The Glade 4.0

If you can find a job where the work is rewarding, it might be worth capitulating to their silly requests. The problem most employers face is they can only offer pay and trinkets to motivate their employees. And the even bigger problem, much like the "hot" chick in a WoW guild, they have serious self-perception issues that prevent from fixing that problem.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Well, it is my belief that all software work I do is equally rewarding in the long run. So going to a different employer would not help me in this regard. I have no plans of leaving unless forced out by poor management.

You people are seriously being trolled...

Well yeah. That's half the fun. :p

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Holy shitsnacks!

There is a reason we have this....

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Raell Kromwell

You should camp out in your desk so they can't just move you overnight.

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As long as they don't take his red stapler

After working at a place where they wouldn't spring for non-shit office supplies, I can appreciate Milton's Swingline.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Ok, everyone chill - Lex is right. But - so you are guys.

Compensation includes wages and benefits. Benefits are subjective and pretty much generally defined by the employee. For example: health care is a benefit that I choose to not use, because my wife's is better. Therefore, it has zero value to me here. Other items have value, including distance from my home, nearby restaurants, and my immediate work environment. These are all benefits that are part of my overall job package.

Anytime there is a change, benefits are affected. It is thus cause for renegotiation. If Lex is solid on his benefit, and the manager is solid on team cohesiveness, then they must renegotiate. "How are you going to compensate me for my loss in benefit associated with the better office?"

The problem Lex is having is that he's not negotiating, and he's leaving his manager no choice but to either tolerate serious insubordination, or fire him.

Yar. I traded $2 an hour in monetary compensation to move back to Vegas and work from home.

It was win all around.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Wouldn't that more or less be the negotiation? My window or me? The reason it's even a topic for discussion is that this is forcing someone else into an uncomfortable situation.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Lex is in possession of a company award. I realize many of you might not think of it as such, but there it is. His current manager is wanting to remove that from him. For reasons which are on the surface reasonable, sure. We can't know if the stated reasons are true, or whether this manager is a petty pinhead. Unless Lex's job has changed, he's still working for Cisco, right? Worst case, he signs on to work in a different department. Cisco always has openings for coders in all of their 14000 different divisions. And some of those will be more interesting than what he's currently doing, I'm sure.

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There is a disconnect here. For starters, Lex might not be as replaceable as some of you think he is. Managers are a dime a dozen. People with Lex's skillset... aren't. Now, I don't know how much clout Lex has. As the old adage goes, you're not worth a damn until you're thirty. I know two people who, if told by their manager that they need to give up their office or cubicle to move closer to their team, would call up their real boss and inform him that they need a new manager. It's entirely likely that Lex's manager is not, in point of fact, his boss.

Lex seems to have decided that he doesn't want to work in an environment where he wins an office prize and is then told he has to give it up because some pinhead manager is enthusiastic about people being team players. That's perfectly valid.

Lex, call up a headhunting agency. Find out who's hiring. If you get an offer, give your manager the finger.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

And enjoy your new windowless cube...

The great Norse god Loki wanted me to have this window cube, and that's why he blessed my hand to win the office lottery. I will never give it up. I will never surrender.

Everyone has different things that are important to them in their job. Obviously Lex's office window is important to him. It's an interesting world we live in when lying about a medical condition you don't have is apparently an acceptable tactic in this situation.

What if Lex was refusing to give up having Friday's off that he uses to spend with his kids? You guys would probably all support him there. Or what if he was refusing to take down a Bible quote he had posted on his cubicle wall? Then he'd be standing up for his beliefs in the face of a cruel office manager. I don't think it really matters what the situation is or how "reasonable" it sounds to us, all that matters is that it's important to Lex.

I also think you guys seriously underestimate the demand for good software developers. Lex sounds like a pretty smart guy and I bet you he has plenty of negotiating power in this situation. He's not a fast food employee or some grunt in a factory. I'm guessing it would probably cost the company tens of thousands of dollars to replace him.

Yes, when you change employers, you often have to give up office prizes. It just comes with the territory. The thing is, many of you are suggesting he just put his head down and do what he's told, so he's losing the office prize anyway. For those of you who are office *****, it ends there. If Lex thinks he can get a job elsewhere, since he's going to lose the window cubicle, he should make the ***** replace him.

Lex has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from an ABET accredited institution. I don't know what the rest of your fields look like, maybe you can be shit-canned and replaced by any jackass from the street, but Lex's field has more jobs than people qualified to perform them. Not only that, but there also aren't enough people in the training programs to make up the difference. This is actually a big problem that the IEEE is trying to solve.

The state of the industry is such that somebody does actually have to put up with Lex's bullshit. There aren't enough engineers to go around. "If you don't like it, find a new job," isn't a viable threat when the jobs are out there. Right now, this is only happening because Lex is under thirty, and everybody thinks they can push him around. They really can't, and they need to learn now, rather than later, that they can suck it. And no, the economy doesn't mean ****. Unemployment doesn't change a goddamn thing, because those people can't compete with Lex for a job.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

If it matters to you, don't give it up.

If you're worth what you think you are, you'll likely generate a raise out of this.

Contact a head-hunter.

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Ezekiel 23:19-20 

Honestly in this life I just like to program computers. I don't need a job to do that.

Might as well get paid to do it as long as the conditions are favorable.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones

Money is kinda overrated.

Only when you've got a lot of it.

This. When you're unemployed and struggling? Not so much.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I could always move in back with my parents. It's not such a big deal. I don't even spend money on anything anyways.

Didn't say it wasn't. That philosophy is not at all antithetical to my point.

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"It's real, grew up in trife life, the times of white lines
The hype vice, murderous nighttimes and knife fights invite crimes" - Nasir Jones