artificial intelligence?
no doubt you, the beloved non-existant reader, have seen it. or something like it. or gotten emails including clips used to make the overall video i just watched.
i am talking about the bad day at the office video clip. it is truly funny. look it up if you have no idea what i am talking about.
my favorites are the guy who gets sprayed by the toner and proceeds to attempt to violently copy his monitor, and, without a doubt, the fella what goes out to grab a sledge to take to his desktop.
but as i was watching this video, i kinda watched the people in the peripheral. here are these almost beetle-like individuals, hunched over their keyboard, eyes squinting at tiny numbers being inputted on their screens, when, without any warning (in most cases), a cubicle near them is erupting into violence.
they all do the same thing: they leap up, look around them with eyes that have widened as if they expect to see the armageddon (or is that armaggeddon? neither one looks right) and then sort of stand there, agape, at a loss. if the tirade goes on long enough, they sort of sidle back to their desks and attempt to work whilst keeping a wary eye on the disturber. one guy has the aplomb to toss the laptop that has just bounced off the brick wall by his head back onto the offender's desk.
but what, o my beloved non-existant readers, my droogs and only friends, are the factors that lead to violence against office equipment? well, i'm not completely sure, but judging by the average size of the offenders in this clip, obesity would be one thing. and apparently you have to be male.
i do know i have been this aggravated. probably not enough to leave to get a hammer, but definitely enough to use whatever is handy. if we could all refer, briefly, to my post about the last fourth of july, while my wife (and most of my internal organs, definitely, at least, my brain and heart) was far away in points east. if you, like me, are too lazy, here's is a quick recap of the contributing factors: whiney, exhausted kids who won't shut up. a broken dvd player (broken by same whiney kids). an inability to fix said dvd player. no wife (and no sex) for two months (at the time of the "mishap", heh heh). and an ambient heat level of upwards of 90 degrees farenheit (that word doesn't look right either. oh well). all resulting in feet being stuffed rather roughly into the already-open guts of said dvd player.
but here's the rub, malchicks and ptitsas. here is the item that gives me pause: i know my mom was extremely stressed out when i was younger, being a single mom, recently divorced, trying to keep a roof over three kids' heads, basically on her own, while working full time and trying desperately to have a personal life as well. she was stretched so thin we could almost see through her at times. but the worst i ever saw (or heard) was some screaming and one broken plate.
does technology exacerbate (i actually had to look that one up, o my beloveds) our pre-existing aggravation? have we come to rely so much on computers and such that when they don't work properly, we are prone to violence? would anyone even have thought of finding a sledge to take to their computer if someone hadn't made that really funny cartoon some time ago with the duck wielding a hammer over a desktop and saying, "compute this!"? are we on some kinda handbasket/bus/slippery slope ride on skids greased by technology that is advancing and increasing so fast that our minds can't even keep up? how soon before we reach terminal velocity?
and will anyone be laughing when we do?
darth sardonic
i am talking about the bad day at the office video clip. it is truly funny. look it up if you have no idea what i am talking about.
my favorites are the guy who gets sprayed by the toner and proceeds to attempt to violently copy his monitor, and, without a doubt, the fella what goes out to grab a sledge to take to his desktop.
but as i was watching this video, i kinda watched the people in the peripheral. here are these almost beetle-like individuals, hunched over their keyboard, eyes squinting at tiny numbers being inputted on their screens, when, without any warning (in most cases), a cubicle near them is erupting into violence.
they all do the same thing: they leap up, look around them with eyes that have widened as if they expect to see the armageddon (or is that armaggeddon? neither one looks right) and then sort of stand there, agape, at a loss. if the tirade goes on long enough, they sort of sidle back to their desks and attempt to work whilst keeping a wary eye on the disturber. one guy has the aplomb to toss the laptop that has just bounced off the brick wall by his head back onto the offender's desk.
but what, o my beloved non-existant readers, my droogs and only friends, are the factors that lead to violence against office equipment? well, i'm not completely sure, but judging by the average size of the offenders in this clip, obesity would be one thing. and apparently you have to be male.
i do know i have been this aggravated. probably not enough to leave to get a hammer, but definitely enough to use whatever is handy. if we could all refer, briefly, to my post about the last fourth of july, while my wife (and most of my internal organs, definitely, at least, my brain and heart) was far away in points east. if you, like me, are too lazy, here's is a quick recap of the contributing factors: whiney, exhausted kids who won't shut up. a broken dvd player (broken by same whiney kids). an inability to fix said dvd player. no wife (and no sex) for two months (at the time of the "mishap", heh heh). and an ambient heat level of upwards of 90 degrees farenheit (that word doesn't look right either. oh well). all resulting in feet being stuffed rather roughly into the already-open guts of said dvd player.
but here's the rub, malchicks and ptitsas. here is the item that gives me pause: i know my mom was extremely stressed out when i was younger, being a single mom, recently divorced, trying to keep a roof over three kids' heads, basically on her own, while working full time and trying desperately to have a personal life as well. she was stretched so thin we could almost see through her at times. but the worst i ever saw (or heard) was some screaming and one broken plate.
does technology exacerbate (i actually had to look that one up, o my beloveds) our pre-existing aggravation? have we come to rely so much on computers and such that when they don't work properly, we are prone to violence? would anyone even have thought of finding a sledge to take to their computer if someone hadn't made that really funny cartoon some time ago with the duck wielding a hammer over a desktop and saying, "compute this!"? are we on some kinda handbasket/bus/slippery slope ride on skids greased by technology that is advancing and increasing so fast that our minds can't even keep up? how soon before we reach terminal velocity?
and will anyone be laughing when we do?
darth sardonic
Labels: sanity is for the weak-minded, technology, we need a plague
posted by darth sardonic at 9:46 AM
6 Comments:
I think it is because AI or IT or whatever didn't turn out the way they were intended. They were meant to diminish the work load of people, making their lives easier. Instead, the workload has increased because of them, because fast communication and access means that 'waiting' has no more part in today's office culture. Hence people are supposed to work through higher numbers/amounts of tasks and data per day. A broken computer means that there is absolutely no way one can actually attain those numbers. Add to that the fact that computers are online 24-7, and you know that the in-flow (?) of new tasks and new data never stops, even if your computer crashes. A computer crash means a backlog, whereas other office workers with a non-broken computer, or competing businesses do not. Before the computer area, a defective postal service meant that ALL office workers or businesses were on a backlog. Therefore, computers have increased our workload, and broken computers mean a set-back of vital importance. The result is stress and aggression.
yep, belle, sounds about right. the death of us all, no doubt.
Wow, Belle.
And I was just gonna say: funny how that fat guy crashed the computer.
But I'm simple like that.
hahaha krissie, you crack me up. being a bucket of contradictions, i dig both these comments.
Actually, in my line of work, IT, Hurry Up and Wait is a valid term. Other than that, I agree with Belle.
My fantasy is to take a very long extension cord, set the computer up in the middle of the road and turn it on so it can see me coming when I take a steam roller and run it over.
But only on occasion. Generally, a margarita can take care of it.
lol, z, nicely put.
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