At the onset of China's COVID-19 outbreak, in mid-January 2020, I was given 24 hours notice to travel there for a customer escalation. US news had not yet reported the virus. I was not made aware of a viral outbreak until I arrived in China as all of the Chinese-based Lam employees knew about it. While there, I was not told any preventative measures and not supplied any safety equipment except given a face mask, when I requested one, for my travel back to America. After fulfilling my obligation to my manager to stay a week in China -- as well as for safety reasons -- management told me I should still be in China regardless of the outbreak. This was despite management's promise to handle the escalation in China after I left. Management, however, decided to spin the story to our VP that I'd stay longer and that me leaving was a sign that I'm not committed to the customer or the business; this is also despite a group of Lam employees returning from China a week before me and were required to quarantine. It gets worse. I was told not to quarantine despite asking and, a week after my return, two close coworkers displayed COVID-like symptoms and both were out for over a week. HR is ineffective in these matters by stating management shouldn't have asked me to stay in China yet the managers responsible for this harmful decision still manage people. HR has further stated no one could have known the severity of this virus citing "a 2015 Ebola scare that didn't amount to much" yet neglect -- and refuse to discuss -- previous outbreaks such as SARS and H1N1. Additionally, HR said that my co-workers potentially catching the virus is pure speculation since there was no official COVID test. These events happened in early Feb 2020 before we had any COVID tests or started our lockdown. This seems outright negligent and irresponsible! Important lessons can be learned that seem to be ignored. The 3D-NAND deposition group, where this transpired, is a dysfunctional organization where you will encounter blaming, bullying, gaslighting, patronizing, hubris, ignoring boundaries, lying, and, worst of all, narcissism. This poor behavior has led to half of the group leaving; including people at the director level. If you take a job in this organization, consider this a warning: expect the aforementioned problems and the expectation to be a yes-man willing to sacrifice your health, safety, and any time with family in order to meet this organization's grotesque business objectives.
