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My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

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Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#41

Post by Viker »

econochoice wrote: post #17
hellofunk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read about apples exported from China, covered in a toxic paint so they look red and beautiful, even though it is harmful, all to make a buck. I just wonder why humans have not evolved to, at a minimum, actually show some caring attitude toward others of their same species. I think we're all doomed.

Humans are capable of both wonderful and terrible things. We're letting the ones who are willing to do terrible things for personal gain run wild with little accountability.

What is worse? The people doing that harm at least do it for personal gain. But the rest of the "bystanders" actively avoid taking action or raising any alarms because they "don't want to be that guy"....

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#42

Post by sjcsjc »

mythrwy wrote: post #27
tschwimmer wrote: post #10

Everyone likes to blame loose VC money for silly stuff like this, but I have a slightly more nuanced theory about ridiculous office perks: Office managers/office teams have very few concrete metrics. Beyond a binary "is the office functional" (e.g. are there enough desks, does the electricity work) there is pretty much no way to measure job performance. That's not to say their work doesn't have any impact. Anyone who…

That $800 plant isn't even a cactus as advertised (much less a desert cactus). Cactus are native to the Americas. The plant in the photo is a Euphorbia (closely related to the poinsetta sold around Christmas) and is from Africa. It looks like a cactus but isn't related at all. One way to tell the difference between cactus and these "imposters" is that real cactus have spines protruding from a detachable pad that can…

No doubt I'll feel silly for asking but what is IMOP? Google didn't provide any sensible answer.

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#43

Post by zeta0134 »

sjcsjc wrote: post #42
mythrwy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That $800 plant isn't even a cactus as advertised (much less a desert cactus). Cactus are native to the Americas. The plant in the photo is a Euphorbia (closely related to the poinsetta sold around Christmas) and is from Africa. It looks like a cactus but isn't related at all. One way to tell the difference between cactus and these "imposters" is that real cactus have spines protruding from a detachable pad that can…

No doubt I'll feel silly for asking but what is IMOP? Google didn't provide any sensible answer.

Given the context, most likely "In my own opinion."

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#44

Post by erpellan »

Office design is highly vulnerable to bikeshedding. It _seems_ obvious so everyone has an opinion without realising the implications.

I saw a costly office refurb that made everything open plan including the kitchen/breakout area. Within a week there were noise complaints from nearby teams and memos not to hang around, in the space that was literally designed to be hung around in, because open plan is currently fashionable.

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#45

Post by Trundle »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #31
IshKebab wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not something that is measurable for office managers. I don't think office managers need metrics - just a suggestion box. Most thinks are really obvious, especially if you let people tell you about them. I guarantee if the had a suggestion box nobody would suggest an IoT water cooler.

I disagree. Have you ever done this? I've been on the other side of it. (I own my own company.) Get suggestions from staff & follow through. In the real world staff have lots of wants, nice ideas, and "wouldn't it be good if" suggestions. They have very little concept if other people are interested in their idea, if people would actually continue to use the idea once the novelty wears off, and so on. In my office her…

How expensive are your staff? These all sound like wins or at least not losses to me given that even unskilled staff are super expensive compared to these things.

Microwaves are like what, $100? Couches? Another couple hundred? Whiteboards? Probably within the realm of $100 there again for a few of them. Food for one person? Stupidly cheap compared to a salary as well.

As long as getting these things could foreseeably have made only the one person who requested them even slightly happier, it seems worth it.

Standing desks are pretty expensive, I'll give you that. I have seen them used a fair bit though so having them might eventually pay off. Also staff might still feel better about having them even if they're not using them.

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#46

Post by rf15 »

hellofunk wrote: post #15
dokem wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like evolution. Why does some weird, seemingly useless creature exist? Because it fills some crack in the ecological economy. Someone was willing to buy this piece of shit and that is explanation enough for its existence.

I read about apples exported from China, covered in a toxic paint so they look red and beautiful, even though it is harmful, all to make a buck. I just wonder why humans have not evolved to, at a minimum, actually show some caring attitude toward others of their same species. I think we're all doomed.

reminds me of the story where a chinese plastic factory created lots of small white pellets and sold them as rice, making a fortune. (might be wrong on the factory detail, but the plastic rice definitely happened)

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#47

Post by JBorrow »

lopmotr wrote: post #13

His comments on the radiator grill aren't fair. The temperature of steam won't exceed 100 degrees C which some plastics are fine with. And the downward slope is to stop spilt water dripping inside. The fan (if it's working after that error!) will push the air through enough.

Steam can be whatever temperature it wants. There is no 100C limit. Either way, there should be no steam near a radiator.

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#49

Post by philliphaydon »

hellofunk wrote: post #33
philliphaydon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red apples usually are coated in ground up beetle to give the bright redness colour. It’s considered non toxic. Donno if that’s the same as what you’re referring to. I think it’s called Shellac.

I’m talking about a scandal from a couple years ago where apples were submerged in buckets of toxic paint to get a red color.

OH, I've not heard this story, got a link??? Unsure what to google for.

Re: My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

#50

Post by tripletao »

rf15 wrote: post #46
hellofunk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read about apples exported from China, covered in a toxic paint so they look red and beautiful, even though it is harmful, all to make a buck. I just wonder why humans have not evolved to, at a minimum, actually show some caring attitude toward others of their same species. I think we're all doomed.

reminds me of the story where a chinese plastic factory created lots of small white pellets and sold them as rice, making a fortune. (might be wrong on the factory detail, but the plastic rice definitely happened)

Urban legend--some combination of plastic pellets for another purpose (injection molding, or fake rice for Japan-style food models) getting misinterpreted as fraud, and/or deliberate misinformation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_rice#Plastic_rice_r...

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