1y ago

Elon's "extremely hardcore" toxic work culture means people are forced to take Adderall without a prescription to meet their workload. Just ask SpaceX employees.

"Some SpaceX workers resorted to taking Adderall to keep up with the pace of work at the company's launch facility, and others found themselves falling asleep in the bathroom during long workweeks, a recent Reuters investigation found.

"Travis Carson, a former SpaceX worker at the company's facility in Brownsville, Texas, told Reuters some workers took Adderall — a stimulant designed to help people with ADHD improve their focus and concentration levels — without a prescription to keep up with the pace of work."

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-workers-took-adderall-slept-bathroom-iv-treatments-deadlines-report-2023-11

What a nightmare!

Elon #ElonMusk #X #SpaceX #Twitter #business #economy #finance @technology

55 comments

Where?! Where are they getting this Adderall without a prescription? If i could just be directed to the website so i can voice my outrage there
- Honestly, my wife has such a difficult time getting her prescription filled right now, black market Adderall really annoys me.
  
  I know there is a shortage at the moment, but I feel your pain for another reason. I am an addict in recovery with add and I will never be able to take medication because the minute I even try to talk about my issues it's "drug seeking." But people I know who need to take controlled substances like benzodiazapines who are not addicts in recovery? They're still treated like drug addicts, even when they have nothing in their medical history that would suggest that, and they never ask for refills early etc.
  The opioid crisis drove us so far in the opposite direction that people who truly need a drug can't get it, and drugs can't be prescribed for the issues they were literally invented to help.
  Also, Stratera is a non-narcotic option. It didn't seem to do much, but may be worth a try if she hasn't tried it yet.
  
  Same. It's frustrating that my legitimate prescription has to jump through so many hurdles and face skepticism because of its usefulness as a recreational drug (or occupational, I guess?).
  
  Has she tried pure dextro based ones? I feel like Adderall is so ubiquitous cuz people don't realize there's an even better lateral step up?
- Telegram? I have seen them on the drugs market channels I follow, but they are pretty rare.

If you're taking illegal performance enhancers to get you through your work day, then whatever you're doing there isn't worth it.
- Idk, I’d be willing to overwork myself if it were for a really good cause, like ending hunger, or rapidly building houses that will be provided free at point of use to unhoused and low income people, etc. definitely not a normal job I’d do it fit though.
  
  Those are the kind of excuses people at SpaceX make. When a leader fools workers into thinking they are doing unique and societal-changing work, he can push them to work for any amount of punishing hours.
  The entire gaming industry runs on this mentality.
  
  Also really depends on the frequency and reason. Did something go horribly wrong once and does this one-time effort fix it or gives enough time for a decent solution down the road? Sure, I'll put in some extra work. Don't look for me though when it's resolved, I'm on holiday with all the overtime I should've gotten. If it's a structural problem because management wants to squeeze as much money out of their employees and refuses to hire enough people... Fuck that. And yeah, corporate uses the first thing as an excuse, luring you into staying longer "one more time, we really can't do it without you".
- They do it because rich individuals like Elon have a vice grip control over the tech industry in this country and you don't need to do it anymore once one of them deigns to give you a reputation as a hard worker that deserves the money (that they themselves don't deserve).

Oh cool, so Elon has helped contribute to the adderall shortage in a roundabout way.

- Probably not likely as long as they aren't binging and not sleeping. It's when sleeping becomes irregular that the real problems start.

Ah! So just like the financial industry which is abusing those like hell
- Yesterday evening I took a peek into improving my financial standing and understood very little of the whole convoluted mess called finance and the terms it uses.
  I could totally understand why you'd need to take that stuff to even keep the whole picture together in your mind.
  
  While I am not one of those people, some of the jobs in finance is basically high level mathematics and statistics.

@ajsadauskas @technology it sounds dangerous on more than one level.

@ajsadauskas @technology this kind of shit is all the fault of the pyramids, megalomaniacs like musk know no if they throw enough pain agony and bodies at his projects that history would eventually forget the damage and pain he caused and only remembering for the good or alleged good he has done, it's about an everlasting legacy with these lunatics.
- I wonder if it is/was fundamentally different that the experience of working for, like, Steve Jobs or something?
  
  Steve Jobs was a tyrant, and awful to his employees. Maybe in a different way, but he was not fun to work for.

Didn't SBF do this shit too? I wonder how widespread in various industries it is to basically have to take performance enhancing amphetamines just to keep up.
- The most ironic part is 90% of the time, any finer detail work or big picture stuff comes out dogshit. Amphetamine seems to be more of a an effort/endurance drug, not necessarily performance in my experience
  Edit: its like that Felix Felices potion from Harry Potter. I maintain it simply got people motivated to the extent they positioned and conditioned themselves to be amenable to the hidden opportunities available
  
  The problem with tweakers is that they feel so good, every stupid idea they have feels like a breakthrough. Okay, there's a lot worse problems with them, but that one is relevant. They have stupid ideas that they think are brilliant.

Twitter's culture is starting to look like McKinsey or EY. The people that will succeed in that environment are the pieces of shit that are willing to put career over everything else. Friends, family, and the coworkers.

They are forced? It's illegal to quit?
These are people who refuse to leave Twitter, no matter how bad they are treated there. Maybe they should learn to quit instead of taking drugs to deal with the job.
I know American work culture is "don't quit", but come on, there are limits... If your work place is actually insane, you should quit. :)
No wonder this Elon fucker laughs all the way to the bank.

And people who don't get enough sleep start making mistakes.

Great additional read: https://www.reuters.com/world/spacex-worker-injuries-soar-elon-musks-rush-mars-2023-11-10/

@ajsadauskas @technology ok, who wants to go into space with equipment made by people that can barely stay awake?

Lol, watch him try to make nerualink mandatory.

Dudes are literally working in meth 💀
Ngl I'm a senior engineer and I take 2.5mg of Adderall once in a while to go through a tough bug or release. I can't imagine taking it every day tho, the side effects really start to show and eventually you'd do worse than without it entirely.
It really messed with your head with long term use - it's not gonna end well for these people.
- Adderall is also meant to be an adhd drug to help people function. I hate seeing people using these drugs recreationally. You should not have them at all.
  p.s. it's not meth, just because it is chemically similar.
  
  And the fact that there is a shortage on a large amount of ADHD meds just makes this all the worse.
  
  people using these drugs recreationally
  I'd like to be pedantic and point out that these people are using the drugs occupationaly
- Adderall is not meth. Don't call it that.
  
  Meth is short for "crystal methamphetamine." Adderall is made of four different amphetamines. All amphetamines are stimulants. You're splitting hairs here.
  They are not the same in terms of the euphoric high that meth has and Adderall does not, so Adderall tends to be less addictive.
  However, long-term use of Adderall can still result in physical dependency and withdrawals when coming off of it and is a stimulant much like meth.
  
  It is though.

@ajsadauskas @technology
I dunno, that's the only thing I've ever heard about SpaceX that makes it sound like it might be a chill place to work. Beats the tar out of free Fruit Loops and a Pac Man cabinet in the break room.

55 comments