German IT Outfit Bans Whining 320
theodp writes "German IT outfit Nutzwerk Ltd has come up with the perfect solution to whining in the workplace - it's made cheerfulness a contractual obligation, advising those who don't measure up to the prescribed level of jollity in the morning to stay at home until they cheer up. The plan was prompted by a female employee whose constant complaining prompted the other staff to complain about her complaining."
Movie quote time. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:2)
Python quote time (Score:5, Funny)
Happy Valley [utwente.nl]
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:2)
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:4, Insightful)
When a German's gotta go, he gotsta go. There is a reasonable modesty mechanism in place, i.e. I will feel uncomfortable about it and seek out a dark corner, the back of a preferrably windowless, non-residential building, behind a tree or wherever. And I'll be more likely to do this at night than in broad daylight. If I'm out walking in a "public" forest where I'm likely to be seen by joggers, cyclists or families taking a walk, I'll walk 20 - 50 feet off the path and into the woods so no one will see me in profile unless they follow me in. On two or three occasions, I've been in the woods with a girlfriend when she had to go, and she asked me to look out for passersby and shield her from view if necessary while she pulled down her pants and squatted to do her thing.
As a net result, you'll sometimes see the back of a man standing by the side of the road or up against a tree, with his legs spread and pelvis pushed forward. If you look closely, you may even see a yellow stream. But why would you want to look closely? You accept that the guy apparently had a hard time holding it before finding a proper convenience, turn away and ignore him.
I rarely heed Nature's call in the open, maybe once or twice a year; but when I do, I don't worry my head about it. By contrast, I understand that doing this in the US may get me arrested on charges of sexual misconduct and branded for life as a sex offender, with incriminating bulletins sent to prospective neighbors and employers. I find public urination as distasteful as the next guy, but... sanity check, anyone?
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:2)
And my big male urinates whereever he can
My point is: if you want to urinate IN public, there are places for it, but you might miss out on some better and fun activities
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:2)
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:5, Interesting)
So yes, I know someone who was caught peeing and is now branded a sex offender and had his life ruined because of it.
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:4, Interesting)
I've wondered whether or not he has to register as a sex offender now.
Another guy I knew was arrested once for taking a leak at a road side park. His brother, a lawyer, requested a jury trial. The charges were eventually dropped because the prosecuting attorney knew that around here, most of the people who might be selected for the jury would think he had lost his marbles for putting the guy on trial for such a ridiculous charge.
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:3, Insightful)
I find your statement hard to reconcile with the fact that public urination, in the US, is met with punishment for a sexual offense. From earlier digging, I remember that in Utah, public urination is a "Class C Sexual misdemeanor".
Understood and agreed. But when I think of "public urination," I tend to think of "outside." When I think of "outside" I think of "rain." Guess what? All
Re:Movie quote time. (Score:3, Informative)
It also seriously damages centuries-old brick walls for some reason. You can literally piss a hole in a wall. Here in Amsterdam you get fined EUR 160 for urinating in public, because it causes millions a year in damage to old churches and houses. In addition to that home owners obviou
Nazis (Score:2)
Oh good (Score:5, Funny)
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
Re:Oh good (Score:3, Insightful)
If the headline were rephrased it would not be that unusual a situation. In the professional working world people need to and want to behave "professionally" toward coworkers and associates. A business can be made or broken over lack of diplomacy among its staff and towards its customers.
In the corporate world, anyone can be promoted over you. The annoying person in the next cubicle who drives you crazy with his nail biting and overly loud headphones might be your manager next year s
20 pieces of flair ... (Score:3, Funny)
Yes but that's really just a guidline. We're all sure the managers will be pointing out how happy harry has 50 pieces of flair and you must measure up.
Four years old (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Four years old (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Four years old (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Four years old (Score:2)
See e.g. http://nutzwerk.ffii.org/ [ffii.org]
Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2)
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, telling people not to whine to the point of being unberable is one thing. Telling them to pretend to be cheery all the time is another.
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Soko
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:5, Insightful)
in the workplace is just the beginning .
Soon it will be politically correct to suppress it elsewhere .
If the person does not do their job that is one thing, but
for them to be silenced for expressing discontent over maltreatment
or inequality is a bad idea in my humble opinion .
