Ansel, if you didn't grow up among them and have never shared their company for an extended period, you could be forgiven for not realizing just how little wealthy people are aware of people who make minimum wage, much less the reality of the lives of those trying to survive on such low wages.

"Those people" are little more than data in a spreadsheet, an amusing anecdote, and a momentary distraction...the middle management's problem.

Wealth segregates the rich from the rest of humanity and produces a kind of sociopathic behavior. You can see a similar disconnect between well-payed, college-educated professionals in the suburbs and upper income neighborhoods. They see lower classes of people as "others" and refer to them in terms that clearly reveal that segregated point of view. They see a distinct and separate group, not individuals and certainly not peers.

By the way, paranoia is part of the Microsoft culture; so, any meeting has the feeling of being unnecessarily secretive. Microsoft is simply courting investors and customers with this meeting; the rich need a bit of stroking now and again...and again...and again...

Weak.

@6

Right "city," right "stereotype."

Look, now we agree.

See what happens when you take words out of context to further your own lying agenda.

Feel free to respond to what I ACTUALLY wrote.

Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond. Most of its commercial office space along with most of its employees in the area live in and around Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland and Issaquah.

So, where is YOUR confusion exactly, Phil?

Are you seeing things and hearing voices again?