Death Of London

[This Time]

2 hours ago, gibbon said:

Things ain't gonna change that much. If you got a job at a software developer/code monkey at a so called "progressive" company, a job which begs remote working or at the very least one man offices for uninterrupted concentration..you'd think employing expensive developers you'd want to maximise their productivity...yet they still pack us into noisy open plan office like sardines.

Here's facebook for example:

Look at the fucking state of it. It's shit like the above, my own version of hell, full of soy boy passive aggressive SJW wankers, why I could never go back to corporate IT.

I feel really anxious just looking at that photo. Really bad Feng Shui.

[eek]

22 minutes ago, spygirl said:

Have you ever been to another office and, on the home, found that an arm rest or other item that has failed on your own chair, has suddenly fallen into your bag?

Replacement bits for Aeron chairs are fucking expensive.

 

The back support is the optional lumber bit you see on the two seats in the foreground (at different heights which is what reminded me to change mine).

But this chair cost me £300 19 years ago so I don't think it owes me anything and second hand the parts are cheap on ebay if you don't care about new.

 

[This Time]

1 hour ago, chicker said:

I wonder what term  your employers  have the building for ? Months , years?  It will take a long time for companies to reposition . Also does everyone want to work from home?  Especially if in cramped conditions - usual in London. 

My husband's work did a survey - some people love working from home, most are fine with it but some really hate it.

[chicker]

4 minutes ago, This Time said:

My husband's work did a survey - some people love working from home, most are fine with it but some really hate it.

So the ones who hate it are  probably less employable in the future ? 

[eek]

6 minutes ago, This Time said:

My husband's work did a survey - some people love working from home, most are fine with it but some really hate it.

 

I think it depends on how much of an antisocial bast**d you are. Personally for me dealing with people is something I hate.

[Mr Miyagi]

I work in a large open plan office and find it quite unproductive, the whole ethos of it seems to centre around women having a social life in work. We have now all been sent to WFH which I find a lot more productive. I think things will change after the dust has settled and they will be far more willing to allow those that want to WFH to have that option with the ability to come into the office as and when it is needed.

The days of everyone getting into work at the same time to do things they could do whilst sat in their pants at home should have been kicked into the long grass years ago. Hopefully flexibility when it comes to home working will be a positive outcome of the pandemic. 

[kibuc]

On 02/05/2020 at 09:55, wherebee said:

London is seen very differently by the rest of the world, almost a romantic view.  I've seen it in many countries - London is seen as THE place to be in Europe.  Images of the Queen, Parliament, Churchill, etc etc, all is deep in many overseas minds.  A bit like we see New York - Empire State and upper east side living, whereas the reality is pretty shit.

I think London is going to go through some really hard times now. Wuhanflu will mean the transport networks become a negative, not a plus - impossible to move worker by car, and tube/bus/rail are going to be seen as a bad thing by many smart people from here on in.  We all knew how London had become a minority city for native white brits already, with commuting in from the outer suburbs mainly whites, whilst third worlders lived off taxpayer money in the inner suburbs and the rich lived in specific enclaves.

I for one will be glad to see London burn, to be frank, and that's after at least 4 centuries of most of my ancestors living there.  It's one remaining chance for greatness is to show the rest of the western world what happens when open borders, race replacement, and PC culture hit a society.

I think I've already said it in another thread, but one of the reasons my wife agreed to move to UK was that she thought of London as a place where the Queen and Jamie Oliver get together to buy home-grown potatoes on the farmers' market. It's such a shame the very first time she actually saw the city in person was when we resurfaced from the Tube at Finsbury Park :p

[SillyBilly]

1 hour ago, spygirl said:

 Britain's?

Its  not micro management, its job creation for full time managers.

Depending on which sector you work in, there may be a large bulk of managers who just manage.

 

 

Wrong.

[MrPin]

1 minute ago, kibuc said:

was when we resurfaced from the Tube at Finsbury Park :p

Finsbury Park was the basis of The Island of Dr Moreau.

[Errol]

59 minutes ago, This Time said:

My husband's work did a survey - some people love working from home, most are fine with it but some really hate it.

I can't imagine 'hating' working from home. How odd.

[Errol]

26 minutes ago, Mr Miyagi said:

I work in a large open plan office and find it quite unproductive, the whole ethos of it seems to centre around women having a social life in work. We have now all been sent to WFH which I find a lot more productive. I think things will change after the dust has settled and they will be far more willing to allow those that want to WFH to have that option with the ability to come into the office as and when it is needed.

The days of everyone getting into work at the same time to do things they could do whilst sat in their pants at home should have been kicked into the long grass years ago. Hopefully flexibility when it comes to home working will be a positive outcome of the pandemic. 

Agree completely. Open plan is hideous - people gibbering the whole time, inane conversations, constant distractions, hateful office lighting, no privacy, being constantly watched etc etc.

Working from home is vastly more productive and concentration/application goes through the roof. Far more efficient - has you save (potentially) the 2-3 hours that you might spend commuting! No contest.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Errol

[Option5]

13 minutes ago, MrPin said:

Finsbury Park was the basis of The Island of Dr Moreau.

I thought it was based on DOSBODs island.

