There was a great article over at the Brazen Careerist where Penelope Trunk breaks down some of the most annoying goings on of a typical workplace that most people wouldn’t miss. I think that she makes some valid points about the uselessness of a candy machine, the giant office party, and money solicitations at work. I think that people should be held accountable for their reluctance or inability to keep up with current work and office trends. Some of the things we find annoying in today’s office are remnants of the office of yesterday and should be put out to pasture and beaten down like the spiteful fax machine in Office Space.

Voicemail is a useless dinosaur, and people who insist on using it improperly should be held accountable. If you MUST leave a voicemail message, don’t just ask me to call you back or stop by. Give me an idea of what you want to discuss or it is unlikely that you’ll get anything back but an email. For that matter, if you want to talk to me, come by personally or propose a meeting time. Phone tag is annoying enough in my personal life so why do I need it to add to my blood pressure at work? In the time it took you to sit through my ancient voicemail message, wait for the beep, and babble incoherently for 45 seconds, you could’ve sent me a two sentence email with more substance. The point is this: If I work with you on a semi-regular basis, you shouldn’t have to leave me voicemail. The only exceptions should be to distribute important messages to employees in an emergency. I’m fine with receiving that kind of voicemail, but don’t leave a message for me asking me to come to the break room for the monthly birthday cake.

As blogging becomes more prominent in online culture, it is having an incredible impact on society in general. Everyone can be a journalist and report on events as they happen without waiting for the “media” to arrive. Average citizens can help expose corruption in big business, the media, and in our country’s political structure. All of these are great things. This new power is unfortunately coming back to haunt some bloggers.

Over the past few years, several bloggers have been fired from companies both big and small. The claims range from divulging corporate secrets on the web to taking inappropriate pictures in company issued uniforms. Several of the bloggers who were dismissed have taken their former employers to court to battle it out. I think that some of them have a chance of winning, especially if their company has no written policy on blogging or no written policy that could be applied to blogging. The vast majority, however, don’t have any chance of winning at all as this current political administration has allowed big business to run amok and do whatever it wants. There are virtually no protections for the employee and companies can fire you at will without giving you a reason.

All of this has prompted me to start researching these situations to avoid them moving forward with my blog. I am also trying to find more information on how blogs have negatively impacted an individual’s candidacy for employment. Obviously the easiest way to protect yourself would be to avoid mentioning your employer, your job duties, or your coworkers. If you are a whistle-blower, you should always inform the proper agencies and authority at your workplace before attempting to blog about it. If you find it
necessary to get specific about your job or your employer it may be necessary to do everything anonymously to protect your privacy. The EFF has posted an article about blogging safely about your workplace along with a legal guide for bloggers which I am in the process of thoroughly reading.

So far I have tried my best to separate the workplace from my blog. I am curious about how potential employers have viewed my blog and whether or not it has kept me from getting hired. I know that in the case of web development positions or technical and creative writing positions it has almost always worked in my favor. I have heard from other bloggers that they have been passed over for specific positions because of their blog or even because of specific posts on their blog. I hope that I have not been the victim of that kind of prejudice.

Have any of you been rejected from a position due to the content of your blog? If so I’d love to hear about your experience.

So I’m back. Did you miss me? It’s been a couple of years since I really worked on my blog (or any blog at all). At this point if I don’t continue to use my skills I will start to lose them, thus I’m blogging again. Of course everything is in flux and this is most definitely a work in progress but you have to start somewhere.

Ideally I would like to go through my old archives and see if I can resurrect some of my classic rants and raves from any of my old blogs, but I don’t know how much of that material survived. Anyway tell me what you think. If you have any suggestions for additional content, feel free to share them.

So the disaster relief mission is winding down and I will be leaving on Wednesday. I like it here, but the area is a little to posh for me. I would take NYC over this anyway. It rained all day here today, which is something I’m not used to anymore because I’ve been living in Florida so long. Down there it’ll rain on one side of the street but not on the other and I never understood that. At any rate, I am no longer completely stressed out, but half of our crew went home so I will be kinda lonely in my hotel, but it gives me time to think about life and about getting my priorities straight which is something I have needed to do for months now. Anyway I have to run because I have to sit for another conference call but such is life.

It’s been a very long time since I have had the chance to blog. Life has been very hard but exciting lately. I started a new job with a phenomenal company about 6 weeks ago, and I’m already on my first business trip in McLean, VA. I’m working on a disaster releif team to help emergency and rescue services with their communication needs in the midst of Hurricane Frances. That’s a mouthful, eh? It has been rough in Florida this hurricane season, first Charley, now Frances, and possibly Ivan in a week and a half. It almost makes no sense to fly back down if we have to help out during Ivan too, so I do not know when I will be returning to Orlando, which is almost a blessing. I am nearing the end of my Masters too and am heavily considering starting my PhD soon afterwards. I just want people to call me “Doc” but that’s a completely different story.

Anyway, I’m at another crossroads in my life which I was trying to ignore and put off for several weeks. I have to face it now. As I work and live I meet new friends and invite new people into my life. The old friends who don’t seem to be accepting it will have to or be left behind because I was never the type to cater to the insecurities of others. I am not in the business of dropping people out of my life when it gets too difficult be their friend, but I cannot force people to accept change. I am rolling with the punches like everyone else and I expect the people I love to do the same. So for now, I refocus my life on myself and my goals and aspirations.

After so many interviews for shady schemes and “Management Opportunities” that amounted to naught, I finally had an interview with a company that is doing something legit. No spamming, no door-to-door sales, no driving all over Florida with a box of samples! Wow, it’s taken long enough to find an IT position that’s actually an IT position! How do you like them apples?

The people are nice, the place is nice. There was even a doggie who said hello in that way that only another dog could really appreciate. I liked it there and the atmosphere was very comfortable. A bit of a drive, but providing there was less construction (since it’s warm down here year round, it’s ALWAYS construction season) and I drove a little more aggressively, I could make it there in 40 mins. No highway driving either. Screw I-4!

I should hear back from them tomorrow. At least I won’t have to suffer too long.

Tomorrow I gotta send a package out if I get it together.. Air Mail. *SMIRK*

With the help of my good compadre Jay (the jay half of stephnjay) I realized what ETS means. The name of my department stands for:

Eat Talk & Schmooze!

I work in a department full of YENTAS! I HAVE FOUND MY CALLING!