The End of the New Silicon Boxwallas?

Employees of Meta, of Facebook fame, are going through a tough time. Perks, reportedly standard in big tech companies, like free laundry and taking (free) food from the office canteen home for family, are going off the menu once workers start returning to their office spaces from March 28. If Meta is making 'on-campus' cutbacks, will other tech companies follow? And, more importantly, will Silicon Valley managers and employees be the last of the boxwallas that once existed in bubbles like Calcutta of the 1950s-60s? Once, this lot in India was the cultural elite of the corporate world, getting flats (read: apartments), domestic staff, cars and club memberships as part of their job descriptions. Now, they form 'Oh, those were the days' thought that post-Brit Raj'n'dinner parties bubble. Meta workers will also, soon, be sighing about the glory days of free laundry and childcare reimbursements, saying in code, 'O free tempura, o sushi, o mores!'

After Meta's valuation plunge, for techies used to freebies that make them feel good and work better - perks - finding themselves denied of such treatment could well result in a Spartacus-like mutiny. Even if not a communist uprising, a communal (in the sense of community) whining may emanate from the Valley. While we wonder: they used to get free laundry? After wearing chinos and T-shirts, really?