GolfHos

Not all aske like but my company has a new intertube policy beginning Monday with a top 25 list of internet abusers being sent to managers beginning tomorrow.  So I have to say so long at least during the workday:   :sad3:

There's a sad sort of clanking
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too.
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping up to say cukoo!
Cukoo! Cukoo!
Regretfully they* tell us (*they being my companies new and improved cyber tracking nanny)

But firmly they compel us
To say goodbye to you.

So long
Farewell
Aufwiedersehn
Goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long
Farewell
Aufwiedersehn
Adeiu
Adeiu Adeiu
To yieu and yieu and yieu

So long
Farewell
Au 'voire
Aufwiedersehn
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne

So long
Farewell
Aufwiedersehn
Goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye

Goodbye!

I'm glad to go I cannot tell a lie
I flit I float
I fleetly flee I fly

The sun has gone to bed and so must I
So long Farewell
Aufwiedersehn
Goodbye--

Goodbye...
Goodbye...
Goodbye...
Goodbye...
 :'(

Bummer.   :'(

Are you on the list?   :D

Don't know yet.  I'm trying not to be on the list.  I'll ley all y'all know if I am.  I'll stop by in the evenings but it is hard find the time in between chasing my toddler around and watching Dora the Explorer.  So I won't be on as frequently.   :'(

Dude.  :sad3:

This is what CrackBerries are for.

That sucks, but it seems to be the trend.

that sucks
despite the countless studies showing happy workers are more productive, companies just keep *feces*ting on the employees.
omg,  he surfed the net and listened to crap on youtube all day while getting more done than the depressed burnt out employee who took 12 smoke breaks, 8 bathroom breaks, and a nap.

Weird... we got some new Internets policies this week. They're always done in conjunction with HR and IT.  WTF does HR know. So I fired off several emails suggesting that the restrictions impacted on my ability to perform my job.

Why would you decide to block sites that related to Insurance, Finance, Motor Vehicles, Property.. the list goes on.

Wankers!! [sm_devil]

We had that here a few months back.  I complained: I routinely search for information on companies, products, chemicals, etc.  It routinely involves shopping-type sites, including the likes of Amazon.  It was taken as griping that I couldn't shop or surf the 'Net aimlessly.  (FWIW, I sent a couple responses to folks who'd given me tasks, stating that the company's Internet filter prohibited me from performing that task.  Still didn't get anywhere.  But when the second-in-command couldn't access his boat and plane buy/sell site ... the filter was disabled.)



Aske, the three main reasons I've heard here for restricting Internet usage are (1) employees should be working, not goofing off; (2) employees shouldn't be visiting inappropriate sites (employer liability issue there, too); and (3) employee browsing/downloading exposes the company computers and servers to malicious crap.

The official reason is it ties up network resources and all company processes essentially depend on the network.  WTF ever.  I'll be getting a new phone with 3g capabilities soon bitches.  I'll browse from my cube.  It's on like donkey kong. 

Not to rub salt, but ...

We have a satellite office that seems to sustain itself via the Internet.  Server access, even their telephones, are Internet-based.  We have someone in marketing who has the compelling (to her) need to send/receive MONSTROUS video files to/from a third-party site.  We're talking 50-150 MB files.  Every time she does it, the web slows down for everyone at the mother ship, and the aforementioned battle cruiser goes dark (she craters their ability to do most any part of their jobs).

Our IT guy says he can tell just by performance when folks are hitting the web, especially if they're on YouTube and/or MySpace.

(http://bp1.blogger.com/_THR3SZhbQ_E/R8WE_vrcKTI/AAAAAAAAAi0/m1bLu3uiYjk/s1600/03%2BObi%2BWan.jpg)

im surprised the place you work for can't afford a fatter pipe, seriously. you're talking to someone who {for legitimate uses} routinely dumps off 100-200 GB a week

yeah but tax payers are footing your bill.  ;)

You make my point: we CAN afford it, but why should we have to disgorge cash to "buy a fatter pipe" when the existing pipe is perfectly fine for our BUSINESS-use needs?

This gal could easily overnight a CD-ROM.  The whole 150MB video streaming "need" is new and wasn't contemplated in our IT budget back when hardware/services were bought/contracted.  And all the other slowdowns are caused by non-work-related Internet use.

As are the machines infected by folks visiting improper sites (we average one infected machine per month), for that matter.  IT can tell where the user has been; there's always pröñ traces on the mysteriously infected machines.  LMAO at the one higher-up who said he plugged his laptop in at home, logged in, and left it on the kitchen table ... so his kid must have been on it.  IT so wanted to say, "Well, looks like 'your kid' has a leather fetish."

Ditto dude.

 

Damn, that sucks.  :sad3:

Sounds like my previous company. Funny how they didn't mind us working nights, weekends, and traveling on "our time" .  [sm_devil]

But I get the reasons companies do it I guess. Mainly what I've seen is that misuse is pointed out if they need to fire someone. Good, productive workers tend to get more leeway (kind of supporting Aske's point). YMMV.

Up until the employee fired for inappropriate Internet use makes waves because he knows other employees who do the same thing and haven't likewise been fired.

