A corollary.

[xinit@mastodon.coffee]

@jalefkowit
Post-covid, my company has decided that it's a requirement to spend at least 2 days per week in the office. They changed the access tokens to a new system, and it took me 8 months to get into the office to retrieve that new token. They even said they would be monitoring token usage. Whatever.

My manager is in another country and he works 99.99% remote. Our division's director also likes working remote. Nobody I report to has said a word. Not one.

Their silence is assent.

[mmiasma@mastodon.sdf.org]

@jalefkowit

"You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt."
--Merle Travis

Imagine anyone thinking they're entitled to own and profit from _everything_ you create during the hours your not wearing yourself out for them. Crazy.

I'm glad there were no consequences when you just "lost" that particular piece of paper.

[jalefkowit@vmst.io]

@tantramar I suspect from HR's perspective this is a side benefit of moving to electronic forms: you can't "lose" an electronic form, or break out the red pen on it

[jeromechoo@masto.ai]

@jalefkowit a long time ago at my wife's first job she told me one day she was feeling super burned out. Many of her colleagues had already left the company. She was straddled with a lot of their work. She was ready to quit, but as a new grad she needed the money. I coached her into telling her boss she's burned out and needed to switch to part-time or quit. They let her switch to a 20 hour/week schedule.

Salary was never negotiated. She was paid full-time on 20 hours a week for years.

[coreysnipes@hachyderm.io]

@jalefkowit Hero move. I didn't understand this when I worked for dotcom era firms, but I can see it clearly now.

[meltedcheese@c.im]

@jalefkowit Took me a while to learns those tricks, but I’ll testify that they work. …
But if the company wants to come after you, they will, regardless of what you sign or not.

[jalefkowit@vmst.io]

@meltedcheese Oh sure. The forms just make it easier for them

[jzb@hachyderm.io]

@jalefkowit @fesshole a company I worked for insisted that I sign a document on my way out the door attesting that I’d deleted all data, etc. under threat of perjury if I hadn’t.

My question was “why would I sign this?” I had deleted all data. I had returned the laptop. But why would I sign a form that, at least in theory, put me at some legal risk when I was leaving the job? I wasn’t getting any incentive for that.

They kept pestering me about it. I ignored it. What were they going to do, fire me? I had already quit.

I’m sure a lot of people just sign. Eff that. There’s a bad enough power imbalance between employer and employee when you’re working for a company. I see no reason to give them a freebie.

[swift@merveilles.town]

@jalefkowit I had a job that required all staff to be a 20 minute drive (and hold a driving license) or 5 minute walk to the office, to handle emergency outages. And for new staff to visit client locations within their first month (and more specialised ones within their first six months).

I lived just under a 20 minute walk away, didn't have a license and never visited any client locations. But I was generally already in management's good graces because I looked smart in the interview and was well spoken so they decided I was A Good One, and nobody ever checked or gave me shit for it.

[vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de]

@jalefkowit @meltedcheese I suspect such contract terms would be difficult to legally enforce anyway (even in some states of USA), it would need lawyers which the company isn't going to want to spend money on unless what you developed turns out to be worth millions of $

[pastathief@indiepocalypse.social]

@jalefkowit As a related but tangential example of this, in Ontario where I live, it's illegal to evict someone or enforce most kinds of penalties due to having pets. But it's not illegal to *say* people can't have pets. Landlords will regularly list, "No pets," just to discourage people, but they legally can't enforce that in any way. People who are aware just ignore such clauses, but too many people, especially newcomers, don't know it's unenforceable.

[r_3_t_3_c_h@defcon.social]

@jalefkowit I did an artshow (artfair type of thing) that the owners were already social media assholes. I needed the cash. They sent a contract with 8 simple points. 8. said: "We have the right to photograph or video you, and/or your work and use for any marketing in perpetuity."

They sent this as a pdf, asked me to send it back as a pdf. I altered 8 to read: "We expressly wave any and all rights to photograph or video you, and/or your work and we will never use any that or any similar material for any marketing in perpetuity."

They emailed back stating all looked good, see you in 2 months.

When the show began the walked around with a DJI camera and I asked them to stop when they got to my booth. There were a lot of people around, so they did not make much of a fuss. But one of them took me aside and said: "I'll be back where there are less people." I smiled and said: "You should read the contract."

I already knew it was invalid since they never gave me a signed copy from their end.

Social media "influencers" are the most insufferable kind of narcissists.

[shansterable@ohai.social]

@jalefkowit
Whenever I enter a contract, I read the entire thing, word for word.

I write down the points needing clarification and the items I don't agree with.

I go through all the questions with the counterparty. I ask, "What does this mean? Is this line item necessary?"

If I don't get a satisfactory answer, I cross it out and initial it. This is especially effective when purchasing a used car.

I rarely get pushback. Don't assume you must sign THEIR version. Question everything.