My company is so cheap ...



  • ... that we have to pay to park at work.  Its not that space is a problem.  We have plenty of parking.  It is also not feasable to expect employees to walk to work (its not in the middle of downtown somewhere) and public transportation in this city is pretty terrible/unreliable.  There is also nowhere else to park.  Its kind of out by itself.  So everyone drives to work, they dont have a problem with parking, but we still have to pay $150 a year to park. It costs you $250 a year if you want a spot reserved just for you.



  • So what does the $150 get you?  Like a little company tag thing or what?  Do they regularly have someone going around checking and getting things towed?



  • Try $110.

    Per month.

    For the most cheap-ass parking available.

    $164 per month for premium parking.

    Even better?  There's a waiting list for the most cheap-ass parking.  Typical wait length on the waiting list is measured in years.

    These, and the fact that we don't have a second car, and the fact that public transportation is subsidizes, are all reasons that I take and enjoy public transportation.



  • @nonpartisan said:

    Try $110.

    Per month.

    For the most cheap-ass parking available.

    $164 per month for premium parking.

    Even better?  There's a waiting list for the most cheap-ass parking.  Typical wait length on the waiting list is measured in years.

    These, and the fact that we don't have a second car, and the fact that public transportation is subsidizes, are all reasons that I take and enjoy public transportation.

    But that actually has a reason... whereas if they have their own parking lot and plenty of space...


  • I'm leaving a company because they're moving offices to that exact arrangement. In fact, I think that's even the same PRICE...



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I'm leaving a company because they're moving offices to that exact arrangement. In fact, I think that's even the same PRICE...
    I wonder if you work at the same place...



  • My company is so cheap the entire office is on a 8000/384kbps ADSL connection, which is congested by other users in the area, so sometimes even Google times out. My 3G netbook is often faster. In fact I was uploading a file at 400 bytes per second this morning. :-/

    To get a 2Mbps/2Mbps SHDSL or fibre connection would cost the company over $50000 though, due to a certain monopolistic company blocking/overcharging competitors in this area. Can't wait for the National Broadband Network!

     



  • @Peraninth said:

    ... that we have to pay to park at work.

    Good. It means that (economic theory predicts) the market would set your company's wages slightly above those at competitors who provide free parking. If I don't drive (or if I carpool), I would earn slightly more money because I'm not paying for parking. I once worked for a university that paid people not to park, a few hundred a year, since parking was so tight on campus--this is effectively the same thing.



  • I CAN TOP YOU ALL!

    The toilets did not have toilet paper in them. Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    She didn't dare pull that with the CEO, so I learned to use the toilet on the floor were he sits.

    Oh, and other offices of this same company did not do this either. Just her.



  • @Zemm said:

    My company is so cheap the entire office is on a 8000/384kbps ADSL connection, which is congested by other users in the area, so sometimes even Google times out.

    One place I worked had a T1. Not that long ago. For an office of 50. Also, it had all of our phone lines (not VoIP). To be fair, it was after a move to a new building and the person who got tasked with signing up for Internet didn't know any better. They'd heard T1s were high-end in the late 90s so they figured it must still be so. Unfortunately, we discovered that--for reasons I couldn't quite suss out--we couldn't get cable or DSL in that particular part of the building, so we ended up having to settle for really mediocre fixed-point wireless.

    @Zemm said:

    To get a 2Mbps/2Mbps SHDSL or fibre connection would cost the company over $50000 though, due to a certain monopolistic company blocking/overcharging competitors in this area. Can't wait for the National Broadband Network!

    So is your company cheap or is 2mbps SDSL $50k (a month!?!)? You can't have it both ways.

    Also: what the fuck is wrong with Australia? People complain about the lack of broadband in America (which is stupid and those people are retarded) but I have 50/5 cable for $70 /month and I live in a fairly small town. And at my last job I set us up with business-class cable which was 70/10 and it cost $150 /month. I think any kind of national broadband network is a stupid idea but your country should be ashamed. You apparently fail so badly at business that your government has to come in to save you from 2mbps DSL.



  • @AndyCanfield said:

    I CAN TOP YOU ALL!

