RE: managerial problems was: purpose of a computer to an organization

I agree, Rob.  In this economy, a person is LUCKY to have paying work.
That's the world I live in, anyway.. TRW.


'Course, You're talking about an employee relationship which I, personally
being a contractor, am not fortunate enough to be in.  So even health
considerations don't come into play.  I have exceedindgly severe Sleep Apnea
and according to a couple tests, 3 or 4 years apart, I haven't gotten any
Stage 4 sleep in that time.  So I wake up in severe pain every morning,
every cell of my body aching from the adrenaline that's been shooting
through it, 45 times each hour.  Literally takes a couple hours each morning
to improve to the point that I feel like death warmed over.

You think that matters to my client...?  All He cares about is whether the 8
or 10 sub-programs, a mix of old-RPG and ILE, in combination produce a
report with the correct Postscript.  It's not His problem that looking at
Postscript isn't interesting, and is tough to debug without a printer...
And although He's paying chump change compared to what a lotta You make,
because I don't work a whole lotta billable hours.. to Him it's good money
outta His budget.  At least it pays a portion of the bills, so I can't
complain too much.

And btw, that's why I charge in 5-minute increments:  Because when I surf
the Net, for enjoyment or learning about xhtml or whatEVER to "relax" fer a
while, it's not on my paying client's dime.  He just wants His projects
done, and I'm happy if He's happy, which He has been of late.

And as far as I'm concerned, many of You are pretty doggone LUCKY to get
PAID for reading the listservs and surfing the Net for professional reasons,
'cause that ain't the case fer me...  Me.. I'm jes lucky to be alive I
s'pose, in spite of the pain, because rats die after being deprived of Stage
4 sleep (or so I've read in my surfing).


Since this is my first, last, and only post tonight (and mebbe for a while
yet to come, <ooops jes saw a question I could mebbe help with>), like to
switch gears and welcome Hans back to the list...!  Hope all is well with
Your Wife and newborn...:-D

Cheers,


| -----Original Message-----
| From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
| [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of rob@xxxxxxxxx
| Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2003 3:53 PM
| To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
| Subject: managerial problems was: purpose of a computer to an
| organization
|
|
| <snip>
| To quote from an Exchange Server mailing list:
|
| "There are seldom good technical solutions to managerial problems."
|
| -Walden
| <endsnip>
|
| Excellent quote Walden.  I just overheard someone asking our help desk if
| they can track how much time this one individual spends on the internet.
| Granted, we do block inappropriate sites already.
|
| My point is that I don't care if the guy is spending his time doing
| frivolous internet, taking a 2 hour bathroom break, etc it is this:  If
| he's not getting his projects done and it can't be pointed out to be
| because of business distractions (like a temporary change in priorities),
| then tell them to shape up or ship out.  Isn't it the more you know then
| the more you open yourself up to liabilities?  Like, the guy misses
| several days a week.  If I ask why, when I'd rather fire them anyway then
| instead of terminating someone for missing days (be it because they just
| like daytime tv or a health situation) then I'd look like an ogre for
| terminating someone because of a health situation.
|
| Rob Berendt
| --
| "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
| safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
| Benjamin Franklin
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