Quick Rant

I haven't posted here in a while, and I don't have a cartoon for you today - but I'm upset about something that was said in a meeting yesterday, and the more I think about it the more irritated I get.

So, we have work phones. I understand that they're primarily for work. They necessarily have data plans because most of what we do is by email. But some people (yes, including me) also use them for personal stuff.

Someone at yesterday's meeting said, "That's stealing from the company!"

That's a defensible position, even if I wouldn't defend it (I know I've written about Amartya Sen at some point, but I can elaborate on that if anyone cares).

But let's suppose we take this seriously: using the phone for personal stuff is "stealing from the company." It would be nice if the president didn't send out photos of her granddaughter (or nice sunsets) to the entire staff: how much data does that use? And it would be nice if the vice-president didn't include a link to her other business at the bottom of her signature line.

But let's push this a little bit further. Should I charge my work phone at home? The company seems to be "stealing" my electricity. Should I let my phone, or my work computer, have access to my wireless network? That's stealing bandwidth, even if I'm not paying for wireless by the amount of data I'm using.

I might have to bring that up at some point, to the appropriate people, rather than just putting it on the internet; but having typed it all out, I'm hoping I can stop being irritated as I head off to my other job.