• nB (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Anon:
    "Last paycheck no longer available"? Ooooh, that one's a little.. y'know... illegal.
    Probably not. Michael broke his contract when he refused to work a notice period. That would be seen as legitimate grounds for withholding his final pay-check, at least here in the UK. You could try to argue the toss in court but it's just easier to forget about it, which is probably what he did.
    Not in California. We are an at-will state, and while customary and good form for both sides to give notice, it is not required. His final check is due no later than his normal pay day. California particularly is employee friendly.
  • (cs) in reply to longmethodnameguy
    longmethodnameguy:
    Seems a lot safer than being an emplyee "at will".

    An employer still can't fire you for no good reason though. Obviously signing an explicit employment contract is another matter, you're both bound by the terms.

    Although we also have "right to work" laws in a lot of states. Imagine having to sign a contract that prevents you from working for a competitor for a year after leaving the company. I actually had to sign a contract like that one time. Since I live in a "right to work" state such a clause is completely invalid and unenforceable.

    Um, yes they can. They can fire you for almost any reason or no reason at all. They only reasons for which they can't legally fire you are race, gender, religion, etc.

  • Your Boss (unregistered) in reply to Jay
    Jay:
    I don't know what you mean. The US has excellent protection for workers. It's called "free enterprise" and "competition". If my employer gives me a bum deal, I can quit and go somewhere else. The fact that the knows that I can do that gives him an incentive to treat me decently, and if he doesn't, then I can carry through on the bluff and leave.

    If you find that you can't get a better deal anywhere else, that there is literally no employer anywhere in the entire country willing to hire you under the conditions that you want, then maybe your expectations are unrealistic.

    I think that's much better protection than relying on the government to tell both me and the employer what constitutes "fair". If conditions of employment are determined by negotiation between me and my employer, then if I don't like the deal the employer offers, I can go across town and work for someone else. If conditions of employment are determined by the government, then if I don't like the deal, my only alternative is to hope that in the next election the winnner make rules I like better -- a prospect for which I am just one vote out of tens of millions, assuming there is even a candidate in the race that I like -- or I can move to another country.

    God bless you, you square-jawed Randroid ubermensch. You do realise that unemployment in the US is pushing 10% right? Good luck with your employment negotiations.

    Big corporations good, big government evil. Eeeeeevil. Down with Public Health!

  • oheso (unregistered) in reply to Bim Job
    Bim Job:
    I've never understood what the point of a "Network Administrator" is, anyway (apart from, maybe, Sarbannes-Oxley). Train a couple of monkeys up on the Cisco command line, and that's about it.

    Come to that, I've never understood what the point of a "Systems Administrator" is, either. If "Systems Administration" was a real job, then I'd never be woken up at 2am on a Sunday morning and asked to put a remote fix in to the latest catastrophe.

    I'm not sure what your point is here. Perhaps some time spent with Google or a few good books on the industry best practices might enlighten you. Or perhaps you've been working in an environment where these people have been doing their job so well that you're not even aware they exist.

    I stepped into a combined role in an organization where people were used to just plugging in more cables when they needed them, often without regard for where the other end of the cable was plugged in. And where all employment and client information was kept in a single network share that all staff had access to. One joker thought the SETI at home thing was such a great idea that our network was saturated with all his little boxes trying to phone home. I've had to club a few baby seals to get the point across, but now I get compliments almost every day about how much better things are.

    I love my job.

  • (cs) in reply to FatherStorm
    FatherStorm:
    Carl:
    Oh come on. All that mysterious setup about the security cameras and then the doors didn't even auto-lock when he tried to leave. I want a refund!
    there weren't any open TCP/IP connections available to talk to the Windows 95b machine controlling the doors.
    Wow, that's advanced. Door systems usually run DOS v4. (And I speak from experience.)
  • (cs) in reply to AlpineR
    AlpineR:
    I need step-by-step instructions on how to fix any problem that that could come in the future.
    1 GOOGLE IT
2 POST AN AD ON CRAIGSLIST
3 GOTO 1
    They asked for step-by-step instructions. Yours look BASIC to me. :)
  • (cs) in reply to SR
    SR:
    Mike:
    'BSA' as in Birmingham Small Arms? As in motorcycles? I preferred Norton. Who later went on to produce a suite of antivirus software. Like AVG.

