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# The NSFW issue raises a more basic question:
What kind of 'work' is so undemanding as to permit time for web-play in the first place? *RIS*

(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 16:52, archived)
# A question
which is answered in the FAQ...

b3ta.com/features/faq/#working
(I helped save b3ta! Mystery_Bob, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 16:59, archived)
# lunch time and breaks!
Jeeeezsuss--there must be some well-fed chaps out there
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:02, archived)
# Some employers
seem very generous with lunchtimes and breaks!
(I helped save b3ta! Mod Edit, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:03, archived)
# my company just installed a web filter
on all the laptops. b3ta is now blocked on my work laptop. Of course since we're on the road most of the time and have downtime the company still wants to control us. Youtube is blocked too.

Of course a portable install of firefox bypasses said filter.

What a waste of corporate energy.
(I helped save b3ta! Art101 You all have an unhealthy and morbid fascination, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:26, archived)
# I often say something similar.
Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with a not safe for work policy I am often amused by people who say "if my boss sees me looking at that I'll be fired". What kind of boss would not have already fired somebody who's day is spent slacking and reading websites regardless of the content containing tits or not?
I know that if my employees sat around reading the newspaper all day instead of spending the 8-10 hours a day doing the work I have hired them for and that they are contractually obliged to deliver I'd have them out on their arse pronto.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:03, archived)
# I'm with you totally!
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:05, archived)
# wank
(I helped save b3ta! Just Flange, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:08, archived)
# And what if they were newspaper journalists?
I know I know - kick them out on their arse anyhow!
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:08, archived)
# Haha!
(stop reading my diaries, please)
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:16, archived)
# Whereas some people do have jobs where they can use b3ta many don't
Until they invent a machine that tells you when everyone who is at work where they have to be careful isn't looking at b3ta I think the rule makes perfect sense.
(I helped save b3ta! riverghost servicing your mum since, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:10, archived)
# Oh, I support the rule with no problem.
I just couldn't relate to a workplace that permitted surfing, regardless of content.
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:13, archived)
# I don't have a problem with the rule.
I support it, I said so. What I am saying is that people should not post lewd, offensive or pornographic material on here, they just shouldn't. But nobody has a right to get offended because it might get them sacked. By all means be offended that you have been forced to look at things you'd rather not but not because it might upset your boss. Here's a tip, go and do the fucking job you are paid to do and stop slacking reading the net. That's going to improve your chances of not being sacked for looking at tits 100%.
The English still have a mentality that they need to do as little as possible for as much as they can get and feel that they are still owed something. Do the job you signed a contract to do for the wage you agreed and then your employer might consider cutting you some slack and showing you the perks. ( or the perkies if they are so inclined ).
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:16, archived)
# Why do I have an undying urge to make a knob gag?
titties
(I helped save b3ta! riverghost servicing your mum since, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:20, archived)
# *finds self not wanting to work for Pasanonic*
*not that Pasanonic'd want to give a toss either way. He's welcome to whatever employees he can keep*
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:22, archived)
# I'm retired mate.
And they are all gone now. Should i do what I usually do and take on at least one contract a year Then I can get all the unskilled labour I need from an agency and if they send me a slacker they can replace them until I keep one I'll pay them for.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:24, archived)
# This is a frightening, horrible world.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:28, archived)
# I know from experience that I have been considered a fair employer
I pay honest wages for honest work and I pass on bonus' when they apply. I just don't allow people to take the piss. If you are not able to comply with the terms of your contract then it is the fault of the employee who should have not entered into it. I don't throw surprises in and ask people to do things beyond what I initially ask and if I do then I'm quite happy to renegotiate terms.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:35, archived)
# *reads contract in its entirety*
*realises that absolutely everyone who has ever signed one is absolutely fucked and is basically depending on some cunt to be in a good mood*

Aw, mate! Come on! I think you're being a tad stern here.