    The toilets did not have toilet paper in them. Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    She didn't dare pull that with the CEO, so I learned to use the toilet on the floor were he sits.

    Oh, and other offices of this same company did not do this either. Just her.

    What the fuck is wrong with wherever you live? I've had some shitty bosses; sniveling, bitter, moronic, hate-filled pricks; some of whom I actually considered killing and making it look like an accident, but not even they dared interfere with what went on in the bathroom..



  • @Peraninth said:

    ... that we have to pay to park at work.  Its not that space is a problem.  We have plenty of parking.  It is also not feasable to expect employees to walk to work (its not in the middle of downtown somewhere) and public transportation in this city is pretty terrible/unreliable.  There is also nowhere else to park.  Its kind of out by itself.  So everyone drives to work, they dont have a problem with parking, but we still have to pay $150 a year to park. It costs you $250 a year if you want a spot reserved just for you.

    You're getting off cheap. Where I work, a spot in the parking hall costs 184.50€ a month (about $244). Public transportation costs roughly half that, but at least it works reliably and has a reserved lane on the highway so it's actually a superior choice compared to driving myself.



  • @Zemm said:

    My company is so cheap the entire office is on a 8000/384kbps ADSL connection, which is congested by other users in the area

     

    Until very recently mine was getting internet access via a mobile phone. The hundred people in this building would have to share one 3G connection, now we could probably have lived with that if it wasn't for something that happened before I started here.

    Apparently this place used to run its own email but the server needing upgrading, the management wouldn't allow the IT guy to spend on it and the solution was to ship everything onto Google Apps.

    When I heard this place was going to make me an offer I thought would be replacing their IT guy or working on their software (as that is my background), now I've been here six months I'm kind of glad they took me on in a different capacity altogether. Their network is based on the classic cable tie and gaffer tape structure, their datacentre consists of a rack in the corner of someone's office and as I said they won't spend on improving anything.

    As for the software side of things, its got into such a state that when a customer requires changes we can't just reconfigure the device, it gets hardcoded in. I currently have seven devices on hand that are all based on the same hardware with different software, they all do the same thing but customers require changes to the way the menus are navigated, languages etc. Instead of having one configurable version of the software its branched off into seven different versions, changes get made to one and not the others, later I find a bug in one and it may or may not exist in the others, if it does fixing it might break something else in some versions and not in others, if anyone even bothers to try and fix it in the other six versions.

    There is no source control and version numbering relies on whoever makes a change to increment it in the source, two people often end up fixing different problems in parallel then have to sort out the mess afterwards. Until I started here, no-one was testing or refining because it seemed like a waste of money.

     

     



  • At my college I thought it over charged students for parking until I found out what they charged faculty/staff for parking.  Apparantly what they charge for faculty/staff is based on what they are paying you.  More they are paying you more you have to pay for parking.  It ranges from $140-$300 a semester (students only pay $70 per semester).  The real kicker is if you want to get a reserved spot for a semester it would cost you a mere $600.



  • @EncoreSpod said:

    ...

    This thread has turned into the four men from yorkshire skit...

     



  • @EncoreSpod said:

    The hundred people in this building would have to share one 3G connection...

     

     Winner!

     



  • I used to have to park in a shoebox in the middle of the road...



  • @AndyCanfield said:

    I CAN TOP YOU ALL!

    The toilets did not have toilet paper in them. Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    She didn't dare pull that with the CEO, so I learned to use the toilet on the floor were he sits.

    Oh, and other offices of this same company did not do this either. Just her.

     

    I can't believe this was a problem. TRWTF is needing to take a dump at work. Unless you are sick or travel a lot through different time zones, get on a regular cycle. FFS.

     



  • @JoeCool said:

    @AndyCanfield said:

    I CAN TOP YOU ALL!

    The toilets did not have toilet paper in them. Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    She didn't dare pull that with the CEO, so I learned to use the toilet on the floor were he sits.

    Oh, and other offices of this same company did not do this either. Just her.

