MetaFilter posts tagged with working

The Good, the Bad, and the Billy Joe Tolliver

Copronymus — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:30:18 -0800

Carles of Hipster Runoff discusses the relationship between mediocre quarterbacks and office jobs:

The most intense forms of competition, stress, conflict, and insecurity that most of us will ever feel take place at work. We embrace mediocrity as a safety net to alleviate our minds from these uncomfortable thoughts, and hide from the idea of heightened accountability and expectations. Instead, we choose to live vicariously through other people we don't know who are actually 'special.' Athletes, technological entrepreneurs, and other people who are recognized for being legitimately 'gifted and talented' serve as our daily inspirations and escapes. While society tends to praise greatness and unique achievement, the public ceremony of 'exposing' mediocrity provides us with the opportunity for humor and hyperbole that inspires a dark breed of empathy and fan interest.

Zagat's for Revolutionaries?

Miko — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:34:52 -0800

Diner's Guide to the Working Conditions of American Restaurants [PDF] published by labor advocates at Restaurant Opportunities Centers United.

I could not stand it any longer

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:16:46 -0800

Back hurting from sitting at a desk reading Metafilter all day? Trying standing up for your rights! Or, just walk it off.

It's a cat eat mouse world out there.

The Whelk — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 09:31:14 -0800

Amid the iron jungle of the metropolis lies one of nature's most cunning and noble beats, the Bodega Cat. Sing of their glory!

To Crank and Crank

Memo — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 08:15:06 -0800

Cranking. "She couldn't really help my Dad. My Dad couldn't really help her. But they sure tried. She cranked and cranked. I was seven. I didn't know how to help anyone." - A brief essay on life, happiness and work by Merlin Mann.

Laptopistan

AceRock — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 19:04:00 -0800

Working best at coffee shops. Destination: Laptopistan. Why work doesn't happen at work.

The End of Men

marble — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:16:20 -0800

The End of Men , in The Atlantic. An article about the rise of women (now over 50% of the U.S. workforce), and implications of the attendant changes for both women and men.

Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences

Tracking the Knowledge Economy

JoeXIII007 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:36:49 -0800

It has been looked at for many years (link to a 2003 PDF revised edition of a 1983 report). Inspiring reports trying to predict where this was heading, the knowledge economy is incredibly difficult to get a grip on, mainly because its products are intangible. There have been attempts, such as in this paper by Mark Cully who basically concluded workers either enter it at the beginning of their career and stay, or have a tough time working up the ladder and maintaining any momentum. Problems are many, with a very recent example illustrated in this paper (link to abstract partially quoted below with links to full text):

This paper advances the hypothesis that some of the roots of the present crisis are to be found in the present institutions of the knowledge economy. While protectionism is seen as a possible dangerous outcome of the crisis, the extent of protectionism inherent to the strengthening and globalisation of intellectual property rights (IPRs) associated, in particular, with the signing of the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement is not generally perceived as one of its possible causes. Indeed, IPRs have acted as ‘super-tariffs’. Pagano, U. and Rossi, M. 2009. The crash of the knowledge economy, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 33, no. 4, abstract

Also, there's the infamous (?) attempt by the European Union to transition to some form of sustainable knowledge economy: the Lisbon Strategy. Struggling under the weight of the current crisis, as evident on the front page of the project, it is possible to conclude that the strategy did not go as well as hoped, even by their own account (to be fair though, their report does highlight some great things). Previously (possibly somewhat related): this, this, and this.

"The cat... quickly got bored of it and meowed to be let out."

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:42:00 -0800

From Matthias Wandel, the inventor of the wooden marble calculator and the non-wooden eyeballing game, now comes the wooden Jenga pistol and its successor, as well as the wooden geodesic cat storage device and wooden wasp sucker.

