The Wheel and Axle

Continued From:

Stupid? No, you’re just self-entitled. (Part 1)

4. “Stupid Internet Restrictions.” No matter how diligent you yourself are, there will always be that person – or several persons – who will abuse privileges.

You might not be an abuser, but if you belong in a company of 1,000, I guarantee you there will be many who would be. Multiply that by individual lost productivity as well as strain to network bandwidth, and you should have an idea why such restrictions exist.

However, the more important reason for such restrictions is risk management, especially for companies that deal with financial and personal information.

There have been cases of fraud where credit card data weee stolen and sent out via social media or personal email, costing some companies millions of dollars in penalties, loss of business, and damage to reputation.

Certain companies that have to follow specific regulations (ex. US health companies that must abide by HIPAA) are legally required to have controls that prevent PII (personally identifiable information) from going into the wrong hands.

This is also why many financial institutions and companies that get your credit card data now also insist on paperless environments for workers who deal with such data.

You think it’s just a matter of being able to message your friends on Facebook during working hours or emailing your family? Tell that to AT&T who paid $25M for privacy breaches that could have been prevented had there been better controls of data protection going out of the system in their call center vendors.

5. “Stupid Rules On Frequent-flyer Miles.” As a friend put it, you signed up for the job and likely knew travel would happen.

It’s part of your JD so stop whining like you’ve been forced into it. In the first place, who paid for the ticket? From a cost stand-point, since the company paid the ticket, the company is the one entitled to the miles which can be used for future business travel.

It’s a sacrifice of time and energy? It’s time and energy that you are paid for through your salary!

Moreover: someone enrolled in a frequent flyer miles program obviously likes traveling, so if you get sent somewhere else, you’re already benefiting from it as well… along with not paying for tickets and getting, in most cases, per diem allowances.

And as someone who has done business travel and who has lived alone, I can tell you as well that there are downstream benefits. When I did my business trips, especially those that lasted a few weeks, it saved me electricity and water costs since my condo unit was basically “resting.” I also saved on personal food and office commute costs because generous per diems covered these most of the time.

So yeah, it must really be a huge “sacrifice” to be sent to New York or Europe or Singapore or Latin America free of charge.

6. “Stupid Mobile Phone Restrictions.” See #4. All that are noted there apply to phones as well, especially smart phones that are internet capable.

Smart phones these days also have the capability to take pictures of computer screens with financial info or PII. This is also why many companies, especially banks, do not allow pictures of the production floor (especially if PC screens are visible).

You also say impeding mobile phone access harms your social life? You’re in the office to work, not socialize during those hours. If you feel that work hours need to be spent socializing, then don’t fucking work.

Continued In:

Stupid? No, you’re just self-entitled. (Part 3)