This is a discussion worth having, though, if you're up for it.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:42, archived)
# I've been in the building trade for years
and the way things work for me are always going to be different and at odds for someone working as a terminal jockey in a large office environment.
I have a contract. I have a schedule and I have penalty clauses for slippage. Any skilled work I am not doing myself with the team I've generally worked with for many years I sub out to a contractor and I pass on those penalty clauses to him as is general practise and let him worry about his workforce and their output.
I agree totally that a happy workforce is productive and that there should be incentives. End of day is never fixed and I'm happy for 3-4pm finishes as long as we are on schedule. We usually go to the pub and I'll buy drinks. On a Friday as long as there are no unforeseen circumstances ( like deliveries promised for 7am that turn up at 3pm ) then we finish at 2pm and go to the pub where I will stand all drinks again. These are the kind of incentives the builder appreciates.
If we can do a week's work in 4 days then I'm happy for us not to work the 5th day if it is workable but in my line of work there can be no 'take it easy today and we'll catch up' because that costs me money and we can be talking a lot of money.
I just expect people to do their job. I've sacked a lot of people but generally because they try to take me for a ride and I won't have it.
I used to allow employees to take the firm's vans home and use them for personal use ( when I had a few vans ) until the insurance put a stop to that.
I'm very fair and hardly as stern as I'm making you think here but at the end of the day if I don't make money because people are not taking responsibility for the jobs they have then they have to realise I must take action to rectify that or people don't get paid.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:57, archived)
# Very good of you to take the time and make the effort to produce such a good and considered response. Thank you.
Perhaps we're talking at cross purposes in a way. It sounds to me, from what you just wrote, that you are indeed a fair employer who, understandably, can do without pisstakers.

But I think many of us have been/are/will be the victim of pisstaking employers.

I think the majority of employers, unfortunately, are taking the piss. And not slightly taking the piss. Landlords, too. A little bit of power, an income stream... it seems to turn simple folk into little Hitlers, alarmingly quickly.

I'd like to beg all employers, everywhere, to remember that 'employees' are people. People. Just like you, me, him, her...

And all our necks are made of soft, fragile flesh.

Even the tin man!
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:20, archived)
# I agree with this wholeheartedly
I work for First (the Bus and Rail company) They ahve sacked my Husband at Christmas for having health problems that do not limit his ability to drive a bus, but incapacitated him from working during the healing process after a major operation on his pancreas. I too on the 30th of Dec am to face a discipline for Unacceptable Attendance - I've had just 6 days off work due to Colds, Flus and stomach problems - I have had to look after James (hubby) whilst he's been off work and look after the house whilst maintaining my job - how fair is all of that?

Well fuck First - My husband and I come First, not them!
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:28, archived)
# I really hope things get better for youse, and quickly.
Here, I've been re-learning over the last few days that family is vital vital vital.
And quite important.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:39, archived)
# Yes family is very important
unfortunately Bosses like First know they have you over a barrel - With James not working I'm the bread-winner and I can't afford to jump ships to another job especially with the economy etc. I fully understand the "work ethic" but not when employers are using it as stick to beat down the workers - workers in Britian aren't lazy, we are pressurised, we are overworked, we are sick and tired and underpaid as well as under-respected for the work that we do. So is it any wonder you get a few who say "fuck it!" and ride the system after all aren't we all a little tired of being rode by the system and the bosses!
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:46, archived)
# You know this already,
but standing by one another is the best, most important thing people can do.

It's not always fun (though it can be!) but it is important. You and Mr maiden'll be OK. You're not alone. There are millions of hearts out there. And they're not all in the ribcages of property developers.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 19:12, archived)
# Troo - we still have a lot to be thankful for.
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 19:26, archived)
# Well, that sounds fair.
I did get the idea that it would be some sort of industry like that, and as you say, it's a different place to the office.
Not only that, our work have us three ways over a barrel, so we don't feel too bad about wasting a bit of time here and there as they have us on 50-75% contracts, but will let us go if we don't work 100%. None of us have the cash to take it to court and I don't have another job lined up to go to. So f*** 'em. Sideways.
On another note, I was trawling b3ta and the Mrs later shut the computer down wit the b3ta tab still open. At work, when I started t'internet, up came the tab - just as well it was pretty innoucuous that post...
So I think there's something to be said for keeping to the rule.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:24, archived)
# Yay! WORDS!
(I apologise to main board b3tans for deliberately provoking WORDS, but some of us happen to like 'em. Every so often.)
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:34, archived)
# Words are good
nothing wrong here
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:37, archived)
# You're fired!
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:12, archived)
# The kind of work you really, really don't want to do, but needs doing.
Grossly underpaid and with such a colossal weight of responsibility attached (if you take it seriously) that you can only approach it sideways, with a lot of thinking time.

