Given Uber’s recent turmoil, you might think its company parties are just lawless, out-of-control bangers. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
No, Uber’s soirees are button-down affairs with very strict guidelines — like don’t throw kegs off roofs and don’t have non-consensual sex with certain coworkers.
At least, that was the case in 2013 for one Miami-based company outing, before which Uber CEO Travis Kalanick emailed employees a list of rules, which were obtained by Recode on Thursday. There were a lot of stipulations in Kalanick’s memo, but here are the most interesting excerpts: (Note: Some parts of the memo might be NSFW.)
“Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic ‘YES! I will have sex with you’ AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command,” Kalanick wrote, via Recode. “Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML.”
But wait, there’s more.
“There will be a $200 puke charge for any public displays on the Shore Club premises,” Kalanick wrote. “Shore Club will be required to send pictures as proof.”
There’s a good chance that no one launched a keg off a roof, considering that Kalanick also said, “Drugs and narcotics will not be tolerated.”
The memo is part of an ongoing investigation, conducted by law firm Perkins Coie, into 215 instances of workplace transgressions, including sexual harassment, at Uber, according to USA TODAY. The investigation hasn’t concluded, but it led to Uber firing 20 employees Tuesday.
And while this email deals yet another blow to a company that’s starting to become synonymous with scandal, it’s perhaps most damaging to Kalanick. Back in February, the CEO came under a fire after he was caught on video getting in a heated exchange with an Uber driver.
Thumbnail photo via Flickr/TechCrunch
