General > General Technical Chat
Does your corporation throw away useful stuff? How often and how much?
Mr. Scram:
--- Quote from: james_s on May 23, 2020, 11:02:58 pm ---When I worked at a place that did hardware they occasionally threw all kinds of interesting stuff into the e-waste bin, although nothing as valuable as that. From an official standpoint they couldn't give me permission to take things, but the IT manager and I had a sort of informal don't ask-don't tell agreement. He'd turn a blind eye just so long as I didn't leave a mess.
Personally I think throwing out good usable equipment like that is criminal and I refuse to give companies I know are doing that sort of thing any money. I'd encourage anyone to salvage what they can, but absolutely don't tell anyone about it.
--- End quote ---
Informal agreements are great but leave you vulnerable when the shit hits the fan. Suddenly no one knows about any agreement and your job is on the line. Someone may be looking for an easy and cheap way to get rid of you at some point. Getting rehired after getting caught stealing isn't going to be fun either. It's a devil's dilemma as simply throwing out good quality kit feels criminal in its own right. I'm not just talking about the hoarder's, I mean collector's point of view but also from the point of view of a society with what ultimately are limited resources. Tax rules do seem to encourage this kind of behaviour, unfortunately.
james_s:
--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on May 24, 2020, 12:59:06 am ---Informal agreements are great but leave you vulnerable when the shit hits the fan. Suddenly no one knows about any agreement and your job is on the line. Someone may be looking for an easy and cheap way to get rid of you at some point. Getting rehired after getting caught stealing isn't going to be fun either. It's a devil's dilemma as simply throwing out good quality kit feels criminal in its own right. I'm not just talking about the hoarder's, I mean collector's point of view but also from the point of view of a society with what ultimately are limited resources. Tax rules do seem to encourage this kind of behaviour, unfortunately.
--- End quote ---
Of course that could happen, but life is full of calculated risks, I chose to take that risk and it paid off. If they wanted to get rid of me they wouldn't have to accuse me of stealing, my state has at-will employment, for better or worse the employee or the employer can terminate the relationship at any time for any reason. So yeah, I could get fired for "stealing" things or I could get fired for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person or because they don't like the color of shirt I'm wearing or the way I comb my hair. I'm not opposed to taking a few risks to acquire interesting things. Many people risk a lot more for income of one form or another, there are quite a few jobs where a significant number of people are killed, worst case for me was getting fired, which never happened.
Wojciech Krolopp:
It's not exactly grabbing e-waste but few times when staying late hours at the office I opened up my coworkers computers and replaced parts with cheaper ones. I bought some cheap Pentiums and swapped them in place of Core i7. Then I sold those i7 and made some neat profit. Code monkeys did not even notice :-DD Engineering salary is a joke anyway so might as well make some money on the side.
m98:
--- Quote from: Wojciech Krolopp on May 24, 2020, 09:46:31 am ---Then I sold those i7 and made some neat profit. Code monkeys did not even notice :-DD Engineering salary is a joke anyway so might as well make some money on the side.
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Really hope this is just a bad trolling attempt, and not you confessing to crimes on the internet.
Warhawk:
--- Quote from: c64 on May 24, 2020, 12:13:12 am ---
--- Quote from: Warhawk on May 23, 2020, 12:29:48 pm ---Guys, I simply can't get over it. My corporation (+30k employees) just threw away a whole bunch of test equipment.
This includes 5GHz R&S spectrum analyzers, 1GHz Agilent oscilloscopes, Weller soldering stations that were "toxic" because somebody used a leaded solder, 6 GHz active probes, etc. etc. It goes to the same trash bin as three to four years old laptops etc.
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Tell us the location of your dumpster :)
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I've just measured on googlemaps and it is 16,309.98km from Sydney Central Train station. ::)
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