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Underground Elephant rages in East Village
Your point?— April 28, 2017 4:55 p.m.
Underground Elephant rages in East Village
(Continued) Underground Elephant and Jason Kulpa are a plight on the soul of San Diego. If there is one thing I hate it’s the normalization of terrible people as an excuse for their success or business acumen. We saw it to a degree with Steve Jobs, we’re seeing it blatantly with Travis Kalanick. I understand finding loopholes and maybe stepping on some toes to become number one in your industry but guys like Jason Kulpa are defecating on the faces of his employees and is getting away with it. If there was ever a time to show that we as a community will not stand for people and businesses like this in San Diego, it’s right now. Go be a twat in San Francisco, Kulpa, you’ll fit right in. I hope more employees will come out and reveal their experiences with Jason Kulpa. Some people might be fine with letting success overshadow evil people but I’m not that person.— April 28, 2017 4:50 p.m.
Underground Elephant rages in East Village
Well, the day has finally come. We all knew it was only a matter of time before the highly curated facade of Underground Elephant would come crumbling down in one way or another. I honestly thought they would be exposed for their terrible business practices, fraud, filing for bankruptcy, etc. I wish I could say I’m surprised that it has to do with Jason Kulpa physically and borderline sexually abusing employees, but I’m not. Why am I not surprised? Because this has been going on for years and it truly is a twilight zone experience to be embedded within the company like I was and witnessing the sexism, degradation, unwarranted firing, and false promises while the rest of San Diego saw us as an innovative company that does well for the community. To be fair, Underground Elephant has some brilliant people working under its belt. There are hard working people that I am friends with to this day and there is something to be said for anyone who can maintain a 100 person company (before the massive layoffs) in San Diego… but at what cost? I’m a firm believer that you can run a large and successful company without being a cancer to everyone who comes in contact with you. "Just last year, VOSD wrote that it was a great company." So how does Underground Elephant maintain a good outside reputation? Public relations. They have multiple employees whose job is to focus on “company culture” and making sure they position themselves in all the right community causes to keep up appearances: Feeding America, photo ops with Kevin Faulconer, free work for the Humane Society. And then there is the awesome looking office that went way over budget and that the company clearly couldn’t afford, evident by the firing 1/4 of their workforce - congratulations, your office is more important than your employees. But ask 80% of the people who work within the company and they will tell you a completely different story and it’s only a matter of time before that information comes out. The other 20% are new and don’t know any better, are related to Jason Kulpa, or are C-levels that are just as narcissistic and toxic as Jason Kulpa (HEY MIKE NORMAN!). Jason Kulpa is that frat boy you imagine in your head when you think about the stereotypical jock pounding Red Bulls, degrading women, playing up the alpha male role while wrecking the betas. If you’re not a white good looking male you’re open season for Jason Kulpa. He will make fun of the way you look, the way you talk, the way you work, your wife, husband, kids. Your car is too crappy for him, your house is too small, you don’t make enough money, you’re not good enough. Jason Kulpa acts like the king of the castle, pissing on everyone while they reluctantly smile. If you’v ever seen “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix, Jason Kulpa is Bryce, Justin, and Zach all rolled into one man.— April 28, 2017 4:50 p.m.