Working From Home

I was teaching a Teams class online last week and accidentally clicked on Rocket League, which my laptop can barely handle with no other applications running. Took a full five minutes before my computer calmed down enough for me to close it and resume teaching. I wonder how much of my quiet cursing my students heard

I was asked to place my phone on mute after everyone heard me rustling around in a bag of pretzels. That's not embarrassing. Sometimes you just forget.

But it was then I realized that the week before I had taken my phone into the bathroom with me for a piss and a toilet flush and I'm 99.9% sure I didn't have my phone on mute then either.

somebody give me an ILX meme-y phrase (that is still work appropriate) to insert into a sentence in the last hour of my training.

most of the ones I know aren't work safe.

is it too late?

'and then they all lezzed up?'

That's a repurposed Lee and Herring gag iirc

There are only actually three truly original ILX memes

Why is ___ so bad and hated

So not gonna happen

Bear say hi to me

Actually there are more than three

Lonely guy thinkin baout things

Orlando bloomps for presidetn

How is babby formed

Jol out

why because ___ look intersting

Most of those are just quite bad threads rather than bonafide memes imo

Jol out is...bigger than any of this

"challops" maybe prefigured the hot take tbf

I can't turn my face into a heart

Not sure why I apparently felt so strongly about this in the grip of a DIPA fugue. I am not the boss of memes

Oh, _____-paws.

How is babby formed

Yahoo answers, not ilx.

why does kanye say hen fap in gold digger?

No ______, no credibility

So and so shocker!

sonned in a beef

resumed this today. it's good to be back.

Majorly sucks that, yes, I have to pay taxes in my country of residence *and* US taxes as well. I don't see why the US should get a cut. Criminal, I tell ya!

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, November 24, 2021 5:28 AM (four weeks ago)

you can probably get the US taxes refunded (at least in part) but you will need to file a US tax return. Did they make you get a US tax ID number?

because one of the main ways a state gets to tax a company is if the company has employees working in that state. So you might have a private school or university with all locations in a single state suddenly realizing they have employees on the other side of the country and uh oh, CA wants some.

as well they should tbh. The school or university (unless it's one of those for-profits) isn't going to be paying income tax, as most educational institutions are tax-exempt. They will have to pay payroll taxes ... like, say, unemployment, so that if the worker gets laid off, the employer is actually contributing to the benefits pool because they are the ones profiting from the worker's labor?

I wasn't opining on the wisdom of the tax rule, just that the employer could be subject to a liability they didn't even realize because the employee had moved and not told the employer while remote work was in effect.

I am really glad that I've been WFH, and also that I will probably be doing so for the foreseeable future, but for fuck's sake, I WANT TO GO ON BREAK NOW. Why oh why are all of us still working on the 23rd? These deadlines are arbitrary!

that sucks. i took yesterday and today off because i'm sick. but it's just a mild cold really, an excuse to use some sick hours. it feels weird to "take off work" when i would just be staring at a screen in my living room anyway.

The story is that one of the brands we've been working on was FDA-approved at 3pm last Friday, so now a bunch of people have to work through the holidays. I'm not one of them because I'm a freelancer, but I resent being kept at my computer right now. I want to go to the gym, walk my dogs, make a nice dinner for once.

I am currently "on vacation" ... I am not going anywhere but it's like, how do I say "I am taking this time to not work" ... anyway, so a client texts me saying they have a question about a thing and want to get my advice on the thing. I respond "I am on vacation." Client asks, "can I schedule a time to discuss when you are back from vacation?" ... I kinda don't grasp how "scheduling a work appointment" does not fall under the general category of "work" which is excluded from the current status of "taking this time to not work" ... I have not taken more than 3 days in a row off work since 2015. I don't want to get bitchy with clients I generally like, but ...

I agree, sarahell: scheduling meetings constitutes "work."

Can't speak for your situation - I would probably do the thing, but would certainly support someone who did not want to.

see I usually "do the thing" ... I was gonna take a week off, but instead I end up taking a day off, doing a work thing, then taking another day off, then, fuck it, I'm just going to cut this time off short and go back to work ... and that's what has led me to this point of having to force myself to take time off like this. It definitely makes me appreciate the ilxors on this thread (and other people) who have the job they do for an employer, clock in, clock out, the rest of the time is their own. It's not as bad as insomnia where you go so long without getting enough sleep that you just snap ... but it isn't dissimilar?

...want to add that even responding to an email and saying that you are on vacation ALSO constitutes "work." Autoreply can sometimes be your friend here.

On the one hand, it doesn't really take all that much time to respond to an email - in fact it may even take more time than just doing the stupid thing like scheduling a meeting would have - but if you feel there is a principle at stake then there is a principle at stake.

