美国国家公共电台 NPR For Some Facebook Employees, Free Food Is Coming To An End

 

LAKSHMI SINGH, HOST:

There's a certain stereotype¹ of Silicon² Valley tech offices - that they provide endless snacks and meals around the clock.

Well, now there's an effort underway to do away with that legendary³ perk⁴. Menlo Park in California is banning Facebook from offering free food at its newest campus, and San Francisco is considering something similar.

KQED's Tonya Mosley has more.

TONYA MOSLEY, BYLINE⁵: The inside of Facebook in Menlo Park, Calif., is the stuff of lore⁶. This 430,000-square-foot campus offers perks⁷ like an onsite cleaners, a dentist and free food, basically a smorgasbord of anything your heart desires - custom omelets, braised beef, handmade sushi. You really never have to leave the office.

It's what lured⁸ Ben Werner here. He traveled all the way from France to get a tour of Facebook from a friend who works there. He wanted to see for himself all of the perks he has read so much about.

BEN WERNER: I'd like to have those things taken care of - probably also would mean that I'd spend more time at work. But I guess it's a two-way street then that benefits us both.

MOSLEY: But about 8 miles away in Mountain View, Calif., the home of Google - free food, at least at the new Facebook campus, won't be on the menu.

LENNY SIEGEL: We believe these companies are part of our community. A growing number of their employees live in our community. And we want them to be a part of our community.

MOSLEY: Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel says, for years, restaurant owners have complained that employees of Google never come out to eat or shop. So when the city learned that Facebook would be opening a new office here in September, the council passed a measure that bars the company from serving free food in its corporate⁹ cafeteria.

Facebook said, no problem. Under the agreement, the social media company can subsidize meals from restaurants open to the public.

But Mayor Siegel acknowledges there are still a few kinks that need to be smoothed out.

SIEGEL: Facebook is a global company, and some of their people work in the middle of the night. And if all the restaurants are closed, I would be open to considering food service in the middle of the night.

MOSLEY: Erika Rasmussen manages an open-air grocery store called the Milk Pail Market next to the new Facebook office. To her, the thought of feeding 2,000 employees who are hungry around the clock is a bit nerve-wracking.

ERIKA RASMUSSEN: We don't want Facebook to overwhelm this area, but we do want Facebook to support this area because we will need their patronage¹⁰ to survive.

MOSLEY: Facebook says it's still working out the details, but some other ideas also include turning the ground floor of this new building into a food court with local restaurants open to the public.

Deepak Rao, a tech employee at a startup in Silicon Valley, says perks aren't the defining reason he and his colleagues do the work they do. But sometimes, he says, when you're working long hours, perks like free food feel like a necessity.

DEEPAK RAO: To go out, drive, or whatever, go eat, come - that could take an hour and a half, which you might not have.

MOSLEY: So for tech companies, it's been worth it to keep employees like Rao at work for as long as they can stay by providing food in-house. These new laws will change what's become a given in Silicon Valley work culture.

The city of San Francisco is also considering a similar measure that would ban cafeterias in all new office buildings, forcing tech employees to venture out and share a bit of the wealth outside of their walls.

For NPR News, I'm Tonya Mosley.

1 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

2 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

3 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

4 perk   

n.额外津贴；赏钱；小费；

参考例句：

• His perks include a car provided by the firm.他的额外津贴包括公司提供的一辆汽车。
• And the money is,of course,a perk.当然钱是额外津贴。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 lore   

n.传说；学问，经验，知识

参考例句：

• I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他，向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
• Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。

7 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

8 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。