    I'm guessing Business Software Alliance. As in software.

    I enjoyed your tangent, though.

    It returned back to the arc. It was a secant.

  • (cs) in reply to A. Cube
    A. Cube:
    Sounds like a seriously bum deal for the employee though.

    As an employee in the United States, let me say that I vastly prefer an "at will" relationship. I prefer having my options open to being "safe" (whatever the heck that means in this context).

    It works both ways: with employee protections, the employee cannot simply walk out without penalty. You get vastly better loyalty as a result: no snap decisions. But conversely, you have to treat them like human beings.

    Employee protections also mean they get taxes calculated and paid by the company. That might cost you more, but that stress every individual at a US company suffers is restricted in the EU to people who own their own business: a minority, who usually employ accountants to do that for them. Yes, that's a benefit to the employer.

    That's just skimming the surface. If you can't see the benefits of government say ... governing the conditions under which the electorate labours, you're seriously myopic.

  • (cs) in reply to Jay
    Jay:
    I don't know what you mean.
    Oh here we go...
    Jay:
    The US has excellent protection for workers. It's called "free enterprise" and "competition".
    Oh great. Leave it to corporations to feud it out, while the little workers "reap" the "benefits". Hint: most civilized countries gave up on feudalism centuries ago because the little people didn't get to do much reaping (for themselves) and when they did, there wasn't much in the way of benefit.
    Jay:
    If my employer gives me a bum deal, I can quit and go somewhere else. The fact that the (sic) knows that I can do that gives him an incentive to treat me decently, and if he doesn't, then I can carry through on the bluff and leave.
    I think you ought to know that a bluff is what happens if you don't carry through on a threat.
    Jay:
    If you find that you can't get a better deal anywhere else, that there is literally no employer anywhere in the entire country willing to hire you under the conditions that you want, then maybe your expectations are unrealistic.
    Perhaps unrealistic, because realism is acceptance of the status quo. But not necessarily unreasonable.
    Jay:
    I think that's much better protection than relying on the government to tell both me and the employer what constitutes "fair".
    How so? The government exercises great power; which is kinda the point. The individual, on the other hand, exercises miniscule power, unless certain options are enshrined in rights.
    Jay:
    If conditions of employment are determined by negotiation between me and my employer, then if I don't like the deal the employer offers, I can go across town and work for someone else.
    How redundant. Every single employee negotiating the same deal? Or perhaps some don't bother because they don't like to rock the boat? And perhaps others follow... until at the end you have no room for negotiation.
    Jay:
    If conditions of employment are determined by the government, then if I don't like the deal, my only alternative is to hope that in the next election the winnner make rules I like better
    Ah... in civilized countries, those rights are determined over time, with agreement across party lines.
    Jay:
    -- a prospect for which I am just one vote out of tens of millions, assuming there is even a candidate in the race that I like
    That's kinda the whole point: stability. Rules don't change at the drop of a hat.

    ...and you think ad-hoc employer-employee negotiations are better than this? Jesus Christ...

    Jay:
    -- or I can move to another country.
    Some people find that hard to do. Heck, I found it hard to do all three times I've done it. Never has the prospect of better conditions of employment motivated me.

    Addendum (2009-10-08 17:37):

    (If I were you though, I'd learn English before moving to an English-speaking country...)

  • someone (unregistered) in reply to UC

    Is it only me or does firefox try to play the game it's self - it either scores so high or low that the score is "undefined". Had to fire up IE....

    "Only if you are a couple" - So I try an piss on the guy for breaking the rules and what do I get - "only if they are female" - I think there is definately a bug there.....

  • ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to Kensey
    Kensey:
    ozymandias:
    Darren:

    In the US, however, there is almost never a work contract. The overwhelming majority of employment is "at will" - meaning either party can terminate it for no reason whatever, without any notice of any kind.

    Where do you get your information? Every job I have ever had (including lifeguard, store attendant, and field hand in high school) all had them. When I hit the college level, the contracts simply got longer and larger, but they certainly existed. I have never even heard of a professional position without a contract -- nor would I, or anyone I know, accept something like that.

