A Yelp entry-level employee making $733.24 bi-weekly wrote an open (and very long) letter to Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman on Medium complaining of her paycheck, various company practices, and reliance on rice to survive. The employee, Talia Jane, has since been fired from her job.

In "An Open Letter to my CEO", Jane writes that she started at Yelp/Eat24 fresh from graduating with an English Lit degree, and was thus willing to take an entry level job in customer support. She goes on to detail just how impossible it is for her to survive on $733.24 per paycheck.

The 25-year old East Bay resident lists her rent as $1245, leaving $221 remaining from her monthly paychecks. Talia Jane's daily commute costs $11.30, and her monthly PG&E bill is $120 - if she turns on her heater. Talia Jane couldn't take it anymore, tossed her frustrated, rice-covered hands in the air, and let loose on the internet.

Here are our favorite sentences from Talia Jane's letter:

"Bread is a luxury to me, even though you've got a whole fridge full of it on the 8th floor."

"Your employee for your food delivery app that you spent $300 million to buy can't afford to buy food."

"Have you ever seen an angry See's Candies customer?"

"If you starve a pack of wolves and toss them a single steak, will they rip each other to shreds fighting over it? Definitely."

"I see on your twitter that you care deeply about the homeless epidemic in our city."

"Have you ever drank a liter of water before going to bed so you could fall asleep without waking up a few hours later with stomach pains because the last time you ate was at work?"

"I'm pretty proficient at rice, but some hot soup would sure make up for not being able to afford to use my heater."

"I hear your net worth is somewhere between $111 million and $222 million. That's a whole lotta rice."

"...Yelp could save about $24,000 in two months if the company stopped restocking flavored coconut waters since no one drinks them (because they taste like the bitter remorse of accepting a job that can't pay a living wage..."

Stoppleman responded in a 5-part tweet Saturday morning.

And then, Talia Jane updated her letter. "UPDATE: As of 5:43pm PST, I have been officially let go from the company. This was entirely unplanned (but I guess not completely unexpected?) but any help until I find new employment would be extremely appreciated."

Talia Jane then lists several online accounts, including her PayPal, where she is currently accepting donations.

The former Yelp employee lists herself on Twitter as, "comedy • writing • better at thinking about things than actually doing them." The drama is currently unfolding on Twitter, where most seem to be steadfastly on #TeamTalia.

Say it ain't so, KPIX! Rich Lieberman has word that our favorite meteorologist and color-blocking fashion icon, Roberta Gonzales, is out at CBS 5. And she's going to be replaced (after 16 years!) by some dude in Seattle, Paul Deanno.

Lieberman reports:

This move seems to be, early on, a direct power play by [KPIX news director, Dan Rosenheim], who likes to pick and choose his players. He's good buddies with sports anchor, Dennis O'Donnell, and has pushed hard for fellow weather bud, Brian Hackney. In fact, it was widely rumored that Rosenheim wanted Hackney to do weeknight weather and push Gonzales over to the weekend.

This much is clear. Gonzales, in addition to being a popular personality with Bay Area viewers, is also an active charity participant. Frankly, this move by PIX befuddles me and is sure to draw the ire of many of its core viewers, most notably, women. And yes, of course, men too.

It's so very The Newsroom. Wait, is it so The Newsroom? We have no idea. That show looks terrible. Whenever anything Sorkinian, other than The West Wing, comes on TV, our eyes rip themselves out of their sockets to go hide under the bed. Point being, it's all so very dramatic. And too bad, really. We sure will miss seeing Gonzales each evening. She's the Edina to Dana King's Saffy.

[Lieberman]

Oh dear. The Oakland Raiders fired head coach Hue Jackson on Tuesday. Jackson, if you recall, coached for one season after the firing of brutish coach Tom Cable. "Jackson let the Raiders to an 8-8 record, the same record achieved during the 2010 season," reports CBS-SF. He also garnered unfavorable criticism "after the team led the league in penalties and penalty yards."

On the other side of the Bay, the 49ers are doing spectacularly. So much so, in fact, that we're in the playoffs. Be sure to catch SF go against the Saints this Saturday.

Due to a "horrendous stretch of the season" where the Oakland A's lost nine straight games, team manager Bob Geren was fired today. "Geren's season took a turn for the worst last month when then closer Brian Fuentes criticized his manager for a lack of communication and inconsistent handling of the bullpen," reports the Chron. "The team's former closer, Huston Street, piled on, telling The Chronicle that Geren was one of the worst people he had encountered in the world of sports."

Ouch.

Arizona Diamondbacks' noted manager, Bob Melvin, will take over tonight when the A's take on Chicago.

[SFGate]

Sad news, kids. Christmas is canceled. The Union Square Macy's store has, sadly, fired John Toomey, known for 20 years at the store's "Santa John." Why? Well, according to the Chronicle, it all started with a humorous "adult" joke, one that's been told for years.

The Chronicle reports:

The joke has been in his Santa bag for decades. But after thousands of tellings, the 68-year-old retired caretaker for the elderly finally hit the wrong recipients - apparently an older woman and her husband, who considered it inappropriate.

Toomey - who stays in Oroville most summers and winters in San Francisco while he does the kiddie-on-the-knee gig - said he'd never had complaints before about the joke, which he saves for the occasional grown-up who visits him.

"When I ask the older people who sit on my lap if they've been good and they say, 'Yes,' I say, 'Gee, that's too bad,' " Toomey said Monday.

"Then, if they ask why Santa is so jolly, I joke that it's because I know where all the naughty boys and girls live."

Although it practically goes without saying, said elderly couple and Macy's should be ashamed of themselves. Deeply. A few anonymous store employees, devastated by Toomey's canning, described the foolish firing as an "overreaction." The Macy's public relations department couldn't comment on the firing, because they were too busy stuffing kids' stockings with lumps of coal.

