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Clearly you'd be one of those who don't appreciate being nerfed and you'd be therefore excluded from it by my rules. Probably you wouldn't appreciate that kind

Clearly you'd be one of those who don't appreciate being nerfed and you'd be therefore excluded from it by my rules. Probably you wouldn't appreciate that kind of workplace at all, and so shouldn't work at such a company. People can have different preferences for this stuff, and that's ok... ... but I think you're imagining a much more extreme environment than I have experienced myself. Throwing foam toys was something that happened occasionally, it's not a constant annoyance. Maybe it was different with this group at google, idunno. If it were more than occasional, I would squawk just as much as you. Must work always be so deadly serious that you can't ever appreciate an attempt to crack a joke, blow off a little steam, unwind a bit before getting back to it? Yeah, I sure wouldn't want to hear about surgeons engaging in such antics in the operating room, but why does that make a difference in an office? > And then people go on questioning how women are scarsely represented in IT, > heck, anybody with some manners should be underrepresented in such a work > environment. I really doubt that nerf guns are the reason that women are underrepresented in this business. I really want to understand your position on this, not trying to sound sarcastic: If 2 people are throwing angry birds stuffies at each other (on occasion) in your office, and neither of them is you, that alone will make you so mad? Do you really care so much about what other people are doing? > And the same privileged bunch that can't do work when it feels like work > can't be bothered to blinking do some work like it's supposed to be > regardless of whether or not their work feels like work or not. I dislike being labeled as privileged, tho maybe you weren't aiming that at me. (Tho of course, everyone who gets a cushy engineer's salary is privileged. That would include you as well, presumably.) Personally, it's not at all that I can't work without the toys and jokes and whatnot every so often, but that it just makes the working day a little more pleasant. For me. And when I'm happier, I'm more productive. > And WRT drinking in workplace, I have not seen a single bartender drink > while working, to this day. We're getting very offtopic here, esp since we violently agree about drinking in the workplace, but you must not drink in the same bars I do. I have often seen bartenders take shots or sipping on cocktails. In fact, I think most bars allow everyone working there one free "shift drink" per day. Not all bartenders do this. The more serious career-bartender cocktail-nerd types tend not to drink on duty (or at all, for that matter). But for most of them, it's just a job and they'll take the shift drink as a fringe benefit.

gkya 9y ago
I'm kinda prone to make rants, so, sorry if that one came off a bit harsh or offensive. WRT the bartenders, I live in Istanbul, most bartenders I've seen either drink when they're about to close, when everybody's gone except a couple customers that are also friends, or don't drink at all. With that off-topic thing off the way, well, I do think things like toys and noise at work may distract many people present at the workspace. I for one am easily distracted (for the context, I'm a student getting ready for my masters thesis and academical career, but I've been a programmer for a while), and toys thrown at me or someone else would certainly distract me. Imagine being in the flow reading some paper or implementing a complex algorithm, and something flies through the edge of your sight. For many, including me, that'd be distracting. Jokes and stuff are fine as long as they're between actual friends and not in the actual workplace, or silent enough that only those who want to hear it do. What makes you productive can easily get someone over the other side of the room completely lost in what he was doing, or too frustrated to just continue doing it like a couple moments ago. Sharing a space is about trade-offs. I guess this case of the article is sth. different than the occasional joke, though. A person appearing from under my desk? I would not only report it immediately but also wouldn't ever sit at that desk again (and I'm a male). The professionalism is there for not having to deal with problems like in this article. And if you still want toys and games, for me that's fine as long as it's in a separate room where there are only those who want to play. In such a setting I'd also partecipate occasionally too, but then completely voluntarily and not losing any focus or work. WRT privileges, well, first of all I wasn't aiming at you, but yet still having your job (or what I plan to have) is honestly a huge privilege. People in the developed world with wages everybody envy have jobs so boring they quit them to run cafes and stuff. We have the chance to do actual interesting work that we'd probably do anyways if somebody paid us money to maintain ourselves and asked nothing in return. Can't say that of a rich rich merchant or a CEO type, as well as of a sweeper or a call center employee.
- I_Know_Why 9y ago
  Don't worry for ranting; I've been known to rant at times too. I think we agree mostly, tho it sounds like you're a little less tolerant of distraction than me. I can certainly understand that. It wasn't clear to me from the article if this was one of those really noisy disruptive (in a bad way) workplaces, but on reflection, I think you're right and that is the most parsimonious explanation. > different than the occasional joke, though. A person appearing from under my desk? Yeah, that was one of the most disturbing allegations. If that's what it appears to be, that's straight-up voyeurism and all kinds of illegal. Felony, probably. Even if he was just pretending, that's not a funny joke.

gkya 9y ago

I'm kinda prone to make rants, so, sorry if that one came off a bit harsh or offensive. WRT the bartenders, I live in Istanbul, most bartenders I've seen either drink when they're about to close, when everybody's gone except a couple customers that are also friends, or don't drink at all. With that off-topic thing off the way, well, I do think things like toys and noise at work may distract many people present at the workspace. I for one am easily distracted (for the context, I'm a student getting ready for my masters thesis and academical career, but I've been a programmer for a while), and toys thrown at me or someone else would certainly distract me. Imagine being in the flow reading some paper or implementing a complex algorithm, and something flies through the edge of your sight. For many, including me, that'd be distracting. Jokes and stuff are fine as long as they're between actual friends and not in the actual workplace, or silent enough that only those who want to hear it do. What makes you productive can easily get someone over the other side of the room completely lost in what he was doing, or too frustrated to just continue doing it like a couple moments ago. Sharing a space is about trade-offs. I guess this case of the article is sth. different than the occasional joke, though. A person appearing from under my desk? I would not only report it immediately but also wouldn't ever sit at that desk again (and I'm a male). The professionalism is there for not having to deal with problems like in this article. And if you still want toys and games, for me that's fine as long as it's in a separate room where there are only those who want to play. In such a setting I'd also partecipate occasionally too, but then completely voluntarily and not losing any focus or work. WRT privileges, well, first of all I wasn't aiming at you, but yet still having your job (or what I plan to have) is honestly a huge privilege. People in the developed world with wages everybody envy have jobs so boring they quit them to run cafes and stuff. We have the chance to do actual interesting work that we'd probably do anyways if somebody paid us money to maintain ourselves and asked nothing in return. Can't say that of a rich rich merchant or a CEO type, as well as of a sweeper or a call center employee.

I_Know_Why 9y ago
Don't worry for ranting; I've been known to rant at times too. I think we agree mostly, tho it sounds like you're a little less tolerant of distraction than me. I can certainly understand that. It wasn't clear to me from the article if this was one of those really noisy disruptive (in a bad way) workplaces, but on reflection, I think you're right and that is the most parsimonious explanation. > different than the occasional joke, though. A person appearing from under my desk? Yeah, that was one of the most disturbing allegations. If that's what it appears to be, that's straight-up voyeurism and all kinds of illegal. Felony, probably. Even if he was just pretending, that's not a funny joke.