The Shoe Shine Boys (1,2,3,4,5), and Girls (1,2,3) [more inside]
posted by hadjiboy on Feb 21, 2008 - 3 comments

Worst employees of 2007 Among the winners: a business that manufactures pot-laced candy shut down by the DEA, an airline employee who groped a sleeping passenger next to him, an ambulance driver charged with DUI, Manufacturing and distribution of counterfeit DVDs, Immigration employees committing green card scams, USPS letter carrier stealing cash from gift cards, a man strangling his boss at a cocktail party and a Catholic priest arrested for indecent exposure for naked jogging at the high school track.
posted by psmealey on Dec 12, 2007 - 46 comments

"Wasting time gets a bad rap", says Lisa Belkin in today's NYTimes, who argues that time often considered "unproductive" or "wasted" in today's workaholic culture is actually time well spent- "Over the years I have come to see that the hours away from the writing are the time when the real work gets done." Readers seem to agree.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Jun 1, 2007 - 25 comments

The Harvard University Worklife Wizard , created by an international team of journalists, economists, and statisticians, is Barbara Ehrenreich's wet dream. It's also a fantastic resource that has flown pretty much under everyone's radar. The Worklife Survey drives the constantly-revised, constantly-refined Salary Comparison Tool, which is always hungry for more data about employment from around the world. And when they say they want data from everyone, they mean it-- there's even a VIP Salary Checker that pits the wages of the Yankees against those of the Red Sox. (Plus if you take the survey, you can apparently earn a chance to win a trip to South Africa). Personally, I love the Workplace Horror Stories (and there's a competition there too). I can't look at a nail clipper the same way now.
posted by yellowcandy on Nov 20, 2006 - 26 comments

Half of IT managers admit to hating their users... a lot. - But it's ok, because the users hate IT too. No, they really hate IT. Perhaps IT isn't meeting customer demands. And it isn't like either side's attitudes have changed much over time (July 2001).
In the long term, it simply may never work out between IT and the users. After all, IT support is just like any other customer service job. And we all know customers suck enough for people to start web pages about it... again and again.
posted by smallerdemon on Aug 28, 2006 - 60 comments

Wal-Mart Institutes "availability requirement" Imagine your boss (a guy named 'Knuckles') comes to you and tells you you need to be available to work anytime between 7:00am and 11:00pm, 7 days a week. Oh, and if you can't be available, you'll be fired. This should be expected in a slave labour camp, but couldn't exist in the pride of Corporate America, could it? Updated during preview: Whoops, perhaps the bad press caused a flip-flop.
posted by gwenzel on Jun 20, 2005 - 79 comments

I've seen it happen where these types of managers have the nerve to hold this type of book up in front of a group of people and imply the problem is the workforce for not choosing to be happy about poor leadership. From an Amazon review of Fish!. I've been motivated with that twice. A friend of mine was encouraged to take The Flight of the Buffalo and another is going to a sponsored Dale Carnegie class. So, who's moved your cheese?
posted by pieoverdone on Jul 26, 2004 - 55 comments

Looking Offshore How one offshore worker sent tremor through medical system In an ongoing Chronicle series on the ramifications of shifting U.S. jobs and services overseas, this installment focuses on the threat to individual privacy when companies send sensitive financial and personal data offshore.
posted by Postroad on Mar 29, 2004 - 10 comments

Minimum wage is San Fransisco is now $8.50. Minimum wage in New York City is $5.15 per hour. Minimum wages from around the United States.
posted by the fire you left me on Feb 2, 2004 - 125 comments

Porn sites main cause of web-related sackings ... "The vast majority of sackings for internet misuse are due to workers surfing pornographic websites, a new British survey shows..."
posted by semper on Jul 9, 2002 - 8 comments

I have a bad feeling about this. The UK government has urged employers to be leniant to staff who want to watch the World Cup when they should be working. Isn't this instantly discriminating against people who happen to like football (Soccer) all that much? For example, I'm sure I know what would happen if I broached the idea of turning up for work late on May 16th after I've been to the first showing of this thing.
posted by feelinglistless on Apr 29, 2002 - 15 comments

George Bush: Union buster. 500 federal employees (including US Attorneys' offices, Interpol's U.S. branch, the Criminal Division, the National Drug Intelligence Center, and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review) fired because the presence of unionized workers would not be "consistent with national security requirements and considerations." [via bb]
posted by mathowie on Jan 24, 2002 - 34 comments

It's Friday and I hate my job! Man, my job sucks! If it weren't for movie's like office space I don't know what I would do. Can anyone suggest another good "anti-work" movie such as Office Space?
posted by aj100 on Nov 2, 2001 - 60 comments

The overtime stigma has bit me in the ass. I realize this is an old article, but some of the meatier aspects of this high tech business culture still surprise me because I'm not part of it. Yet. But I almost was.
posted by tranquileye on Jan 2, 2001 - 16 comments

The Digital Sweatshop Continues If this letter is for real (and corroboration would be nice), the CFO of Mylackey.com is berating his staff for having the gall to go home before 6:45pm. In fact, he wants to mandate office hours of 8am to 7pm with a 30 minute lunch.

That'll really boost morale. I don't think I've gotten to work at 8am ever.

Anyway, though I lovelovelove the idea of Mylackey.com, I don't think I'd invest in them anytime soon.

The letter, which states that they're "lagging behind revenue goals" seemingly contradicts the interview with the CEO, where he states "we're exceeding expectations" with revenue.
posted by peterme on Jun 13, 2000 - 33 comments