Don't Loose Your Job!

Date: April 9, 2008

      They posted a list on the web (Yahoo.com) of ways to get fired on the job. I just had to examine the list.
     
      Blogging.
      Well - excessive story-telling is one thing - the occasional email is another. IM would count under here - but they actually hooked me up to a port 80 so I COULD IM while my son was alive - I would work - I could check on him - he'd tell me when he got up - how he felt - and I could flee for home if there was a problem. When I worked at companies without IM and no way to get it - we used email. This was before my older son beat me over the head and dragged me into a cell phone store. (Well, not literally.)
      I occasionally write something at work (I am a writer and these things get in my head.) (I have a time-limit. No more than one coffee-break time and not daily.)
      In any case - I share it with co-workers and sometimes my things have gotten into the company newspaper. It's called being friendly. Getting acquainted. Establishing a base. Friendly people (and they are friendly when you make them laugh) work better together. Keeping a daily journal from the office? - that's another thing.
     
      Playing
      Since when? Most companies I know have long since removed games from the Office Install. And most companies also control who can download. I can but I would not break trust. Besides - I have a laptop with the games on it - Solitaire being the culprit - and after a few dozen games - it becomes boring. It is interesting when playing with your sick child on a hospital bed with cards so he doesn't go crazy. Not by yourself on a computer screen. Interesting to examine - but really. I have better things to do! I suppose shopping on QVC or Amazon during luntime falls in here. Of course, I keep cnn.com as the home page so it flasheson the screen every time I open a browser (a lot since I do the websites and also access them - these are internal sites.) Love to see the stats on that!
     
      Pictures - Look at and Posting
      Well - we all occasionally post photos on our computers as screen savers - our kids. You know - WHY we are here in the first place. And then there's webshots. And Google Images. I go out once a month and look for a castle or a manor house or the countryside in the UK - I am a Regency nut case - and I find a new photo to use as my screensaver or my background. OK - so looking at all 145 photos of little Johnny or Janey once a day doesn't quite qualify. But taking a break and looking at something besides a high-level spec, a schematic or (UGH) badly structured code is necessary. Esp if it is raining and you can't get outside. And coming to me with a request "can you?" when someone needs help getting little Johnny up on his screen (well - the names aren't all English but we don't need that level of detail do we?) - I always try to help. Takes me minutes (a couple) I am fast and it spreads the love. Helpful people get helped. Proud papas (or mamas) should be applauded.
      Downloading porn? - that's a no excuse fault. Don't be an idiot!
     
      Writing R-rated emails
      Careful. If I am mad enough ------ But since I am a contractor - I don't get mad - Annoyed perhaps - but I don't care enough to go ballistic. (Employees go ballistic.) I am also older. (Ha!) Slower. (Not!) Wiser. (I hope!)
      I do write erotic novels but I can honestly say that a hot sex scene with a gorgeous vampire is the last thing on my mind while racing a document deadline. People who post diatribes against their company or co-workers --- STUPID! So are campaigns of terror, gossip and other non-civilized behavior.
      Sharing a joke? - harmless. If you can't laugh at it, you shouldn't be doing it. And that applies to everything you do!