9 to 5

Tea, coffee, me...........

nobody@vox.com(salaryman) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:01:11 -0700

It's just business. She's pretty - in a blonde and buxom kind of way; but I've never really thought of her as anything but the service manager from our contractors. Which why I was slightly surprised to see her sitting on my side of the table at the update meeting today. And that wrap round top she's wearing, patently doesn't. And I'm guessing that bra she's flashing didn't come from M&S. And why is she touching my arm as we go through the figures?

It all comes clear as we do go through the figures. They've fucked-up. They've been miscalculating conversion rate for the best part of this year. Which is bad. It's not life or death bad, but it's not good.

But what I'm profoundly disappointed with is the way she's chosen to present the news.

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Showing my Age in a Multigenerational Workforce

nobody@vox.com(Enterprising Employee) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:15:57 -0700

Generation Gap

Recently, a co-worker (a baby boomer), upon hearing about this blog, came up to me and said "Hey Gen, I really like your blog!..Hmmm...what Is a Blog anyway??"

Another co-worker (also a boomer) asked me during water cooler talk if I knew who Paul Newman was and I said "The Salad Dressing Guy??"

Oh boy, talk about showing your age.

We laugh a lot here about the many nuances that crop up between our generational gaps. And while some of them are quite laughable, often the differences in a multigenerational workforce can be a challenge to navigate let alone manage. My boss does an extremely great job of managing her multigenerational team; everyone from the Silent Generation/Traditionalists to the Baby Boomers, to Generations X and Y. It takes a very flexible and innovative manager to be able to motivate different types of people who have very different gauges of what constitutes a successful and fulfilling professional life.

Today, there are four generations working side by side in the workforce. Each of these groups has differing values, definitions of success, and perspectives on leadership. Enterprising companies now find that understanding these differences help to bridge the gap.

In this first in a series on the Multigenerational workforce, lets get an overview of these four generations and listen to Karen McCullough in her engaging and humorous presentation “The Generations: Managing the Mix”

Karen McCullough - The Generations: Managing the Mix

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Anual Hellfest To Take Place Soon...

nobody@vox.com(Jim) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:14:52 -0700

That's right, the last Friday of July equals Physical Inventory for my site. This is my fourth year as inventory leader and I'm so dreading it. Why? It means I need to be at work at 6 am and not leave that Friday until everything is complete - anywhere from 8 pm to as late as 10pm and then show back up Saturday at 6 am until 6 pm (hoping it won't be as late for both days. The worst was leaving at 3:30am and coming back at 6 am for another 12 hours. Yeah, that was the first year I took over. We have over 20 million dollars of inventory to count under 650,000 square feet under roof. So yeah, it's going to suck.

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Work etc.

nobody@vox.com(Workaholic Hostess) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:07:59 -0800

We had a big group of big guys last night. When they piled in I thought it was a group of pro-wrestlers. There was one guy that towered over all of them. He was really really tall and big, with gray hair and a sharp suit, and his eyes were kind of evil. I found out today that he's a politician who's biggest claim to fame (at least as far as mama's concerned) is the comment he made about a gang rape incident awhile ago involving a bunch of Waseda University boys (which is one of the best universities in this country). Apparently a bunch of Waseda boys had some kind of dating event club, and they gang raped some girls, on multiple occasions if I remember correctly (it's possible that I don't).

Well guess what this politician said in a quote repeated all over the echo chamber of Japanese media? "Those boys have a lot of energy, that's good." He failed to see what the big deal was, basically.

I wish I knew he said that about that incident last night. I would have sat as far away from him as I could. Then again, I guess you can't really expect a guy that comes to a hostess club to know anything about respecting women.

*****

Had an annoying customer with the biggest, softest ears I've ever seen. He kept leaning on me and rubbing against my bare shoulders and his gooey ears just felt so gross. How come some guys can just repulse you the second they touch you, and other guys can touch you and it's so comfortable, you barely even notice? What's up with that? This guy was repulsive. A slimy, weak-voiced, wimpy little baby-voiced guy.

*****

I think I've actually developed an allergy to older men. Older men in suits, gross.

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last day as an office lady...for now

nobody@vox.com(Workaholic Hostess) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:09:48 -0800

Guess what?

Today was my last day at my daytime Office Lady job!

Everyone was very nice. I actually felt very sad when I had to make my announcement in front of everyone that today was my last day. I got some green tea and other stuffs as going away gifts from various peeps. And a nice pen that I know for a fact was a gift from one of our customers. But that's okay, the coworker that re-gave it to me is weird anyway.

International sales peeps took me out for drinks. One guy who's worked there for a year talked about his hilarious interactions with the alcoholic head of his department. Alcoholic head of his department is just the worst drunk you could imagine. Belligerent, violent, and cheap (which is an unforgivable crime).

on top of this, after a few drinks, alcoholic head of his department suddenly thinks he's fluent enough in English to use "f" and "s" words all over the place. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing.

This one guy who's worked here for a year is kind of weird. In Japanese you say "his back is very low," which basically means he's always bowing, which means he's highly respectful of everyone and keeps himself at a low position. He's happiest when he's silent and in the background. But I decided to make him the focus, and I interviewed him. He got so nervous, the vein at his temple started sticking up. I wanted to know why he's suddenly sprouted a bunch of gray hairs within the last few months. He keeps himself at a distance and tries to stay away from human interaction, but is always getting himself into situations where he's passively allowed one of his superiors to take advantage of him (which is probably why he's sprouted all those gray hairs). I'm sure he's been hurt deeply by something in his past, and he hasn't dealt with it and instead thinks he can live a life free of human interaction so he won't ever be hurt again. After my interrogation, I found out that he's never even seen what his father looks like, and he admitted that he's scared of getting hurt again.

