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paying the bills doesn't make you free
Thursday, August 12 1999
It was one of those crazy workdays. In the morning, all 20 web servers were maxing out in the aftermath of an early-morning installation of a major new communication tool. I was trying to help Eric the Web Developer root out the problem, but by lunch we had to pull the plug on the whole thing. It was a major disappointment, the crowning whimper of numerous 20 hour days that Eric had put in on this accursed project. But it was instructive, and during a lunch break at Pick Up Sticks we discussed what this failure said about the whole system under which we toil.
In the afternoon, a core group of engineers were called to a downstairs conference room to discuss our gripes about the new project-based management system which frames our bonus structure. I had a rather angry pre-written monologue on the subject, but the drunken vitriol I had as I wrote it last night was no longer present when the time came to deliver it. So I was nothing but sweet as I said my piece about the system. I said the bonuses were insulting and that there was clearly not enough cash being pumped into developing the product. But I laughed at the Grand Pooh Bah's jokes and cracked a few of my own, and they weren't even subversive. It's hard to complain (or even be cynical) about a session of "open communication." By the end of the meeting we were all promised $1000 bonuses as a token of respect for our hard work. I'll believe it when I see my check.
[REDACTED]
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