    I can't believe this was a problem. TRWTF is needing to take a dump at work. Unless you are sick or travel a lot through different time zones, get on a regular cycle. FFS.
    Being able to take a shit at work is one of the main reasons I go to work...  There are few pleasures greater than pinching a loaf on someone elses dime.

    It also makes me giggle to myself when I successfully clear out the bathroom.



  • @C-Octothorpe said:

    Being able to take a shit at work is one of the main reasons I go to work...  There are few pleasures greater than pinching a loaf on someone elses dime.

    It also makes me giggle to myself when I successfully clear out the bathroom.

     

    So... you're an idiot.

     



  • @Zylon said:

    @C-Octothorpe said:

    Being able to take a shit at work is one of the main reasons I go to work...  There are few pleasures greater than pinching a loaf on someone elses dime.

    It also makes me giggle to myself when I successfully clear out the bathroom.

     

    So... you're an idiot.

    No, clearly I'm childish and immature.

    What is also painfully clear is that you're being a cranky bitch on a Friday afternoon...  I guess it's porn and KD for you again tonight?


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @Zylon said:

    I guess it's porn and KD for you again tonight?
     

    {insert sound of  C-Octothorpe being dragged away}

    I said KD Porn! [b]K. D.[/b] porn!



  • @C-Octothorpe said:

    I guess it's porn and KD for you again tonight?

    KD?





  • @dubbreak said:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=kd

    Wow, that tells me jack-fucking-shit.



  • I bet it means Kraft Dinner. Waitminnt though Morbs: aren't you from the USA yourself, or work there? If so, I'm surprised that a Scot such as myself spotted the likely meaning of KD and you didn't; it's only, um, the second result on that Google page.



  • @AndyCanfield said:

    I CAN TOP YOU ALL!

    The toilets did not have toilet paper in them. Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    She didn't dare pull that with the CEO, so I learned to use the toilet on the floor were he sits.

    Oh, and other offices of this same company did not do this either. Just her.

     

    You seem to have an insane person as an office manager.

    I had an onwer who was similarly insane, the janitorial services people were going to raise the price of supplies, not by much mind you, and the owner went batshit crazy becauses of this, and tried to get our purchasing guy to drive to costco and buy the supplies there.

    I wondered how much toliet paper you would have to buy per trip to make this work. new cost per roll = (employee salary for trip + milage for trip) / number of rolls + cost of roll. I quicly concluded you probably couldn't pack the amount required into an employee's car, and that is only one of the supplies. This plan could never work unless the price hike was huge, which it wasn't.

     



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    I bet it means Kraft Dinner. Waitminnt though Morbs: aren't you from the USA yourself, or work there? If so, I'm surprised that a Scot such as myself spotted the likely meaning of KD and you didn't; it's only, um, the second result on that Google page.

    It's not known as Kraft Dinner in the US. And it's not the second result for me, the second result was KD Tools. In fact, it doesn't appear in the first 5 pages from Google.



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    I bet it means Kraft Dinner. Waitminnt though Morbs: aren't you from the USA yourself, or work there? If so, I'm surprised that a Scot such as myself spotted the likely meaning of KD and you didn't; it's only, um, the second result on that Google page.

    I have heard the candians on southpark call it "Kraft Dinner" but never anywhere else, In the US people just say mac and cheese, only in the south does mac and chese not refer to Kraft!  If one isn't refering to Kraft (or a generic brand) a qualifing adjective used like real, homemade, traditional, etc. or it is apperent from the context one isn't refering to the boxed kind.



  • 28 posts in a thread that start "My company is so cheap..." and not one person posts "How cheap are they?!"  Is this just a (bad, extremely old) American joke?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Cad Delworth said:
    I bet it means Kraft Dinner. Waitminnt though Morbs: aren't you from the USA yourself, or work there? If so, I'm surprised that a Scot such as myself spotted the likely meaning of KD and you didn't; it's only, um, the second result on that Google page.

    It's not known as Kraft Dinner in the US. And it's not the second result for me, the second result was KD Tools. In fact, it doesn't appear in the first 5 pages from Google.

