Name wipe

Ask Mot - and before you ask that name shouldn't be available either but for a different reason.

One of the beauties of my job. I'm basically sitting in front of computers all day. As long as I'm not generating obnoxious levels of noise, and getting my work done, I can pretty much do whatever I want.

Most days, I work on clients remotely and browse the forums during the inevitable waits while automated processes (program installs, database conversions, etc) are "doing their thing".

Some days are deader than a Praetorian Percy Winkley. Then my post count jumps.

Then, some days, you see jack ssssquat from me. Why? I'm busy!

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

That's why they call it middle management. As long as everything gets done, everything looks right, and everyone is happy my job is done. I get paid squat more if the company profit jumps 10,000% so I am not chasing statistical modeling for moderate improvements for the next 2 months. I get my butt chewed if anyone around me (or me) creates any errors that leads to monetary loss or customer complaints. So, I watch everything like a hawk, keep my ears peeled for trouble, make sure all the work is done professionally, and try not to irritate my co-workers. The last part is a full time job.

If I was on an assembly line, you would be correct. I probably shouldn't be reading news, analyzing election data, posting on boards, or looking at facebook. Also, long haul trucker. That would be bad.

As I said, I was only partially joking -- I've worked at places that encouraged employee morale like that, and at other places where they tried to eliminate any and all happiness at the first sign, before it could spread.

The best was the place where, if you met your previous monthly performance goals, you got to leave when your work was done AND you still got paid for a full day -- which meant if you were fast, efficient and accurate, you might only work 30 hours some weeks!

Waitaminute -- do you get paid more if the profit jumps, or do you get paid squat if that happens?

Spoken like a true middle manager!