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Facebook - promoting yourself to the World! :-D

Oh Terry....I know what you mean, but really...seems kinda silly for some of my users to hide behind 'free speech' when what they actually mean is 'I just want to chat with my friends at work'. Most workplaces aren't a democracy, the users don't own the computers there, and I'm the one who has to stay late multiple nights rebuilding the systems they've mashed up :) I'm all for everyone doing whatever they want on their computer - on their own computer. On my watch, it just means more pain and heartache for me, lol. To add insult to injury, even when we try to warn people we seem to be blamed after a couple of machines catch something :)
 
Yeah, you're right...I'm just yankin' yer chain. Actually, I concur 100%, the company's computers should be used for company business, nothing else. Save the social networking for personal time, not company time. (You may quote me on this).

--T
 
@docred:
Hmm... I respect your feelings about this :) but you make it sound like you've got a voluteer position. I don't really understand how it makes any difference what the problem is with the computers or who/what caused it. Perhaps it's your company - sorry if I misssed that - but if you're one of the employees then aren't you getting paid?

@Mr. T:
Why should company computers be used only for company business??? It seems to me that when employees do whatever they want at work then they are more productive. The last place I worked, everyone pretty much determined by themselves how they were going to get the work done. Let me tell you, the boss got his money's worth there. I think he was clever in picking people who were smart and motivated, and then letting them get on with it. Personally, I think that if costomers get served (well) and the work is getting done (well) then it is not important how the employees use the computers. If employees using Facebook at work is a problem, then you probably hired the wrong people. You can't fix that problem by making rules.

@Me:
I've always found it curious why so man companies use regular PCs for everybody. I guess its a cheap way to go, but if you can afford somemeone to look after IT then you don't need to do it that way. A PC is made for installing software and configuring to your taste (or lack of!). It is just that - a PERSONAL computer. Trying to use it like a terminal is ridiculus. A terminal is better for that.

All that said, I wouldn't use Facebook if I was paid for it. lol
 
While I confess that some of the work I do perhaps half the time bugs me to the point I want to fix those problems by a massive plant out of the area, sometimes I feel like that's what they want me to do without actually saying it - kind of a mind game I suppose! I keep working there because the people I work for don't treat you like a dog (that's usually the residents who do that - though some are nice there!), and work to the goal that if the job gets done they'll be happy. Occasionally there's a big push of the panic button and stuff needs to get done quickly, though it's usually a short lived event - which I'm usually grateful when it's over.

I've work in some terrible environments though, one guy was all over you for morning tea and lunch - 15 minutes for morning tea so if it took you 5 minutes to walk back to the kitchen and 5 minutes to walk back to the worksite - yep you'd get 5 minutes in the kitchen! :-o Their workers also expected you to carry 4 regular pots with each hand (8 pots) - I did this and after that my wrists were sore as - to which they prompted they'll get used to it! Fortunately I was only there for a short time cause the place were growing the kind of plant which required lots of water! And given the drought I was spared a permanent job there - and my wrists fortunately enough did recover.

Being treated well to me makes a big difference, we carry on with our duties and it gets the work done. We don't really have the need to be using a computer in our work - even though there's computers in the office, occasionally we'd fire it up and check the weather map if it looks like rain - that's about the extent of it, I would usually keep this sort of thing to my computer at home and check my emails at home though.
 
OJ,

So, you would have no objection to your employees stealing from you, as long as they don't steal too much, and contribute positively to your business? What if they decided to jump into the company vehicle and run down to the local casino and spend 4 hours gambling on the company credit card, then on the way home, stopped off at the strip joint for drinks and socializing, etc, then a quick trip to the brothel to get themselves back in shape for work, as long as they used the rest of the day getting the job done, and made enough sales, whatever, to cover the cost of their afternoon excursion, while showing as much profit as the other workers, thanks to their R/L social networking done on your time? Most employers would have a problem with that sort of behavior.

--T
 
Of course, (and you know it) stealing in not OK. However if I wasn't able to take the company vehicle to do some personal errand once in a while, I would run very far from any association with that place. Personally I prefer to surround myself with good, and honest people. If that is not the case, then sorry, I'm outa there. :)
 
Like Ole Juul I too don't like people stealing. The workplace I work for now have known me from the past and obviously respect the work I've done in the past. If things break they simply replace them, sure I'll let them know at I broke it and usually their fine with that. Taking advantage of what your saying Terry should be a prisionable offence IMO.


 
But anyway I'm in the kind of job which has a small crew - everyone knows everyone and the tools I have for my work I usually provide for myself - however in order to keep the my tools functioning properly I'll allocate work time to the service of them. It's annoying though when things go "missing" though it's usually our small group which suffers from the loss of a tool (another reason why I decided to get my own tools!).
 
