Sounds like the telecommunications company that RIF'd me last year. We were told well ahead of time that the RIFs would NOT be based on skillsets or technical merit.
Hmmm...If I wanted a SUCCESSFUL company, wouldn't I want to KEEP the people who had technical merit, even if they cost a little bit more than the less-qualified people? Naw, dump people based on cost so the CEOs can line their pockets a bit more. After all, CEOs can hardly survive on several million dollars per year, right? And, their favorite line for justifying CEO pay is that they have to pay millions of dollars per year to retain the "best and brightest"...That must not apply to worker-bees.
Re:Around for Years - Pharmacist STILL required
on
Robot Pharmacists
·
· Score: 1
You bet, a pharmacist is still required. The pharmacy where I USED to take my prescriptions got one of the pill machines installed and the machine CONSISTANTLY shorted the prescriptions for any pills that were not round. The pharmacists would re-count if you requested it, which I always did after that, but otherwise the customers would be short on their prescriptions. Probably just an adjustment that needed to be made on the machine, but you never know, maybe it was the pharmacy owners' (it was a large retail chain) way of paying for the machine;)
Prior to that pharmacy getting the machine, I had never had any mistakes in my prescriptions, and I do check the pills to verify they are the correct ones and the correct count. I've switched to a different pharmacy now, another one (regional grocery chain) that does NOT have a machine, and my prescriptions are once again accurate.
Yes, people make mistakes all the time, but so do machines. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be too trusting that machines won't make mistakes. New machines, like new people on the job, need to be supervised and checked after to ensure that no serious mistakes are made.
People don't go about shooting everyone in sight where I am either, but I still own a gun.
I agree with you that material goods can be replaced, but what makes you think the burglar will be content with just stealing your stuff?
He could very well be some maniac who will kill you and/or your GF. Or he might tie you up and force you to watch while he rapes your GF. That DOES happen in real life, you know, not just in movies...Rape and murder are daily across the US, and most of the rapes at least happen in the home of the victim.
So, how do you think you'd feel after that?
Yes, your life and your GF's life are infinitely more valuable than any material items you own, and they SHOULD be worth defending with "extreme prejudice" as they say. I'm not saying you should get a gun, and I'm not saying you should not get a gun. That is a personal choice for each person to make on their own, based on what they feel will be the most effective defensive weapon for them that they can use and feel comfortable with. If you don't think you'd ever be able to use a gun if you really had to, then by all means DON'T have one.
I'm just trying to give food for thought...Maybe you'll be lucky and never have to face someone intent on violence, and I hope that you are. It doesn't hurt, however, to know your limits and have a plan just in case...Just like you should have a plan for getting out of the house in case of fire, you know? Self-defensive thinking isn't something that takes over your life, it's just a wise idea to think out a plan then you can tuck it in the back of your mind just in case.
First of all, if the protection is delivered in the form of a ring, it's no big deal, because you can trade your gun with anyone who has at least 1 finger about the same size as you...
It can be a VERY big deal if you are currently under fire. Some police who have been test subjects for the technology had serious problems with this. When your life is on the line you can't afford to take the time to put on a stupid ring just so you can fire back at the bad guy.
Second: Why do people think it is necessary to have a gun in their home for defensive purposes? Do you intend to actually fire that gun at a potential burglar? You'll probably be sued for it, especially in the USA.
I'm glad to hear you've never been the victim of a violent crime, and apparently have never had your house broken into either. If you had ever been a victim of a violent crime you would understand why people need a gun in their home for defensive purposes. There are plenty of examples of people, especially the elderly here in Florida, who were able to protect themselves solely because they had a gun with which to scare off the bad guy. Most of these good folks were physically incapable of defending themselves any other way
Many females of all ages are ill-equipped to fend off an average-sized bad guy either without the female having a weapon of some sort. A gun is probably the most effective reasonable weapon to have (I say "reasonable" because otherwise people will say "get a nuke" or "get a cannon" etc. ).
So, would you rather be raped and/or killed or risk being sued by your attacker? Personally, I'd much rather risk being sued. And yes, if someone breaks into my home, I'm not going to wait around to see if the "only" want to burglarize my home or if they have more violent intentions in mind. If they don't stop when I point the gun at them, then I will shoot at them until they DO stop.
