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Lawn Care.

I hate this thing:Look at me, I'm so important that I have a BlackBerry. This thing can do anything. I can get all of my work email...instantly. I can get all of my gmail email...instantly. I can get all my my Outlook reminders and contacts wirelessly synced up...instantly. My office phone can be forwarded to my cell phone so I will never miss an important call while I am out of the office. Our monitoring system can instantly send me an email when there is any problem with our network 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

The added value is when everyone else's expectation of you increases. Email responses are now expected 24hrs a day. Your private time is no longer your time, it's now the time that you wait to get an email, a phone call, an SMS, some sort of notification from someone or something that requires your immediate attention. Someone out there cannot function without the timely keystrokes of your PDA.

In my line of work, there is no such thing as not working. You are always working, always waiting for some sort of notification to buzz the shit out of your BlackBerry at 3 am causing you to shoot out of bed and jump into action. Immediate response is critical to maintain 99.999% uptime. Computer networks don't care that it is 3am, Sunday afternoon, Christmas Eve, or 7:30am on your girlfriend's birthday (I'm REALLY sorry).

What are the benefits of mowing lawns? Who is going to call you at 3am shouting in your ear "My grass is growing! My grass is growing!" Tragic.

- P

Comments

Homme said…
where do you work, a freakin data center?
10:06 PM
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