Having office-shared with a recruiting firm, and having worked in several startups that have a "long-sales"/"closer" department.. I can attest that LinkedIn is exactly what it is like in the day-to-day jobs in the flesh, too. Lots of gongs/bells/claxons, always followed by _so_ many high-fives and a round of applause.
Everyone knows it's bullshit, but this kind of toxic/fake positivity is demanded, and weirdly, it works even though everyone knows it's fake.
Reminded me of the emails we constantly got with the subject “BANG A GONG!!!” at my last work place. It was only for sales achievements, and I never saw an email like that for any other department. It was nice they used the same subject every time, so I could filter them out.
Heh. Reminds me of this time a startup I worked for got acquired by a big financial firm in New York City - we roll into work the first day and at like 10:00 AM this woman starts ringing an actual cowbell and shouting “Standup! Standup Everybody!” They would literally call the developers into the daily standup like they were a herd of cattle.
I cannot stop laughing! Was the standup even about stuff developers would care about, or did they force you to listen to entirely unrelated financial status updates?
One week at one of my jobs they went around the place with a megaphone shouting at everyone before a weekly company all-hands. "It's all hands time!" etc. I walked out the door instead.
It was only for sales achievements, and I never saw an email like that for any other department.
Sales people ringing a bell in the office when they make a sale is traditional in certain sales environments. When I worked in radio, the sales people did it. I've seen food truck operators and baristas do it when someone tips.
It's related to the expression "ringing your own bell," which means to be shamelessly boastful.
> Lots of gongs/bells/claxons, always followed by _so_ many high-fives and a round of applause.
I've seen exactly this in the Technology department at one of my employers... When the sprints ended the teams that shipped an increment would gather around the bell and each take a turn ringing it while everyone cheered them on. Sprint symposiums happened the following week.
I worked on a project with them that impacted our "shadow IT" team and received an email marked as mandatory attendance required at a meeting. It turns out the meeting involved all 1000 people in the office clapping and cheering for the teams that were involved in the project.
I have no idea what they are doing now it's all remote.
Everyone knows it's bullshit, but this kind of toxic/fake positivity is demanded, and weirdly, it works even though everyone knows it's fake.