay," Discoe writes. "No money left for South Bay rental prices. I got a 1990 GMC Vandura custom conversion van for $1800 (blue velour, wood paneling, previously tricked out by a burner) and that (roughly speaking) was my entire rent for the 13 months." He, like Oxedine, also put Ikea mattresses in his car and used curtains to block out the light.
Where is Google's security in all this? Discoe says a security guard came by once during his stay at the Googleplex, learned he was an employee, and never came back.
It's not clear what the Googlers like Discoe did when they had to go to the bathroom at night.
Here's the complete Quora thread.
- I spent 2 weeks in India. A highlight was visiting a small mountain town so beautiful it didn't seem real.
- I quit McKinsey after 1.5 years. I was making over $200k but my mental health was shattered.
- Some Tesla factory workers realized they were laid off when security scanned their badges and sent them back on shuttles, sources say
- World Liver Day 2024: 10 Foods that are necessary for a healthy liver
- Essential tips for effortlessly renewing your bike insurance policy in 2024
- Indian Railways to break record with 9,111 trips to meet travel demand this summer, nearly 3,000 more than in 2023
- India's exports to China, UAE, Russia, Singapore rose in 2023-24
- A case for investing in Government securities