Education definitley is important. If you're involved with guns in any way, it's important to be very well aware of every implication. But how does that stop your average frustraded office-clerk or teased-over-the-edge schoolkid from grabbing one in a fit of rage/anger/frustration? What good is education when you've allready lost your wits?
A well-educated, reasonable person will find a better way to vent their anger than to go shooting people. However, you are correct that not everyone is reasonable, and the answer is that NOTHING will stop an insane, unreasonable person from killing someone else if that's their intention, whether they can get a gun, knife, car, baseball bat, or any of the thousands of other objects that surround us daily that can be turned into deadly weapons. People have never had problems finding ways to kill one another, and they will ALWAYS find a way, even if you somehow manage to get rid of every weapon with greater than or equal power to firearms.
I also have to wonder what happens if you need to shoot with your other hand (the one without the ring)?
Along the same vein, if the gun is based solely on grip, what happens if you need to shoot with your other hand? Your grip with your right hand is most likely to be significantly different from your grip with your left hand.
With either device, what if your spouse or significant other needs to use it? Or one of your children needs to use it for defense of your home (that scenario has happened more than once in the US - not all kids are hooligans who shoot innocent people, some of them actually have used firearms to defend their lives and/or homes).
The US has also had times when civilians have come to the aid of fallen police officers under fire and have had to use the officer's gun to ward off the bad guy...So, if the cops are forced to use "smart guns" I guess they'll just get shot by the bad guy 'cause the good samaritan who wants to help save the cops' life can't anymore.
I seriously doubt there is any foolproof "technological" way to prevent mis-use of firearms anymore than there is any foolproof way to prevent the mis-use of anything else...
The best, most fool-proof way to prevent any mis-use of anything, including guns, is education. Yes, there will still be people who just won't learn, but education is still and always will be the best bet.
I never get solicitation phone calls...I only get phone calls from people I want to have call me. No, I'm serious! And I don't have to pay the phone company for the privilege of not being disturbed.
How? Well, I bought a little box a few years back that "answers" the call with a demand for a passcode. If the person puts in the correct passcode (I got to choose the passcode), then the phone rings through. If the person does NOT put in the correct passcode, the machine hangs up on them and I'm not disturbed. To me, that's much better than the telezappers.
My main reason for getting it in the first place was because I worked night shifts and had to be able to sleep undisturbed by the phone, but wanted to still allow my friends to be able to reach me if they had an emergency. It was a perfect solution for me, and still is.
Where can you get one? Well, last time I looked at the catalog from the place I purchased it they no longer carried them. However, I recently saw a catalog for a security-type of store (sells pepper spray, alarms, spy-camera stuff, etc.) that sells them. Probably have them local to anyone who wants them, just look in your local phone directory. It cost me $35 several years ago, probably a bit more now, but even so, it's much better than paying the telco a monthly fee for selective blocking!
Right now, many of our biggest American corporations are sending their systems and data overseas to the area of the world that hates us most. That's right, folks in the middle east will be watching over our data. Now, doesn't that make you feel safer?
Unfortunately, too few managers realize that this is the nature of the business, and they see IT support as an expense that can be done away with if they aren't busy all the time. That's why we had so many layoffs in my ex-company in the IT departments. The upper management folks were too short-sighted to see that laying folks off just because they had one or two weeks of less than 50-hours worth of work, that meant they weren't needed.
I had automated myself out of my job anyway, and had even offered to help out other systems in the same company. Management wouldn't let me do that though, because that would complicate their accounting codes. Stupid reason, if you ask me, but that's how management was there. They could have let me automate other systems to reduce the workload on some of the horribly overworked groups, but they'd rather work those poor folks to death.
We had some groups woefully overstaffed, where each person might have 1 hour of work to do each day, and other groups that were horribly understaffed with people having to work 60 - 70 hour weeks just to try to keep caught up. Management sucked so badly though, that they just wouldn't work with other managers to try to even out the workload. I'm glad I'm out of there!
Well, we've never received Christmas bonuses...When we receive bonuses (if we do) they usually come around April for whatever reason, and are **small** monetary amounts.
Of course, this year, myself and many others will receive no bonuses because we were laid off. Meanwhile, the CEO raked in over $32-million in salary and bonuses even though the stock was sinking. That makes no sense to me, but hey, what do I care now other than the fact that the stock options I'd built up are now worthless.
