Having worked in the valley, I've seen what critical feedback meant in many companies there, and it removes all usefulness of the info because there is a ceiling of what is socially acceptable to say; therefore, you can't know how bad or urgent things are.

Everything is ASAP. They are super excited about everything. And nothing you do is wrong, it just could be improved or they like it but don't love it.

You don't know if something is important, basically.

Just like Louis CK said, "if you used 'amazing' on chicken nuggets, what are you going to say when your first child is born?". But in reverse.

Personally, I'd rather work with someone who would tell me my work is terrible if it is.

In Germany, you can't even legally say somebody did a bad job at your company in a recommendation letter. Companies created a whole subtext to workaround that, it's crazy.

Some things are just bad. You should be able to say it is. Not by saying it could be better. Not by using euphemism. It's just something that needs to go to the trash.

In fact, I don't trust people who can't receive this information, even if not packaged with tact (which you should attempt to, but life happens). If you can't handle people not being perfectly polite every time, I can't help but feel I won't be able to count on you when things get hard.

That must be the French in me talking.

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qaq 7 days ago | parent | next [-]

I am with you on this. Worked in our Dublin office was so refreshing to have straight up communication vs whatever the song and dance we do here in US.

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1718627440 7 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> In Germany, you can't even legally say somebody did a bad job at your company in a recommendation letter. Companies created a whole subtext to workaround that, it's crazy.

I don't think it's just about legality. Whether the recommendation letter is included in the application is at the distinction of the applicant. When you want it to reach the next company, you must write is so, that the former employee considers it to be a good recommendation.

	▲	pjmlp 7 days ago \| parent [-]
		It is, as Portuguese it surprised me a lot. First of all, in southern countries we hardly do recommendation letters, if we do they usually ended up being written by ourselves and if the company agrees with the content, it gets signed. Exactly because of this, you are supposed to give referrals that then talk whatever they feel like about the experience working with you was all about. Having a whole legal process for recommendation letters, that have created a whole industry of hidden language that looks good on the surface but tells exactly otherwise, was a surprise to me. https://www.betriebsrat.de/news/arbeitnehmer/achtung-arbeits... https://www.zeugnisprofi.com/wissen/arbeitszeugnis-geheimcod... https://www.orizon.de/de/karriereratgeber/arbeitszeugnis-ver... Just some examples, there are lawyers that analyse recommendation letters as one of their services.

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emmelaich 7 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I'd just quote Mourinho / Carlsen. "If I say anything I'm in big trouble".