Category: Work

Work

Office Holiday Party Memo of the Day

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 13, 2007
14 Comments on Office Holiday Party Memo of the Day

Ah, the peril-fraught office holiday party…

Scene from an office Chistmas party: the drunken grope

I’ve always worked in small- to medium-sized companies that had casual dress codes — if they had any at all. Hence when the office Holiday/Christmas/Festivus/whatever party rolled around, the most I’ve ever received in the way of a dress guideline was “it’s at the Palais Royale, so it’s semi-formal”. It’s a simple, reasonable request (TSOT’s party, which takes place tomorrow, is semi-formal).

Other people are not so fortunate. A reader whom I’ll call “Noel” sent me a copy of the memo s/he received from her/his company’s social committee regarding appropriate dress for their upcoming holiday party. It appears below — the only change I’ve made was formatting it so that it’s easier to read:

This year’s event is not as formal as last years. The dress code is semi-formal/cocktail attire. Please find below some suitable clothing examples for the occasion:

Suitable Articles of Clothing:

For Women:

Dresses (short to mid-length elegant dresses, i.e. hem one inch above/below the knee to two inches above the ankle)

Pants Suits (ankle length hems)

Dress Suits (dressy evening separates, not business suits. hem knee length to floor length) (Suggestion: choose looks with a bit of sparkle or holiday bent (for example a beaded sweater with black pants, a red silk blouse with a black skirt). dressy evening separates)

For Men:

Suits

Tie (Optional) (General Rule of thumb: if a button-down shirt is worn with the suit, then a tie would be in good taste).

Dress shirt (with or without tie) with dress pants

Appropriate Fabrics and Materials:

Women: Silk, Chiffon, Satin, Sateen, Gossamer, Brocade, Rayon, Cashmere, Polyester, Velour, Velvet, Velveteen, etc.
*Also, embellishments such as sequins and beads are appropriate for women.

Men: Wool, Polyester, Gabardine, Cotton, etc.

Many thanks,
Your Social Committee

When I asked “Noel” if I could post this memo on this blog, s/he replied: “Certain ‘cultures’ thrive in darkness. I think shedding a little light on this particular one would be a good thing!” In case you were wondering, the company from which this memo came is located somewhere in the greater Accordion City area.

Got any examples of corporate overly micro-managey behaviour that you’d like to share anonymously on an insanely popular blog? Send ’em to me!

The Office Accordion

My original accordion, a Titano student model, has been through a lot, from the streets of Accordion City to Burning Man to saving my butt from a mugging in Prague (see this story for details). In spite of a few broken chord buttons, some missing key tops and a slight air leak, I can still get some sweet sounds out of it.

These days, I keep it at the TSOT offices in case of emergencies. You’d be surprised at the number of times having an accordion handy has paid off.

Click the picture to see the video on Facebook.

Last week, I did a quick little medley at the office, and my coworker Dan Williams shot some video of the event and posted it on Facebook. If you’ve got a Facebook account, you can see it here. I’ll see if I can get the video from Dan and post it someplace a little more easily accessed, like YouTube.

A friend of Dan’s saw the video, and she commented that if it were posted on a dating site like LavaLife, I’d get responses like crazy. The accordion has already served that purpose, but maybe it’s time for me to give lessons.

Work

College Professor Salaries vs. College Football Coach Salaries

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 10, 2007
2 Comments on College Professor Salaries vs. College Football Coach Salaries

BAD, or The Dumbing of America — A worthwhile read 15 years ago, and still relevant today.

In his book, BAD, or the Dumbing of America, Paul Fussell suggested that one of the best ways to make America a less dumb place would be to eliminate athletic scholarships entirely.

I agree — I think that the term “athletic scholarship” is an oxymoron. They’re also almost completely non-existent in Canada; the rules forbid entrance scholarships based on sports ability. As far as I recall, the only Canadian university to attempt (and fail) to join the NCAA was Simon Fraser University (presumably in an attempt to undo their rep as “The Marxists on the hill”).

Alas, the market does not agree with me and Paul Fussell. Take a look at this graph from the blog Carpe Diem, “Mark J. Perry’s Blog for Economics and Finance”, which compares college professors’ and college football coaches’ average salaries for 2007:

Here an excerpt from an article in USA Today on the topic of U.S. college football coaches’ compensation:

At least 50 coaches are making seven figures, seven more than a year ago. At least a dozen are pulling down $2 million or more, up from nine in 2006. Last season, Stoops was the only one making more than $3 million.

“Is this a favorable trend? The answer is: Of course not,” says LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, who worked out the new deal with Miles. “That said, it’s also market dynamics. The value of things is determined by the demand that exists. There’s nothing unfair about that.”

I often consider the free market to be like the developmentally delayed little brother I never had: I love it dearly, but sometimes it’s as dumb as a bag of rocks.

It Happened to Me Work

The Office Desk

Ever since I got my first digital camera back in 1998, I’ve made it a point to snap pictures of my workspace on a regular basis. The nature of my work has meant that I’ve rearranged or changed desks about every six months since I joined the workforce full-time back in ’95, so I’m glad that I have some sort of record.

