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Unfortunately, the term “hostile work environment” contains too many personal connotations for many of us. We’ve had bosses interrogate us about routinely clocking in three minutes late or coworkers put us on blast for 30-minute lunches occasionally bleeding into the 40-minute range. As much as that sucks, know that it could be worse. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates revealed that he used to memorize the license plate numbers of his employees so he could track their every movement during business hours. Ouch.
From Time:
The Microsoft cofounder revealed some of his former business tactics in a wide-ranging interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs program. “I knew everyone’s license plate, so I could look out in the parking lot and see when did people come in, when were they leaving. Eventually I had to loosen up, as the company got to a reasonable size,” he said.
Gates would scan the parking lot, checking in on which of his employees actually arrived on time, as well as keeping track of those who took too long of a break or had a tendency to leave early. Sounds like the dude seriously needed a chill pill or seven. He admits that, as the company grew, he had to loosen up on his parking lot micromanaging hobby in order to keep up with the hundreds that Microsoft employs. I suppose that when you’re in control of one of the country’s top companies, it probably makes sense to stop acting as campus security patrol.
Overall, this puts my boss in a slightly better light – even though she may lecture me about the occasional long lunch break, at least I know she isn’t tracking my every movement to make sure I work exactly 480 minutes five days a week. After all, I’m on salary..
[via Time]
Image via Rob Crandall / Shutterstock.com
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Steph W.
Steph W. is a new Master's degree graduate with an intern's salary and six-figure taste. She realizes her expectations far exceed reality, so she spends her days pinning away Loubs she pretends are in her physical closet instead of her virtual one. Her hobbies include attempting to trapping her boyfriend into marriage before he finds out how insane she is and pretending that Black Box wine tastes as good as the kind she could afford when she was gainfully employed. Send her tips for getting out of student debt at recruitchairtsm@gmail.com
@therecruitchair
I would have had no problem never getting to work late or leaving early if it meant getting in on Microsoft at the ground floor.
I worked at Microsoft. By far, the weirdest people ive ever been associated with.
I feel like it would’ve been a whole lot easier just to remember what cars they drove