{"id":32393,"date":"2021-05-04T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=32393"},"modified":"2021-05-05T13:51:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T17:51:53","slug":"when-is-having-sex-with-the-boss-a-good-idea-melinda-and-mackenzie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/04\/when-is-having-sex-with-the-boss-a-good-idea-melinda-and-mackenzie\/","title":{"rendered":"When is having sex with the boss a good idea? (Melinda and MacKenzie)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We are informed that sex between a high-income senior worker at a company and a lower-income junior worker is bad. Yet MacKenzie Scott, then a secretary (“administrative assistant”<\/a>) at D.E. Shaw, turned sex with Jeff Bezos, a vice-president at the firm, into a multi-$billion fortune. And recently we’ve learned that Melinda Gates<\/a>, who had sex with the founder\/CEO at her employer (Microsoft), will soon join the ranks of strong independent female billionaires<\/a>. Nobody is saying that it was a mistake for these women to have sex with their respective bosses. Nor is anyone criticizing the bosses for having sex with subordinates and then paying them $billions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(What if the boss is already married and only “high income” rather than rich? Sex with the boss can still be far more lucrative than continuing to work, depending on the state (see Real World Divorce<\/a><\/em> for each state’s child support formula and this calculation of how much better Ellen Pao would have done by having sex with her boss compared to suing Kleiner Perkins<\/a>).)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are people supposed to distinguish between bad-sex-at-the-office and good-sex-at-the-office?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An immigrant friend has been writing about Melinda Gates pulling the ripcord. A sampling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14-year-old] read Bill Gates’ divorce tweet and reacted: I so hate it how Americans always describe these things in this annoying sugary way: “we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple” or “we’re no longer a perfect match.” A Russian woman would have said directly: “He got boring” or “He is crazy, I don’t want to deal with him anymore” or “he is running out of money” or “screw him, I am out of here.” In fact, I don’t think any European would talk like Americans do. They wouldn’t probably even say anything because who cares?<\/p>

I am anticipating a firehose of stories: “Melinda Gates is the real founder of Microsoft, while Bill with the rest of the white men took all the credit”, “Melinda breaks the next layer of the glass ceiling in philanthropy”, “The rising tide of female billionaires: here is how divorce can empower you too”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From a U.S.-born friend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I heard Bill Gates is having a massive parasite removed. The surgical process should cost about 65 billion dollars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The actual complaint for divorce (“petition” in Washington State) filed by Melinda Gates<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n