Re: How many have this problem at work?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

skwpt <skwpt -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote;

>I agree this is tricky ethical gray area, but when you
>read these lists, don't you generally just read the
>messages that provide value to you? And doesn't this,
>in its own small way, improve your skills and make you
>a more effective employee?

Maybe this is the start of the process that ends with me
recruiting soldiers and ordering them to annex Europe :-), but I
don't see any gray.

Besides the self-evident fact that people use the list for many
non-utiltarian reasons, whether subscribing to a mailing list
makes you a better writer or not is beside the point. The
question is what you are being paid to do.

If your company agrees that subscribing to a mailing list is
useful for your work, ethically, you're in the clear. Many union
shops pay union officials to do union business, and many modern
companies pay for employee education. So long as everyone knows
what the arrangement is, no problem.

On the other hand, if you haven't cleared your subscription with
your company and/or don't make up the time you spend reading and
posting, then you're stealing. A good test might be to consider
talking to your boss about your internet habits. If you hesitate,
that's probably pretty clear proof that you're rationalizing and
know it.

The same goes for doing STC work on company time, or anything
else that you aren't directly paid for.

It's not that most companies will object. Nor is it a question of
whether the company can sustain this kind of petty theft; most
can. A case can even be made for doing a little internetting on
company time when you've worked a lot of unpaid over-time - so
long as you've fulfilled your basic contractual obligation.

For me, it's mainly a question of how I choose to live. 

Also, on a more practical level, most of the places I've worked
in the last five years have flexible hours, and I'd like to
continue enjoying them. When too many people abuse flex hours,
they ruin it for everyone else.

I know that a lot of people have more elastic consciences than
mine. Many even manage to pose as pillars of their local writing
communities. I wouldn't tattle on them, but neither will I
respect or trust them.

-- 
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
"The Open Road" column, Maximum Linux
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V37 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189

"And the gentle winds came lightly
And the showers began to fall,
And John Barleycorn sprung up again,
And so he dunned them all."
- Traditional