Those bobblehead dolls of the CEO are the ultimate in ego-tripping for the bastard. I think if I had gotten one of those I would've ripped the head off it, put some red paint on the neck area, and sent the "severed" head via post to his office;)
The company that laid me off, a major telco in the US and beyond, was never very good at giving decent raises or bonuses to the drones. Some managers would give small gifts around Christmas, usually things that nobody wanted and usually they were completely inappropriate...Like the time my manager gave me a heavily-scented candle despite the fact that heavy fragrances gave me severe asthma attacks. Gee, thanks for THAT one!
Oh, and this year, some of my mates who are still at the company get 1/2-day off on the 24th December IF they aren't already taking it off (this was announced just this past week) AND their immediate supervisor says they can AND there is no business need for them to be there (i.e. they aren't shift workers). They cannot take any other 1/2 day off with the possible exception of 31 December. So, we figure about 2 or 3 people out of 100,000+ in the company will be able to take the 1/2-day off.
Another thing they love to do rather than give money, is to give gift certificates that are about to expire and/or to restaurants that are not in the area, or promotional t-shirts, etc. that they couldn't get rid of any other way (at least the t-shirts are of SOME use, though!).
We had to be there for Y2K, and they gave us meal vouchers for pizza they had brought in to the cafeteria. Only problem was that we weren't allowed to leave our desks long enough to get down there and back, in case there was a crisis.
Oh well, I don't work there anymore...I feel more sorry for my mates who are left behind though. Some of them are expected to provide 24x7x365 coverage with only 2 people even though they have more than enough work to keep 6 people busy.
Just look at all the prejudices and gender-bashing going on here. It's no different here than in society as a whole.
Give me a break, folks! Don't judge people solely on their gender/color/whatever. Judge people by what they can achieve. If it weren't for a WOMAN, the COBOL language would have never been developed.
Yes, there are differences between the genders, but that doesn't mean that women are incapable of doing traditionally "male" things (get your minds out of the gutter!) just as well, if not better than men. It also doesn't mean that men are incapable of donig traditionally "female" things just as well, if not better than women. Biological limits notwithstanding, of course - men can't give birth for instance.
So, folks, next time you need directions on how to get somewhere don't automatically assume a woman can't help you (or the next time you need a technical question answered). At the same time, next time you need something for a bake sale, don't assume the guys can't/won't bring something (and don't assume us gals WILL bring something 'cause I don't bake ).
We all become too wrapped up in social stereotypes for our own good. That is certainly part of the problem. When folks think "social event, nurturing, etc." they think "woman", when folks think "need directions, need something technical or mechanical fixed" they think "man." It is a VERY sad commentary on society, but unfortunately still true.
My fellow females, don't wait to "jump on the bandwagon" because that bandwagon ain't gonna come! Follow your interests rather than worrying about what people will think or say about it. Don't worry about your social life, either...Once all your non-techie friends find out you can fix their computers they will be calling you all the time!:))))))
You've gotta be kidding me! Who the heck did they ask, a bunch of guy-crazed teenagers? This "study" they did is totally biased and the results do NOT reflect reality.
I can't imagine they could have asked any mature females, because if they had they wouldn't have gotten the answers they did I'm sure. It doesn't matter one iota what gender you are as to whether you're drawn into geekdom or not. Some PEOPLE are drawn into computers and some aren't, just the same as any other field. If "girls" don't want to go into the computer field it's just as likely to be due to narrow-mindedness on the part of those around them as opposed to a lack of desire on their part. Those folks probably either live a life of hell or become closet geeks:)
We have women in pretty much every field of work there is now. It's time to stop proliferating biases against women going into certain fields ("Oh, Susie wouldn't want to be a doctor, that's too HARD for a woman, she should go into nursing instead.")
Furthermore, there's not much difference (other than gender, of course) between a male geek and a female geek. Both love the challenge of exploring computers and there are even female hackers and crackers out there. I do, however, think that most female geeks try to be non-destructive in their hacking just as females in general seem to try to be less destructive than men. I'm not trying to bash men here, by any means, it just seems like men enjoy blowing things up:)
And yes, I am female. Not only that, but I am the "alpha geek" of not only my workgroup (comprised of 50% about women) but also of my circle of friends and acquaintances (comprised of about 20% women).