I’ve posted the most recent picture of my desk at TSOT’s temporary office below. Until we move to the permanent space in January, we’re all working on folding tables covered in the kind of tempoarary tablecloth you can get from a party supply store. We got decent chairs and great computers from the get-go, so it’s not too bad. The spartan arrangements give me a feeling of deja vu — it takes me back to that time at OpenCola’s first office in San Francisco, a large warehouse space near Potrero Hill, where all the desks were unfinished doors set on two sawhorses.

My desk at TSOT’s temporary office, taken November 29, 2007. Click the photo to see it at full size.

I should gather up the photos of my previous desks and put them into a post — I think it would be an interesting study.

Geek It Happened to Me Work

Whoo-hoo! My Own News Release!

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date November 30, 2007
1 Comment on Whoo-hoo! My Own News Release!

Well, this is nice: it’s a news release announcing my joining TSOT. It’s not 100% technically correct (we’re a team of Ruby on Rails developers, not PHP developers), but hey! I got a news release all about me! Whoo-hoo!

Geek It Happened to Me Work

Scenes from Day 1 at the New Job

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date November 27, 2007
14 Comments on Scenes from Day 1 at the New Job

The New Company

People from the SororityLive and FraternityLive home pages
The “mascots” from the SororityLive and FraternityLive home pages. Party! Whoo!

My new company is TSOT, a little start-up specializing in social software. The company’s first products are SororityLive and FraternityLive, social software with special features for people in — you guessed it — sororities and fraternities. It’s pretty interesting software, and it doesn’t hurt that the customer base relies on social networking and has some money to throw around.

The New ’Hood

151 Bloor Street West. It’s smack-dab in the middle of a lot of fancy-pants shops.

The photo above shows the office building, located at 151 Bloor Street West. It’s a short walk away from the intersection of Accordion City’s two main streets and at the west end of the Bloor/Yorkville neighbourhood (also known as “Mink Mile”), which has a lot of posh shops, hotels, restaurants, pricey condos and office buildings.

It’s a sort of homecoming. OpenCola, the last start-up for which I worked, was located on the east end of Mink Mile, a short walk away. Like TSOT, OpenCola was a start-up in an unlikely location.

This neighbourhood is quite different from my old work ‘hood of Liberty Village, which consists of old factories that have been converted into office space. Liberty Village borders on Parkdale, a rapidly-gentrifying neighbourhood that still shows a few signs of its “Crackdale” past, such as colourful neighbourhood characters like “Low-talking Burger King Bible Lady” and “Incomprehensible Pee-reeking Guy on Roller Skates and Ski Poles Who Thinks He’s Running for Mayor”.

There is a similarity between my old and new work ‘hoods: both feature people who appear to be talking to themselves. It’s just that in the new ‘hood, such people are very likely to actually be talking into their Bluetooth headset phones.

The Temporary Office

TSOT’s office, which will eventually be on the building’s 11th floor, is currently under construction. In the meantime, the company is divided between two offices, with the programmers at 151 Bloor West and the management and “biz dev” a couple of blocks away. Being temporary, the current office setup definitely has the classic start-up feel, being sparsely furnished with folding tables acting as desks. I’m getting big-time deja vu.

The developer room at TSOT’s office
The developer room in the temporary office. Sure, they’re folding tables, but the computers, chairs and people are excellent!

My New Gear

When I got into the office, the guys showed me my desk, which had the following arranged into a neat little pile:

15″ MacBook Pro, in its original packaging
Extra RAM for the MacBook
A Mac OS X “Leopard” install DVD
One of those new really flat Apple keyboards
A FraternityLive pen and mousepad
A copy of Barron’s Speed-Reading for Professionals
A Post-It note from CEO Kris White that read “Welcome, Joey! Here is some stuff to get you going. Cheers, Kris.”

15″ MacBook Pro, OS X Leopard DVD and other goodies waiting for me
Here’s what was waiting for me when I showed up. Well, this stuff was still in the original packaging when I showed up.

Now That’s What I Call a Welcome!

Kris White, the CEO, knows that I keep a spare accordion handy at the office and knew that I’d be bringing mine in on Day 1. He decided it would be a good idea to get some small instruments — a cowbell, maracas, drums, a xylophone and a harmonica — from the nearby music store for the other employees, as a “welcome to the club, can we join yours?” gesture. Now that’s what I call a welcome!

Box for OS X Leopard DVD and a toy xylophone
What every start-up needs. Mac OS X “Leopard” and musical instruments.

Perquisites

Among the perks of working at TSOT are some free food from Whole Foods in the kitchen and the programming department’s main room, which features some beanbag chairs, a big screen TV and a Nintendo Wii and XBox 360 Elite.

The game room at the TSOT office
All work and no play makes Joey a dull boy. Nintendo Wii and XBox 360 Elite! Whoo!