So Did the Hordes Really Skip out for Episode 2?

gabec asks: "A few days ago Slashdot reported that thousands of people were going to call in sick so they could go check out the new Star Wars movie. Virtually the entirety of the computer services department at my university is taking the day off in unison to go see the show. I expect the whole school to implode that day. So my question is, how many Slashdot readers really did skip out of work for Star Wars Episode 2?" Those wacky geeks over at General Protection Fault probably said it the best. I think a high truancy rate was only to be expected. Funny thing to note: timothy and I went to see Spider-Man, yesterday and we were the only two people in that theatre. Three guesses where everyone else went, and the first two don't count.

Comments

Company organized trips good for morale

[skuenzli]

My manager (a genuine SW fan) organized a trip to the theater to see SW:AotC on opening day. The company didn't pay for the tickets, but everyone was excited to:
a) see Star Wars before everyone else did (including their kids)
b) spend some time together where there was no pressure to perform

As an employee of a company that has seen 4-5 layoffs over the past year and a half, and a member of a group that recently completed a very stressful project, I can say this trip was the best thing anyone has done for my group's morale and general stress level in at least six months (and it didn't really cost the company anything). Of course, that probably means we should have been doing stuff like this all along.

Stephen

P.S. For those about to say that it cost the company 20 man hours for my group to go see this movie, just take it out of my 'overtime account'. There's about 500 unpaid hours in there already for this year.

Oops!

[markwelch]

Oops, I meant to post this reply to a different article. Sorry about that.

But yes, I did go see SWEP2: AotC yesterday afternoon. Since I'm a consultant, I didn't have to "skip work" or call in sick to see the movie.

(My timing was off on Thursday -- the early-afternoon shows were sold out -- so I bought an advance ticket for 2:10pm Friday. The theater was only about 10% full.

My goal was to see the movie before school got out because the teens are often rude and obnoxious. As it turned out, there was a rude and obnoxious guy in the row behind me anyway (sitting by himself), making loud annoying comments. To his credit, he mostly made the rude comments during the incredibly-lame romantic-dialogue segments, but it was so annoying that about a third of the way through the movie, I got up and moved several rows away.

After seeing the movie, I am somewhat more inclined to agree with "The Case for the Empire."

Re:The dot com collapse

[ocbwilg]

Now we know why so many companies go out of business.

What kind of drugs are you on? So they dropped $1000-$1500 on a movie so that their company could take a Friday afternoon off. How does that contribute to the dot-com collapse? The cost is minimal and the morale boost is tangible. If you consider the kinds of hours that most IT people work (while still being paid a salary based on 40 hours), only an idiot would say that they aren't entitled to some fun time occasionally.

How many companies have "summer hours"? I've worked for several companies that let you leave at 2:00 on Fridays during the summer. At others you have to work a couple extra hours during the week to make up for it, but it's no big deal.

At most companies that I have seen, Friday afternoons are the least productive hours of the work week anyway. A manager with a clue would probably rather channel that lack of productivity into a morale-boosting event.

It's important to do something nice for your employees every once in awhile. It's not like they're even doing that though since a Star Wars release only comes along once every few years.

I've worked at companies that spend that much money on a weeks worth of catered lunches for executive meetings. I worked at a company that spent several times that much each month to rent an auditorium for our monthly company-wide meetings.

If a company of 130 had $1000-$1500 to spend to boost company morale, I could think of far worse ways to spend it than renting out a theatre to see Star Wars. Logo'd Stress Balls or "cool" company keychains, for example. T-shirts with company mottos on them. New mouse pads for everyone. Catered box lunches for the whole gang. Special "you are a valuable member of our team" award plaques or some similar hokey bullshit. Who wants that shit when your company could rent out a theatre for a private screening of Star Wars? Duh!

Re:When Yoda started fighting LOL!

[sessamoid]

I noticed something funny here in Norway. When Yoda started fighiting, everybody in the theatre started laughing! I laughed too! And when he was finished fighting, he took his stick and started looking old again.

Funny, yes. Unrealistic, no. I remember seeing a demonstration by a competing team's fencing coach/master a long time ago. This guy was one of the best in the world in his prime, but well into his elder years spent most of his time just teaching and walking around with the assistance of a cane.

However, put a blade in this old guy's hand, and he was suddenly transformed from a decrepit-looking fragile elderly person into a graceful, dangerous foe. I saw him whip one of his own students who was at the time representing the US in the World University Games. After the bout, he picked up his cane and limped back to the sidelines.