    Someday. A hundred, a million, a billion years from now... someday people will realize that not everybody in the universe sees the same set of Google results you do. Someday.

    Not directed at Morbs, but at the people like Cad who keep making that same weird assumption. Maybe not as bad as "stack high in transit" or "old windows are thicker at the bottom because glass slowly melts". For one thing, "google returns the same results to me as everybody else" was true a decade ago. But man, the misconceptions are flying around like crazy this week on this site for some reason.

    @Tim G said:

    28 posts in a thread that start "My company is so cheap..." and not one person posts "How cheap are they?!"  Is this just a (bad, extremely old) American joke?

    That's because we understand that mind-numbingly obvious jokes are not funny. Humor comes from unpredictability; since everybody in the universe could predict "how cheap is it!?" as a response, it's not funny. Your free humor lesson for the day.



  • @galgorah said:

    @EncoreSpod said:

    ...

    This thread has turned into the four men from yorkshire skit...

     

    Aye, I 'ad t' work twenty eight hours a day down mine then go 'ome to shit f'r dinner, after which I'd sleep on a bed made o' stone with a pilla fula nails.

     

     



  • Back to the original topic for a mo, my company's staff (myself included) are so cheap that when we started having to park in a public car park because we ran out of spaces around the building, they complained at paying £7 per month in a car park that normally costs that per day.




    Needless to say, we'd been spoilt with free parking until then...



  • @morbiuswilters said:


    Also: what the fuck is wrong with Australia?

    I thought I'd posted a reply about this but it seems to have vanished (PEBCAK on my end, methinks).

    I stated that it's not Australia at fault, rather their e-envoy that was responsible for holding back much intertube development in Oz.

    ISTR a story where he didn't entertain proposals to upgrade the antipodean infrstructure, stating that the interwebs were only used for porn and gaming, and there's also been some talk of pron being made illegal and their attempts at enforcing this via a Great Firewall Of Down Under have so far failed miserably (which anyone could have - and did - tell him, but he had to waste money chasing a pipe dream until he believed it).

    Luckily, some good has come out of it - case studies have proven that Ed Vaizey's proposals in the UK are unworkable and have (thankfully) died stillborn.

    Any diggers here that can expand/comment on those tales?

    @MeesterTurner said:

    Back to the original topic for a mo, my
    company's staff (myself included) are so cheap that when we started
    having to park in a public car park because we ran out of spaces around
    the building, they complained at paying £7 per month in a car park that
    normally costs that per day.

    Oh, FFS - we have a similar problem. Our main car park has enough room for 10 or so vehicles, and we bought some nearby waste ground to catch any overspill. However, the number of cars in the company has exceeded normally-parked capacity, meaning car-juggling at various times of the day when someone blocked in needs to get out. The fact that there's nothing marking out parking spaces means it only needs two or three cars to leave more room for fat arses and another parking space has been consumed.

    How is this fixed? An email regularly gets sent around, requesting that people "park properly" but with no clear definition of what this means. I've pointed out the benefits of marking out proper spaces to optimise allocation, but apparently it's unnecessary because it's not a big problem. Until a few months later, when it's a big enough problem that the same email circulates... etc.



  • @esoterik said:

    I had an onwer who was similarly insane, the janitorial services people were going to raise the price of supplies, not by much mind you, and the owner went batshit crazy becauses of this, and tried to get our purchasing guy to drive to costco and buy the supplies there.

    I wondered how much toliet paper you would have to buy per trip to make this work. new cost per roll = (employee salary for trip + milage for trip) / number of rolls + cost of roll. I quicly concluded you probably couldn't pack the amount required into an employee's car, and that is only one of the supplies. This plan could never work unless the price hike was huge, which it wasn't.

     

    I've long wondered why companies can provide toilet paper to employees as a basic need, but rarely provide feminine products in the women's bathrooms for the very same reason. Some make us bring our own, most will provide them but only in insert-a-quarter dispensing machines...  That are usually broken or empty; they'll happily steal your quarters but not dispense the product.  I tell you they're the cheapest possible mechanical devices that don't even have the programming of your average vending machine.  