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Sounds like the telecommunications company that RIF'd me last year. We were told well ahead of time that the RIFs would NOT be based on skillsets or technical merit.
Hmmm...If I wanted a SUCCESSFUL company, wouldn't I want to KEEP the people who had technical merit, even if they cost a little bit more than the less-qualified people? Naw, dump people based on cost so the CEOs can line their pockets a bit more. After all, CEOs can hardly survive on several million dollars per year, right? And, their favorite line for justifying CEO pay is that they have to pay millions of dollars per year to retain the "best and brightest"...That must not apply to worker-bees.
You bet, a pharmacist is still required. The pharmacy where I USED to take my prescriptions got one of the pill machines installed and the machine CONSISTANTLY shorted the prescriptions for any pills that were not round. The pharmacists would re-count if you requested it, which I always did after that, but otherwise the customers would be short on their prescriptions. Probably just an adjustment that needed to be made on the machine, but you never know, maybe it was the pharmacy owners' (it was a large retail chain) way of paying for the machine ;)
Prior to that pharmacy getting the machine, I had never had any mistakes in my prescriptions, and I do check the pills to verify they are the correct ones and the correct count. I've switched to a different pharmacy now, another one (regional grocery chain) that does NOT have a machine, and my prescriptions are once again accurate.
Yes, people make mistakes all the time, but so do machines. Unfortunately, everyone seems to be too trusting that machines won't make mistakes. New machines, like new people on the job, need to be supervised and checked after to ensure that no serious mistakes are made.
People don't go about shooting everyone in sight where I am either, but I still own a gun.
I agree with you that material goods can be replaced, but what makes you think the burglar will be content with just stealing your stuff?
He could very well be some maniac who will kill you and/or your GF. Or he might tie you up and force you to watch while he rapes your GF. That DOES happen in real life, you know, not just in movies...Rape and murder are daily across the US, and most of the rapes at least happen in the home of the victim.
So, how do you think you'd feel after that?
Yes, your life and your GF's life are infinitely more valuable than any material items you own, and they SHOULD be worth defending with "extreme prejudice" as they say. I'm not saying you should get a gun, and I'm not saying you should not get a gun. That is a personal choice for each person to make on their own, based on what they feel will be the most effective defensive weapon for them that they can use and feel comfortable with. If you don't think you'd ever be able to use a gun if you really had to, then by all means DON'T have one.
I'm just trying to give food for thought...Maybe you'll be lucky and never have to face someone intent on violence, and I hope that you are. It doesn't hurt, however, to know your limits and have a plan just in case...Just like you should have a plan for getting out of the house in case of fire, you know? Self-defensive thinking isn't something that takes over your life, it's just a wise idea to think out a plan then you can tuck it in the back of your mind just in case.
First of all, if the protection is delivered in the form of a ring, it's no big deal, because you can trade your gun with anyone who has at least 1 finger about the same size as you...
It can be a VERY big deal if you are currently under fire. Some police who have been test subjects for the technology had serious problems with this. When your life is on the line you can't afford to take the time to put on a stupid ring just so you can fire back at the bad guy.
Second: Why do people think it is necessary to have a gun in their home for defensive purposes? Do you intend to actually fire that gun at a potential burglar? You'll probably be sued for it, especially in the USA.
I'm glad to hear you've never been the victim of a violent crime, and apparently have never had your house broken into either. If you had ever been a victim of a violent crime you would understand why people need a gun in their home for defensive purposes. There are plenty of examples of people, especially the elderly here in Florida, who were able to protect themselves solely because they had a gun with which to scare off the bad guy. Most of these good folks were physically incapable of defending themselves any other way
Many females of all ages are ill-equipped to fend off an average-sized bad guy either without the female having a weapon of some sort. A gun is probably the most effective reasonable weapon to have (I say "reasonable" because otherwise people will say "get a nuke" or "get a cannon" etc. ).
So, would you rather be raped and/or killed or risk being sued by your attacker? Personally, I'd much rather risk being sued. And yes, if someone breaks into my home, I'm not going to wait around to see if the "only" want to burglarize my home or if they have more violent intentions in mind. If they don't stop when I point the gun at them, then I will shoot at them until they DO stop.