Of course I exaggerate to make a point, but these sort of activities are certainly possible to do virtually as much as IRL, using the company 'vehicle' (computer/bandwidth), and on company time. An employee with free rein could easily spend a couple hours gambling on line, whether on their nickel or not, socializing on FaceBook, rather than at the local biergarten, and hitting the online equivalent of titty bars and whorehouses. How can it be considered any different? Most business don't object to reasonable use of their resources for personal stuff, but it's not wrong of them to set limits and/or guidelines on the sort of activities allowed, or the amount of their time spent doing so.

--T
 
I agree totally with T.

I've been there and it looks a hell of a lot different on the signing side of that paycheque ink.

Most places get two coffee breaks and a lunch. Do your personal stuff during those times.
 
Druid6900 wrote:

Most places get two coffee breaks and a lunch. Do your personal stuff during those times.

Interesting - We only get morning break at work - however we might have an extended morning break! :-D Though that usually involves discussions with the boss!! ;-)
 
Druid6900 said:
I agree totally with T.

I've been there and it looks a hell of a lot different on the signing side of that paycheque ink.

Most places get two coffee breaks and a lunch. Do your personal stuff during those times.
Click to expand...
I can see it would be different from the "signing side", and certainly everybody needs to be on the same page in order to get work done. I've worked a lot in theatre and TV production where everyone is pretty tight just out of necessity. The camera rules and the director calls the shots. EVERY job is a service job. It couldn't be any other way, but still working props you get to run around and do all kinds of things with other people's money and trucks, and all they really care about in the end is if it was a good show. Like in a symphony, everybody plays together because otherwise it would sound bad!

Other kinds of jobs I've had, there was even more freedom. I need that. Basically if I'm not self assigning, I don't enjoy it. I really don't think that the kinds of people who need to be told what to do are the kind you want to hire anyway... unless maybe for a ditch digging job or something. People work better when you trust them, and as an employee, I demand trust from the other side. I have a problem with people who don't trust me. :) that's just human nature. I would survive about 3 seconds in the army. In fact about long enought to say f888 y88!... OK - 2 seconds. (VBG) I'm a musician at heart and if you want a good product you gotta leave me alone. :) But that doesn't mean that I can't play in tune or come up with the performance you payed for or otherwise expect. That's what it means to be professional. To put it another way: if I send you a computer to fix then I expect it returned fixed, and you expect me to shutup about how to do it. One word - trust.

As for Facebook at work, I can see it being a problem for company security or their public image, so there might be something to be said for not doing it. The employee who wouldn't understand that issue is probably not on the same page anyway. Like I said before, rules aren't going to fix that. However, I still wonder why they use PCs in most places.

PS: I think I've had WAY too much coffee today.
 
givers/takers

givers/takers

I think a lot of depends on the people involved, just how selfish they are, you know, and what their personal sense of morals are.
Some people feel the employer owes them something special just for showing up.
Others are anal to the point that they put in extra hours, work through their lunch break, etc. just to do the the ol' company proud.

Others, and I'm in this catagory, don't mind goofing off on company time, but eventually a built-in governer (conscience) kicks in and propels you to get something done. And if you're behind on something and you know in your gut it's because of all those late lunches, well then you roll up your sleeves and take the stuff home and pull a couple of all-nighters.

From personal experience, it's positively wretched when you're in a group that doesn't fit your ethic.

I know a lot of places filter email & web access & what not to keep their employees, and I guess that's useful in some places, but like
Ole Juul said...I have a problem with people who don't trust me
Click to expand...
, so people like me actually end up wasting more of the employers time & resources trying to find a fresh proxy to punch through the web filtering, and other mischief along those lines.

I kinda think ( at least in my mind ) that Facebook is sorta like going clubbing or to a rave, and boards more like going to a nice, quite bar where you don't get thrown out of too often.

patscc
 
patscc wrote:

I think a lot of depends on the people involved, just how selfish they are, you know, and what their personal sense of morals are.

Lots of people are selfish - well at least around here it stands out, including myself! Though I guess it depends on the circumstances which makes some people worse than others. Personally I just don't like being screwed around with - especially when it's Traffic Lights! :-x
 
Ole Juul wrote:

You can borrow my old Klines ... the ones that already have a notch in em. :)

Er - well of course there maybe exceptions!

And I guess it's all just a bunch of mind games we all play anyway - so we're all guilty of it! :-x

I was just testing you all to see how far you'd read! ;-) Guess I should have written a page of blah, blah, blah! ;-)
 
Terry Yager wrote:

Oh gee, I thought it was a test to see how long we could stay on-topic...

Heh! Well that's always a game in itself.

Not sure what else I could add about facebook. Oh yeah, I typed in another name in Google and again another name comes up in facebook. But this time there's like 20 people in there with the same name! I didn't reconise any of them funnily enough - though there were some without pictures. I thought the whole idea with Facebook was to have a photo of yourself or something associated with you - but anyway, I see you can have an account without a picture! Not that it makes any difference to me! :-D

From the original article some people say MySpace is more invasive - can anyone here comment about that?! :-D
 
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