    I guess I won't get much sympathy from the all-male contingent here, but I had to add my rant to this.

     



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    I've long wondered why companies can provide toilet paper to employees as a basic need, but rarely provide feminine products in the women's bathrooms for the very same reason.


    That's an interesting question. I wonder whether it's just a default cultural assumption in certain countries that a WC should have toilet paper, running water, soap, and some way to dry your hands all provided free. Not just in employees' toilets but in public toilets in general. Would I be correct in assuming that they don't provide free feminine products in supermarket, airport, or museum toilets either?



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    I've long wondered why companies can provide toilet paper to employees as a basic need, but rarely provide feminine products in the women's bathrooms for the very same reason.
     

    You're referring to just (emergency) tampons and/or pads, or other things?



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    I've long wondered why companies can provide toilet paper to employees as a basic need, but rarely provide feminine products in the women's bathrooms for the very same reason.

    Would women use them if they did?

    But you do bring up a good point; I wager there's a lot of "we've always done it this way!" in the answer.



  • @jetcitywoman said:

    I've long wondered why companies can provide toilet paper to employees as a basic need, but rarely provide feminine products in the women's bathrooms for the very same reason. Some make us bring our own, most will provide them but only in insert-a-quarter dispensing machines...  That are usually broken or empty; they'll happily steal your quarters but not dispense the product.  I tell you they're the cheapest possible mechanical devices that don't even have the programming of your average vending machine.  

    I guess I won't get much sympathy from the all-male contingent here, but I had to add my rant to this.

     

    I've worked places where they provided such things; most of the time they went unused because they weren't the right brand or shape/size/scent/packaging. From my experience, you're not going to choose the 'right thing' to offer in this situation. At least with toilet paper, even if it's the thin scratchy thing, it's still toilet paper, and while there may be much griping, it will be used. With feminine hygiene products, not only is it tampons vs. pads, it's whatever strength one thing versus whatever strength other thing, with wings, without wings, giant panty-filling pads versus smaller ones, square vs. shaped, etc. Every woman I know uses something slightly different. Perhaps in an emergency, you could get over your prejudice. (the generic you, not the jetcitywoman you) The quarter-stealers are at least a way for the business to claim to be recouping that cost, and judging demand.



  • @Zemm said:

    My company is so cheap the entire office is on a 8000/384kbps ADSL connection, which is congested by other users in the area, so sometimes even Google times out. My 3G netbook is often faster. In fact I was uploading a file at 400 bytes per second this morning. :-/

    To get a 2Mbps/2Mbps SHDSL or fibre connection would cost the company over $50000 though, due to a certain monopolistic company blocking/overcharging competitors in this area. Can't wait for the National Broadband Network!

     

     My last place was like that - used a residential class ADSL connection for internet access - and not just surfing. It also handled our inbound SMTP, our webserver, VPN access, and inbound and outbound S/FTP. They didn't really cheap out on the rest of the gear, so you had CISCO Pix boxes sitting next to a $5 ADSL modem. It was also DHCP, but luckily our external address never changed, or we'd have to tell a bunch of clients to update their FTP scripts until the DNS propagated.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    So is your company cheap or is 2mbps SDSL $50k (a month!?!)? You can't have it both ways.
     

    $50k over the 24 or 36 month contract (a few options were quoted out, but all in the same ballpark). Like a US iphone 3GS it's "free (plus a massive contract)".

    @morbiuswilters said:

    I have 50/5 cable for $70 /month and I live in a fairly small town

    I can get 100/3 cable for $78/month including a real phone line where I live, it's just in certain areas that penetration is low. In a few years time that should be 100/40 fibre for not much more - by then that plan should be available at the office too.

    @morbiuswilters said:

    I think any kind of national broadband network is a stupid idea but your country should be ashamed

    I think it's a great idea. A wholesale only network where you're pretty much guarenteed minimum 12/1 anywhere in the entire country (remember we have a similar land mass to the USA but 1/10th the population) and 90-odd percent of people will have access to 100/40 with a possible upgrade path to gigabit and beyond. However the current Opposition (conservative Liberals) spent too long in Government and sold off public assets to make the balance sheet look good and now the current Government has to invest (note! not spend) money to work around those problems.

