I wasn't the one calling it Big Brotherish this time.
The imagination boggles at the places this goody could be taken.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Age of Machine
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- Hence
- “Our play is called amateurish; and we proudly wear the name of amateur, for amateur is but the French word for lovers...the good painter loves his skill. It is the bad painter who loves his art." G. K. Chesterton
2 comments:
Interesting... I liked the comment about "Apple's counter" under the article...
In Japan, they're very serious about their work. They don't do the typical American office "chatting" or taking of coffee (or smoke or whatever) breaks. The office I visited had a bunch of people sitting in desks in rows, with very little separating one worker from the next (not even as much as a typical American cubicle). I was taken to the room where their R&D server was and basically left to work on my own, while the guy "in charge" of my working there went back to his own work. (At our office, usually if we have someone in the office working, we're out there working with them; then again, the visitor is usually our customer, instead of the customer being the one visited as it was when I was in Japan.)
At some point, while I was talking to the guy, I think it was around 2:50, there was this bell ringing or something, followed by some active music and a guy talking. I was asked to stand clear of the aisle around the workers' area, because it was time for their voluntary aerobics. About 2/5 to 1/2 of the office workers got up and started stretching and doing some form of aerobics to the music. This went on for 10 minutes, and was much more important for those doing the exercises than any work that might go on during that time period.
After 10 minutes, the music stopped, and everyone sat back down and got back to work. That's how the Japanese seem to help encourage good morale and productivity in their workers; but it's a very different culture.
And their commutes... the guys I was working with had terrible commutes. One guy had about a one-hour (one-way) train ride into work; another had something like a two- or three-hour (one-way) train ride (and that wasn't his whole commute, either). I just can't imagine that.
Then again, Tokyo is a very, very large city. And mostly devoid of animals (huge ravens were about all I saw there).
Sorry, think I got way off on a tangent this time...
Nah. 'Twas interesting.
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