    There may be an employment agreement, but that is not (necessarily) the same thing as an employment contract that specifies a guaranteed period of employment at a guaranteed rate of pay (barring specified events that trigger termination or modification of the contractual relationship). An employment agreement may (and most do) specify at-will and disclaim contractual employment.

    Given that they specified terms for length of employment, how contract renewals would be handled, benefits, compensation, notice, and clauses on how the contract can be terminated, and all referred to themselves as contracts... I'll go with 'they are contracts'.

  • Kevo (unregistered) in reply to Panos
    Panos:
    I'd just threaten the guy, even if i had to mention his family too. It would be just words (most likely), but with a bit of shouting added it could get me that last paycheck

    Are you fraking stupid ???

    Sounds like an episode of law and order ..

    You started out with how he treats everyone like SHIT .. Now you are shouting a threat... everyone else most likely feels similar to you ..

    Fade to commercial ..

    Next thing you know your locked up because someone carried out your threat and framed you...

    Come on man think ...

  • icfantv (unregistered) in reply to Anon

    My first thought exactly.

  • (cs) in reply to rfsmit
    rfsmit:
    Employee protections also mean they get taxes calculated and paid by the company. That might cost you more, but that stress every individual at a US company suffers is restricted in the EU to people who own their own business: a minority, who usually employ accountants to do that for them.

    I think you're talking about withholding, which almost every US employee has calculated for them by their employer, by law.

  • Laughing Jack (unregistered) in reply to rfsmit
    rfsmit:
    Jay:
    I don't know what you mean. The US has excellent protection for workers. It's called "free enterprise" and "competition".
    Oh here we go...
    It's no use debating these fellows all serious-like, it's their religion, they're never going to see reason. Log-cabin Republican turkeys *always* vote for christmas, even if they're unemployed, in a trailer, with cancer and only a shotgun for dinner.

    Just laugh at them. Best thing to do.

  • (cs) in reply to ozymandias
    ozymandias:
    Kensey:
    ozymandias:
    Where do you get your information? Every job I have ever had (including lifeguard, store attendant, and field hand in high school) all had them. When I hit the college level, the contracts simply got longer and larger, but they certainly existed. I have never even heard of a professional position without a contract -- nor would I, or anyone I know, accept something like that.

    There may be an employment agreement, but that is not (necessarily) the same thing as an employment contract that specifies a guaranteed period of employment at a guaranteed rate of pay (barring specified events that trigger termination or modification of the contractual relationship). An employment agreement may (and most do) specify at-will and disclaim contractual employment.

    Given that they specified terms for length of employment, how contract renewals would be handled, benefits, compensation, notice, and clauses on how the contract can be terminated, and all referred to themselves as contracts... I'll go with 'they are contracts'.

    Then your work history is unusual. Almost every job I've ever had (and most of the people I know as well), from auto-body shop janitor to server architect, was specified in the paperwork as at-will, except for a few people who self-incorporated to make a career out of bona-fide contracting. In my 18 years of employment only two jobs have been "contract" jobs, and on both of them I was simply considered an employee of another company, not a contractor myself.

  • Herby (unregistered)

    The REAL WTF is that Michael didn't go to the BOFH school of being a network (or any other) administrator. If he had done so, there might be a TOTALLY different outcome.

    One should take those lessons to heart especially when there are such tings as "security" cameras around.

  • (cs) in reply to Nyall
    Nyall:
    He was touching you while you where using the bathroom. Sue for sexual harassment

    ...or intentional infliction of emotional distress. (Or both.)

  • (cs)

    Many WTFs here...

    1. This guy didn't catch on that between the cameras everywhere, and everyone seeming uncomfortable with his socializing? You're there to work, not chat.

    2. Touching someone who is using the bathroom. No no no.

    3. XP's 10-connection limit.

    4. His first thought to get around that limit was "switch to another OS" rather than "install the commonly-used hack that can be found with about one second of Googling to increase the connection limit to something sane".

    5. I don't have a muffin. What's up with that?

    6. Expecting to get any good software from an ad on Craigslist, in exchange for ~$50 worth of gadgets.

    7. The C++ was so bad it managed to depend on an outdated version of .Net? That's quite the feat, considering C++ (as opposed to C#) has never required .Net.