    I suppose it's not as much "my" company that is cheap: though we have cut costs like a few perks including a water cooler that works; it's that Telstra cheaped out on the phone lines and exchanges. The office is in the most heavily "RIMed" area in Australia and the exchange covers a large number of premises where competitor DSLAMs cannot access. If we had a CBD office (for example) then there are lots of competitors so price per mbps is much lower (saw a quote for 100/100 unlimited for under $1k/m) - but then other costs would be higher.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Zemm said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    I think any kind of national broadband network is a stupid idea but your country should be ashamed

    I think it's a great idea. A wholesale only network where you're pretty much guarenteed minimum 12/1 anywhere in the entire country (remember we have a similar land mass to the USA but 1/10th the population) and 90-odd percent of people will have access to 100/40 with a possible upgrade path to gigabit and beyond. However the current Opposition (conservative Liberals) spent too long in Government and sold off public assets to make the balance sheet look good and now the current Government has to invest (note! not spend) money to work around those problems.

    We'll see. You're trading a private monopoly for a public monopoly.



  • @boomzilla said:

    You're trading a private wholesale/retail competitor monopoly for a public wholesale-only monopoly.
     

    FTFY. Since NBN is wholesale only there'll be less problems with screwing over competitors. Sometimes it's cheaper to get a retail service through Telstra than the wholesale cost just for the connection between the customer and ISP, let alone other running costs for an ISP.

    Yes I know that you Americans love your private monopolies but here in the Rest of the World it's not always a good idea.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Zemm said:

    @boomzilla said:
    You're trading a private wholesale/retail competitor monopoly for a public wholesale-only monopoly.

    FTFY. Since NBN is wholesale only there'll be less problems with screwing over competitors. Sometimes it's cheaper to get a retail service through Telstra than the wholesale cost just for the connection between the customer and ISP, let alone other running costs for an ISP.

    OK, maybe I'll buy the "less problems with screwing over competitors," but I'd wager that the private to public transition will be worse than any of those benefits.

    @Zemm said:

    Yes I know that you Americans love your private monopolies but here in the Rest of the World it's not always a good idea.

    Huh? True, I'd generally prefer a private monopoly to a public monopoly. A public monopoly is almost never a good idea.



  • @boomzilla said:

    True, I'd generally prefer a private monopoly to a public monopoly. A public monopoly is almost never a good idea.
     

    NBNco is going to be privatised eventually. The Government starting it means it can operate on a lower ROI for its initial period. It also means that areas underserved will get fibre, instead of what we have is ~30% of the population spoilt for choice (cable vs ADSL vs ADSL2+), with most of the rest with no real choice (ADSL only, often congested) and many with no choice (3G wireless only, or satellite).

    My house has access to 100Mbps cable and several ADSL2+ providers but houses less than 1km from me do not: many of them can't get fixed services at all! (because it costs too much money to the private monopoly and activating them would allow competitors to sell to them). Telstra has to provide a "telephone service" so they give them a mobile phone as a semi-permanent "interim service". Houses 1km the other way have a choice of two different cable networks.

    The current communications minister is not a luddite (unlike previous ministers) and he even trawls Internet forums (I doubt this one, but he does read Whirlpool)

    I guess I'm a little left-wing in this regard. I know the Government isn't all rainbows and puppies (eg Internet filtering - which hasn't still started and is on the political back-burner) but since the NBN doesn't have to appease share-holders I trust it a little more than one that does. I'd prefer them to spend money on my interests (eg Internet, infrastructure, health) instead of paying women who have 5 children to 5 different men even more money.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Someday. A hundred, a million, a billion years from now... someday people will realize that not everybody in the universe sees the same set of Google results you do. Someday.

