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9/25/2014 8:18:28 PM

When I worked at a city school district we had one WEP key for the whole districts wifi network. Ostensibly it was for staff and mobile carts. I would throw it in some student laptops, but I put it in rather than giving them the code myself. With WEP, changing the wifi key would have been a nightmare, as laptop carts were on Deepfreeze and would require multiple reboots and manually inputting the password. After I left I think the district implemented a radius server for school devices and then had a separate SSID with a key that shifted every semester. We do something similar at the university I work at now.

9/25/2014 10:09:25 PM

Quote :

"as for consequences... logistically I don't know how it could be enforced that would make a difference... it would be like trying to stop the Mississippi river by dipping a bucket in, pulling it out, then spending a good chunk of time doing paperwork on the bucket and calling the bucket's parents. (ok weird metaphor)"

I mean all you would have to do is make it clear at the beginning of the year that this was unacceptable and then it basically turns into if I see you using your phone during class and I take it and its connected to the wifi you get suspended or something of that nature. Students would likely stop using it real quick unless they were given permission. People are too sympathetic and soft on kids today so of course that would never happen, but thats how you stop it otherwise all you can do as a teacher i guess is complain that your internet never works because kids are too busy sucking up all the bandwidth posting selfies of themselves looking like a moron.

9/26/2014 8:22:05 AM

in theory that sounds great.

but another problem is that this year the school updated the electronics policy and kids are now allowed to use their phones during class changes and during lunch. (ugh)

9/26/2014 8:24:11 AM

Yeah I figured schools would eventually cave to that and there is not much you can do about that I suppose, but at least anytime you are able to have a valid excuse to take their phone you could enforce it that way.

If they really wanted to stop it they would just restrict the network to MAC address so it wouldnt matter and then kids who did receive permission could have their devices added, but with budgets and what not I assume that would cost too much for the school system to implement and keep up with.

9/26/2014 8:28:05 AM

When the elevator door opens and people try to crowd on before anyone has a chance to get off.

9/26/2014 8:44:52 AM

that's just rude. everyone knows to let people off before you get on right?

9/26/2014 8:49:14 AM

Everyone should know that, but I see that happen a lot as well. Either they just dont understand basic etiquette or they just dont care. It is usually younger people as well I have noticed.

9/26/2014 8:50:40 AM

When people in your office talk SO LOUD. I can't deal.......

It's bad enough I live with a loud mouth, and I work with one too. My coworker that sits right behind me has the weirdest loud screeching sneeze and loud hiccups that EVERYONE HATES and she won't STOP.



[Edited on September 26, 2014 at 9:17 AM. Reason : .]

9/26/2014 9:16:23 AM

Hiccups are annoying to have. I'm sure if she could rid of them she would.

9/26/2014 9:18:51 AM

Tell her to hold her breath. I have never had the hiccups for more than like 15 seconds as its such a quick and easy fix. If it doesnt work tell her she didnt do it long enough and maybe she will pass out and solve all your problems

9/26/2014 9:20:41 AM

my wife also refuses to take any action against hiccups. annoying as fuck.

9/26/2014 9:21:55 AM

i've known two people who have chronic hiccups... they hiccup literally every day with multiple 'hiccuping sessions'... they are both girls. they are considerate though so they minimize the sound and it's not annoying.

9/26/2014 9:36:08 AM

how do other people deal with meeting paralysis? i used to just schedule blocks of my calendar as unavailable so no one could schedule me in a meeting then and I could do some work, but my client has a new company managing projects who are trying to be more involved and I got asked to be "more available" because restricting my time by blocking off time every day made it "hard to work as a team."

This was my first week without blocked off time, and the only time I have to do work is while I try to eat some lunch. I literally spent the rest of the week so far walking from one meeting to another, I've only actually done about 2 hours of work this week. This shit is ridiculous, we are just talking about things and no person on the teams actually does anything.

i'm probably just going to start skipping meetings

9/26/2014 9:38:26 AM

9/26/2014 9:45:36 AM

we have taken steps to make meetings more like work sessions whenever possible... our weekly plt meetings are very productive now.