[ashestoashes]

28 minutes ago, Errol said:

I can't imagine 'hating' working from home. How odd.

lot's of people go to work to get away from the family, socialise, purve at the young women etc. they have needs that can't be fulfilled at home

[Soft lad]

43 minutes ago, kibuc said:

London is seen very differently by the rest of the world, almost a romantic view

like Liverpool

[UmBongo]

2 hours ago, spygirl said:

I thought number of toilets is fixed for the number of employees. Building reg?

I think this was once questioned at a meet g once but we're within the limit at the moment. 

[sarahbell]

2 hours ago, eek said:

The sad thing is, that I'm currently writing software that does exactly that - just because it was on my to-do list and had a couple of interesting issues to investigate and play with.

I was sort of joking... 
But I think people will have more productivity if they don't have long commutes.

[spygirl]

5 minutes ago, sarahbell said:

I was sort of joking... 
But I think people will have more productivity if they don't have long commutes.

I longish train commute is good - I sit n think, make notes. I arrive, raring to go.

A long (45m+) in a car, in urban stop n go traffic means I arrive knackered n fuming.

[eek]

26 minutes ago, sarahbell said:

I was sort of joking... 
But I think people will have more productivity if they don't have long commutes.

There is an  awful lot of software that does exactly what you are joking about (a lot of banks were sold it back in the late 90's until very recently for "security" reasons). A few years back there was a phase of creating gamification within software for exactly that reason.

The reason I'm doing it is that I need something to check actual software usage for license cost saving purposes. But there are a hell of a lot of side benefits / scare stories depending on your viewpoint.

Edited May 3, 2020 by eek

[eek]

15 minutes ago, spygirl said:

I longish train commute is good - I sit n think, make notes. I arrive, raring to go.

A long (45m+) in a car, in urban stop n go traffic means I arrive knackered n fuming.

The two things I find:

The more steps in a journey the more annoying it is long term. Having spent 2 years flying round Europe, via Schipol was always lovely but CDG was the opposite as the latter usually throws a bus into the equation.

Having had a car with adaptive cruise control I will never own a car without one, it's remarkable how much easier driving is when a single factor is taken out of the equation.

[eek]

15 minutes ago, TheBlueCat said:

This whole company is founded on it:

https://www.crossover.com

A friend worked for them very briefly and said it was the worst job he’d ever had by a country mile. Google for reviews if you fancy a few minutes of “thank God it’s not me having to do that for a living”.
 

Even a quick glance tells me they have a hire and quickly fire mentality.

[gibbon]

3 hours ago, eek said:

I've seen far, far worse than that - at least it's got high ceiling. 

Adobe's London office is hell. Microsoft Paddington is OK but that isn't for mere mortals if you are one of those it's Reading for you mate.

The worst bit of that photo is that it reminded me to change the back support on my Aeron chair as it had fallen down.

Yes but building regs only apply to new builds (and to a lesser extent refurbs).

What makes Adobe's office so high in the shittiness stakes?

3 hours ago, whocares said:

How could anyone work in that place?! Awful!!!

As @eek said it gets much worse. That office actual has decent chairs and monitors with some walking space between desks. 

Other issues that image can't convey such as lack of even the most basic hygiene lots of IT grunts have...no dress code = entitled to wear the same scummy t-shirt/hoody day after day. Makes me a bit queasy just thinking about it all again.

 

[Panther]

5 hours ago, gibbon said:

Here's facebook for example:

I expect if you turned up for work there in a suit *because you wanted to* your life would be turned into a living hell.

Just look at all those hoodied twats

Edited May 3, 2020 by Panther

[spygirl]

16 minutes ago, gibbon said:

What makes Adobe's office so high in the shittiness stakes?

As @eek said it gets much worse. That office actual has decent chairs and monitors with some walking space between desks. 

Other issues that image can't convey such as lack of even the most basic hygiene lots of IT grunts have...no dress code = entitled to wear the same scummy t-shirt/hoody day after day. Makes me a bit queasy just thinking about it all again.

 

Dont know.

Adobe are a v successful, high margin company so I'd guess they had an architect in his created a v expensive greenhouse, so given un summer, glare on screen.

https://theblog.adobe.com/new-office-in-londons-shoreditch/

It's in wankerditch.

Specifically, our new home is in the White Collar Factory, a beautiful and cutting edge development by Derwent London, one of London’s most innovative office specialist property regenerators. Derwent London is well known for its design-led philosophy with sustainability at the heart of every development – a great match for Adobe

[Virgil Caine]

2 hours ago, kibuc said:

I think I've already said it in another thread, but one of the reasons my wife agreed to move to UK was that she thought of London as a place where the Queen and Jamie Oliver get together to buy home-grown potatoes on the farmers' market. It's such a shame the very first time she actually saw the city in person was when we resurfaced from the Tube at Finsbury Park :p

Had a mate who lived near Finsbury Park Tube back in the 1980s.

There was a bizarre record shop close to the underground station whose windows were full of pictures of Julio Inglesias but where the customers all appeared to be dreadlocked Rastas. 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Virgil Caine

[spygirl]

Cutting edge involves looks of glare and windows that dont open.