Ex-MislTech
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:5, Insightful)
One thing more detrimental is an angry/whiny co-worker (or employee) who is pretending to be cheerful.
This really just sounds like management doesn't have the skill or the emotional maturity to actually deal with the problem, so instead, they sweep it under the rug.
If an employee is angry/whiny, there is a reason. Maybe that reason is internal to the employee. Maybe that reason is the result of something in the work environment. Force the employee to pretend to be happy, and the employee will probably more unhappy. Then you have an employee not working to the best of their ability, who may even be acting out passive aggressively. That attitude can spread just as quickly as overt angry/whiny behavior, and can be even worse to tolerate because it is harder to pin down.
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2)
Fair enough. But that begs the question - what do you do with a talented employee who is unbearable at times due situations outside the company's control (personal/psychological/etc problems)? It seems to me there comes a point where all you can do is say "get yourself together or don't bother coming in".
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2, Interesting)
While I will agree that when a normally pleasant employee is angry/whiny that there is a reason. It's not always true. Unfortunately, I've dealt with cow-orkers who seem to have complaining as their #1 task.
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2)
I've actually seen this, when an engineer started doing a real hardware audit to bring deployed systems into the inventory and hardware man
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:4, Insightful)
there are few things more irratating & detremental to productivity than an angry/whiny co-worker
Actually, the person most irritating and detrimental to productivity is the cheerful, optimistic sysadmin who continues to do upgrades and apply patches while saying, "It won't affect anything," no matter how many times he has broken everything. I can ignore the angry/whiny people that aren't breaking stuff (well, except when it's my boss :).
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2)
An angry/whiny CEO is even more annoying. "I want it next week, and I want it done cheaper, better, faster. Now, I'm going to go play golf with other CEOs, get to work."
Somehow I doubt this anti-whining requirement applies to the management team
Re:Cheerfulness as a contractual obligation... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
re: just fire the whiner? (Score:3, Insightful)
dangerous territory (Score:5, Funny)
-d
Re:dangerous territory (Score:5, Funny)
Re:dangerous territory (Score:4, Funny)
slashdotters don't have women at their workplaces anyway ;) and you being a slashdotter don't know enough about women to make that claim
Looks down front of shirt.... Cleavage, CHECK; Breast count equals 2.
I'm fairly sure I'm a woman, I was when I got up this morning....
Re:dangerous territory (Score:3, Funny)
carefull, there are male slashdotters who pass that check...
Re:dangerous territory (Score:5, Funny)
Women have balls - we just wear them higher :)
Re:dangerous territory (Score:2)
Why stop at the workplace? Ban them from your life. It's not like there will ever be any in it anyway, and as a bonus you can claim some legitimacy for the status quo.
Re:dangerous territory (Score:2)
But only for 1 week per month. Hmmm, maybe this has something to do with the directive...
Don't take my stapler! (Score:3, Funny)
"Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays"...
Re:Don't take my stapler! (Score:2)
"Töne wie jemand hat einen Fall von den Montagen." (tip o' the hat to BabelFish)
Re:Don't take my stapler! (Score:2)
Re:Don't take my stapler! (Score:2)
Regardless, I believe you'd get your ass kicked for saying something like that.
Stuart
Re:Don't take my stapler! (Score:3, Insightful)
Joanna: You know what, Stan, if you want me to wear 37 pieces of flair, like your pretty boy over there Bryan, why don't you make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?
Stan, Chotchkie's Manager: Well, I thought I remembered you saying that you wanted to express yourself.
Joanna: You know what, I do
Sued FFII (Score:5, Informative)
These guys are evil! (Score:3, Informative)
If you can read German, see http://www.heise.de/newsticker/search.shtml?T=nutz werk [heise.de]
In any case, mod parent up.
Re:These guys are evil! MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Re:These guys are evil! MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
Re:Sued FFII (Score:4, Informative)
would be cool if...... (Score:3, Insightful)
Like my Dad used to say: (Score:5, Funny)
What if... (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that's the point. (Score:2)
Re:What if... (Score:2)
Plagiarism (Score:5, Interesting)
Heard this name before (Score:5, Informative)
I think the management there has control-freakery issues...