9/26/2014 9:48:01 AM

^^^Not sure what the structure of your meetings and teams are, but a couple tips I found when I had this same problem:
1) Provide/request an agenda. If you are running the meeting, stick to the agenda. If someone else is running the meeting, let them know that your schedule is tight, and you need to stick to the agenda.
2) Request meeting times be decreased. So, 30 minute meetings be limited to 15 minutes, 60 minute meetings be limited to 45 minutes.
3) Don't try to multitask by doing other work during these meetings. If the meeting doesn't require your input, decline the meeting invite or ask to be present for a portion of the meeting.

9/26/2014 9:56:55 AM

1 is definitely good,i need to be better about asking for an agenda. when i run a meeting i always try to send an agenda, if not at the time that I send the invite then at least a day before the meeting. i always try to break the invite up and make sure to cc people who are invited if they would like to come and are available but are not necessarily required to be there.

i'm an in-house (mostly) third party consultant for some compliance issues, so i'm always invited to certain meetings because they may need input. what i was planning on doing is telling them that if i'm just needed for those kinds of questions then please send me questions after the meeting or i can be available by phone and messenger during that time if you want a quick answer

9/26/2014 10:02:30 AM

That's another good point. If you notice that your meetings are devolving into an internal discussion that can be taken off line, request a list of questions before the meeting. This will allow your customer to think about and formalize what they want to accomplish, and will allow you time to collect information for your response. I always want my meetings to be for decisions. Status updates, request for information, or any general questions can be discussed off line.

Also, agendas don't need to be formal. I've found that even just a general bulleted list helps keep meetings from going off the rails.

9/26/2014 10:27:33 AM

Quote :

"When the elevator door opens and people try to crowd on before anyone has a chance to get off."

Fuck that, we have far worse. People won't GET OFF the elevator. They stand and wait for other people to get out of the elevator, often at the front of the elevator, thus slowing people from being to exit or causing the infamous, awkward "you first, no you first, no you first" bullshit. It's even worse when two people do this at the same time, nodding to each other, blocking everyone else behind them, who are all like "JUST GET OFF THE FUCKING ELEVATOR, DAMNIT". It seems to be mostly the Indian men who do this, and it's infuriating, not only because you can't get off the elevator, but because the elevators are horribly programmed and the doors shut way too soon. This is complicated by the fact that you request the floor on a touch screen outside the elevator, so if the door shuts, you have to wait for the elevator to go to another floor, get the fuck out, push your floor again, and wait.

It's gotten to the point that I now either stand at the very front of the elevator so I can just get out and avoid the bullshit, or if I'm stuck in the back, I'll just ostentatiously barge through the morons. I don't want to be rude, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna be stuck on a damned elevator because the fucktards in front of me don't know how to use a door.

9/27/2014 12:26:05 AM

For the past few months, this asshole coworker has been trying to convert some of the ladies to islam.

The shit finally hit the fan today and he beheaded some chick in accounting.

Now I can't get my expense reimbursement and have to wait to get my new iPhone 6+


FUCK!

9/27/2014 12:38:28 AM

There are two recycling bins in my room. A large green bin for a paper, and a small blue bin for plastic bottles. Everyday I find trash that can't be recycled in both bins despite the fact that the green bin is full of a paper and the blue bin only has bottles.

10/7/2014 10:20:12 AM

my department head told me to order a projector bulb for my LCD projector for 130 bucks and she would reimburse me.

well, the lady in the main office in charge would not reimburse me because I had it shipped to my home address. (even though the bulb is clearly in use in my projector) so I'm out 130 bucks.

10/7/2014 11:35:43 AM

That bulb belongs to you. I'd take it home.

