It probably wasn't a trap, just a way to get him to hire her while avoiding unwanted advances by dressing with a clear message.

It's a trap in the sense that if he makes a move there is a witness (mom). And she gets to pretend like she didn't understand and thought it was a business meeting to further the professional engagement and get the job she wanted. Or he gets to look ridiculous with this person he invited that came along dressed professionally and her mom came too. She can tell the story to all his "friends" and pretend like she just thought it was a "nice gesture". They will read between the lines and see what he was really trying to do. Maybe a few of them will turn to be reporters or bloggers, etc.

It didn't quite work out as well in the sense that he got to keep his job. And that's how sexism usually works with powerful people. They get golden parachutes, spend time at "sex addiction retreats for a 1 week" and they are "cured" and so on. But they are usually not punished for their behavior.

"Director of Rapid Evaluation and Mad Science at X, the moonshot factory"

The unprofessionalism should obvious by reading this "job title".

Shouldn't he be fired immediately according to company policy? That poor interview candidate.

> ... is still a director at X ...

one may be forgiven for wondering how long that will continue

Have you been to burning man? It is not just a "drug induced festival" for many burners.

Some people bring their 5 or 10 year old kids!

As a burner myself this makes me really sad that this is what people are going to think of Burning Man. Many people absolutely do bring their mother and wear whatever they want to the burn. It’s sad to consider those were done as guarding measures in this case.

There is a movement to get “Consent” ratified as the 11th principle, and I have to image for most of the people who aren’t for it, it’s because they don’t see the image problem the event has from stories like this, and wonder why people need to be reminded of something as basic as “Consent”. Well, here is why. I absolutely do not want this event I have fallen in love with to be associated with executives hitting on people and pushing drugs.

It seems odd to take this as an indictment of burning man when it should be verboten to invite anyone to an intimate event DURING A PROFESSIONAL INTERVIEW. Wait until after the interview and try to know them on personal terms.... then maybe. Even that seems super sketchy as you could interpet it as tied to the interview.

Actually even then, if you value your employment, I feel like this is a sacrifice you make when you cross the rubicon to director-level and above.

Rubicon is a rather shallow river and is easy to cross by the way. But comparing menage-a-trois to a watershed event in human history deflates the risks taken by Caesar.

I think the genocide he committed deflates it plenty.

Completely agree.

It was taken as an opportunity to announce that they are in fact a "burner". I suppose that's dope or something.

“See? My millions of dollars haven’t atrophied my soul.”

I won't go to Burning Man, and my SO won't go back after going with our friends due to the culture around the event. There are lots of great people that make an effort to go to Burning Man, but I have no desire to hang out with a good portion that are essentially mindless techbros, if I want that I can go wander over to Fremont, South Lake Union or similar.

The pervasive "fuck you, got mine" among this crowd is toxic, similar to lawbertarians espousing their beliefs. In the context of Burning Man these attitudes don't make sense, but this demographic does not reconcile their attitudes and that of what they participate in, all that matters is others have said they should go.

Have you read about the labor practices of Burning Man and related suicides?

I'm not surprised.

https://www.magneticmag.com/2018/08/report-burning-man-accus...

I haven't read about them, but a friend of mine got to spend quite a bit of time out on playa pre-burn as part of staff. The labor practices of the org are not great from what I heard from this friend, they ended up replacing many employees this past year with contractors it seems...

Sounds like a great feeling though.

Not particularly, this attitude tends to bite the demographic that holds it in the ass as time goes on. Quite hilarious to observe as an outsider.

Burning Man is libertarian Mecca for acolytes of Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan didn't ruin Burning Man. There's a long, long history of Burning Man being "over"...probably beginning with the second year it was held.

I was also at Burning Man 2013 (when this seems to have taken place), and some of my female friends were approached by middle aged men who offered them massages. When trying to decline politely, these men used a sort of "uptight-shaming" tactic, saying things like "you're at burning man, you need to relax". They ended up going along with it and felt very badly about it afterwards. I'm not saying this is typical, but it does occur.

I think you stepped over the other key detail “mentioning an open relationship”, I don’t think they’re all together slamming burning man

I don’t think this has too much to do with Burning Man. If he had even invited her to travel to a business conference with the intent to get laid it would have been the same deal.

Just looking at the price of a ticket, you know straight away what Burning Man is really about.

It's a festival for rich capitalists who want to use freedom of expression as a pretext for acting out their erotic fantasies.

Rich tech people always have to put idealistic labels on everything they do.

Burning Man stopped being Burning Man over 10years ago, when people started bringing portable private hotels, if not earlier.

I was always better last year :D

I am reminded of this article, “A brief history of who ruined burning man”

https://journal.burningman.org/2016/10/philosophical-center/...

Thank you, gate keeper of Burning Man, for deciding and letting us know what Burning Man truly is.

The ability of people to complain about things they can easily avoid never ceases to astound me.

Secondly, nobody cares what you think about burning man. That goes for everyone. Just go if you want to and enjoy it on your own terms and don’t ruin someone else’s day.

The ability of people to complain about other people complaining, which they can easily avoid, never ceases to astound me.

Secondly, nobody cares what you think about other people's complaints. That goes for everyone. Just ignore it you want to and disregard it on your own terms and don't ruin someone else's day.

> Burning Man stopped being Burning Man over 10years ago

Burners were saying that 10 years ago too.

20 years ago. (My first burn was in '98 - the old timers existed already... "6,000 people!!! Man, this event has sold out!")

So the vibe changed?

If "conservative clothes" and "bringing your mom" are irrelevant, it should not have been mentioned.

Its to head off accusations that she was "dressed like that" and other stupid nonsense.

As if that's an excuse to throw away professionalism.

"never without asking"