    8. Anyone who thinks the concept of step by step instructions on how to fix any problem that could ever possibly arise even makes sense.

    9. They decided to withhold his paycheck, and he did nothing? Yeah, kind of illegal, like everyone's already said.

    10. The comment system STILL hasn't been fixed, requiring me to submit three times.

  • (cs) in reply to Jay
    Jay:
    [...] I think that's much better protection than relying on the government to tell both me and the employer what constitutes "fair". [...]

    I agree.

    So then you'd be fine with me and a thousand other people getting together and negotiating the meaning of "fair" with the company, right?

  • asdf (unregistered) in reply to lolwtf
    lolwtf:
    Many WTFs here... 7) The C++ was so bad it managed to depend on an outdated version of .Net? That's quite the feat, considering C++ (as opposed to C#) has never required .Net.
    You haven't heard of "manged c++"?

    Yes, you can write c++ to use .net libraries, and to be a .net library itself.

    In microsoft's special way they have renamed it to C++/CLI (not command line infrastructure, but common language interface....) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B/CLI

  • Kudzu_Kid (unregistered) in reply to longmethodnameguy

    Sure they can... at least in some states in the US. Oklahoma, for one, is a "fire without cause" state. Maybe your employer doesn't like your shoes, your politics, maybe they just wanted to outsource (errr, "right-shore") your job. It's all easier in OK!

    Hint: They don't have to TELL you why - so if it IS because of your politics, religion, ethnicity, shrugging off the hand on shoulder in the stall, etc; odds are they'd never tell you, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't be just as fired at the end of the day!

    Yeeaaaahhhhh... I think I'd be on the phone with Wage & Hour so quick it'd make Shane's cameras spin!

  • lowkey (unregistered) in reply to Griphon
    Griphon:
    John:
    I'd have to wonder where this happened. In my home state (MO, USA)we have the concept of at-will employment. There is no implied contract to work for a company, so walking out is allowed. The employer must pay all your wages and earnings up to the time you left. (At least that's how I understand it). Therefore the withholding of the paycheck would be illegal. At any rate, the story is a pretty good one.

    The article states that it occurred in California, which is not an at-will state. However, that won't stop the legal forces or DOL from recovering his back pay.

    I don't know where you got your information - California is definitely an At-Will state!

  • (cs) in reply to Darren
    Darren:
    Maurits:
    > Mens' Room

    Simple rule for where to put possessive apostrophes:

    John's book = book of John Bess' book = book of Bess Mens' room = room of mens ERROR!! Men's room = room of men (much better)

    ARGH! There's little worse than getting your advice wrong when you're correcting someone's writing.

    It would be Bess's book, damn it! There are a few exceptions, but the possessive of proper nouns ending with an 's' typically requires the addition of the apostrophe and 's', as my example above.

    See the Wikipedia article for the details.

    But it's not the book that belongs to Bess. It's the book that belongs to several people all called Bes!
  • (cs) in reply to lowkey
    lowkey:
    Griphon:
    John:
    I'd have to wonder where this happened. In my home state (MO, USA)we have the concept of at-will employment. There is no implied contract to work for a company, so walking out is allowed. The employer must pay all your wages and earnings up to the time you left. (At least that's how I understand it). Therefore the withholding of the paycheck would be illegal. At any rate, the story is a pretty good one.

    The article states that it occurred in California, which is not an at-will state. However, that won't stop the legal forces or DOL from recovering his back pay.

    I don't know where you got your information - California is definitely an At-Will state!

    In this context, that means they can just fire you willy-nilly?
  • The Vicar (unregistered)

    The help file, as I would write it:

    "Dear successor: I know you're expecting instructions on how to fix the little problems which will inevitably crop up in such an open-ended job as this, but I'm more of a 'big picture' kind of guy, so I'm going to give you some more useful general instructions for dealing with Shane's imbecility and general control-freak behavior:

    1. Quit
    2. Don't look back

    I took these steps myself, and if you doubt that they were successful, ask yourself: which one of us is still dealing with Shane's crap?"

  • Burpy (unregistered) in reply to rfsmit
    rfsmit:
    (If I were you though, I'd learn English before moving to an English-speaking country...)

    Why that? Most english speakers still don't know any of the four official languages of my country after 10 years working here! Oh wait, I forgot that the other languages are not important...

