A Canadian company has made the jump to cedar-wood 2.0, modding its standard hot-tub enclosure and marketing it as a backyard DIY home office kit.

Cedarsheds specializes in gazebos and spa enclosures, and each kit includes a customer survey. The company noticed a demand for home office kits surfacing in the surveys and got serious about offering one in February. Using the basic design of a spa enclosure, it created the office kit that debuted at the national hardware show in Las Vegas in May

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Retire Before Your Boss

You start at the bottom and work your way up -- no skipping rungs. And no retiring early -- retirement comes only after three or four decades of service.

But many people are freeing themselves from the 9-to-5 grind, refusing to wait in line to be granted leave at 62. No, they're making their own rules.

Highly profitable companies such as Motorola and NCR Corp. are freezing or scaling back pensions, reducing the incentive for long-timers.

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Entitlement Generation? Or 'It's About Time' Generation?

"...Deserved or not, this latest generation is being pegged, ...— as one with shockingly high expectations for salary, job flexibility and duties but little willingness to take on grunt work or remain loyal to a company."

"We're seeing an epidemic of people who are having a hard time making the transition to work — kids who had too much success early in life and who've become accustomed to instant gratification."

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New Trend: Find Your Dream Town First, Then Find a Job

In fact, two-thirds of Americans ages 25 through 34 say they're deciding first where they want to put down roots, and then looking for a job in that place, according to a new study by Yankelovich, a marketing firm, and CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders.

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Dude, Where's My Privacy?

Yeah, hi. American workers?

Are you listening?

Good, now pay attention and read about how employers are invading your privacy. According to a recent CNN Money article companies are increasing job candidate screening - and, in some cases, even current employees.

Besides verifying the details on your resume, employers most commonly screen for criminal behavior, drug abuse, regulatory violations and -- of late -- inclusion on terrorist watch lists.

But they also may take an interest in tax liens, bankruptcy filings, a habit of bouncing checks, ongoing divorce and custody proceedings, driving violations and medical conditions.

That's because employers are concerned that someone with serious monetary problems, health issues or family concerns might not be fully focused, said Tal Moise, CEO of background screening firm Verified Person, and Cynthia Shapiro, a former human resource executive and author of "Corporate Confidential."

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Bosses to Face Police if Employees Caught Yakking While Driving

Under the scheme, an employee stopped for using a hand-held phone while driving will first receive the usual £30 fine. They will then be warned that their employer will receive an official police visit. Within a few days, a uniformed officer will call at the firm's headquarters for a meeting with a company director, asking about its risk management strategy and what it intends to do to curb illegal driving.

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Company Forced to Pay Up After Employee Dies on His Way Home

According to this article in the U.K.'s Workplace Law Magazine: "A company has been fined £30,000 for breaching health and safety legislation as a result of one of its workers dying in a car crash after working 76 hours in four days."

The man had worked four 19 hour days in a row and fell asleep at the wheel on his way home. The company, The Produce Connection, was fined for not monitoring how many hours their employees were working, a breach in the U.K.'s health and safety legislation.

Given the modern American underlying theme of "if you're not working as many hours as you possibly can, you're a slacker and you'll go nowhere" that has invaded our subconscious, it begs the question: Would a company ever be held responsible for overworking an adult employee in the U.S.?

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Scientific Fact: You’re Easily Manipulated

See that unicorn over there? We do. So you do too.

I came across this summary (linked below) of a report on group think and safety in numbers. It's pretty fascinating stuff. Especially in the context of the corporate group mindset and how you are expected to behave and think as an employee. They may tell you to "think outside the box", but do they really mean it?

In the corporate world, thinking "outside the box" really means this: you're expected to think as they do with maybe, say, one extra thought that they haven't had yet but of which they must approve.

Here's a snippet of what the study found:

The authentic participants did not make a conscious decision to cave into the group. They actually perceived the objects as the group had allegedly seen them. As recorded by the activity in the posterior brain (the part of the brain that controls vision), they saw what the group believed.

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Dave Chappelle's Take on the Internet

I came across this clip from a Chappelle's Show. It's Dave Chappelle's take on the internet and how it would look if were an actual place. It's dead on.



I'd usually reserve this for a Friday, but the JobSchmob Blogger's having a rough week and needed some mindless entertainment. Maybe you do too.



WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK but funny as hell for home.

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Reinventing the Cubicle. Yeah.

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A Close Call for Coke Addicts

Hi my name is the JobSchmob Blogger and I am a Coke addict.

But whoa, hold up kids, I mean the caffeinated kind.

If you're anything like me, you can understand what a scare this was to find out that 3 rats working at the Coca-Cola Company tried to sell its recipe secrets to PepsiCo. Compromise Cola-Cola? Are you kidding me?

ATLANTA (AP) — Three people have been arrested and charged with stealing confidential information about drink recipes from The Coca-Cola (KO) and trying to sell it to rival PepsiCo (PEP), federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

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Use Gmail at Work? READ THIS.

Yes, I am G-Mailer. Which is a label that obviously does not command as much respect as being G-Money—but I'll take it. And in this age of "everything-but-my-bowel-movements" being track and timed by The Man, I want to stay as private as possible when I am chained to my cubicle.

If you're anything like me and don't want your personal e-mail projected onto the IT network creepo guy's screen, then read this article about how to keep your Gmail more secure from sniffers.

It's a tough world out there, JobSchmobbers and I, for one, ain't goin' out like that!

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When You Care Enough to Send...a Tarantula

Mahlon Hector pleaded guilty to delivering a rare Mexican red-kneed tarantula in a box addressed to the colleague. While his coworker got that gift, he gave his resignation to his boss

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Work Related Topics Chewed Up and Spit Out by The Job Schmob Blogger  Note: All links are safe for work unless otherwise noted. Jul 28, 2006 Step Into My Hot Tub—Er, Office

J.S.B My Links: The Onion My 3 Cents Digg Malcom Gladwell Archives RSS Feed Months: October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 July 2006 Step Into My Hot Tub—Er, Office » Retire Before Your Boss » Entitlement Generation? Or 'It's About Time' Generation? » New Trend: Find Your Dream Town First, Then Find a Job » Dude, Where's My Privacy? » Bosses to Face Police if Employees Caught Yakking While Driving » Company Forced to Pay Up After Employee Dies on His Way Home » Scientific Fact: You’re Easily Manipulated » Dave Chappelle's Take on the Internet » Reinventing the Cubicle. Yeah. » A Close Call for Coke Addicts » Use Gmail at Work? READ THIS. » When You Care Enough to Send...a Tarantula » All Posts by Tag » About This Blogger: Who I Am:

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