Something Random

[Howell]

How pop makes us sick

Good article. I thought it was going to be about soda.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL

 

[Howell]

Does the company have a stated sexual harassment policy?

 

[LunarMist]

That depends Lunar. Everyone could be up-tight about it, and make a big deal, where people jobs are in jeopardy; or everyone could be laid-back and have a sense of humor about it. That is why I've always loved working for/with small companies; big ones don't have a sense of humor.

That is not the point. Nobody should have to suffer sexual or any other harassment in the workplace. The measurement is that the conduct of the harasser must be unwelcome. What is humorous to you may be someone's nightmare. That is why there are laws.

I would never accept a position at a company that did not have decent harassment policies in place. In middle management I've seen all sorts of unpleasant situations over the years, both from the executive mgmt. side and the individual contributor side. It is most important (and easier) to prevent the harassment from occurring as compared to cleaning up the aftermath. When the smoke clears the resulting environment can damage morale and hurt productivity for months or even years.

 

[timwhit]

I would have to say that I would just not say anything when you receive the emails. File them away in a separate folder and do not retaliate.

 

[udaman]

The women in my office have once again added me to their "Pictures of Hot Dudes" mailing list. I know they E-mail each other pictures of chippendale dancers or whatever and frankly I don't care as long as I don't have to see them, but on Friday my E-mail address got added to the list somehow, and now there are mostly if not completely naked guys in messages in my inbox.
Not too big a deal, since I have gone ahead and turned off image viewing on my graphical mail clients. Also, the ladies think it is hysterical that I have seen emails full of dudes, as my complaints to be removed have been incorporated into new messages that have more wangs in them.

Now, however, I want revenge.

Two thoughts come to mind:
Either a whole bunch of pictures from a Google Image Search for "Genital Warts" (don't do it. You will be sorry.)
or
Changing the default wallpaper on all company computers to a picture from Wickedweasel.com (skimpiest swimwear known to man).

To add to what LM said, do some quick research on both your state constitution, business & professions code. Employment law/code. There should be similar codification of Federal sexual harassment laws, and like LM mentioned there could be exceptions for companies/businesses with few employees, yet 7 employees is probably not a small enough number.

You do not get revenge by acting in a spiteful, likewise immature, irresponsible way. Don't even think about doing what you've said here, retaliation will come back to haunt you in one-way or another. Don't get mad; get even (assuming you're ready to lose your job, you may want to at the same time consider looking for alternative employment). If you are really upset enough, and ready to risk your job, take a strong approach as follows.

Report and document in writing (extremely important) all prior instances of unwelcome abusive behavior of any kind whatsoever, both vocal and written examples, copies of all emails. Keep a written file on a safe off-site computer (hard copy printed too), have a backup file in a separate location too. Do not complain verbally to your boss/owner of the company? You will lose in a 'he said, she said' scenario, document in *writing*!!! You're prior episode relating to the woman with exposed, 'enhanced' breasts will come up again, against you, in any situation, be it in a court of law or any other proceedings/meetings of any kind...trust me. It's 'theoretically' irrelevant and not admissible as evidence (should be stricken from the record), but judges abuse the interpretations of the law everyday (because they full well know that appellate courts rarely reverse of send back to lower courts, errors made, even egregious errors and civil litigation in the USA is a grid-lock industry, which is why out of court settlements are preferred and most common).

Send via certified mail (this will give you an iron clad, smoking gun proof, that you complained), return request signature, restricted signature to your boss (most expensive green card affixed to the back of the envelope) your written complaint demanding immediate sensation of all unwelcome/offensive conduct, citing both Federal & State constitutional violations of public policy or code. Trust me, if you do that, you boss will be in shock, but given *legal* notice- very important to do this in each and every instance! Either your boss will take appropriate actions to stop this reprehensible behavior, or you maybe end up being chastised (but the seually offensive conduct may stop), and eventually terminated. Now if you receive further hostile, berating from your boss or other employee's at your work that results in your continued anxiety and stress (unfortunately you documented long term depression can and will be used against you in legal proceedings prior to trial...i.e. should legal action follow from this, you'll be required to be evaluated by a hired gun, legal psychiatrists...yes, there are psychiatrists that specialize in being expert witnesses for this purpose, it's a big industry), you can quit your job when it becomes unbearable and file an lawsuit for 'constructive termination' (women do this all the time, and are usually well rewarded in a 6 & 7 figure settlements, contingency fee attorney's get 1/2 of that, naturally). If you get terminated outright, then you have an even better wrongful termination lawsuit on your hands, which will easily support a claim for even bigger punitive damages award/claim. Of course you hope the owner of the business has enough insurance to pay out a settlement claim, of the owner has personal assets your legal representative can go after (assuming the defendant doens't try to file for bankruptcy and move to Florida, you can still get their home or other tangible assets in your own state in a judgement against the defendant).

