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German IT Outfit Bans Whining
theodp writes "German IT outfit Nutzwerk Ltd has come up with the perfect solution to whining in the workplace - it's made cheerfulness a contractual obligation, advising those who don't measure up to the prescribed level of jollity in the morning to stay at home until they cheer up. The plan was prompted by a female employee whose constant complaining prompted the other staff to complain about her complaining."
Mayor of New York: "Being miserable and treating other people like dirt is every New Yorker's God-given right."
Next, they'll require employees to wear flair! 20 pieces "minimum"..
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
According to this press release (German only, sorry) this policy is four years old now.
is over the top, but there are few things more irratating & detremental to productivity than an angry/whiny co-worker.
Might as well ban women in the workplace.
-d
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Obligatory Office Space Quote:
"Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays"...
The same company that sued the FFII.
I was allowed to stay at home as long as it takes to become happy before going to work ;)
"Enjoy yourself or I'll beat you!"
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
What if people start complaining that they don't have the basic right of complaining?
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Let me complain for a minute and point out that it was the Reg, not "theodp" who wrote that blob of text, contrary to what the post suggests.
Nutzwerk - aren't they those litigous fuckpigs who censored the FFII website for telling the world that this company, despite being held up as the model company for software patents, was actually guilty of all sorts of ethically dubious internet practices?
I think the management there has control-freakery issues...
I know a company with an SLA that states something to the effect that a smile must be given in a face to face meeting before any work is to be performed.
Click here or here.
Okay, so now you can complain at home. That's great, maybe not so enjoyable but at least you're still paid. Well, how many complaining days will have per year? Also, wouldn't be cheaper to have a national complaining day? So every one could complain at the same time. My 2 cents ;)
Million Dollar Screenshot
Artist's Sketch of the Female Employee
But WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyyy???? ;-)
Funnyhacks - Wierd, unusual, and fun hacks
If you can read German, see http://www.heise.de/newsticker/search.shtml?T=nutz werk
In any case, mod parent up.
Post tenebras lux. Post fenestras tux.
A rule-of-thumb in software development: If a place has too many Dilbert cartoons on cubicle sides, have an exit strategy. If it has none, RUN!!!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
...but I am under contractual obligation to not whine.
I can imagine that being under contract to not whine will mean that people will come up with creative ways to whine without really whining. Reminds me of a conversation I had last night. I am recent transplant to The South and was told that there were phrases in use here that didn't mean what they really mean. For example, if you tell someone something like "I just inherited a million dollars" they will reply be saying "That's nice." ...which really means F*ck you.
So, image code words and phrases will be created to allow whining without breaching the contract.
Because overly cheery co-workes are almost as irritating.
I mean, telling people not to whine to the point of being unberable is one thing. Telling them to pretend to be cheery all the time is another.
but there are few things more irratating & detremental to productivity than an angry/whiny co-worker.
One thing more detrimental is an angry/whiny co-worker (or employee) who is pretending to be cheerful.
This really just sounds like management doesn't have the skill or the emotional maturity to actually deal with the problem, so instead, they sweep it under the rug.
If an employee is angry/whiny, there is a reason. Maybe that reason is internal to the employee. Maybe that reason is the result of something in the work environment. Force the employee to pretend to be happy, and the employee will probably more unhappy. Then you have an employee not working to the best of their ability, who may even be acting out passive aggressively. That attitude can spread just as quickly as overt angry/whiny behavior, and can be even worse to tolerate because it is harder to pin down.
Because emotions aren't something that one can always control with impunity? Besides, no whinging means you can't complain about the PHB or you cow-orker while on the job - you end up being a good little robot. IME emotions - both good and bad - spark thought, and thought leads to greater productivity. I can see a policy of dealing directly with someone who does _nothing_ but complain and then offers no creative solutions, but trying to program happiness? No thanks.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
The plan was prompted by a female employee whose constant complaining prompted the other staff to complain about her complaining.
Wonder why they felt it relevant to point out it was a woman?
Germans love to complain about things -- it is part of their culture.
I saw this in Germany, when I worked their for years as an expat.
The fact that they had to put it in the contract, rather than just a management directive, is typically German too: it has to be in the contract, so that they can have something to point to when they need to discipline someone.
As should be clear from their inflexible style, and their lack of focus on the needs of the customer, German customer service is pretty bad. It has gotten a lot better in the last decade though.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Without the right to complain, sexual harassment can continue unhindered. I will be able to make happy comments about personal appearances related to sexuality all day long. All positive and complimentary; Awesome. May the best skirt win. Bonus points for obvious thongs and diaphanous clothing.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, there lay in a valley far, far away in the mountains the most contented kingdom the world has ever known. It was called Happy Valley, and it was ruled over by a wise old king called Otto. And all his subjects flourished and were happy, and there were no discontents or grumblers, because wise King Otto had had them all put to death, along with the trade union leaders, many years before. And all the happy folk of Happy Valley sang and danced all day long, and anyone who was for any reason miserable or unhappy or who had any difficult personal problem was prosecuted under the Happiness Act.
Happy Valley
To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
I used to work with a guy who was the biggest a-hole until about 2 or three hours after he was in. Problem was he didn't start until 11:00am, so by the time he got to work everyone else was bright and chipper. It got so bad that I even a wrote a song to cheer him up (well, make fun of him really): Good Morning Ali
Sound waves should be free!
there are few things more irratating & detremental to productivity than an angry/whiny co-worker
Actually, the person most irritating and detrimental to productivity is the cheerful, optimistic sysadmin who continues to do upgrades and apply patches while saying, "It won't affect anything," no matter how many times he has broken everything. I can ignore the angry/whiny people that aren't breaking stuff (well, except when it's my boss :).
