Mandatory Fun at Work: Or Why the 90s Were Better...

[Erttheking]

Can I see that legal loophole from the 90's, according to which murder becomes legal if the victim is trans?

I think Something Amyss is refering to the "trans panic" defense, where you say you were so freaked out by finding out someone was trans you aren't responsible for killing them.

Not officially a legal defense nowdays, but still a useful one, unless you get a jury that's against that sort of thing.

There's the gay panic defense as well, but I think that one is fading away slowly.

Nah. The police just wouldn?t care. I know some people like Vanilla like to dismiss law enforcement?s abuse of the LGBT community because there?s no law dedicated to abusing them, and pointing out that there's no official policy towards abuse, but if laws and justice aren?t upheld actively, and there's an UNoffical policy of abuse, that means fuck all.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Sheesh. When my job required that I be always on-call, they gave me additional pay and a company phone.

Still remember the site manager calling me on vacation: "I know you're on vacation, but we really need you to come in today." Dude, I'm in London. If I somehow magically hopped on a plane right now I wouldn't make it back today.

Ha! Yeah. Not as bad, but I've had someone do that to me. As an AM our DC manager rang me up at 5AM due to time zone difference asking me to fill in a form while I was on the otherside of the continent, lounging about in Fremantle. I reminded them I was on my company mandated holiday visiting a friend. They told me 'just find a printer, print out the form, fill it out to the best of my memory, sign it, and fax it.'

I spent two hours of that day doing just that, report got flagged anyways due to inconsistencies (as I was writing a two week old incident report from memory), had to do it again when I got back.

Years ago, I was responsible for coordinating transportation between our domestic suppliers and our facilities. There were three of us and we split the nation into thirds: northeast, southeast and the west. We operated Monday through Friday, but as many of our suppliers work 7 days a week and might need our help on a weekend, the three of us were designated a single, out-of-date company phone to be reached after hours; we rotated the duty. Here?s the thing: it NEVER rang. In the nearly three years I held that position it, never rang, so one Friday, it was my turn and I looked at that embarrassingly old phone (we?re talking ?hit ?2? three times to text the letter ?c? old,) and decided ?nah, not this weekend,? and I left it; spent the weekend drinking irresponsibly. Come Monday, that fucking lime green Nokia had nearly a dozen missed calls and twice as many panicked emails on my computer from a supplier who?d been having trouble routing some critically hot freight? The ONE time I left it!!!

The only solution was a very expensive expedite; ?very expensive? being the operative phrase, my director demanded answers. The supplier said they?d called, my co-workers said I?d had the afterhours phone at the time, and I said: ?The phone never rang; it?s old; probably broken.? I?d surreptitiously deleted the call log and voicemails beforehand. This was the only time I?d ever lied at a job (I DO have ethics, but wasn?t about to go down for a ?once-in-a-lifetime misaligning of the stars? happenstance,) and it netted me a reticent ?nice job? for setting up the last minute expedite and each of us got our own, NEW phones for afterhours support? which subsequently never rang. But hey, they had a data plan, games, and we weren?t embarrassed anymore carrying around a phone you might give a teething infant to gum on.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I missed this post. Ehhh, job security is kind of a thing that no longer exists. You'll hopefully do fine. I think it's more a case of remembering every job has bullshit dripping off it, the trick is finding a job where there are amazing moments to fixate on that mean more than the otherwise malaise of nonsense you have to deal with. If you remember that, you might find a job you can at least live with.

Job security certainly exists, but you probably have to put in the time with either studies or low end menial jobs (and then get lucky if you pick the latter). For example, most healthcare professionals with a college degree (pretty much everyone above nursing aides) can rest assured that they won't be downsized or fired due to budget cuts, because we've got an aging population in the entire Western world, an international shortage of doctors, nurses, biomedical analysts etc. and these are not jobs that, for the most part, can be easily replaced with a robot or computer.

Whether one wants to go into healthcare is another matter entirely though.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Job security certainly exists, but you probably have to put in the time with either studies or low end menial jobs (and then get lucky if you pick the latter). For example, most healthcare professionals with a college degree (pretty much everyone above nursing aides) can rest assured that they won't be downsized or fired due to budget cuts, because we've got an aging population in the entire Western world, an international shortage of doctors, nurses, biomedical analysts etc. and these are not jobs that, for the most part, can be easily replaced with a robot or computer.

Whether one wants to go into healthcare is another matter entirely though.