Obviously, Toomey is crushed. He now waits for Macy's to come to their senses and hire him back. Which, yeah. If Macy's knows what's good for them and good for business, they will re-hire Santa Claus as soon as possible.

Revealed by its competitor Live105 this morning, word is that Alice 97.3's Morning Radio Show just pruned part of its morning team, on-air personality No Name (AKA Mike Nelson). Alas. Together for six years on the radio, and a few weeks on television with an ill-advised spin-off of the show, Sarah and No Name have entertained the Bay Area masses every morning with, ahem, shocking banter and bon mots. (Or so we assume. We haven't listened to the radio since the advent of the talking picture box. But we have seen their mugs grace the sides of Muni buses now and then.)

Although we received two anonymous emails telling us that No Name was fired by Sarah, that doesn't seem to be the case. We spoke to the show's delightful executive producer, Jan Landis, who told us the idea to get rid of No Name was "management's decision," and that they're currently searching for a new sidekick to go along with "a new version of the show." She also pointed out that "fired is too strong a word" for the now job-free No Name. Deja vu, right? A few years ago, if you recall Sarah's former on-air partner, Vinnie, was (allegedly) booted for hitting the crystal pipe too hard.

Oh, and if you listen to this program on a regular basis, spill it. Were they right to get rid of this No Name? Should they have done something else? Are you excited about the show's up-and-coming different direction? And why on earth are you still listening to the radio?

Speaking of our fine mayor, Newsom's recently released budget plan, it seems, will "terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration," at least according to the folks over at something called the People's Budget Collaborative, brought to you by the loopy kids at the Coalition on Homelessness. They claim the following cuts will happen. Ahem:

1) Closure Ella Hill Hutch shelter serving up to 100 people every night in the Western Addition.

2) Closure of Caduceus Outreach Services, a mental health treatment and wrap around support program for severely disabled homeless adults with co-existing addictive disorders.

3) Almost total elimination (66% cut) of SRO Families United program for families with dependent children living in hotels.

4) Cut of 22% to residential substance abuse and mental health treatment programs budgets.
a. Removal of support from Conard supportive housing program for severe psychiatric disabilities.
b. Closure of Cortland Acute Diversion Unit for individuals in psychiatric crisis.
c. Loss of 12 out of 24 community based medically supported detox beds.
d. Many more residential cuts yet to be determined.

College students, when will you ever learn? Never--never!-- try to to do the right thing by organizing a worker's union at your job. This is the quickest way to get wrongfully terminated. Case in point: Mountain View-based Uloop.com, a start-up online company that bills itself as "a marketplace for college students" (see also: Craigslist), fired two of their Cal Poly student workers allegedly for trying to unionize the company.

Oops.

According to Indybay:

After being subjected an unannounced pay cut from $10/hr to $8/hr, Cal Poly student marketing representatives Austin Garrido and Sarah Doolittle were fired by their employer, Mountain View-based Uloop.com, for attempting to organize a worker's union. The students were fired from their part-time jobs 20 minutes after posting a message in an online inter-company form announcing their intention to form a union. Doolittle and Garrido have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 rendered it illegal to can an employee for trying to organize a union, we feel bad for these two. Especially if they were in fact fired for being shit-stirrers. But then again, using the inter-company form to announce their plans for unionization? That is, for lack of a better word, adorable. It's always cute to hear about dewy-fresh-out-college types whose souls have yet to be pulverized by the reality of the workplace.

Anyway, according to Poly Post, Uloop.com has yet to comment on the two, possibly illegal firings.

Without providing an answer for firing San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal, the SFPUC officially sacked her this morning after a nine-minute closed door City Hall meeting. As part of her severance package, she will receive a delightful $400,000. The former city treasurer was asked to pack up and get the hell out last December as part of Newsom's second-term staff cuts.

Although word is she had to go either for not smooching the Mayor's ass enough (she ran against him for mayor), or because she was pushing for public power, even Leal herself has yet to hear a reason for her dismissal. According to the Gate:

In recent weeks, Leal's allies on the Board of Supervisors have rallied in support of her, lobbying the mayor to save her job and attempting to block Newsom's appointments to the PUC board. Leal was not present for this morning's vote, but following the meeting she said she still has not been given a reason for being fired. She plans to continue working for another 30 days..."I've gotten to the point where I could make myself crazy trying to figure out why," Leal said. "I just look at the work I've done at the agency and know that we've done some remarkable things."

That? Is cold.

Anyway, after being "thrown under the bus by Newsom," the mayor will most likely have City Controller Ed Harrington fill her spot.

Chin up, Leal. We here at SFist wish you all the best.

Although her contract ends in 2009, former SF Mayoral candidate and current San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal might get the ax, according to Cecilia M. Vega over at the Chronicle. Her removal could kickoff a bloodbath of staff cuts by Newsom. And although her dismissal would need approval by committee, this seems like a done deal. According to the article:

Leal received a telephone call Friday evening from Newsom's chief of staff saying her services won't be needed in his second term, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday. The call prompted Leal and the administration to begin talking about whether she will stay.

Yikes.

Once Newsom's ingénue (more or less) for spearheading efforts to cull energy in the San Francisco Bay, she also yearned for more "publicly owned sources of energy," a sentiment that went against the agendas of other members of the PUC. She heard the informal news of her probable canning while can-canning over in Paris this week at a French-sponsored water conference. She has no comment at this time.

After Newsom's famous request for open letters of resignation earlier, this seems like a start to his pruning process. The article goes on to say that Leal "has never been a true team player with the Newsom camp." So...watch your necks, Newsom naysayers.