    Or maybe Google will just start returning the same results to everyone. 8=]



  • @tweek said:

    I've worked places where they provided such things; most of the time they went unused because they weren't the right brand or shape/size/scent/packaging. From my experience, you're not going to choose the 'right thing' to offer in this situation. At least with toilet paper, even if it's the thin scratchy thing, it's still toilet paper, and while there may be much griping, it will be used. With feminine hygiene products, not only is it tampons vs. pads, it's whatever strength one thing versus whatever strength other thing, with wings, without wings, giant panty-filling pads versus smaller ones, square vs. shaped, etc. Every woman I know uses something slightly different. Perhaps in an emergency, you could get over your prejudice. (the generic you, not the jetcitywoman you) The quarter-stealers are at least a way for the business to claim to be recouping that cost, and judging demand.
     

    Yeah, I meant emergency supplies.  I don't think any woman is really selfish enough to think each and every public building should offer her particular brand and style.  I know that I use whatever is offered.   At risk of being disgusting, it's not like you can "hold it" long enough to run back to your cube and grab some from your purse if you're lucky - if you're not lucky then grab the car keys and run to the nearest convenience store....  

    I don't buy the "recouping the cost" argument either, since property managers don't feel the need to recoup the cost of tissue - which gets used much more quickly and therefore must cost alot more to keep supplied.  I think it's just that property managers are selfish MEN.

    This problem didn't even really occur to me until my ex-company moved us into a new building that did keep such supplies on hand, and FOR FREE.  It was like suddenly there was a landlord who seemed to want us as tenants.  Along with luxury amenities that nobody but the executives bothered with (concierge services!), they stocked the bathrooms with kleenex and emergency tampons/napkins.  Suddenly my idea of office building amenities turned completely upside down.  Forget the 20-square-foot "gym", I don't want to see my boss sweaty anyway.  Just give me emergency supplies thankyouverymuch!



  • @Zemm said:

    My house has access to 100Mbps cable and several ADSL2+ providers but houses less than 1km from me do not: many of them can't get fixed services at all! (because it costs too much money to the private monopoly and activating them would allow competitors to sell to them). Telstra has to provide a "telephone service" so they give them a mobile phone as a semi-permanent "interim service". Houses 1km the other way have a choice of two different cable networks.

    I heard of (can't find the article) a California town that couldn't get anyone to come there, so what did they do?  They ran their own line and everybody in town paid like $50 a month for some sort of fibre optic line.  I don't see why whatever neighborhood doesn't run the line themselves.  Either that or (as is going on) have the government run the line.  It doesn't sound much like a monopoly if they don't run lines because competitors will use them...


  • @Zemm said:

    NBNco is going to be privatised eventually. The Government starting it means it can operate on a lower ROI for its initial period.

    So rather than waiting for it to make economic sense to run fiber the government is just jumping in and sucking tons of money out of the economy to do it instead. Sounds clever.

    @Zemm said:

    It also means that areas underserved will get fibre, instead of what we have is ~30% of the population spoilt for choice (cable vs ADSL vs ADSL2+), with most of the rest with no real choice (ADSL only, often congested) and many with no choice (3G wireless only, or satellite).

    Yes, which is basically how life works. What is this asinine belief that 100% of homes should have equivalent Internet access? There are plenty of rural areas where running fiber makes no sense.

    @Zemm said:

    I know the Government isn't all rainbows and puppies (eg Internet filtering - which hasn't still started and is on the political back-burner) but since the NBN doesn't have to appease share-holders I trust it a little more than one that does.

    So you trust it more because it's unaccountable?

    @Zemm said:

    I'd prefer them to spend money on my interests (eg Internet, infrastructure, health) instead of paying women who have 5 children to 5 different men even more money.

    Of course, they'll just do both. And the right answer is "Neither" not "Hey, let's waste a shit-ton of money on my boondoggle while forsaking everyone else's." Then again, I'm not a spoiled, idiotic child.



  • @AndyCanfield said:

    Every month the office manager would issue every employee two rolls of toilet paper. That's all you got. Store it in your desk, take it with you when you go in, bring it with you when you go out. Crap a lot and you had to go buy your own.

    This seems illegal to me. Or at least very easily sueable. First the embarrassment of people knowing where you were headed and for what. And what about if you had a stomach bug and needed the facilities more often than usual?

    It's just not right.


Log in to reply