February 13, 2004
oppression
Apparently, the Voyager doesn’t like cold weather all that much. It wouldn’t start today, and so I had to work from home, not that I minded of course. I sat at home, doing what I do every day at the office, namely writing software and listening to music (and goofing off on the internet).
And I realized that you can apply this simple litmus test to your job to find out whether you’re oppressed by your job or not.
- can you listen to music at work?
- do you have absolute power over the music you listen to?
- can you listen to your tunes without headphones?
If you can answer “yes” to all three questions, congratulations — you have a good job. You either work from home or you have an office door that you can close. You are free to concentrate fully on producing value without worrying that you are disturbing your coworkers.
If you can choose what you want to listen to, but need to wear headphones, you probably work in a cubefarm. And while your corporate culture may be egalitarian and efficient, you aren’t empowered.
Just for completeness of discussion, if you can answer “yes” to questions (1) and (3) but not (2), you probably work at a coffee shop or something. Sure you can play Ani when it’s your turn to choose the music, but it also means you have to listen to Creed or something when the new quiet-and-intense-but-in-a-creepy-kinda-way guy gets his turn. In case you were wondering, your job sucks.
February 13th, 2004 at 8:30 am
So I answered “yes” to (1) and (2), and “sometimes” to (3). I don’t have my own office at this job, but it’s not really a cube farm, either. It’s more of an open floor with a bunch of desks and very few walls here and there. So sometimes I’ll fire up some tunes and nobody complains, but once in a while, my boss, who sits closest to me, will chime in with a “Rash! Headphones!” I tend to respond with “Shut it!”, but I usually comply. So I’m trying to figure out where I fit into your litmus test. I certainly wouldn’t want to be oppressed! :-o
Btw, there aren’t many people in the office yet, so I’m rockin’ some Black Eyed Peas. Did I mention that Rhapsody rules?