10/7/2014 11:41:30 AM

that's true but i have no use for it at home, and i use it everyday at school.

10/7/2014 11:46:31 AM

take it home, disabling the projector, and when you have to order another one, ship it to school as required. then when it arrives, bring the first bulb ordered back for use, return the new bulb as if it were the first bulb you ordered, and you get your money back.

assuming that's all possible.

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 11:54 AM. Reason : .]

10/7/2014 11:53:54 AM

take it home and make them buy a new one

power play time

10/7/2014 11:55:00 AM

Yep keep the receipt showing that you purchased the bulb and if they dont reimburse you then you own that bulb and have proof so just take it home. Yeah seems shitty to do but its also shitty of them not to reimburse you.

10/7/2014 12:26:52 PM

1. take the bulb back and sell to someone for $150
2. buy from that person for $170 and ship to the school
3. profit
4. profit

10/7/2014 12:42:15 PM

yeah there is another avenue for getting money that i'm exploring (writing a grant) that was recommended to me, but i hate the fact that the paperwork is causing the tail to wag the dog so to speak.


and yeah, i've thought about ordering a new bulb, getting reimbursed for that, and then sending it back, but even as fair as that sounds, i could get fired for it. (people have lost their jobs over matters of several dollars not receipted correctly.

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 12:47 PM. Reason : ]

10/7/2014 12:44:19 PM

What did your department head say?

10/7/2014 1:12:25 PM

well in the end it was my fault i guess because i had it shipped to my house (which I have done for stuff for years and gotten reimbursed from), but nobody let us know the policy had changed, and several other teachers i talked to had the same thing happen over the past couple of months... luckily they were able to take the stuff back before they used it.

department head couldn't do anything about it because it was a decision above her head.

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 1:34 PM. Reason : ]

10/7/2014 1:31:58 PM

fuck that dude, take the bulb home

it's the principle of the thing

10/7/2014 1:33:05 PM

i would at least take the bulb back and sell it on ebay or somewhere to recoup your money, then tell the school you need a new projector bulb

grant requests for a projector bulb? fuck that, tell the school it's their problem

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 1:34 PM. Reason : .]

10/7/2014 1:33:50 PM

^

Seems like your accountant could just process the reimbursement and nothing would happen.

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 1:39 PM. Reason : ]

10/7/2014 1:38:33 PM

^^you are right, i could do that... but then i'd be out of a bulb for weeks and that would not be beneficial for me or my students.

^seems that way but she has her job to look out for too.

(if anything the federal government lets teachers write off up to 250 bucks of personal expenses as a tax credit... I'll just make sure to get reimbursed for every colored pencil, ruler, etc that I buy for the rest of the year to make up for it)

[Edited on October 7, 2014 at 1:41 PM. Reason : ]

10/7/2014 1:40:34 PM

Quote :

"i've known two people who have chronic hiccups... they hiccup literally every day with multiple 'hiccuping sessions'... they are both girls. they are considerate though so they minimize the sound and it's not annoying."

Yeah she supposedly has chronic hiccups because it's an all day, every day thing with her. But she's not considerate about it even when I turn around and give her an evil stare or someone else mentions it. *sigh* The sneezes literally sound like high pitch squeals for like 3 seconds that intensify during the sneeze. It's weirdest thing everrrrrr.......

10/8/2014 3:00:47 PM

An outside vendor has read-receipts turned on for all his emails, and he is in an email thread that's been going on for weeks which is CCed to hundreds of people via outlook distribution lists. The thread involves testing for a new feature, and there's absolutely no need read-receipts on it, but every single one of this idiot's emails requires hundreds of people to click an extra pop-up to accept or reject the request.

10/8/2014 9:32:46 PM

^
lol at the first sentence alone

I hate receipt-requiring e-mails...if at all possible, I don't open them. And regardless, I always think the person is a douche.

10/8/2014 9:42:52 PM

I'm about 2 seconds from filling out our email black-list form for his address over this.

