Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work • Hacker News Board

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#71

Post by rudasn » Tue, Sep 21, 2010, 8:46 AM UTC

tcskeptic wrote: post #50

rudasn wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course there is a line to walk between a couple of beer and the three martini lunch. That is true for productivity but what about your health? I like drinking as much as the next guy but drinking a couple of beers every day, at work, just to "relax" and "focus better" seems like a bad tactic.

Really? Almost everything I have read indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol (both beer and wine, dunno about spirits) has positive health effects. Heart disease, brain function, blood pressure, etc. all seem to benefit.

I wasn't referring to consumption of alcohol in general, I was referring to doing it at work.

If you moderately drink at work and then drink outside of work, does that count as moderate consumption?

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#72

Post by neilk » Tue, Sep 21, 2010, 5:38 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #25

neilk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Always remember that the Economist is written by 24-year-old grad students trying to sound like wise old men. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist#Editorial_anonymi...

Don't pass off other people's speculations as facts and then quote Wikipedia as if there is a reliable source in there that backs up what you are saying.

It's not speculation. In fact I would argue that my statement is pretty close to being objectively true. The Economist has a dry world-weary wit that is supposed to suggest an author of great and deep experience. And many independent sources have noted that the Economist is largely written by people under 30, in many cases even under 25, who are at pains to conceal this with their editorial anonymity and stylistic choices.

Wikipedia itself isn't a reliable source, but you can follow the references from Wikipedia that help verify the claim.

Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#73

Post by MartinRedford » Tue, Sep 21, 2010, 5:39 PM UTC

One very important thing about the concept of fun is that you do what you want, when you want to. The fact that they need impose simply creates a disposition in the minds of all who fall under such a constraint.

But let's be honest, this is clearly not the best way to boost productivity. If what is needed are better ideas and the best of ones effort, what should be done is to fill employees pockets with money, shorten work hours, remove authority positions. Let's not turn a blind eye, invest money and a work force, in trying to devise a better method for such a purpose. It's just a waste of both.

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Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#74

Post by MartinRedford » Tue, Sep 21, 2010, 5:39 PM UTC

One very important thing about the concept of fun is that you do what you want, when you want to. The fact that they need impose simply creates a disposition in the minds of all who fall under such a constraint.

But let's be honest, this is clearly not the best way to boost productivity. If what is needed are better ideas and the best of ones effort, what should be done is to fill employees pockets with money, shorten work hours, remove authority positions. Let's not turn a blind eye, invest money and a work force, in trying to devise a better method for such a purpose. It's just a waste of both.

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Re: Down with fun: The depressing vogue for having fun at work

#75

Post by docgnome » Tue, Sep 21, 2010, 10:37 PM UTC

"The ad-men in those days enjoyed simple pleasures. They puffed away at their desks. They drank throughout the day. They had affairs with their colleagues. They socialised not in order to bond, but in order to get drunk."

Uhm... That sounds pretty terrible to me. I don't want to work with those people.