Around here, a guy would get canned for looking at pröñ.  If he were on the web so much of the time that it impacted his work output/throughput, he'd be canned for issues with the latter.  Well, he could probably also get canned for bringing in a virus/Trojan that injured company machines and cost us money (either killed his own machine or -- far worse -- infected a server and stopped the company's wheels from turning.

Would he be fired for misspelling beeyatches in the subject line of an email.   :sad3:

[sorry]

For the record...

I wear shorts, flip-flops, Iron Maiden Killers Vans, t-shirts (although not often), golf shirts, etc. to work.  I surf the intertubes maybe 15 minutes a day.  Youtube videos are passed around the office with no worry about who might see you looking at them.  We have a ping-pong table.  We have training lunches every Wednesday with pizza, Chinese, samitches and soup brought in.  We have a monthly lunchtime BBQ.  We have bagels every Friday morning.  They prefer us to be there by 9:00 but there's leeway.  It's all about the billable hours and making deadlines.  Other than that they truly don't care.

No pröñ though would be my guess.  Fair enough.

I think size of company comes into play.  We have just the right amount of people.  A lazy azz isn't going to be able to hide from the bosses anyway so the bosses don't really go looking.  It's a great environment and really does motivate.

i have no doubt that user abuse wrt security/liability is an issue, but that said, if you're using enough bandwidth sending the files for this to be a congestion issue, i would assume the costs for overnighting that many cdrs would exceed the cost of moving up to a higher tier from your isp
 

my view:

assuming you meet {better yet exceed} your goals/milestones/whateverthe*fiddlesticks*allyourworkdictates in the span of the day and ....
you still have 10-20% free time....

paying bills, reading news, message boards is no big deal.
if your bandwidth allows, playing crap on youtube should be fine if it isn't explcity/objectionable material
downloading/installing should be restricted for most users
viewing pr0no is wrong (duh)

That's about the way I have it.

Out here in The Real World, there is ALWAYS more work to do than time in the day/week/month/whatever.  I'm not knocking grad school and beyond, which I know from experience is a heavy load.  But it's a different kind of heavy load.  Grad students and pot-docs are the few people you can hire to work 70+ hours/week on salary.  You will not hire/retain a shipping clerk, comptroller, or receptionist under that scheme.  Even if you squeeze 50/week out of them, there's easily 60 hours' work to be done in that same week.  The 10+ just doesn't get done -- pushed off to when higher-priority things aren't in front of it (as if that time ever arrives).

And that's focusing on productivity, which typically isn't the main reason for these Internet crackdowns.

and the sad thing is that while i agree with you, i still get more done in 25 hours than the people around me do in 40+.  yet i then work 60+/week
 [sm_shock]

I meant "post-docs".  I guess it was a subliminal thing, this being Walfredo's thread and all.

How big is the company?  You at least have to post up and tell us if you were on The List.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what's wrong with America.  It hits people at different ages but eventually we all come to realize that 1.75 careers just isn't worth it. 

Me?  Somewhere around 40.  Three years later I'm no longer a SBO. 

If any of you youngsters think it's worth it... think again.  I happen to know a little bit of how Clive juggles his schedule to be a husband and father.  Kudos to him for making it work but I say there's a better way.  Not picking on him necessarily as he seems happy enough.  But I think it's crazy and I'll never be there again.

SST ftw.

I agree.  And my boss does the same thing.  I am in the office for 40 hours a week but I get all my stuff done in less time.  I never stream anything or watch videos, just message boards, etc. 

My boss is pretty cool about it and has never said anything in the past.  They have always had something similar but not as public and it was never discussed.  My coworkers do crossword puzzles and are always on the google looking up words.  We are all pretty scared now just because we don't want to put our boss in a bad spot.  He is really cool and laid back and we want to keep it that way. 

We have about 1400 employees.  We are on fortune's top 100 list best companies for which to work.  But we are a private company that makes a lot of money and has return on equity over 20%.  Very conservative family business though, but we get a nice annual bonus. 

The list thing is kind of scary.  I wanted to ask if it started tracking today and reporting tomorrow or if it started tracking tomorrow.  Oh well I'll just spend more time away from my desk at the company lounge with internet access.  I'm going to breakdown and get a crackberry too. 

*fiddlesticks* korprit merka up the butt with a floppy dildo covered in bloody boogers from an aids patient who fingered his butthole before picking his nose

Hobbit's MMV, but the Blackberry is absolute steaming *feces*e for Internet surfing.  In my opinion.

I no hava no blackberry - they were such chit in testing that our company decided not to support them.

Its all windows mobile where I am, but rumor is iPhone part deux may be supported soon.  Til then - Opera Mobile FTW!

I call it the age of enlightenment. Came to me a year, year and a half ago. By the time you're in your 40's you have built up a great deal of life experiences - school, job(s)/career(s), renting and owning homes and vehicles, marriage, kids, taxes, health issues, et al.

Of course everyone's situation is different. But I look at things remarkably different today than I did even 10 years ago. And who knows, maybe 10 years from now I'll look back and see that I was full of *feces*. But I doubt it.

Why is it we're always the last to know things about ourselves?