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I would love to get 'put on the roof' like that, but I think the Japanese policy also states that you're not allowed to do anything outside of the ridiculously

I would love to get 'put on the roof' like that, but I think the Japanese policy also states that you're not allowed to do anything outside of the ridiculously mundane task they assign you, and they actually watch you like a hawk to ensure as such. Pretty smart, most people aren't going to stay in that situation for long.

marklyon 9y ago
Could you imagine being the manager assigned to watch such employees? That's a special hell. I once worked at a newspaper, when "online" was new and side project of the marketing department so that they could sell more ads. Until I automated things, we were cutting and pasting a few articles each night from Quark into BBEdit and hand-massaging it into HTML templates for upload. They assigned us an "editor". Poor guy had written pro-civil-rights editorials at a time when that didn't go over well. Got assigned shit jobs for decades to try and force him out. We didn't create new content; there was nothing to edit. But, they made him go to all the meetings and report that each day. Dude used a giant trackball and knew nothing about tech, but somehow landed in the department that would one day rule the newsroom. I wonder how he's doing these days.
- munin 9y ago
  > Could you imagine being the manager assigned to watch such employees? What do you think they do with the managers they want to fire? ;)
watwut 9y ago
Why they don't fire the person? This is ridiculously sleazy.
- amyjess 9y ago
  It's a huge cultural taboo to fire anyone without cause in Japan. And even if you do have cause, there's a pretty high bar for what actually constitutes cause. It would be a huge scandal if a Japanese company, especially a large salaryman-style company, fired an employee for anything less than stabbing a coworker. Hell, even in the entertainment industry, where employment is gig-based, Masashi Tashiro didn't get blackballed until he was convicted twice for voyeurism, twice for drug abuse, once for nearly crippling a guy in a car accident he caused, and once for posessing an illegal weapon [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro#Second_trial_for_drug_use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro#Second_trial_f...

marklyon 9y ago

Could you imagine being the manager assigned to watch such employees? That's a special hell. I once worked at a newspaper, when "online" was new and side project of the marketing department so that they could sell more ads. Until I automated things, we were cutting and pasting a few articles each night from Quark into BBEdit and hand-massaging it into HTML templates for upload. They assigned us an "editor". Poor guy had written pro-civil-rights editorials at a time when that didn't go over well. Got assigned shit jobs for decades to try and force him out. We didn't create new content; there was nothing to edit. But, they made him go to all the meetings and report that each day. Dude used a giant trackball and knew nothing about tech, but somehow landed in the department that would one day rule the newsroom. I wonder how he's doing these days.

munin 9y ago
> Could you imagine being the manager assigned to watch such employees? What do you think they do with the managers they want to fire? ;)

watwut 9y ago

Why they don't fire the person? This is ridiculously sleazy.

amyjess 9y ago
It's a huge cultural taboo to fire anyone without cause in Japan. And even if you do have cause, there's a pretty high bar for what actually constitutes cause. It would be a huge scandal if a Japanese company, especially a large salaryman-style company, fired an employee for anything less than stabbing a coworker. Hell, even in the entertainment industry, where employment is gig-based, Masashi Tashiro didn't get blackballed until he was convicted twice for voyeurism, twice for drug abuse, once for nearly crippling a guy in a car accident he caused, and once for posessing an illegal weapon [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro#Second_trial_for_drug_use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro#Second_trial_f...