MOTHERFVCKERS! They have REALLY done it this time! (UPDATE: Estimated 200 pairs of speakers taken)

[Yo Ma Ma]

That's very low down. Even if it was authorized/allowed per company policy, that kind of gestapo tactic will exact far more damage than any kind of short-term compliance they hope to obtain. I'm afraid if they could not return my property in perfect condition I'd have to auction a few company things off to offset my loss.

 

[Viper GTS]

Yo_Ma-Ma...

Technically, it probably is against current IT policy to have the stuff. But it has NEVER been enforced. People have speakers & headphones all over the place, nobody's ever cared.

And then IT comes in at LEAST two hours after they normally leave (They leave at 4, & I left at 6, & they came in way after I left) to confiscate stuff.

:|

Viper GTS

 

[Soybomb]

Legal, illegal or whatever its just bad form for an employer to take an employees personal possesions. If they wanted to enforce this the business like way to do it woul dbe through documented reprimands and then the firing of noncompliant workers. This just shows poor tact and a lack of caring for the employees. I would adress managemnt first thing Monday and if they refuse I'd have some riots going on heh. Just imagine all the techs starting to carry out soda machines, etc

IT=ignorant thieves?

 

[Viper GTS]

I'm thinking of printing up several hundred 8.5x11" signs that say:

IT?

Incompetent klepTos

Viper GTS

 

[Soybomb]

Hehe its their toner and paper Send 1500 of those signs to every networked printer in the place if you dont get your stuff back in perfect condition!

 

[Viper GTS]

Nah, I wouldn't print it here... Although I just printed one that I may hang in my cube. If I do it I'll go to LazerQuick or something & get them done that way, on colored paper. Then I'll hand them out.

Viper GTS

 

[Fandu]

Hey Viper, write a letter to your local newspaper, then give a TV station a call and make sure that they interview you and you proceed to explain what a bunch of A-holes these guys are to work for and discourage anyone from applying there. Then encourace the other 1200 PO'd tech's to do the same. If publicity like that ever got out a company would be ruined, I'm sure they would quickly realize this as well.

Maybe get all the tech's to sign a petition for a change of policy, 1200 names is quite a few. Are you part of a union? If so, get the union on side and policies could be changing pretty quickly.

If you are going to send a letter, use kranky's.

 

[IronMike]

While I don't know your situation very well, I suggest that you be careful with these guys if you like your job or want to keep your reputation intact. The first thing to consider is that they have been given the authorization from someone very high in the organization. It has been my experience that this is a common behavioral problem running rampant in many large corporations and government, and a fight can be very "expensive".
Indeed, the last place I worked was a state government office. A coworker (who had fallen out of favor with the computer techs) unfortunately had several personal letters to tenants of some rental property that he owned, on his computer. One day the State Highway Patrol came into the office and seized his computer. He was latter threatened with a lawsuit and confiscation of a substantial amount in his pension fund, if he didn't leave state service. Other people I have known have been randomly harassed for having live plants, stereo headphones etc., and the list goes on and on of things and habits that might cost company time. Sadly these people all thought they were doing a great job, above and beyond the call of duty.
Don't be naive in the belief that clear thinking and justice will prevail.

 

[Viper GTS]

Well if they want to seize stuff that could waste company time, maybe they should have taken the following out of my drawer:

- duPont Registry, March 2000
- Computer Bits, November 2000
- Yomega X-Brain yo-yo (great for long calls )
- Tylenol & Dimetapp, God forbid that I take time to drug myself
- Origami that I created during my moments of boredom
- All the insurance information, accident reports, estimates etc. for when I wrecked my car
- Numerous certification cram sheets

Viper GTS

 

[OS]

the constitution only applies to the government and not private entities I believe.

 

[pg22]

Viper -

Maybe I'm missing something...but where in God's name do you work and for whom?? What you're are explaining is unbelievable to someone (read: me ) who worked for a .com in the Bay Area.....now being 19, I haven't been around the world and worked for various types of corporations/companies, but damn, it sounds as if you work for the NSA or CIA...

good luck btw,

pg19

 

[Jumpem]

I think Viper does tech support Qwest.

 

[Viper GTS]

Jumperm is correct...

I do tech support for Qwest DSL, specifically LAN support. I hit my one year mark in 4 days.

Viper GTS

 

[pg22]

Do you have to wear uniforms and salute the flag of Qwest Inc. before you come to work every day?