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Burpy
    Burpy:
    rfsmit:
    (If I were you though, I'd learn English before moving to an English-speaking country...)

    Why that? Most english speakers still don't know any of the four official languages of my country after 10 years working here! Oh wait, I forgot that the other languages are not important...

    Good point - a lot of my anger towards the illegal mexicans in the US is that a lot of them don't care to learn Engilsh and instead demand services in Mexican.

  • http://www.pretty-tiffany.com (unregistered)

    Thank you very much,I have read it now. And welcome to my site,

  • Jan (unregistered)

    Wow. Are unions illegal in the US or something? When I quit my last job I had to give one months notice. If they had fired me they would have to give me 11 months pay. And that was a standard contract - common to most large companies and government. I did have 10 years seniority though - you start with 1 and 3 months notice.

  • lee (unregistered) in reply to lolwtf
    lolwtf:
    Many WTFs here... 3) XP's 10-connection limit.
    1. His first thought to get around that limit was "switch to another OS" rather than "install the commonly-used hack that can be found with about one second of Googling to increase the connection limit to something sane".

    XP does NOT have a connection limit (this is completely separate from the half-open connection limit introduced in SP2) - it's IIS on XP that's limited to 10 connections since you're not meant to use it as a production web server.

    (Side note: it can apparently be bumpted to 40 connections: http://weblogs.asp.net/cazzu/archive/2003/10/10/31476.aspx - better, but still doesn't defend using XP as a server OS)

  • (cs)

    If Michael had been a team player, he wouldn't have stopped to wash his hands before exiting the mens room to fix an urgent network issue.

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to lee
    lee:
    XP does NOT have a connection limit (this is completely separate from the half-open connection limit introduced in SP2)...
    I tried to point this out but no-one was listening:
    Anonymous:
    Ricardino:
    TRWTF is that tcpip.sys can be patched to accept more than 10 connections.
    No, you're thinking of the limit on half-open outgoing connections. They were hitting the limit on incoming connections to the web server. These are two different things.
  • London Developer (unregistered) in reply to Kensey
    Kensey:
    I don't understand why, if Shane was so intolerable, Michael didn't just skip the whole "exit documentation" phase and go straight to "F--- you, you prick, you're on your own." He had to know that he wasn't going to get a good reference either way -- this way just seems like he's unnecessarily burdening himself.

    Hahahahha!! I actually said those exact words to an ex-boss one day... Thing is the guy wasn't my boss, he was just a PM on a project I was working on... Anyway the company were very understanding when I told them I quit, paid me my money and my bonus and even saved me the hassle of dropping my laptop off by coming and collecting it themselves!!

    I guess they didn't fancy being sued! In England it'd have cost them a FORTUNE if I'd mentioned that said PM deserved my outburst!

    CAPTCHA = sino - is that an addicted mathematician? (like wino)

  • Chewbacca (unregistered) in reply to Capt. Obvious
    Capt. Obvious:
    While a ultra-capitalist may have demanded a bonus for doing so (after all, it has some value to Shane), I prefer to live in a world where I don't have to watch out for everyone screwing me all the time... hence a world with ethical standards.
    If you find one, let me know.

    I've had a boss use a screwdriver to unlock a bathroom stall to come disturb me while I took a poop. Legally I have three months notice, but I didn't bother with it. I just left. They witheld my pay, I contacted the Norwegian authorities, and got my pay eventually....

    ...for the three months I didn't bother to show up.

    I'm guessing the old boss didn't want the pooping incident to become public record in ... err ... "Konfliktrådet" "Small claims court", perhaps?

    Also, why is the CAPTCHA the name of my ex girlfriends cat, "Mara"? I find that slightly disturbing.

  • fatalXception (unregistered) in reply to London Developer
    1. Employer comes up behind you and places hand on shoulder without your foreknowledge = Battery.
    2. Employer does same in bathroom whilst you have your junk in your hand = Sexual Assault
    3. Profit.

    TRWTF is that the guy just walked away with nothing. Should have taken the boss to the cleaners, by way of saying "Fuck You" without actually having to say "Fuck You".