Re:Heard this name before (Score:2)
Service Level Agreement (Score:3, Interesting)
GROW UP (Score:2)
We have all had one BITCH of a co worker at one point or another, you just learn how to deal with/ignore the person, and if their whining is hurting their proformance, they get let go for under preformance.
I am normally a chearfull person, but I have my down moments, If I happen to be a little grauggy, or, in a moment of utter frustration, froun and maybe grumble I can now be FIRED!!! WHAT THE FUCK?
An Official Complaining Day (Score:2, Funny)
Sketch (Score:3, Funny)
But... (Score:4, Funny)
I guess these would be banned? (Score:5, Insightful)
A rule-of-thumb in software development: If a place has too many Dilbert cartoons on cubicle sides, have an exit strategy. If it has none, RUN!!!
Re:I guess these would be banned? (Score:2, Funny)
I'd like to whine about this article... (Score:4, Insightful)
...but I am under contractual obligation to not whine.
I can imagine that being under contract to not whine will mean that people will come up with creative ways to whine without really whining. Reminds me of a conversation I had last night. I am recent transplant to The South and was told that there were phrases in use here that didn't mean what they really mean. For example, if you tell someone something like "I just inherited a million dollars" they will reply be saying "That's nice." ...which really means F*ck you.
So, image code words and phrases will be created to allow whining without breaching the contract.
Been there, done that (Score:2)
I hope you like Natural Ice(tm).
Re:I'd like to whine about this article... (Score:2)
Too bad their web site isn't ASP... (Score:2)
Awesome (Score:2, Flamebait)
There is nothing more aggravating sitting next to a whiny coworker. Negative energy drains EVERYONE. Recommended reading: "How Full Is Your Bucket?"
Even worse (Score:2)
Even worse: If the whiner is your science lab partner, whining about how to do $this and how they are gonna shoot themselves because of $that.
I know a few like that; they should probably not take a research job after college.
Not just an employee but .... (Score:4, Insightful)
Wonder why they felt it relevant to point out it was a woman?
And in other news.. (Score:2)
Germans Love to Complain (Score:4, Interesting)
I saw this in Germany, when I worked their for years as an expat.
The fact that they had to put it in the contract, rather than just a management directive, is typically German too: it has to be in the contract, so that they can have something to point to when they need to discipline someone.
As should be clear from their inflexible style, and their lack of focus on the needs of the customer, German customer service is pretty bad. It has gotten a lot better in the last decade though.
Re:Germans Love to Complain (Score:4, Informative)
Especially in the big cities, customer service people are surly at best and sometimes downright hostile. I recall walking up to a salesperson for some help, and he quickly walked away just as I opened my mouth. I recall the story of my girlfriend, who bought a tail light cover from an auto shop. When she asked them to install it, they refused and told her she could do it herself. That said, when you actually manage to get service in Germany, it's usually competent.
On my trip Stateside, I was met with nothing but courteousness and friendly smiles. It took me a moment to get used to being called 'Sir' all the time. On the other hand, many of those I dealt with were mind-bogglingly incompetent. Many operated by a fixed set of written rules and were unable or unwilling to deal with any situation not dealt with on their crib sheet. Another anecdote: I mailed the webmaster of an outfit that mails me an informative blurb on a daily basis when I noticed that the 'Subject' line was (all of a sudden) being truncated if that subject was more than one word. Thought I'd give him a heads up so he could fix this embarrassing little bug. Days later, I got a response to the effect of, "we can't do anything about this. Our software always shortens the subject to one word when it's more than one word."
So between Germany and the US (and from my admittely limited sample space), one gets the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea; between knowledgeable but lazy and annoying service people, and smiling minimum-wage goofballs.
Re:Germans Love to Complain (Score:5, Insightful)
Not long enough in Gremany... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Germans Love to Complain (Score:2)
Not hard to understand for a nation which survived two world wars and at least two totalitarian governments in the last century.
Germans always feel like living in the worst economic situation. "German customer service is pretty bad" is like Germans regard themselves. At least those who never crossed the border. This is what makes their success. "We have to do better."
