Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Everyone's a Shirker
Some people with too much time on their hands blog. Others make Flash animations so damn funny you dare not watch them at work because you'll laugh out loud and be suspected of insufficient dedication.
Of course, in some offices, screwing off off on the job is becoming more difficult than just reading the paper, downloading Salon, or trying to buy concert tickets on Ticketmaster (all of which I did when I was a cubicle inmate), because the technology available for watching you is getting even more sophisticated. And it's not just for factory floor people, or customer service reps chained to headsets. Even people who have grownup jobs with grownup titles and who went to college--and presumably have career choices--are now being treated like characters out of a dystopian novel, like latent shirkers who can't wait to rip off their company by stealing back minutes of their time. Like many "advances," this only looks like an advance to people who aren't subject to its use.
Some people with too much time on their hands blog. Others make Flash animations so damn funny you dare not watch them at work because you'll laugh out loud and be suspected of insufficient dedication.
Of course, in some offices, screwing off off on the job is becoming more difficult than just reading the paper, downloading Salon, or trying to buy concert tickets on Ticketmaster (all of which I did when I was a cubicle inmate), because the technology available for watching you is getting even more sophisticated. And it's not just for factory floor people, or customer service reps chained to headsets. Even people who have grownup jobs with grownup titles and who went to college--and presumably have career choices--are now being treated like characters out of a dystopian novel, like latent shirkers who can't wait to rip off their company by stealing back minutes of their time. Like many "advances," this only looks like an advance to people who aren't subject to its use.