  • fatalXception (unregistered) in reply to Chewbacca
    Chewbacca:

    I've had a boss use a screwdriver to unlock a bathroom stall to come disturb me while I took a poop. ..... Also, why is the CAPTCHA the name of my ex girlfriends cat, "Mara"? I find that slightly disturbing.

    If you find that disturbing, just wait until the next time you have to poop.They know who you are and they have screwdrivers.

  • (cs) in reply to Jan
    Jan:
    Wow. Are unions illegal in the US or something? When I quit my last job I had to give one months notice. If they had fired me they would have to give me 11 months pay. And that was a standard contract - common to most large companies and government. I did have 10 years seniority though - you start with 1 and 3 months notice.

    IT doesn't have a union, and never will because A) Nobody can agree what actually constitutes what we as developers [or sysadminds, or dbas, or whatever] do, and if they DID then companies would just hire you with a title unrelated to anything IT to circumvent the union regulations, and B) We have been brainwashed to think that unions are bad and evil because you have DUES and typically an apprenticeship program [and we all know that the genius "rockstar" programmers don't need apprenticeships, right?].

    As usual the issue here is a cheapskate business owner trying to run a company without putting a dime into it. Why oh why can't these scumbags just go out of business and be destitute like they deserve? It riles me up every time I hear or see some idiot who thinks he's an entrepreneur and a genius but doesn't want to put any resources (or the bare minimum resources) into growing a business. It saddens me even more when these people are actually successful and end up wealthy, when all they deserve is to end up on the street. There is no God, and this is the proof - the slimeballs end up rich, while the honest and hard working people get screwed.

  • Lee K-T (unregistered) in reply to Chewbacca
    Chewbacca:
    I've had a boss use a screwdriver to unlock a bathroom stall to come disturb me while I took a poop.

    Well if I had a wookie taking a poop somewhere near my office I'd love to go see how he manages that without spoiling his fur...

  • James (unregistered) in reply to ButHow
    ButHow:
    Ricardino:
    TRWTF is that tcpip.sys can be patched to accept more than 10 connections.

    Very much this. There is absolutely no difference in the TCP/IP stack of XP and the enterprisey "server OS" besides the actual number of connections it allows.

    You might be forgiven for describing XP as not being "server capable" because it doesn't come with a domain controller service, but the connection limit is just an arbitrary and artificial limit placed on the software for marketing purposes.

    Apart from XP has IIS 5.1 and Windows Server 2003 has IIS 6.0 and the extra features that provides.

  • Ninkleberry Ballbag (unregistered) in reply to teh jav
    teh jav:
    I've only read the first bit and I'm sure I've seen this set up before in a gay porn film.

    Err. I mean... Heard about. yes.

    This is spam. Please buy my lovely coconuts.

    Sir.

    I shall buy your lovely coconuts, only if you will hire my maverick clown troupe, "The Bilderberg Beefwheats".

    Please don't be afraid of them.

    Their eggs smell divine!

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Ricardino:
    TRWTF is that tcpip.sys can be patched to accept more than 10 connections.
    No, you're thinking of the limit on half-open outgoing connections. They were hitting the limit on incoming connections to the web server. These are two different things.

    Actually, the article is wrong, there IS NO LIMIT on the number of incoming TCP/IP connections in Windows XP.

    The '10 connection limit' is for Windows resource sharing - eg file/printer sharing. You can have 10,000 concurrent connections from different sources to a web/pop3/smtp/ftp/etc server running XP.

    (It's not as good at handling large numbers of connections because the 'listen' queue is limited to 5 in XP, but it works fine as long as the connections don't arrive too quickly to be handled by the server).

    A lot of people misunderstand this.

  • ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to Kensey
    Kensey:
    ozymandias:
    Kensey:
    ozymandias:
    Where do you get your information? Every job I have ever had (including lifeguard, store attendant, and field hand in high school) all had them. When I hit the college level, the contracts simply got longer and larger, but they certainly existed. I have never even heard of a professional position without a contract -- nor would I, or anyone I know, accept something like that.

    There may be an employment agreement, but that is not (necessarily) the same thing as an employment contract that specifies a guaranteed period of employment at a guaranteed rate of pay (barring specified events that trigger termination or modification of the contractual relationship). An employment agreement may (and most do) specify at-will and disclaim contractual employment.