Go rent the excellent movie


Disclosure


All an any conversations with regard to this issue are subject to 'discovery' (meaning opposing lawyers will hit you and your representatives with subpoenas for all documents, records, depositions of all people who have knowledge of these issues), with exception of your attorney's of record- such conversations with a legal representative are 'privileged' (unless is can be shown your attorneys are in violation of some law or code, then even that communication has a small chance of being admitted as evidence). Meaning, keep your mouth shut about this, do NOT discuss this with anyone else, even your ex-wife (in theory a current spouse cannot be compelled to testify against their spouse; g/f b/f doesn't count; that is, no judge should allow this under the law...but then there are lots of bad judges). Illegal conduct such as sexual harassment can be documented with video/voice recordings, illegal conduct is not protected under 'free speech' so you don't need prior authorization to record this. (you can surreptitiously put a digital message recorder in your pocket when discussing this with your boss (because of the potential illegal retaliatory conduct they may engage in).

Don't ask me how I know these things, I am bitter. No comment. Life sucks when you get royally reamed; are naive/ignorant/inexperienced/unknowledgable about what goes on in 'real' life; as Michael Douglas' character in Disclosure almost did- in real life, his career and marriage would have been ruined.

In your situation Merc, it could get ugly, think about what you want, and that you may have no control over the situation other than find another job, if you're not willing to be strong in this issue. It's a sad fact of life, you can and will get screwed, even if you don't deserve it at all. Bad luck of the draw, keep your head up, don't let it get you down.

 

[ddrueding]

This crap is why no-one can have any fun anymore. Any time anything gets interesting, everyone either runs for the lawyers, or is afraid someone else is.

If no one is offended than it should be cool; if someone is offended, it should be cool for them to speak up.

This is, in essence, the same "think of the children" mentality that has caused censorship and reduction of personal freedoms before; only now it's being used to protect adults? I hate this crap.

 

[ddrueding]

This has been an incredibly frustrating weekend.

Objective: Build a basic Shuttle SFF system.

So far I've used:

2 Shuttle SK22G2v2 barebones mobo/PSU (one from newegg, one from Frys)
1 AMD 3800+ 65w from newegg
1 AMD 4200+ 65w known good from my last system
2x Geil DDR2-800 known good from my last system
2x OCZ DDR2-800 known good from my last system
4x Geil DDR2-1000 known good from my current system
1x WD Raptor known good from my last system
1x Samsung 160GB SATA known good from my last system
1x Seagate SATA from Frys
1x Samsung DVD-RW SATA from newegg
1x Sony DVD-RW PATA from frys

And I can't get any combination of any of them to pass memtest for 4 hours. Occasionally I can get one of them to boot into Ubuntu LiveCD without crashing. Every attempt to install WinXP crashes somewhere along the way, the most successful attempts end in an error message about not being able to load a module. I'm trying Vista now.

I've never been so frustrated trying to build a simple basic computer from new parts.

 

[ddrueding]

Lovely. In a BIOS release a year after the original, is an entry titled:

"1. Added system stabilization."

That gives me confidence...

 

[ddrueding]

...and what does it do while flashing? Crash! Of course!

Now I have a brick...

 

[Clocker]

This crap is why no-one can have any fun anymore. Any time anything gets interesting, everyone either runs for the lawyers, or is afraid someone else is.

If no one is offended than it should be cool; if someone is offended, it should be cool for them to speak up.

This is, in essence, the same "think of the children" mentality that has caused censorship and reduction of personal freedoms before; only now it's being used to protect adults? I hate this crap.

I think the banter between Merc. and his coworkers is more or less lighthearted fun between them but....

It's all fun and games until someone gets pissed at somebody else for something and then decides to use the 'offensive' emails at a later day to get somebody in trouble. I would not 'retaliate' no matter how much joy I got out of it.

I'm not offended by stuff like this in the workplace and I'd love to have fun with it, but that's the reality of the situation which can't be avoided.

With 'retaliation' the risks far outweigh the gains.

 

[Mercutio]

ddrueding: It is very difficulty in my experience to get a good build on those Shuttle SFFs. They use Shuttle motherboards for one thing, which are a little bit too budget-y for my taste, and they seem to overheat pretty readily. Shoulda gone with teh Aria/NSK1400. Or for that matter an NSK2400.


You are right, Clocker. It is pretty lighthearted and casual. Part of the fun of the job we all do is that we *know* we're not doing anything critically important. We're teaching people how to use MS Word or whatever, not saving lives.

The casual atmosphere is a big reason why I can stand to come to work and do the job. I don't know how well I could tolerate long periods of time in the land of cubes.

It sucks that everyone has to have a heart attack about this stuff.

No, Lunar, there is no harassment policy here. For most of the time the company has been in operation there haven't been any men working here. Just me, and very briefly, another guy. Other than that, nothin' but womenfolk.

 

[Clocker]

My only other concern would be that you are dealing with women. I think most of us here know how unpredictable they can be.

 

[Mercutio]

Women are scary. All of them.

This is really funny. And also sad. But mostly funny.

 

[Mercutio]

Actually I am taking a friend to a concert in a little over a week.

This time I have some enthusiasm for the music, so I'm actually looking forward to going. I am worried that I will make myself sick or say/do something that is completely wrong.