One thing I'm intersted in...do such rules apply to all quarters of your compnay or just tech support?

 

[cmv]

God damn... Thanks for getting the warning out - I'll never work for a company that allows their IT group to trample the employees. No wonder the IT groups get such a bad name in many corporations.

Go back to hell you evil spawn! (directed to your IT group of course, not you)

 

[Rigoletto]

This is presented unclearly for those who don't read Viper's life. We didn't know anything about his work/home setup. Or the contract with his employers, which is the important bit.
I have gathered that he works in an office and his employers exercised their policy of ensuring dicks weren't playing computer games and listening to pirated CDs instead of doing work. Sounds logical. Well, what does it say in your contract about the property?
Your letter is childish and doesn't address corporate evil in the terms they understand or respect. You find out what your contract says and what the legal recourse can be. What I do is tell people they will find an example of a blue and white form if they don't respond to me satisfactorily over important matters, and that if they don't know what one is they'd better ask someone more important. The blue and white form is the one you fill in in England to initiate civil court cases. When they see the court stamp on a blank piece of paper showing you know what court process is and can do they will start to sit up.

 

[Viper GTS]

Rigoletto...

Wow, you're quite the arrogant little stiff. Tell me, do you occasionally see yourself looking at the undersides of Boeing 747's whilst looking down your nose?

No matter what the company policy may be, they had established a very lax precedent - Nobody honestly cared about people having speakers, headphones, etc. There is nothing preventing me from doing my job just because I have music playing very softly in the background. In fact, many of the computers have built in speakers and the audio drivers are installed. So listening to music has nothing to do with it. The real issue is they decided out of nowhere, without warning, to act on a seldom observed policy.

And as for my letter, it doesn't need to be very formal. All I want is my speakers back, I'm not trying to sue them. This is dealing with my manager, who I'm on a very casual first-name basis with, & the head of IT who's not even on site.

Next time you want to flame me, why don't you learn something about me?

Viper GTS

 

[Viper GTS]

I just talked to one of my friends (a low level manager, the position I could be in now if I hadn't gotten the LAN team) who was here last night. Apparently the speakers that survived the roundup survived because he did a mad scramble hiding everything behind the liner in the garbage cans. Then when IT was gone, he pulled them back out. Unfortunately he didn't get mine.

Also, he estimates they took 200 pairs of speakers alone, plus whatever other hardware they found in the drawers.

Monday is going to be interesting.

Viper GTS

 

[Valhalla1]

time to kick some ass

 

[Soybomb]

LOL you've gotta post back on monday about the what happens 200+ pissed off techs isn't a good thing!

 

[somethingwitty]

<< 200+ pissed off techs isn't a good thing! >>



1200 pissed off techs is even worse

 

[Pretender]

Viper, the first step is to remember not to lose your head. Yes, you're upset and many others are also, but doing something rash in a moment of insanity won't help. Come monday, when the hundreds of other people with missing stuff complain, chances are the company will regain its senses and do one of the following:
a) give back everything they took, assuming they kept track of who they took what from
b) recompensate everyone enough to avoid any lawsuits

Even IF, it states in their company policy that these things were illegal to have, and even if management had permission to confiscate them, I don't think they're willing to do nothing and hope that this just fades away over time. Besides, I don't think they have the right to confiscate personal things perminantly...at most maybe have the items removed from the building and stored somewhere to be picked up later by the owner, perhaps for a fee.

 

[Aquaman]

That really sucks They should have at least told you in a memo what was going to happen.

Man-o-man......... I thought pissing off one IT guy was bad but pissing off 1200 IT guys?!?!?! As Jerry Sienfield said once 'Release the Hounds!!!'

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[fdiskboy]

Wow. I understand a need for corporate policies, but this sounds a bit extreme.

Are DSL tech support employees a dime a dozen? Sounds like they don't give two flips about you guys?

Corporate life is a bitch.

 

[Viper GTS]

The straight DSL techs are pretty much dime-a-dozen, there's around 400 or so of just them. Then there's the MegaLAN team, which is what I am. That's a pretty elite group, only 12 or so of us. We could all go straight into management if we wanted to, but I specifically got out of one management position to get into this so there's no way in heck I want their &quot;mentor&quot; position.

Bottom line is the turnover rate is high, I don't know ANYONE on the floor anymore, &amp; I've only been there a year. So they probably don't give a sh!t who they piss off &amp; alienate.

Viper GTS