Alternatively, working in a call centre. Better to let your children starve.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:04, archived)
# I suppose I could imagine some of those jobs
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:09, archived)
# I like the idea of approaching a job sideways
and then jumping out on it whilst it's totally unawares

"Ahah job! I have you now!"
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:10, archived)
# It's the only way!
No sane human being would enthusiastically get a job.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:14, archived)
# As a busdriver it is very difficult for me to avoid work
although I do try very hard indeed :)
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:15, archived)
# James Kelman's 'The Busconductor Hines' is a beautiful - and quite short - novel.
I recommend it unreservedly.

Although the bloke in it is a conductor of buses, not a driver of them.

The book is largely about the nature of work.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:48, archived)
# I'll look out for that one - thanks
(I helped save b3ta! maiden is filmed before a live studio audience, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:14, archived)
# being a porn tester
(I helped save b3ta! epiphany coming live from sweden, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:05, archived)
# Sure, but then with no porn on b3ta, yer slacking! :)
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:10, archived)
# there's many an IT policy out there
which permits 'personal internet use within reasonable limits', but prohibits viewing of anything containing nudity, pornography, disturbing or violent content etc etc

hence I am allowed to view B3ta at work up until the point anyone posts something which falls under those definitions.
(meepmeep is, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:11, archived)
# Bit of a no brainer of a question
I wonder what university eliis18 goes to:P
(I helped save b3ta! riverghost servicing your mum since, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:12, archived)
# That's all behind me--
UM-Columbia, PhD Clinical Psychology, 1984
(I helped save b3ta! LS18, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:19, archived)
# then you are non productive
and being paid for periods of time that you are not doing your job. That would earmark you for replacement in my firm.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:18, archived)
# But not in a different firm with different terms
and therefore shut your face.
(_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:21, archived)
# shut my face because I have an opinion
on what I consider a suitable employee for me and then stated he would not be one?

I apologise. Therefore fuck off.
(I helped save b3ta! Pasanonic 's been known to cause insanity in laboratory mice, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:26, archived)
# :)
Actually I enjoy opinions. But I also enjoy saying shut your face.

I don't see why somebody shouldn't be employed to ad-lib how much of the working day they spend relaxing and how much working. If they could be trusted. This is how a boss functions, and presumably the relaxing part helps.
(_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:27, archived)
# ^ this.
Does he run a collective farm or something?
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:28, archived)
# no, like many people I am paid to fulfil a role not a man-hour quota
and can spend my hours as I choose, it's entirely my own responsibility as to how and when I choose to get the work I need to done. I am not contracted for paid periods of time.

You're basing your statements on a contracted-hour view of employment, which while relevant to your industry, is hardly representative of every job on this planet.
(meepmeep is, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 18:34, archived)
# Yep.
That's how it works at our place. As there's a two-hour lunch break, we can cock about all we like, just nothing NSFW. Also, my jb invloves a certain amount of sitting and waiting in which there's not time to start anything else, so yah, boo, sucks to you.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:22, archived)
# jhobs that your are doing purely out of necessity, and have little to no interest in.
jobs that suck the soul from you, but still pay the bills.
jobs where your boss is a twisted image of you in 20 years time, if only you'd kiss the bosses arse (yes, arse) a little more.
jobs where you know that you'd be far happier, and would be able to kick the weed habit and become active if you only stood up and said "no, i won't do it anymore, i won't whore my intelligence purely to make some fat cunt (not me) richer"
jobs like mine, and no doubt, many others.
Jobs that owe you respite.
(I helped save b3ta! Just Flange, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:13, archived)
# No really
say what you mean.
(I helped save b3ta! riverghost servicing your mum since, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:15, archived)
# Ah. You mean jobs.
Jobs.

Work.

That's what you're talking about.
(I helped save b3ta! Sea Tramp the thinking woman's 8 Ace, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 17:26, archived)