Instant Messaging

[Rage]

I find this funny in my office. Someone is sitting 2 steps away from me and sends me an IM instead of walking over to talk to me.

[PenforPrez]

I find this funny in my office. Someone is sitting 2 steps away from me and sends me an IM instead of walking over to talk to me.

That's frequent in my office.

[Krishna]

In College, my roommates and I would IM each other from the same apartment. At one point, we even IM'd each other from the same dorm room.

[koolkat1980]

Australia hasn't gotten to that point yet...I'm hoping we won't....but still Australia certainly does prefer emailing to talking to people in the cubes!

It's no wonder why people get depressed! No face-to-face contact! I wonder if the younger generations are going to be badly, 'socially inept?"

[mlle]

. . . At one point, we even IM'd each other from the same dorm room.

That's absolutely hysterical.

We weren't allowed to use IM in my office, but we'd always e-mail each other even if we were literally one cube away. I agree that it's very sad.

[wordsmith]

The only time I've ever done this was when I worked at the paper, and my graphic designer and I would shoot IMs back and forth even though we sat within view of one another; silently commenting on the lunacy/ridiculousness that was going on around us in a sometimes gently mocking, sometimes outright raving, way. On occasion, we'd also retreat to the kitchenette and explode, but IM was a bit more discreet.

We're not allowed IM where I am now.

[LaFille]

The only time I've ever done this was when I worked at the paper, and my graphic designer and I would shoot IMs back and forth even though we sat within view of one another; silently commenting on the lunacy/ridiculousness that was going on around us in a sometimes gently mocking, sometimes outright raving, way. On occasion, we'd also retreat to the kitchenette and explode, but IM was a bit more discreet.



this reminds me (to a frightening degree) of how IM, actually Skype to be more specific, is used in my office. typically there's some sort of ridiculing going on. we also make full use of the "vomit" emoticon that Skype so creatively includes.

i was absolutely shocked when i entered the working world how people would email me from across the room rather than, god forbid, talking to me. now i think it's kind of funny... actually my favorite is calling someone across the room so that they can sort of hear your voice both on and off the phone. wow, it's so sad the kinds of things i find hysterical now that i'm a corporate slave :rolleyes:

[Krishna]

That's absolutely hysterical.

Yep. We were pretty cool!:p

[wordsmith]

At the aforementioned previous office, my boss would OFTEN e-mail "memos," which were less memos and more passive aggressive bitching, but he was too socially inept and awkward and uncomfortable in his supervisory role to actually address any issues. Which would have not been a big deal had he been boss of 100 people and seldom seen, but there were eight of us sharing essentially a big room. Ridiculous.

[Krishna]

Words, perhaps they've made it on to this website: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

[ugarachel82]

In College, my roommates and I would IM each other from the same apartment. At one point, we even IM'd each other from the same dorm room.

DONE IT.

[Rage]

People IM back and forth to bitch all the time, but it is definitely sad when someone IMs me about work and I can actually SEE them.

[aggiegrad05]

I've said this before, but I actually prefer that someone send me an IM or email if it's not about something really pressing. There are quite a few less than wonderful people to talk to in my office, and they all love to camp out in my doorway and babble about nothing. And they always seem to do that when I'm right in the middle of trying to get something done.

[Bocheezu]

We aren't allowed to download any programs to our computers (a lot of people don't have admin rights to install programs on their computers, anyway), so the IM is verboten here. And I think the office age is far, far too high for it to ever happen, anyway.

[Samwell]

And I think the office age is far, far too high for it to ever happen, anyway.

You'd be surprised. The gossipy old women at my job seem to be the biggest abusers of the company IM.

[cheshrcarol]

We are all constantly on IM at my job. We have a corporate one that we use, it's not like we all sit there on AIM all day. I need it in my job because occasionally there are times when I need to ask someone who sits no where near me a quick question and get an immediate answer. Plus, where I work everyone is super busy so it's not great to go over to someone's cube and make them pay attention to you that second. As for emails, even if someone is close to you, sometimes you need to have a record of what you're discussing. I email my boss all the time, even though her office is 5 feet from me because of these reasons.

But for the most part my friends and I use IM to chat about non-work stuff. We can multi-task so we can work and talk all day long, lol. And it's a must have to get grou consensus on lunch, lol. My work crush and I will literally talk all day long. And the girl that sits next to me will im me occasionally so that no one knows we're talking about completely non-work stuff.

[wordsmith]

At my last job, I spent most days talking all day to my out of state friends, while working on whatever I was working on. But not really as much IMing within the office.

[jr1012]

At my last job, two guys were caught bad-mouthing their boss through IMs. Someone said that her user name popped up with the message "Oh, really?!" I'm not sure how she could have done that, but of course it was just embarrassing for everyone involved.