I can't come into work today. I'm not happy enough. I might not be able to come in for the rest of the week.
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Are you Happy Citzen? Remember, happiness is mandatory. Being unhappy is insuboridination. Friend Computer suggests taking HappyTymNow pills -- guarenteed to improve happiness! Unhappiness is a tool of the commie mutant traitors! Be on your guard! Report those who are unhappy, as they could be communists!
Thank you for your cooperation, Citizen.
Sam's Club/ Wal-Mart fired a woman who would not smile at customers as she handed out free samples of food.
The reason she did not smile?
Her face is partially paralyzed and is no longer physically capable smiling at anyone for any reason.
The problem is actually a serious issue in Germany.
:-)
The transition occured in the early nineties in the USA, when the last of real manufacturing went tits up for IT/service jobs (Of course that's tits up too, but that's another issue). In the US, the last of the lifetime jobs went out in the 70's, in Germany, these transitions are just now arriving. And engineering and manufacturing is part of the German image of self-worth, so it hits home particularly hard.
The problem in German culture is that it is a change in the economy which no one wants to acknowledge, but are being forced to. The last 50 years of a boom economy after the war has now more or less come to a grinding halt. Germany is now evolving, but its eating into peoples morale. The whole country is bitching and moaning, and that in itself is pulling the economy down, not to mention an individual business as is mentioned in this report.
I know you can't regulate someone's mood but at least they are pointing to where the country should try to go (and if anyone would try to regulate someone's mood, it would be in Germany). I applaud the idea, and laugh at the fact they are trying to regulate instead of inspire. Typcal German (and now I'm starting to "meckern").
"To Meckern" means to bleat or baa like a goat. This is the term used to describe what Germans do when they bitch and moan. They "blaaaaa" (you need to skip on the gutoral to really get the effect). Anyway, it fits, and its a problem. Really...
It is exceptionally difficult (and expensive) to fire anyone in Germany once their Probezeit is over. Most Germans carry legal insurance and will quite happily take an employer to court for unfair dismissal even when there are good grounds for doing so. The contract of employment would be seen to be invalid as a worker cannot be obliged to have a good attitude.
See my journal, I write things there
Player: Doesn't the computer want me to be happy?
GM: No. The computer *demands* that you be happy.
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
While I will agree that when a normally pleasant employee is angry/whiny that there is a reason. It's not always true. Unfortunately, I've dealt with cow-orkers who seem to have complaining as their #1 task.
The floggings will continue until morale improves.
When was it that a legitimate complaint became whining? Those that keep their mouths shut get run over, used and abused.
Karma: a simple way of silencing those with unpopular views regardless how correct or just that view might be.
I don't see why they couldn't just fire the whiner. Ability to get along with your co-workers is a perfectly valid criterion of job performance.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No one should need to leave, and supressing ppls freedom of speech
in the workplace is just the beginning .
Soon it will be politically correct to suppress it elsewhere .
If the person does not do their job that is one thing, but
for them to be silenced for expressing discontent over maltreatment
or inequality is a bad idea in my humble opinion .
Ex-MislTech
google "32 trillion offshore needs IRS attention"
That's rarely a solution either, but places do that all the time already - despite not spelling out a "mandatory happiness" type of rule. The question you have to ask yourself is, why was this "whiner" hired in the first place, if he or she really exhibits such a constantly negative attitude? Most likely, he/she WASN'T initially that bad! Sometimes, all the complaining is an expression of "the squeaky wheel gets the oil" attitude. Something is wrong and needs fixing, and this is an employee who actually cares enough to keep griping - instead of sitting down, shutting iup, and letting the inefficiency, mis-management, or other issue continue.
To an extent, I think it depends on the type of job one holds, too. If you work in a customer service capacity, you obviously are expected to get along with and listen patiently to your customers. Not being able to do so means you're not performing your job properly. But in a number of office jobs, being a "team player" is highly overrated. People concentrating on getting their work done instead of chatting it up with all their cubicle-mates are more efficient.
Yes but that's really just a guidline. We're all sure the managers will be pointing out how happy harry has 50 pieces of flair and you must measure up.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Other than sexism, was there a reason to point out that the individual is female?
I feel sorry for the woman. She shouldn't be discriminated against, she should be able to get any job she is capable of doing.
But she isn't capable of doing this one.
Equal opportunity means that. It doesn't mean a free pass for something you can't do.
I hope they offered her other positions at the company.
I have to say having RTFA now, it seems like they'll have a tougher time of it than my explanation makes it out. If she couldn't smile, why did they keep her on for a couple years, then fire her? But I stand by my statement that just you don't deserve compensation for being fired for not doing a job that has requirements you cannot satisfy. I mean, it is well known that people with disabilities cannot do every job able-bodied people can. If this weren't the case, there'd be no Social Security money paid to disabled people.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I'm a designer. It's my job to design. To design you must be able to feel what the client wants from talking to them. The client doesn't always know what they want. When they do it's often a big bonus and help. To feel you must have emotions. To stifle emotions would be to stifle the design. If the design was stifled then every site would look the same. Anyways even out of a designing environment, emotions are the result of a cause. Sadness happens because something sad happened like a death in the family, Anger happens because someone did something rude like nearly t-bone you on a roundabout. To effectively deal with emotions you must deal with the root cause. This is where medicine is going wrong. If you're not sleeping right it's usually because something is praying on your mind. Instead of the doctor finding out what is bugging you they shove pills down your throat. Trust me they do this. It's happened to me and the side effects stank worse then a US state full to bursting point with fresh manure. Please excuse the length of this post but that is why emotions are so important.
There have been many times when dealing with people that I wished I could kiss my own butt goodbye