Education definitley is important. If you're involved with guns in any way, it's important to be very well aware of every implication. But how does that stop your average frustraded office-clerk or teased-over-the-edge schoolkid from grabbing one in a fit of rage/anger/frustration? What good is education when you've allready lost your wits?
A well-educated, reasonable person will find a better way to vent their anger than to go shooting people. However, you are correct that not everyone is reasonable, and the answer is that NOTHING will stop an insane, unreasonable person from killing someone else if that's their intention, whether they can get a gun, knife, car, baseball bat, or any of the thousands of other objects that surround us daily that can be turned into deadly weapons. People have never had problems finding ways to kill one another, and they will ALWAYS find a way, even if you somehow manage to get rid of every weapon with greater than or equal power to firearms.
I agree with you 100%.
I also have to wonder what happens if you need to shoot with your other hand (the one without the ring)?
Along the same vein, if the gun is based solely on grip, what happens if you need to shoot with your other hand? Your grip with your right hand is most likely to be significantly different from your grip with your left hand.
With either device, what if your spouse or significant other needs to use it? Or one of your children needs to use it for defense of your home (that scenario has happened more than once in the US - not all kids are hooligans who shoot innocent people, some of them actually have used firearms to defend their lives and/or homes).
The US has also had times when civilians have come to the aid of fallen police officers under fire and have had to use the officer's gun to ward off the bad guy...So, if the cops are forced to use "smart guns" I guess they'll just get shot by the bad guy 'cause the good samaritan who wants to help save the cops' life can't anymore.
I seriously doubt there is any foolproof "technological" way to prevent mis-use of firearms anymore than there is any foolproof way to prevent the mis-use of anything else...
The best, most fool-proof way to prevent any mis-use of anything, including guns, is education. Yes, there will still be people who just won't learn, but education is still and always will be the best bet.
I never get solicitation phone calls...I only get phone calls from people I want to have call me. No, I'm serious! And I don't have to pay the phone company for the privilege of not being disturbed.
How? Well, I bought a little box a few years back that "answers" the call with a demand for a passcode. If the person puts in the correct passcode (I got to choose the passcode), then the phone rings through. If the person does NOT put in the correct passcode, the machine hangs up on them and I'm not disturbed. To me, that's much better than the telezappers.
My main reason for getting it in the first place was because I worked night shifts and had to be able to sleep undisturbed by the phone, but wanted to still allow my friends to be able to reach me if they had an emergency. It was a perfect solution for me, and still is.
Where can you get one? Well, last time I looked at the catalog from the place I purchased it they no longer carried them. However, I recently saw a catalog for a security-type of store (sells pepper spray, alarms, spy-camera stuff, etc.) that sells them. Probably have them local to anyone who wants them, just look in your local phone directory. It cost me $35 several years ago, probably a bit more now, but even so, it's much better than paying the telco a monthly fee for selective blocking!
Right now, many of our biggest American corporations are sending their systems and data overseas to the area of the world that hates us most. That's right, folks in the middle east will be watching over our data. Now, doesn't that make you feel safer?
Unfortunately, too few managers realize that this is the nature of the business, and they see IT support as an expense that can be done away with if they aren't busy all the time. That's why we had so many layoffs in my ex-company in the IT departments. The upper management folks were too short-sighted to see that laying folks off just because they had one or two weeks of less than 50-hours worth of work, that meant they weren't needed.
I had automated myself out of my job anyway, and had even offered to help out other systems in the same company. Management wouldn't let me do that though, because that would complicate their accounting codes. Stupid reason, if you ask me, but that's how management was there. They could have let me automate other systems to reduce the workload on some of the horribly overworked groups, but they'd rather work those poor folks to death.
We had some groups woefully overstaffed, where each person might have 1 hour of work to do each day, and other groups that were horribly understaffed with people having to work 60 - 70 hour weeks just to try to keep caught up. Management sucked so badly though, that they just wouldn't work with other managers to try to even out the workload. I'm glad I'm out of there!
Well, we've never received Christmas bonuses...When we receive bonuses (if we do) they usually come around April for whatever reason, and are **small** monetary amounts.
;)
Of course, this year, myself and many others will receive no bonuses because we were laid off. Meanwhile, the CEO raked in over $32-million in salary and bonuses even though the stock was sinking. That makes no sense to me, but hey, what do I care now other than the fact that the stock options I'd built up are now worthless.
