I don't have spotty service at all, anywhere I go on a regular basis. I think it's one of those YMMV situations. I rarely drop a call, I nearly always have good signal.
My TomTom unit actually has some safety options where you can have the unit not display the realtime map - instead, it just shows a graphical representation of the next instruction (for example, a line that corners right to signify a right turn), the distance to that instruction, and the street name. I think that's really a pretty useful feature. I have it set up so that it does that whenever I'm going more than 50mph.
Get his buy-in. Explain that you find working with music to be much more productive. (Phrase it that way! His policy is not lowering productivity, but changing it now would increase productivity.)
That's a very good point.
If you phrase it negatively (i.e., "your policy is stupid" or "your policy is actually doing the opposite if what you want"), your boss will probably get defensive - it's human nature. If someone tells you that you're wrong, your first instinct is to prove yourself right. It ends up turning into a pissing contest. And when an employee gets into a pissing contest with a manager... well I think it should be obvious who usually comes out a winner. And even if you don't get in trouble for saying it that way, you're helping nobody.
However, if you go at it with a positive attitude - most (but not all) people will be more receptive. Instead of telling them that they're wrong, you're telling them that you want to help improve things - and that's hugely different than the former, because now you're showing your manager that you want to help increase productivity, which is what they will be judged on when their performance review comes along. Now, of course, you could have the egomaniac with the "I don't need anyone's help" attitude, so YMMV.
Oh yes. Definitely worth subscribing to. The cost is ridiculously low. And I've actually selected to turn of Ads on all pages, and I have set my limit of ad-free pages to zero.
Oh come on, at least have the decency to be honest about it. If it really affects your productivity, then they'll see it. Don't do shoddy work on purpose.
What AC is saying - let me say it a little differently - is that labor can be thought of as a market, just like the market for beer, the market for butter, and the market for whatever product or service your company produces. We'll call it the "labor market."
I'm going to over-simplify this, but hopefully not to the point where it no longer applies;) Also, anyone more well-versed in economics, feel free to jump in here.
There are a lot of companies that produce butter that goes on your grocer's shelf. They're all in competition for your business - they all want you, the butter consumer, to buy their butter, and not anybody else's, because that's how they will make more money. stay in business, and succeed in the market place. How do they do it? They sell their product at the highest price the consumers are willing to pay - although they may try to undercut their competitors' prices. And they try to make a better product than their competitor (or at least convince the consumer that their product is better).
If you think of the labor market in those terms, it's easy to see. Think of your career as if you're competing in a market. Your product is code, and you get paid per unit of time. Your competitors are other laborers, and your consumers are companies that pay for your time and code. The difference here, IMO, is that you want not only to produce better "product" than your competitors and make as much money as you can doing it, but you also want to have all the "perks" and benefits that you can. At least, that's what it is for me - money is important, but it's not everything.
And one of the biggest "perks" I can think of is to be able to do your job in whatever manner you please - within reason (no nude programming in your cube, nobody wants to see that) - assuming you're outputting the quality of work that's expected of you.
I think you should try to have the policy changed, first and foremost. I don't think it's appropriate or professional to just quit immediately over something like this. It's not like it's some kind of human rights violation.
If you do decide to leave, I don't think you should flat out say "change it or I'll go" - you'll have more luck if you're more tactful about it.
Ultimately it's up to you to decide whether you want your company's business or not.
Speaking of government regulation... I know there are laws against talking on the phone sans hands-free... laws against texting... I wonder if there are any laws against visiting Slashdot.
Time Warner has disabled that functionality in my cable boxes, according to both the diagnostic screen and the fact that the computer detects nothing when I connect it:(
Time Warner actually tried to charge me for two CableCARDs. I have one multi-stream card. They told me that since it acts like two single-stream cards, I'd have to pay twice for it.
That is, of course, incorrect, but I think it definitely says something about peoples' knowledge of how CableCARDs work.
I respectfully disagree. I don't want to get very far off topic, although I fear we have already, but how elegant is: screwing around with tuner hardware and drivers, editing configuration files, finding a remote that works all the way, cramming all your hardware into a small, quiet, attractive home theater case, getting HDMI out to your TV, and then not even being able to receive all the channels you subscribe to?
TiVo is elegant in that when I got it, I plugged it in, ran through a few simple setup steps, and it just worked. It took less than an hour to set up. Yes, there was a little bit of a train-wreck with the CableCARD and tuning adapter, but that was mostly the incompetence of the cable company.
I think it's just personal preference here, to be honest. I weighed putting together a nice HTPC, but the overall cost, time and effort to set up, and the lack of support from my cable company was a big problem.
Slashdot Mirror
There's nothing funny about invasions of privacy.
But there's so many things that make this story hilarious.
I don't have spotty service at all, anywhere I go on a regular basis. I think it's one of those YMMV situations. I rarely drop a call, I nearly always have good signal.
So I can go ahead and expect to stop receiving e-mails on my BlackBerry on Friday? Great, yeah, sweet. Thanks guys!
It's actually possible to hide your friend list from your public profile - but you have to hide it from your profile entirely.
Of course, that doesn't mean that I agree with the "enhanced" privacy settings.
My TomTom unit actually has some safety options where you can have the unit not display the realtime map - instead, it just shows a graphical representation of the next instruction (for example, a line that corners right to signify a right turn), the distance to that instruction, and the street name. I think that's really a pretty useful feature. I have it set up so that it does that whenever I'm going more than 50mph.