I went and did that concert-thing last night, and actually had a very good time. Even the drive into Chicago was good. I am told that I behaved appropriately, and other than a few moments of nerves, I was OK.

Anyway, maybe I will get to do that again some day.

 

[Handruin]

Glad to hear it went well. :thumbright:

 

[Chewy509]

Glad to hear it went well. :thumbright:

Seconded... Next round of drinks on me... :tgif:

 

[Mercutio]

Hey, it's a huge deal to me one way or the other.

My random thing of the day: In my daily box of crap from Newegg, I got three little packages of Wrigley's Winterfresh gum.

Next time I hope I get one of the secret decoder rings!

 

[Mercutio]

Anyone want a Joost invite?

 

[Clocker]

Yes you have my addy...THX!

 

[Mercutio]

Sent.
I am a little worried about the "advertising content" in the EULA but I loaded it in a VM and it's running well enough and I have not seen any ads yet.

 

[Sol]

My random thing of the day: In my daily box of crap from Newegg, I got three little packages of Wrigley's Winterfresh gum.

I accidentally bought a pack of that stuff once thinking it was spearmint (Didn't read the pack, just went by the colour)... Never made that mistake again...

 

[Howell]

Found video of Coug playing Unreal T:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pgOmlHE2k&NR=1

 

[Howell]

Seconded... Next round of drinks on me... :tgif:

Thirded, Congratulations. Keep the ball rolling. Friends are good things; corporeal friends are better.

 

[ddrueding]

Through a rather random set of circumstances yesterday, I ended up playing pool volleyball with a dozen female international students from Stanford.

There was a guy on NPR a while ago, talking about random events and making yourself open to opportunities that present themselves. This certainly counted.

 

[ddrueding]

For those who want the ability to speak to/meet women.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mnapier61/070512BenefitForChristina

Tango. Learn it. Not for fun; it isn't fun for the first many months, and everyone is uncomfortable when they start. But because it is so fricking useful. Consider it a challenge, a mission, a quest, work, whatever. Just do it; it really will make your life better.

 

[Mercutio]

On a scale of one to ten, I'd say the average level of attractiveness of the people in those pictures is at least four points higher than the people I see in Northwest Indiana.

Does California ship all their ugly people off to Utah or something?

 

[ddrueding]

No, just into the central valley. That party was in Berkeley, CA.

I'm not in the pics because i was in a pool at the time

 

[MaxBurn]

I had to get out of power work because I am so clumsy that I drop screwdrivers and test leads all the time, dancing I think might turn out to be just as dangerous.

 

[Mercutio]

Don't feel bad, MaxBurn. When I was in high school choir, I was specifically excluded from doing anything that required any amount of choreography...

 

[ddrueding]

I wasn't in choir, or anything else. I never went to a dance, except for prom, but that was about drinking, anyway. I have never attempted to "shake my groove thang" or anything of the sort. This is different, the directions are clear, and your task is well described. Speed, strength, and dexterity are not required until a very high level; only a sense of rhythm and musicality truly provide an edge.

 

[Mercutio]

As if we needed another reason to hate Alberto Gonzalez.

 

[Howell]

Most of the basses and barritones in choir in my high school were linemen on the varsity football team. I always did sports that required timing, endurance or both.

 

[Fushigi]

Steve, Don't Eat It!

 

[ddrueding]

Steve, Don't Eat It!

Very funny, if a bit gross...

Beggin' Strips slogan is "Dog's don't know it's not bacon!" Newsflash: Dogs are retarded. Mine used to eat his own vomit, and wag his tail while he did it. I'll be the one to decide if this stuff tastes like bacon or not.

 

[Mercutio]

Fushigi, that was truly vile. Thank you for the nightmares I will be having.

Most of the basses and barritones in choir in my high school were linemen on the varsity football team. I always did sports that required timing, endurance or both.

I don't remember the people I went to school with very well. Some of them were probably in sports and choir, but I think most of them were a distinct, non-jock species. My school was much better at music stuff than sports anyway.

 

[Howell]

My school was much better at music stuff than sports anyway.

To meet state Phys. Ed. requirements everybody played a sport. There was no PE. I remember some of these guys as AAAA football state champs and touring with the select ensemble. We were good at everything.

 

[ddrueding]

My high school was really good at shootings. We averaged at least one a year on or around campus.

 

[Mercutio]

My school was really good at being segregated (400:1 caucasian to "other" ratio) and apparently broke some kind of state record for most potheads per capita or something.

And Indiana only mandates two semesters of PE classes in high school. As I recall, all we ever did was run around a track. I did not run. I did not get a very good grade in PE.

 

[Howell]

My school was really good at being segregated (400:1 caucasian to "other" ratio) and apparently broke some kind of state record for most potheads per capita or something.

I think there were maybe 10% "other" in my class. Almost all of them were from outside the US. Mostly the middle east but also europe and asia.

 

[ddrueding]

I was "other" at my school. 75%+ Hispanic, 15% white, a few Asians, and one black guy. It's mostly a farming community (Salinas, CA), the "lettuce capital of the world"!

My views on illegal immigration didn't go over well there; mainly because I was talking about the people I was talking to