Letting you go because you don't want to come to the office hardly counts as harassment or retaliation. These employees have nothing on Amazon because I'm 100% sure it's not in their contract to be WFH forever.

Dude, in 2020-2021 you had free money pumping into the system. Everyone with a pulse made money. Doesn't mean you were more productive, once the stimulus stopped and interest rate went up, many companies found their pants were down.

It's when the times are lean that WFH needs to prove itself, not when there was money raining down from the sky.

I live in upper QA now. It’s nice. Schools are decent and there’s a nice community. Everything is walkable and the urban core including SLU is close by. It’s like living in Newton except Newton is in Back Bay. The views are killer too. The waterfront and sculpture park is also walking distance.

Used to live in SLU while I was house hunting. I like SLU though, lots of rooftop bars. A little soulless but for a modern development, it’s not bad. I like it better than Seaport, Kendall and the developments in DC. It was way cheaper to rent in SLU than those places too. There’s a lot more biotech and lab diversification going on in SLU now, which is good for the neighborhood to grow out of Amazon.

Boston isn’t bad but for the things I enjoy and do, Seattle has all of them plus better hiking and outdoors. I don’t worry about Lyme with the kids and there’s just a lot more stuff to do outside with the kids than sitting on a beach or going skiing. To each their own.

I didn’t sweep it under the rug. Someone above asked me what was the negative and I said homeless and drug addiction was the negative. Boston does a great job shoving all its homeless and addicts to one corner of the city. But you’re completely kidding yourself if you think Boston doesn’t have a massive problem as well. It’s just they do a better job with out of sight, out of mind. The overdose rates tell a different story though. I used to volunteer for that community in the South End and Mel Cass and know first hand.

Not all Seattle neighborhoods are afflicted either. I don’t have homeless and drug addicts in my neighborhood. It’s pretty nice. You do you though. It’s great this country allows us many options. And Seattle has a more moderate mayor than Boston right now.

Lots of nice neighborhoods outside of downtown and Cap Hill. I don’t judge Boston based on Downtown Crossing and Allston-Brighton either.

Maybe I’m just in less shape than you. But plenty of tough trails out here on the west. It’s comical actually that you think the Boston area within a 3 hour drive have anything remotely close to the kind of hikes you can get in Seattle with Mount Rainier, Mount Baker in the vicinity.

What are you talking about? The weather in the summer is insanely good. Also the views are what makes a hike a hike. Otherwise you can go hike on your treadmill at that steep incline you want.

And all the breweries I’ve been in Seattle have air conditioning.

Seattle has almost twice the land area as Boston with just slightly larger population. The Seattle metro area is a million people smaller than Boston.

By your logic San Diego or Austin is a bigger city than Boston.

All true except schools in Seattle are still largely functional compared to Boston. It was much harder to raise a family in Boston and before we left Seattle we had moved to a Boston collar suburb because BPS was just so terrible. This means a lot of the benefits of Boston aren’t quite as applicable and accessible anymore if you have kids but can’t afford private school. In Seattle we are still able to raise three kids in the city proper. So pound for pound the amenities available to us are much greater.

You will also notice there are well maintained playgrounds everywhere across Seattle with actual kids in them. In Boston, many of these playgrounds are empty. Overall I feel the city is more family friendly.

I also don’t agree on the public transportation either. Seattle has a phenomenal bus system, way better than Boston’s and it goes everywhere including sleepy single family home neighborhoods past midnight at 15 min frequency. There are also dedicated bus lanes everywhere. The rail system is small but it is growing and really I get around faster on the bus in Seattle than I did on the green line in Boston, and most lines now with the state of MBTA. We are 15 min bus ride from science museum, pike place, zoo, three or four farmers markets, concert venues and several large parks.

Vancouver is a phenomenal city too and it’s just 2.5 hrs away. We go often for events and festivals. NYC is much farther away for Boston and not a great drive.

The biggest downside is the homeless situation. Boston shuffles all its homeless and drug addicts to one corner of the city so it is out of sight and out of mind for much of the rest of the city. In Seattle this population is more spread out. Also anti-camping laws are illegal across the West Coast due to a federal court ruling that applies to the western states.

They are mostly new. Seattle builds apartments like crazy across the city. Rent is also cheaper than Boston.

Nothing.

I moved to Seattle which is arguably not cheaper but my quality of life has improved significantly. Seattle is a more manageable city in terms of either public transit or driving as parking is plentiful (Amazon has free parking for the masses in their garages everywhere across the city). The nature and hiking in the PNW is way more beautiful. The urban amenities are just as good. There is much less overt racism in Seattle than Boston. That shit takes a toll on you when you’re not white and living in Boston. There are downsides here too but it’s not nearly enough for me to even think about missing Boston.

Boston is a great city if you’re white and with a small trust fund. Seattle is great for when you’ve got a funny last name and nothing but your skills and you’re trying to make boatloads of money and establish your career.

Once you leave Boston you realize that cities much smaller and less prestigious than it can have the same amenities and better quality of life.