Under no circumstances do you need to communicate with each other
Posted on 03/29/2006 by sheila
Viewed: 516 times
Got this memo today. I've read it and re-read it a number of times and still can't believe a human being actually wrote this memo. I have pasted it VERBATIM below:
All,
I have been informed by our CIO that all instant messengers are forbidden. That includes the messenger that was created in-house. Please make sure that you do not have any instant messenger on your PC. This is considered an actionable offense and is immediate grounds for termination. We are monitoring every port/socket layer opening and will detect who is breaking the rules and immediate action will be taken! Those of you with laptops are not permitted to use instant messengers on company issued hardware, even outside of the office. Under no circumstances do any of you need to communicate with one another, unless it is in a meeting environment.
Thank you.
What kind of corporate work environment exists where nobody needs to communicate with one another??? My daily work grind was already unbearable before this went out. But now what little shred of sanity I was holding onto has now gone away. In addition to discussing projects I was working, there was little "chit chat" except "how are you" and "did you hear it's taco salad day in the cafeteria". If someone was abusing it, they should be reprimanded...not EVERYONE. Apparently I work for a slave driving nazi company. And aApparently I am just here to be a working numbered robot.
POST A COMMENTcorporateSlave(03/29/2006)
Hey SouthernProgrammer---can you chime in on this one? From your other posts I can see you know stuff about how things like this work.
ITstudent(03/29/2006)
While I think they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the tech side of this is very doable, if a bit time consuming and ridiculous. I worry though about what it says for your company. I thought cutting off communication was a part of brainwashing.
SouthenProgrammer(03/29/2006)
Instant messaging can indeed be monitored and blocked. But the entire scenario you describe is a bit ridiculous. So if everyone decides to start sending each other emails will email be banned? Can you pass notes or call each other? I can guarantee a few managers have Instant Messenger running....
Dharmadee(03/29/2006)
Yesah-at my workplace, we have resorted to passing "Post-it" notes, so they cannot monitor every comment that we make. My take on this is that the economy is so bad that the corporate world sees the opportunity to knock us all back to real slavery status. In case anyone does not know, the "labor movement" during the Great Depression is what led to the creation of the current "labor laws". During the Depression, the surviving companies figured they could work people to death, and get away with it-At least they were lucky enough to have a job, right? So, the working class finally had to protest, and things got pretty extreme. It is kind of scary that things are getting this bad again - because they think they can get away with it.
C - -(03/30/2006)
One of my long ago Grade B supervisors collected my hand written notes as proof that I had not followed her "no communicating instructions" because she wanted total control and any and all communication had to go through her; hello, how are you and good bye included. I was trying to explain something to a deaf coworker she had assigned to me to keep me in total isolation.
cnubelevit(03/30/2006)
Soooo...when are they going to enforce the uniforms with the swastika on them. Zig Heil!!!
just me (03/29/2006)
OH...MY...GOD. Is this what they have resorted to? I know companies sometimes forbid non-proprietary messenger programs, but in-house too? It's not even that bad that they banned it, cuz I could kind of understnad the problems it could open up, BUT the last line of the memo sums up how they really feel. They do not want you to communicate with each other. This speaks VOLUMES about what kind of shop they're runnin over there.
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