If you are pleased with your current situation you will not improve it. So they are always look
Re:Germans Love to Complain (Score:3, Interesting)
It is (and I am a german). But it's also one of the reasons Germany does so many things right and is well-known for its excellent engineering and science. We complain and then we strife to make things better. Many other countries complain less, but even when they complain they don't start doing anything about it, they stay at complaining.
German customer service is pretty bad.
Depends on your expectations. Yes, we don't have minimum wage sla
Work Visa in Germany (Score:2)
It is not magic.
I'm so going to work there ... (Score:2, Funny)
Ahh the Morning Jerk... (Score:3, Funny)
Layoffs will continue until morale improves (Score:2)
Terms of Service (Score:2)
python sketch (Score:2, Offtopic)
Happy Valley [utwente.nl]
Yeah, uh... (Score:5, Funny)
Paranoia... (Score:3, Funny)
Thank you for your cooperation, Citizen.
They should have just said (Score:2)
Failure of Management (Score:2)
My personal sense is that whining is too subjective to be a legitimate contractual criterion.
But even if we accept it for discussion's sake, disagreement and dissatisfaction can be natural and healthy in a company. It seems to me a manager's job is not to say "no one can whine" but rather to say "this whining is helping us" or "this whining is not helping us". Good QA departments, for example, are often filled with constructive whiners. The decision to blame the ousting of a non-constructive whiner on
And zis ist how vee say goodbye in Amerika! (Score:5, Interesting)
The reason she did not smile?
Her face is partially paralyzed and is no longer physically capable smiling at anyone for any reason.
so what? (Score:4, Insightful)
But she isn't capable of doing this one.
Equal opportunity means that. It doesn't mean a free pass for something you can't do.
I hope they offered her other positions at the company.
I have to say having RTFA now, it seems like they'll have a tougher time of it than my explanation makes it out. If she couldn't smile, why did they keep her on for a couple years, then fire her? But I stand by my statement that just you don't deserve compensation for being fired for not doing a job that has requirements you cannot satisfy. I mean, it is well known that people with disabilities cannot do every job able-bodied people can. If this weren't the case, there'd be no Social Security money paid to disabled people.
Its a National Problem in Germany: "zu Meckern" (Score:5, Interesting)
The transition occured in the early nineties in the USA, when the last of real manufacturing went tits up for IT/service jobs (Of course that's tits up too, but that's another issue). In the US, the last of the lifetime jobs went out in the 70's, in Germany, these transitions are just now arriving. And engineering and manufacturing is part of the German image of self-worth, so it hits home particularly hard.
The problem in German culture is that it is a change in the economy which no one wants to acknowledge, but are being forced to. The last 50 years of a boom economy after the war has now more or less come to a grinding halt. Germany is now evolving, but its eating into peoples morale. The whole country is bitching and moaning, and that in itself is pulling the economy down, not to mention an individual business as is mentioned in this report.
I know you can't regulate someone's mood but at least they are pointing to where the country should try to go (and if anyone would try to regulate someone's mood, it would be in Germany). I applaud the idea, and laugh at the fact they are trying to regulate instead of inspire. Typcal German (and now I'm starting to "meckern").
"To Meckern" means to bleat or baa like a goat. This is the term used to describe what Germans do when they bitch and moan. They "blaaaaa" (you need to skip on the gutoral to really get the effect). Anyway, it fits, and its a problem. Really...
Whiners unite! (Score:2)
whining comes with the workplace, not the work... (Score:2)
to be on time, you need an ALAMR CLOCK -> worst creation ever, I mean I want to get up when my body tells me : "you got enough sleep" not when the BEEP BEEP BEEP starts.
On the other hand, unless you are the owner of the company, who in most cases makes the most money and drives the nicest car etc.. etc.. you will in many cases feel that life sucks. You might also hate some of your daily tasks. That is a reason to whine.
In a workplace you might not have such a c
From a recent session of Paranoia (Score:4, Funny)
GM: No. The computer *demands* that you be happy.
Reminds me of this quote: (Score:2, Funny)
when was it (Score:2, Insightful)
Gender (Score:4, Insightful)
Other than sexism, was there a reason to point out that the individual is female?
Whoa! (Score:2)
No need to get sicko perverted.