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The Worst Workspaces In Tech
nicholas.m.carlson writes help you feel better about your hovel. Vallywag recently compiled a list of the top ten places to work, but the resulting submissions and exploration also provided them with an interesting look at some of the worst places to work. "What makes them so bad? Some offend with exposed fluorescent lights, gray cubicles and a dystopian corporate sheen. But others, with their pseudo-hip graffiti, kindergarten toys and plastic decorations — all in a desperate attempt to seem 'Internet-y' — come off even worse."
When I worked Bresnan Communications they did just that to a woman I worked with and came up with a new policy that all bathroom usage must be done on breaks and we would be monitored to be sure we were not taking time outside of them for breaks. I refused to sign the policy. They kept bringing it to me. They told me I'd be fired if I didn't sign it. I asked why they needed me to sign it as I would be held to it as a condition of my employment. They simply told me have it signed by the end of the day and then came back and had a supervisor stand over me while I signed it. I signed it and put "signed under duress" below my signature.
I worked to try and organize with the Communications Workers of America. That idea fell through when someone was told that I didn't trust at all. I finally ended up giving the company the finger and moved a good portion of the way across the country. After leaving they found a copy of the source code of some SNMP network management software I had written. I wrote it on my own time to assist the staff as they wouldn't pay Motorola and Arris for the tools we needed to do our job. They changed the graphics to their logos and renamed it Bresnan something or other. After hitting the coast I ended up finding a job working as a systems analyst for a labor union [other than CWA] and am part of a staff union that is represented by CWA. Being union represented isn't perfect. But it really beats having to deal with things like the BS that went on at Bresnan Communications.