Right, but he wants a job in IT. And that has a god awful turnover rate. Then again so does teaching, and I found that pretty rewarding. I originally wanted to be a doctor when I was 15. Then I saw a trauma ward, and honestly I don't like other people's blood. Plus my cousin explained to me what he went through with a patient with a dead bowel. Like, no? I think it takes a very particular type of person to be able to work in the more patient-centric aspects of medicine.

I mean the grossest thing that happened to me was discovering a bunch of mutilated corpses. But that was precisely once. With medicine you get to see walking corpses all day. Then again, part and parcel of that is a nascent, immature fear of one's mortality.

I will say that 95% of my GP visits is telling me the pathology results, and filling out scripts. And that could probably be replaced by computers.

My solution is mandatory death at 85. You get retiring SASR and Commando types, repurpose them into 'Sunset Squads'. What happens when you hit your 85th birthday is a random date with your name on it crops up. The assassin uses their discretion to eliminate you with a clean, quiet kill when they think you're having a decent day so that's your last thoughts. You're lounging about in your hammock, enjoying the midday sun, sipping on a drink, BAM! Two subsonic hollowpoint rounds straight into your head at close range from behind.

Perfect way to die. Frankly I think it's kind of fucked we don't offer those types of services already, at least as an elective option. I'd sign up when I was getting older. No one wants to die of old age. Give me something clean and quick, and something I won't see coming. That's clearly a better option. I can't be the only one that would want to go out that way? Suicide is surprisingly hard, but at the same time I don't want to live to simply suffer. Let me pick the death I won't see coming and will be immediate when it does.

Incentivize 'happy kills' with promotions and bonuses. Mandatory body cams for security purposes and to fight possible misuse of the Sunset Squads.

 

[Thaluikhain]

My solution is mandatory death at 85. You get retiring SASR and Commando types, repurpose them into 'Sunset Squads'. What happens when you hit your 85th birthday is a random date with your name on it crops up. The assassin uses their discretion to eliminate you with a clean, quiet kill when they think you're having a decent day so that's your last thoughts. You're lounging about in your hammock, enjoying the midday sun, sipping on a drink, BAM! Two subsonic hollowpoint rounds straight into your head at close range from behind.

Is there a gritty reboot of Logan's Run coming out or something?

...

Would this apply to the Queen of Australia? Could cause a bit of a kerfuffle.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I just really miss being out and about for the whole day back in the 90s, coming home, and returning all my missed calls in one go without anybody batting an eyelid. As soon as mobile phones arrived, you were expected to be reachable all day every day for work, regardless of where you were, what you were doing, and what godforsaken hour it was.

I think I liked the internet better back when it was just on the horizon- a magical entity of infinite possibility.

My boss once asked for my phone number so that she could get in contact with me if there was an emergency at work. I asked her if the company was going to be proving me a phone or paying for my phone bill. She said no. I told her that my phone was not a company asset and would not be used for work purposes, the same way that I can't use my work computer for personal business. If there's a work emergency she can contact whoever is on call and being paid to deal with said emergency. Magically haven't been fired yet.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Is there a gritty reboot of Logan's Run coming out or something?

...

Would this apply to the Queen of Australia? Could cause a bit of a kerfuffle.

It especially applies to the monarch.

Logan's Run is kind of dumb, however. I mean people are in their peak in their thirties. Often well educated, or experienced (or both), often maried, with kids. Your 80s and 90s are kind of pointless, really. And pointless due to the real tragedy of age related disease.

Instead of funding log-term palliative care, why not mandatory death after 85, but you can spend up to of $200,000 on the year of your 84th-85th birthdays tax-free? So you can spend a year/year and a bit guaranteed kicking back, relaxing, staying in nice hotels with an assistant, treating your spouse and family out, whatever you want with that money.

What would you say then? That is like infinitely better than most oldies get now.

Have you seen nursing homes? No one, ever, should have to spend time in one. At all, if it can be afforded. Rather than societies angling for their populations to live merely as long as possible, we should aim at creating a society where everyone can die happy. And people should have that goddamn option. There is no excuse why people can't just elect to die, and that a society should provide options to make it as easy, painless, and immediate as possible.

It is the ultimate expression of spineless selfishness that a society gets so fucking squemish and 'precious' if an old person says; "Know what? Had a good run. Some fun adventures, some miserable ones. Put a bullet in me as I reminisce, would you?"

If I manage to make it to my 70s, much less 80s, I would like that bullet option. Looking at my lineage, one side of my family are ucky to make it into the 60s due to historical political violence and warfare, and on the otherside of my family a strong streak of various shades of lunacy. People should have the option to just elect to die. Suicide is a remarkably difficult thing to do, and there might be physiological or psychological reasons why it can't be achieved, so there should be an alternative that involves less direct input altogether to maximize individual happiness.