... the year of Linux on the desktop^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ARM-Powered laptop.
Get his buy-in. Explain that you find working with music to be much more productive. (Phrase it that way! His policy is not lowering productivity, but changing it now would increase productivity.)
That's a very good point.
If you phrase it negatively (i.e., "your policy is stupid" or "your policy is actually doing the opposite if what you want"), your boss will probably get defensive - it's human nature. If someone tells you that you're wrong, your first instinct is to prove yourself right. It ends up turning into a pissing contest. And when an employee gets into a pissing contest with a manager... well I think it should be obvious who usually comes out a winner. And even if you don't get in trouble for saying it that way, you're helping nobody.
However, if you go at it with a positive attitude - most (but not all) people will be more receptive. Instead of telling them that they're wrong, you're telling them that you want to help improve things - and that's hugely different than the former, because now you're showing your manager that you want to help increase productivity, which is what they will be judged on when their performance review comes along. Now, of course, you could have the egomaniac with the "I don't need anyone's help" attitude, so YMMV.
Plus, by avoiding pop culture songs, you'll have the added advantage of listening to music that's good :)
Oh yes. Definitely worth subscribing to. The cost is ridiculously low. And I've actually selected to turn of Ads on all pages, and I have set my limit of ad-free pages to zero.
Well worth supporting /.
And a good walk down memory lane.
Oh come on, at least have the decency to be honest about it. If it really affects your productivity, then they'll see it. Don't do shoddy work on purpose.
Slashdot Poll | What Kind of Music Do You Code To?
What AC is saying - let me say it a little differently - is that labor can be thought of as a market, just like the market for beer, the market for butter, and the market for whatever product or service your company produces. We'll call it the "labor market."
I'm going to over-simplify this, but hopefully not to the point where it no longer applies ;) Also, anyone more well-versed in economics, feel free to jump in here.
There are a lot of companies that produce butter that goes on your grocer's shelf. They're all in competition for your business - they all want you, the butter consumer, to buy their butter, and not anybody else's, because that's how they will make more money. stay in business, and succeed in the market place. How do they do it? They sell their product at the highest price the consumers are willing to pay - although they may try to undercut their competitors' prices. And they try to make a better product than their competitor (or at least convince the consumer that their product is better).
If you think of the labor market in those terms, it's easy to see. Think of your career as if you're competing in a market. Your product is code, and you get paid per unit of time. Your competitors are other laborers, and your consumers are companies that pay for your time and code. The difference here, IMO, is that you want not only to produce better "product" than your competitors and make as much money as you can doing it, but you also want to have all the "perks" and benefits that you can. At least, that's what it is for me - money is important, but it's not everything.
And one of the biggest "perks" I can think of is to be able to do your job in whatever manner you please - within reason (no nude programming in your cube, nobody wants to see that) - assuming you're outputting the quality of work that's expected of you.
I think you should try to have the policy changed, first and foremost. I don't think it's appropriate or professional to just quit immediately over something like this. It's not like it's some kind of human rights violation.
If you do decide to leave, I don't think you should flat out say "change it or I'll go" - you'll have more luck if you're more tactful about it.
Ultimately it's up to you to decide whether you want your company's business or not.
Speaking of government regulation... I know there are laws against talking on the phone sans hands-free... laws against texting... I wonder if there are any laws against visiting Slashdot.
Ah, that would do it! Yeah, that was probably not too long after I registered.
Wow. I was a senior in high school at that point! And judging by the time of that post, I was probably actually posting from school.
I guess if there's one thing I have to anchor to in my life, it's slacking on /.
I'm not really sure if that's a fail or a win... although, I'd say I made it through the last ten years in one piece, so... epic win, Slashdot!
I'm pretty sure that I created my account here 10 years ago or more... when I was a teenager.
That being said, this is one of the few things that I did then and still do now.
Go /.!
BTW, is there a way to figure out your actual registration date?
... and, there it is.
Holy hell, a 4-digit UID! I didn't even know you people still existed.
That was honestly just meant to be funny, don't take any meaning from it :)
Heh. Actually, all the windows in my apartment are on two walls: One wall faces North/Northeast and one faces East/Southeast, but not south enough.
Time Warner has disabled that functionality in my cable boxes, according to both the diagnostic screen and the fact that the computer detects nothing when I connect it :(
Unfortunately, my balcony faces the wrong way :)
With that attitude, I guess Google will have to start worrying about privacy!
Time Warner actually tried to charge me for two CableCARDs. I have one multi-stream card. They told me that since it acts like two single-stream cards, I'd have to pay twice for it.
That is, of course, incorrect, but I think it definitely says something about peoples' knowledge of how CableCARDs work.
With switched video, the frequencies are assigned on an as-needed basis. Whatever frequency is available when the channel is requested.
I respectfully disagree. I don't want to get very far off topic, although I fear we have already, but how elegant is: screwing around with tuner hardware and drivers, editing configuration files, finding a remote that works all the way, cramming all your hardware into a small, quiet, attractive home theater case, getting HDMI out to your TV, and then not even being able to receive all the channels you subscribe to?
TiVo is elegant in that when I got it, I plugged it in, ran through a few simple setup steps, and it just worked. It took less than an hour to set up. Yes, there was a little bit of a train-wreck with the CableCARD and tuning adapter, but that was mostly the incompetence of the cable company.
I think it's just personal preference here, to be honest. I weighed putting together a nice HTPC, but the overall cost, time and effort to set up, and the lack of support from my cable company was a big problem.