I have an elaborate philosophy about this. I won't bore you with every detail, but I kinda think that work-life balance has to be a two-way street. For every time that work intrudes into my evenings or weekends or vacations, well, there has to be a time when it goes the other direction: if I need to pick up a sick kid, take a walk, go to the dentist or whatev, well. I'm gonna do that stuff and not feel even the slightest bit guilty or defensive. If work intrudes into my personal life sometimes, okay, as long as my personal life can intrude into the work day in approximately equal measure.

I have an elaborate philosophy about this. I won't bore you with every detail, but I kinda think that work-life balance has to be a two-way street. For every time that work intrudes into my evenings or weekends or vacations, well, there has to be a time when it goes the other direction: if I need to pick up a sick kid, take a walk, go to the dentist or whatev, well. I'm gonna do that stuff and not feel even the slightest bit guilty or defensive. If work intrudes into my personal life sometimes, okay, as long as my personal life can intrude into the work day in approximately equal measure.

― deez nuts roasting on an open fire (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, December 23, 2021 3:29 PM (twenty seconds ago)

that's a totally legit and good philosophy -- I agree, and have it as well.

I actually have a work-related Zoom call tomorrow. Fortunately, if the call goes well it will lead to a gig paying in the low five digits, but it's still a work-related Zoom call on Christmas Eve.

Hey man Santa always needs the last minute temp help.

sarah a work phone might help mitigate some of that

I have not taken more than 3 days in a row off work since 2015. I don't want to get bitchy with clients I generally like, but ...

Clients aren't necessarily over-pushy but don't understand the expected etiquette. Mitigation would be an email autoreply that sets out what your vacation game rules are (do you want to leave them an opportunity for them to contact you in an emergency only?), and maybe a work phone message that does the same.

In this case, it probably just needs an email that says 'Absolutely fine. Let's fix an appointment when I'm back from vacation which is ...Look forward to discussing it then'. 45 seconds work - plus set a reminder in your diary for when you get back.

these are all very helpful suggestions! <3

Yeah, I basically told the agency I work through that I was "off the boards" until January 18th, but that they could call me to see about jobs that begin after that date.

because everybody is virtual these days and we're having a big issue with people who are completely technically incompetent (when this job requires the ability to use computers pretty well), I suggested to my boss today to start sending recruiters to Twitch to find new talent.

then found out apparently other companies are already doing this. wonder why we weren't!?

Question: I am starting a new WFH gig imminently, and when I say "imminently" it's because I have to wait for the company to send me a laptop, which is the only way I'll be able to access the software I need to use to do the work, and even to access the corporate email account they've created for me. They're so tight about security they don't even have a webmail portal I can use. So...anyone else had experience with this in the past? Will they want the laptop back at the end of the contract? Just wondering what I can expect with this. Normally I just use my own computer to do whatever for whoever, so this is a surprising new twist.

They will want it back.

Yeah, they’ll want it back. The drive is probably encrypted, will probably have a VPN client on it, and the laptop probably has to meet certain criteria to maintain access (stuff like requiring a password to unlock the screen)

yup. some companies are doing more cloud-based e-mail but even then they’d want some two-factor authentication to get into it that you might not be able to set up without a trusted device

sounds like most legacy corps

Not sure if you would also have gleaned this but youd be able to do little or nothing beyond whatever work apps were preinstalled also as a rule

Not sure if you would also have gleaned this but youd be able to do little or nothing beyond whatever work apps were preinstalled also as a rule

Yeah, that part I'm good with — this is very much a part-time gig, only 10-20 hours a week, so if I'm doing just their work on this one laptop and running the rest of my life on my main computer, that actually makes me happier; whatever kind of creepy keystroke monitor they install won't have much to chew on...

does anybody know what the industry average % of computer monitors that are shipped cracked by computer companies/big box stores?

I did a back of the napkin calculation a few months ago using data from 3 or 4 classes that determined that about 10% of the monitors our IT department sends out are damaged on arrival. that seems high, no?

they keep insisting they are shipping them in the box they arrived it when we purchased them, and making the excuse that "well these packages are touched by us, then the shipper, etc", but I responded "yeah, the same is true for literally every company that ships computers - do they damage 10% of our monitors"?

and I know for a fact they weren't shipping 'brand new' equipment a little while ago, taht they were packing it themselves. and I'm pretty sure they were doing it wrong.

anybody else have a company that ships computers to WFH employees and almost all of them wind up damaged?

*their monitors

I sent a message to my friend who previously worked in corporate hardware acquisition, we'll see what he says

I asked if they saw any number of cracked monitors

"No, never. Prob mishandling them every step of the way"

Yeah my spouse, who has managed hardware for multiple orgs, says this is def not the norm

Both of the large displays I've ordered online in the last few years were cracked/damaged when I received them. The replacements weren't. I don't understand how this level of loss is acceptable. I'd live with a slightly thicker/heavier display if they weren't so fragile. My OLED TV is ridiculous. Most of it is like 2mm thick!

Def gonna tell my bosses TWO EXPERTS I KNOW SAY THIS IS BULLSHIT.

I won't tell them I got it from ILX