    Given that they specified terms for length of employment, how contract renewals would be handled, benefits, compensation, notice, and clauses on how the contract can be terminated, and all referred to themselves as contracts... I'll go with 'they are contracts'.

    Then your work history is unusual. Almost every job I've ever had (and most of the people I know as well), from auto-body shop janitor to server architect, was specified in the paperwork as at-will, except for a few people who self-incorporated to make a career out of bona-fide contracting. In my 18 years of employment only two jobs have been "contract" jobs, and on both of them I was simply considered an employee of another company, not a contractor myself.

    I still think your's is the odd history. Why would you accept a job without a contract? I am not talking as a 'contractor' -- that is something completely different. I am talking as an employee.

  • ozymandias (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    Jan:
    Wow. Are unions illegal in the US or something? When I quit my last job I had to give one months notice. If they had fired me they would have to give me 11 months pay. And that was a standard contract - common to most large companies and government. I did have 10 years seniority though - you start with 1 and 3 months notice.

    IT doesn't have a union, and never will because A) Nobody can agree what actually constitutes what we as developers [or sysadminds, or dbas, or whatever] do, and if they DID then companies would just hire you with a title unrelated to anything IT to circumvent the union regulations, and B) We have been brainwashed to think that unions are bad and evil because you have DUES and typically an apprenticeship program [and we all know that the genius "rockstar" programmers don't need apprenticeships, right?].

    As usual the issue here is a cheapskate business owner trying to run a company without putting a dime into it. Why oh why can't these scumbags just go out of business and be destitute like they deserve? It riles me up every time I hear or see some idiot who thinks he's an entrepreneur and a genius but doesn't want to put any resources (or the bare minimum resources) into growing a business. It saddens me even more when these people are actually successful and end up wealthy, when all they deserve is to end up on the street. There is no God, and this is the proof - the slimeballs end up rich, while the honest and hard working people get screwed.

    We have a simple way to cover that where I work -- all non-union employees get the same raises and benefits as union employees. It's in the contract as an effort to stop us from wanting to bother unionizing.

  • anon (unregistered) in reply to lolwtf
    lolwtf:
    Many WTFs here... 3) XP's 10-connection limit.
    Please provide an example of how this is a problem on a client computer.
    4) His first thought to get around that limit was "switch to another OS" rather than "install the commonly-used hack that can be found with about one second of Googling to increase the connection limit to something sane".
    Does the term “license violation” mean anything to you? Hacking system files might also constitute copyright infringement. If you want to run a server, get a server OS. For a multitude of reasons.
  • Warpedcow (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    As usual the issue here is a cheapskate business owner trying to run a company without putting a dime into it. Why oh why can't these scumbags just go out of business and be destitute like they deserve? It riles me up every time I hear or see some idiot who thinks he's an entrepreneur and a genius but doesn't want to put any resources (or the bare minimum resources) into growing a business. It saddens me even more when these people are actually successful and end up wealthy...

    If they end up wealthy, and don't break any laws, then obviously they're doing something very right.

  • Warpedcow (unregistered) in reply to Coyne
    Coyne:
    Jay:
    [...] I think that's much better protection than relying on the government to tell both me and the employer what constitutes "fair". [...]

    I agree.

    So then you'd be fine with me and a thousand other people getting together and negotiating the meaning of "fair" with the company, right?

    Of course. I'm sure you'd be fine if the company decides to fire all thousand of you and hire a thousand other people then too, naturally.

    Individual Freedom and Economic Liberty > *

  • (cs) in reply to Warpedcow
    Warpedcow:
    If they end up wealthy, and don't break any laws, then obviously they're doing something very right.

    This entire attitude is what allows cheapskates and scam artists to stay in business. If you run a business and don't want to spend any money on anything with it, then you DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE A BUSINESS.

  • (cs) in reply to Burpy
    Burpy:
    Why that? Most english speakers still don't know any of the four official languages of my country after 10 years working here!

    I'm guessing you're Swiss, in which case the four are French, German, Romansch, and... Italian?

  • anon (unregistered) in reply to ObiWayneKenobi
    ObiWayneKenobi:
    If you run a business and don't want to spend any money on anything with it, then you DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE A BUSINESS.
    Obviously, the business thinks differently.

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