10/8/2014 9:46:42 PM

Boss insists form mailer needs to be on our webpage... gets upset every time a customer sends us anything through it rather than emailing us directly

10/10/2014 2:44:10 PM

Quote :

"I hate receipt-requiring e-mails...if at all possible, I don't open them. And regardless, I always think the person is a douche."

fuck that. I live and breath email documentation, and often choose read-receipts so I can bank on not having to call some slack-ass motherfucker back and ask if (s)he's handling whatever is required.

10/10/2014 3:33:08 PM

There certainly is a time for a read-receipt. Every single email is not it; neither is it when you send it to distribution lists with hundreds of people you don't know. "Oh great, Bob in Kalamazoo just read my email to Cindy in Charlotte regarding testing of the Charlotte servers. That knowledge will really help me out in my job! Who is Bob again?"

[Edited on October 11, 2014 at 1:41 AM. Reason : ]

10/11/2014 1:40:21 AM

yeah, I've never sent an email to more than 25 people

10/11/2014 8:21:23 AM

Read receipts always make me feel like the sender is covering their ass super hard or is trying to do some weird passive/aggressive set up for something, kind of like CCing my boss on stuff.

I'm not a big fan of email in general for actual intra-office communication though. It's nice for information distribution, but it seems like it's often used in lieu of communication by some people.

10/11/2014 1:05:03 PM

I communicate in person as much as possible but even then I *always* follow up with an email summarizing our decision if a decision was made or important information was received/given during the conversation. I need that paper trail for backup as well as just reference months down the road. I don't care if other people get annoyed by that, because I cannot tell you the number of times that exact thing has saved my ass at work. Coincidentally I'm also never one of those people that has to go ask people the same question five times over the course of a project because I can search my email for the answer quickly if I need a refresh or defense.

Also, sometimes email is just better. I can embed annotated screen clippings from documentation, attach reference documents/drawings, etc.

Some co-workers and clients both really annoy me when I send an email with a simple black and white question that I need a documented answer to and they pick up the phone to provide me with the answer. I know some people definitely do that on purpose so that they can keep their nose clean in the event something goes wrong. These days, people like that who purposely avoid documenting anything annoy me more than people who use read receipts etc.

[Edited on October 11, 2014 at 1:22 PM. Reason : ]

10/11/2014 1:20:20 PM

Quote :

"fuck that. I live and breath email documentation, and often choose read-receipts so I can bank on not having to call some slack-ass motherfucker back and ask if (s)he's handling whatever is required."

I kind of don't understand, though. Because if you send them the e-mail, they're going to receive it. That seems like accountability enough.

I guess it bolsters your case to be able say "Yes, you read this shit at 12:45 p.m. on the 14th, so why didn't you do it?" But I feel like your case is already strong enough. If they're ignoring work-related e-mails, then they're-piece-of-shit employees anyway.

Plus, if you require a signature for everything, the gesture is going to lose its strength as an indicator of important content. Plus (no offense) the people receiving your e-mails might start to think you're a douche, and become reluctant to help you any more than they absolutely have to.

Just m2c.

10/11/2014 1:25:19 PM

I very, very rarely have used read-receipts. I just file and archive all my sent emails. That's enough backup for me. If someone pretends like they never received and email that I can prove I sent then they're just a douche.

[Edited on October 11, 2014 at 1:33 PM. Reason : ]

10/11/2014 1:33:39 PM

One of our accounting ladies is the only one in about 200 employees that always uses the read-receipt option for every single email. It is indeed extremely annoying. I have found though if I read it on my work-issued iphone it bypasses that notification and doesnt send a receipt back.

Call if its something urgent and important, send confirmation email of what was discussed afterwards. Sending an email is documentation enough for us, its not our fault if you dont check it but every 3 days.

10/11/2014 2:10:42 PM

cockroaches.

10/15/2014 8:18:13 AM