Not Being the Nice Guy (split from Random Rants OA)

[Takhisis]

the prank with the email was perhaps not the best as it exposed the issue to third persons - at university they would usually make an screenshot of your desktop, hide all icons and the command bar and replace the wallpaper with the screenshot => everything looks normal but clicking anywhere won't do no good.

Maybe not? It's better to use stressremover.exe

 

[Cutlass]

The computers at my workplace automatically lock after 10 minutes and this can't be changed by the user. If a simple FE college can manage that, I'm sure SpaceX can.

10 minutes is a long time to be away from a computer for security reasons.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

the prank with the email was perhaps not the best as it exposed the issue to third persons - at university they would usually make an screenshot of your desktop, hide all icons and the command bar and replace the wallpaper with the screenshot => everything looks normal but clicking anywhere won't do no good.

Okay, that's hilarious.

On the e-mail front, a solution that doesn't involve anyone else:

Use their computer to send yourself an e-mail offering sex. Then go to your own computer and reply.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Just change their default font to Wingdings.

 

[Arakhor]

10 minutes is a long time to be away from a computer for security reasons.

Well, yes, but the idea can hardly be unique to us.

 

[Takhisis]

Just change their default font to Wingdings.

There's a difference between making a point and being evil.

However, there is something to be said for Comic Sans MS.

 

[Cutlass]

Well, yes, but the idea can hardly be unique to us.

I think you're missing the point. It's easy to set a computer to default to sleep mode, or screen saver mode, or whatever mode, after a defined period of time. The reason secured computers don't do that in 30 seconds is that under normal usage there's any number of reasons why someone using a computer may not touch it for 10 minutes, even if they are sitting right there.

That does not account at all for people getting up and leaving their station. Once someone is out of eyesight of their station, if it is not locked, for any period of time, then it is not secure. Because even at 9:59 someone just has to touch the mouse to extend the time. So one the designated user is out of sight of it, it is effectively unsecured forever. Someone waiting for that opportunity now has it.

The solution to this is to train your users to always secure the computer every time that they walk away from it, and then enforce that requirement! Which is to say, punish anyone who fails to do so. This can't be solved with software. It has to be solved with user procedure. So if you really want computer security, your people have to act to make it happen. And you have to make them do so.

 

[stinkubus]

Sometimes the need to lock computers is imposed from outside the company. I used to work in customer service for a mail order clothing company. We were required to lock our stations every time we got up from our seat no matter where we were going. This was required by the payment processors who handle your credit credit transactions. If we were to be audited and found to have a high number of associates who weren't locking their work stations then the company could have potentially lost the ability to accept major credit cards.

 

[Broken_Erika]

There's a difference between making a point and being evil.

However, there is something to be said for Comic Sans MS.

Come on! Wingdings are cool!

 

[Takhisis]

Evil can be cool, lass.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Oh, i see; You are Fontist against wingdings!
#noveltyfontsmatter!

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

This is the importance of learning company culture. Personally, my approach would be a gentle reminder at first.

 

[sophie]

Privileged enough for a mortage.
But too poor for donuts.
Ok, yeah, if you say so.

Ever heard of the expression "house poor"?

 

[metatron]

Sometimes people make poor financial decisions, or find themselves in an unexpectedly poor financial position, because they've taken on too many liabilities. Hence the GFC.

The fact that someone should not have put themselves into a particular position, doesn't mean they will be less stressed when they find themselves there.

And we could be talking about some pretty expensive donuts. My work occasionally does donuts @$5 a piece, because they're like a meal.

Ever heard of the expression "house poor"?

So...
...priveleged but not privileged enough.
Ok.

 

[stinkubus]

Plenty of people with mortgages are in bad financial shape. You are aware that the US had a crazy high number of home foreclosures just a few years ago, right?

 

[Camikaze]

So...
...priveleged but not privileged enough.
Ok.

Not sure whether you're saying such people don't exist?

 

[metatron]

Not sure whether you're saying such people don't exist?

No!
I'm saying that what you and Owen are saying is all fine and well, but that doesn't change that persons responsibility.
They can cough up the donuts.
They can refuse to and sulk.
Shouting at hobbs is not a justifiable option.

Or, you know, just be honest:
"Look, i'm not doing this, i can't have things like this in my life. So either you pay for the damn donuts yourself or there will be drama."
I'm confident Hobbs would have yielded and paid for the donuts.

But stacking these multiple irresponsibilities and then resolving the situation by shouting down the other person is the height of privilege.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There's a difference between making a point and being evil.

However, there is something to be said for Comic Sans MS.

There is nothing wrong with Comic Sans MS.

It's one of my favorite fonts and we don't have it here...

 

[Camikaze]

Sure, the way out of the situation isn't by shouting at someone. But at the same time, it's worth being aware that a prank which has a financial impact on someone may not be received with the intended humour, for reasons beyond your own control or knowledge. One might think the height of privilege is actually assuming that someone will be totally okay with buying food for everyone in the office, as if it's not an actual expense that might throw out a budget (a more common version might be where a senior member of a team, who is paid much more than others, opts everyone into a socially mandatory trip to an upscale bar, where everyone's expected to pay for a round).

I suspect your issue is simply with framing this around a mortgage, and as someone living in Sydney, I understand how laughable it can be to think of anyone lucky enough to have property as financially pressured. So swap mortgage for medical bills, to take in more authentically American, if you wish.

 

[metatron]

I suspect your issue is simply with framing this around a mortgage,

Not "simply", but it sure makes it a heck of a lot worse.

(a more common version might be where a senior member of a team, who is paid much more than others, opts everyone into a socially mandatory trip to an upscale bar, where everyone's expected to pay for a round).

Sure, there i side with you or the junior employees or whatever.
For one this is arbitrary. The donuts are a mild punishment for an actual offense, replacing a by-the-book punishment that can easily have more grave consequences.
Then there is also the unwholesomeness of drinks, the loss of time, the suspicion that such a round may be easily more expensive than even those luxury donuts of yours etc.

PS:
I appreciate that i am deemed culturally literate enough that "authentically American" will do.