Those bobblehead dolls of the CEO are the ultimate in ego-tripping for the bastard. I think if I had gotten one of those I would've ripped the head off it, put some red paint on the neck area, and sent the "severed" head via post to his office
The company that laid me off, a major telco in the US and beyond, was never very good at giving decent raises or bonuses to the drones. Some managers would give small gifts around Christmas, usually things that nobody wanted and usually they were completely inappropriate...Like the time my manager gave me a heavily-scented candle despite the fact that heavy fragrances gave me severe asthma attacks. Gee, thanks for THAT one!
Oh, and this year, some of my mates who are still at the company get 1/2-day off on the 24th December IF they aren't already taking it off (this was announced just this past week) AND their immediate supervisor says they can AND there is no business need for them to be there (i.e. they aren't shift workers). They cannot take any other 1/2 day off with the possible exception of 31 December. So, we figure about 2 or 3 people out of 100,000+ in the company will be able to take the 1/2-day off.
Another thing they love to do rather than give money, is to give gift certificates that are about to expire and/or to restaurants that are not in the area, or promotional t-shirts, etc. that they couldn't get rid of any other way (at least the t-shirts are of SOME use, though!).
We had to be there for Y2K, and they gave us meal vouchers for pizza they had brought in to the cafeteria. Only problem was that we weren't allowed to leave our desks long enough to get down there and back, in case there was a crisis.
Oh well, I don't work there anymore...I feel more sorry for my mates who are left behind though. Some of them are expected to provide 24x7x365 coverage with only 2 people even though they have more than enough work to keep 6 people busy.
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Just look at all the prejudices and gender-bashing going on here. It's no different here than in society as a whole.
Give me a break, folks! Don't judge people solely on their gender/color/whatever. Judge people by what they can achieve. If it weren't for a WOMAN, the COBOL language would have never been developed.
Yes, there are differences between the genders, but that doesn't mean that women are incapable of doing traditionally "male" things (get your minds out of the gutter!) just as well, if not better than men. It also doesn't mean that men are incapable of donig traditionally "female" things just as well, if not better than women. Biological limits notwithstanding, of course - men can't give birth for instance.
So, folks, next time you need directions on how to get somewhere don't automatically assume a woman can't help you (or the next time you need a technical question answered). At the same time, next time you need something for a bake sale, don't assume the guys can't/won't bring something (and don't assume us gals WILL bring something 'cause I don't bake ).
We all become too wrapped up in social stereotypes for our own good. That is certainly part of the problem. When folks think "social event, nurturing, etc." they think "woman", when folks think "need directions, need something technical or mechanical fixed" they think "man." It is a VERY sad commentary on society, but unfortunately still true.
:))))))
My fellow females, don't wait to "jump on the bandwagon" because that bandwagon ain't gonna come! Follow your interests rather than worrying about what people will think or say about it. Don't worry about your social life, either...Once all your non-techie friends find out you can fix their computers they will be calling you all the time!
You've gotta be kidding me! Who the heck did they ask, a bunch of guy-crazed teenagers? This "study" they did is totally biased and the results do NOT reflect reality.
:)
:)
I can't imagine they could have asked any mature females, because if they had they wouldn't have gotten the answers they did I'm sure. It doesn't matter one iota what gender you are as to whether you're drawn into geekdom or not. Some PEOPLE are drawn into computers and some aren't, just the same as any other field. If "girls" don't want to go into the computer field it's just as likely to be due to narrow-mindedness on the part of those around them as opposed to a lack of desire on their part. Those folks probably either live a life of hell or become closet geeks
We have women in pretty much every field of work there is now. It's time to stop proliferating biases against women going into certain fields ("Oh, Susie wouldn't want to be a doctor, that's too HARD for a woman, she should go into nursing instead.")
Furthermore, there's not much difference (other than gender, of course) between a male geek and a female geek. Both love the challenge of exploring computers and there are even female hackers and crackers out there. I do, however, think that most female geeks try to be non-destructive in their hacking just as females in general seem to try to be less destructive than men. I'm not trying to bash men here, by any means, it just seems like men enjoy blowing things up
And yes, I am female. Not only that, but I am the "alpha geek" of not only my workgroup (comprised of 50% about women) but also of my circle of friends and acquaintances (comprised of about 20% women).