Anyway, that was the end of my last day working a regular day time job.

My bills are paid solely from hostessing now.

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I meet, therefore I am

nobody@vox.com(salaryman) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:36:02 -0700

Another bloody Friday, another bloody trip to the call centre. Although, it's seems to be dress slutty day, so things are not too bad. If you were wondering why that vital package didn't turn up that you were expecting, it's 'cause all the DHL and Parcelforce guys are still in our reception, watching the glass elevators going up and down.

The reason I'm here is a meeting. I don't know what the meeting's about, I've not prepared for it, but it popped up on Outlook, so here I am. This is the reason I keep Outlook password protected: lest some joker comes along and slips in something; and I find myself in Aberystwyth, in a by the hour conference room, with the North Western sales division of Avon.

Attending meetings is a courtesy thing. Like - I'll come to yours, so you'll come to mine. It's like that bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that's been passed from dinner party to dinner party since 1998.

And in this meeting, as in any other, nothing actually happens. 90 minutes elapse, and we emerge, same as we went in; with pretty much everything carried forward - 'cause that's a good reason for another meeting.

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Going Green - The New Black(le)

nobody@vox.com(Enterprising Employee) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:05:01 -0700

Blackle

Companies around the world are taking steps big and small to go green and reduce their carbon footprint. Among some of the most enterprising of these is Blackle. (If you're a Geek like me you will find that Blackle is Very Similar to the new beta visual search engine SearchMe without the page by page bells n whistles).

Blackle is essentially a Blackscreen Overlay on Google and the principle behind Blackle is based on the fact that the display of different colors consumes different amounts of energy on computer monitors. The creators of Blackle cite a 2002 study entitled Energy Use and Power Levels in New Monitors and Personal Computers where a variety of CRT and LCD monitors were tested and researchers found that an all black screen consumed less energy than an all white screen on all of them. The creators of Blackle state that a black Google would save 750 megawatt-hours a year (a megawatt-hour is the equivalent of ten thousand 100 watt light bulbs burning continuously for 1 hour) and on the Blackle homepage, the creators provide a count of the number of watt-hours that the users of Blackle have collectively saved.

In an age where enterprising employees are looking for ways to go green in both their personal and professional lives, Blackle is a great tool to effectively research the web while making an environmentally conscious little step in the right direction.

Even if your company is not making a concerted effort to go green (gasp!) there are many ways that you can individually make a difference in your office. You can start by:

Starting a Recycling Program
Requesting to telecommute a few days out of the month
Turning off your computer and any other electrical devices when not in use

Visit the Grist Website for more Ideas on How to Green Your Day Job.

In the meantime, here's a short clip from the folks at the Opus Hotel in Montreal showing us how the Luxury Hospitality Industry is taking steps to go green including offering free hotel parking for drivers of Hybrid vehicles

Opus Hotel - Green Initiatives

BTW: Infor Global Solutions has over two decades of embedded hospitality industry expertise with the world’s most successful hotels, resorts, and casinos. Come visit us at Inforum 2008 and attend sessions that will explore the latest trends in Hospitality Technology. Register now at http://www.inforum2008.com/

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Some people shouldn't be allowed the internet...

nobody@vox.com(cha0tic) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:09:50 -0700

...or the technology to carry it about in their pocket. I had 20 minutes of my life stolen yesterday. Watching supposedly 'funny' videos that a work mate had uploaded onto his phone. If it wasn't rude to tell him to stop and put the phone away I'd have done it.

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Have you seen this man?

nobody@vox.com(cha0tic) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:28:15 -0700

We've got a comedian on at our place tonight. Apparently he's got some mad stalker bloke who's threatend to kill him. A picture has been circulated amongst all the crew and the security are having a great time being all extra secure and gossiping worse than old women about the 'situation'.

So we might have a bit of excitement tonight. Probably not though.

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'65 Days of Static'

nobody@vox.com(cha0tic) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:12:31 -0700

Normally I don't go recommending music, but... Yes it must have been obvious that I was going to use the word 'but' there. May I suggest you check out a band called '65 Days of Static'.

I heard them by accident at work the other night. I say by accident, as I wasn't originally meant to be working the show. I was doing a another job elsewhere in the building and due to an administrative error, ended up being in the right place at the right time to catch the show (and do the load out).

I get to hear a lot of music at work, most of which washes over me, through me and then thankfully goes away again. This is because the majority of music is just a big noisy waste of electricity and the only thing it's good for is feeding me and keeping a roof over my head. Occasionally though, something catches my ear. I wonder into the venue and have a listen.

The big plus about the band, in my book, is that nearly all the tunes they played were instrumental. The complete absence of a wailing, warbling, posing fop standing at the front of the stage is a great addition to any band.

So there's a link to their Myspace up there. A link to their website here and another Link to Last Fm with some more of their tunes. Rather than me trying to describe music in words, click the links and have a listen for yourself. All I will say though is what my Co-worker said about them:
"They were pretty good, they're one of those bands that know the black notes exist, what they're for, and use them."

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