Got my mojo working.

flapjax at midnite — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:17:35 -0800

Got My Mojo Working was written by the little-known Preston Foster and first recorded in 1956 by the only slightly better-known Ann Cole. It was, of course, the Muddy Waters version that became the hit and a signature song for him: he sang it throughout his entire career, and it has become one of the best-known blues standards of all time. The song itself just has a lot of mojo, you know, so naturally plenty of others have covered it through the years: a small sampling from the YouTubes would include Carl Perkins, Willie Dixon, Elvis Presley, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, JJ Cale, Pinetop Perkins and Louis Jordan. Hell, even Bobby Darin couldn't resist the mojo!. NOTE: Check hoverovers for link descriptions. &creativeAThe original Ann Cole recording is included on the compilation CD Jump, Jive and Swing from Rhino Records. And just for good measure, Lightnin' Hopkins, in a slamming performance of Mojo Hand, and, what the hell, let's hear that one again! Also, JB Lenoir's The Mojo Boogie. Last but not least, Wille Dixon, the bassist and singer seen in one of the Muddy Waters clips and in his own cover of the tune in another clip from this FPP, was of course one of the great songwriters of the blues, a giant figure. I made an FPP on him a while back, which is here.

Why do you have to be a strike-breaker, is it a lesson that I never knew?

banishedimmortal — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:37:23 -0800

NYU President John Sexton warns striking grad students that they must resume teaching or lose their benefits. After weeks of marching outside Bobst library and refusing to teach classes, NYU grad students have been sent a letter from President John Sexton, warning them that any TA who does not return to work next week will lose their stipends and eligibility to teach next semester. Until recently, NYU was the only private school that allowed graduate teaching assistants to unionize, following a 2000 NLRB decision, which was subsequently reversed. NYU claims that it has negotiated in good faith and that the union's demands would limit decision making that should remain in the hands of academics, while the grad students argue that they cannot trust NYU's admistration to take care of them without unionization (and representation by the UAW). Meanwhile, many undergrads paying tuition upwards of 50K/year will have to retake classes or opt for pass/fail. Do you sympathize with highly educated American grad students who receive free tuition, health insurance, and stipends in exchange for modest teaching duties (when many other students depend on student loans), especially compared the with 19th century coal miners, third-world factory workers, and modern-day wage slaves we normally associate with unions and strikes?

Management methods, models, theories

Voyageman — Sat, 25 Dec 2004 10:16:09 -0800

Management methods, models, thoeries Kick off 2005 sounding and/or being smarter than everyone else. Minds will spin given the amount of info available here.

Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls

hama7 — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 18:09:34 -0800

Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls.

The Ubiquitous Tip Jar

FearTormento — Mon, 12 May 2003 14:16:02 -0800

Why does everyone have a tip jar now? And where do you draw the line when it comes to baiting the jar? Starbucks? Take-out counters? Drive-thrus? How about the girl that takes your money and stamps your hand at a nightclub? While tipping is the economy of an underpaid service industry, it seems the jar itself has gotten out of hand and onto every counter with a dollar already conveniently inside.

If it is appropriate for everyone who performs any kind of public service to be entitled to a tip, why aren't we tossing our coin to police officers, teachers, or flight attendants?

Get that MP3, and get the boot

betobeto — Sat, 15 Feb 2003 18:36:21 -0800

Get that MP3, and get the boot In a -IMHO- patetic effort to try to stop what can't be stopped, the RIAA and MPAA are urging companies to monitor their employee's downloading habits or face suing, damages, sanctions and what have you against them. In other words, inciting companies to treat their employees as potential criminals and dispose of them accordingly. While the risks of using P2P at work such as virii and leaking of private files do have a point, this is really about the RIAA/MPAA resorting to more desperate measures each time to try to stay afloat with their jaded business model, which will do nothing but accelerate their long-forecast demise in the "real" new economy.

Facing Serial Unemployment, it's Time for a New Game Plan.

sheauga — Fri, 19 Jul 2002 07:28:10 -0800

Facing Serial Unemployment, it's Time for a New Game Plan. Anyone else frustrated with jobs that disappear out from under them? What is the "new game plan" that works? (Say an unemployed person realizes that these Boston Globe articles disappear just as fast as their jobs do. In solidarity with other unemployed workers, they violate copyright and cache this article on a website. Do we prosecute?)

German Town Promotes Sleeping on the Job.

kingmissile — Mon, 04 Mar 2002 07:43:21 -0800

German Town Promotes Sleeping on the Job. So when can we expect to see this system go into effect here in the U.S.?

What's a working mother to do?

bunnyfire — Fri, 15 Jun 2001 09:52:22 -0800

What's a working mother to do? Funny...I have started wondering about this myself-and of course I read this at work...