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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on The scariest company in the world? ]]></title>
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    <lastBuildDate>2013-05-22T15:08:08-07:00</lastBuildDate>
             

    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Asperger's isn't a disorder]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3211026]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Asperger's is called a syndrome, which is not a disorder, whereas full blown 'Autism' is one of the many Autistic spectrum disorders. So people with Asperger's are very employable at the right job - which probably isn't going to be people-focused. Even before anyone said anything about Alice I thought she might have an Autistic disorder from the description of her behaviour. She is wildly overcompensating for her inability to react appropriately to people. I'm amazed she has a job at all.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3211026]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[tony.maine@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:35:44 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Sorry, I just found the whole thing kinda hard to believe]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3197125]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[&gt;  1. prosopagnosia, which is &quot;face-blindess&quot;, i.e., I frequently cannot recognize the faces of people I've worked with for years,  2. uncharacteristic eye contact, i.e., too much, too little, or in the &quot;wrong&quot; rhythym. This means that a certain group of people get a &quot;creepy&quot; feeling about me, which I cannot fix, and they don't understand no matter how hard I try to explain.  My problem is: how do I live with my conscience? The whole matter has nothing to do with your conscience. You're not the boss, you don't have any authority, therefore it's not yours to fix anything. You can't fix it, you are not expected to fix it, and there's no way in hell you could be blamed for it. My advice: Disengage. Stop caring about your job, and start preparing for retirement. If you are autistic, you're probably good at programming. If this is the case, it would be a shame to let your talents and abilities go to waste. So start looking for freelance contracting or consulting jobs, maybe doing small coding projects from home in the afternoons. rentacoder.com or similar might be a good place to start. With time and effort, these small projects can become bigger. This way, you'll have something to pass the time, and make an extra buck once you retire.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3197125]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jkameleon@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:15:43 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Your conscience]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3196164]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Those other employees are there by choice.  If they want to leave the company/job they can.  The fact that she is the HR person makes this even more clear.  If I interview for a job and find that the interviewer has some type of abusive personality disorder I don't take the job.Additionally, it might make you feel better to visualise this woman getting pushed under a train.Being the only tech savvy person in the company, you might also consider embezzling a large sum of money and making it look like she did it.  (repeat as needed until she's gone).]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3196164]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[kandyass@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:13:30 -0800</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Some suggestions]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3196048]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[First, let me apologize for the late reply. Somehow I missed this article when it came out.I see the two symptoms you mention quite a lot, actually -- every time I look in a mirror. I think I recognize a third symptom I share: a dislike of being around people.&quot;Alice&quot; seems simply horrid, but, as someone who (like you) dislikes excessive contact and has a hard time &quot;reading&quot; people, her micro-management must seem especially galling. It might not seem as bad to her actual victims, however, as it does to you; they may be better equipped to handle such intrusions into personal space.Rather than try to get &quot;Alice&quot; fired (that is what we are talking about, right?) I suggest you supply a crying shoulder in the coffee shop. Give no advice unless asked; I am told that &quot;normal&quot; people, and especially female norms, like to talk to blow steam, like a dog barking. When asked, keep your advice simple, practical, and vague. Don't attack Alice; support your fellow manager as best you can. (Trust me on this.) Instead, give them Ann Landers Law: You can't change Alice, so your choice is, whether your life better with or without her. You seem clearly focused on this; perhaps you can help any friends of yours who work for Alice come to a similar focus.Two more bits of advice (you asked for it!) from someone your age who's been there, done that. These worked for me; if you're already doing these things, forgive my gratuitous suggestions. 1. Don't avoid the coffee room. Sit at the table with others, listen to the gossip, join in when appropriate. 2. If you haven't already, sign up for behavioral therapy. The only person you can change is you -- and you can't even do that, without help.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3196048]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[RudHud]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:53:05 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[nope....its true]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3192596]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[places like that exists.. i have experianced it...]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3192596]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[sohnythomas@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:48:53 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[And the one down the hall....]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191976]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[...boss!]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191976]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[NotSoChiGuy]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:31:39 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Here is the single example....]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191972]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[My last employer.Of a staff of about 300 HR people company wide, about 100 were men.  The VP of HR was male, as were 2 of the 5 directors reporting into him.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191972]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[NotSoChiGuy]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:08:41 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[What do you call the sociopath in the cube next to you?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191970]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[A coworker....]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191970]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[BFilmFan]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:46:12 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Disorder is a medical term]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191948]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I was using the medical term disorder to mean a condition which is not considered to be general or within the normal parameters. I was hoping to encourage the person to tell them simply being diagnosed with a disorder is NOT a mandate that they cannot be considered valuable employees, as it is simply not the truth in my experience. And based on most of the comments, it can be viewed as a definitive plus.I can understand and agree with your point that saying you have a disorder has in some parts of society come to mean you are a victim of a disability. While some disorders can indeed cause you to be suffer a disability, it doesn't mean that all of them do. No one considers heterochromia a disability; but, I douby few people would consider achromatosis to not be one.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191948]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[BFilmFan]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:42:59 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[globally incorrect there done]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191530]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Come to the land of Oz and ye shall discoveryour statement may quite well be wrong.In any case i have had more issues with the male HR clowns.I had one redline me to the point of wanting to clock the sod and do as someone else suggested eg hole in backyard or blue barrel waiting for that one better still shark bait !What gets me as i discovered from the knob in my case was the dill wasn't even qualifiedas HR but because he brown nosed the boss.Well guess what the little *u*d is untouchable in his nice tax payer funded position.His boss is X cisco trained (you can see why it didn't cut the mustard in IT) No disrespect to other cisco qualified persons.woohooo gotta laugh it's beyond the stage of crying.The worst thing is dysfuntional dementorslike that one have to deal with all sorts of people as i pointed out to the CEO.Addicts, Disabled, Ethnics and every cross section of society.Clearly more scrutiny has to be put on these positions.As in my case the clown wasn't even ment to be there he's not trained to know how to deal with people on a personal level.People in HR found to be antogonising staffor clients should be sacked immediatly NQA.Whats the point of having a chief diplomatwho is the war monger causing the trouble ?Male or female it don't matter.Gender or disabillity etc is not the issue.It's these peoples attitudes in the work place.People who clearly suffer an inabilityto be decent let alone understand where people are coming from should Not be in HR.Yet we find them left right and center because obviously they are no good for anything else (wrecks the rep of good ones).Not even good for the role they've been assigned if they carry on like that.It amazes me how companies have have that as they're frontline.And they wonder why no one wants to do business with them when word gets out what they're attitude is like.Let alone how they treat they're staff.It's high time the bosses out there turf such chaff.They just turn the workplace into complete bedlam and productivity goes out the window.Stating the obvious i know but it just isn't sinking in to the dills who hire these morons in the first place wether it's becausethey're friends of the family/company etcwho cares they shouldn't be there if there not suited.Once again this would not occur in a perfect world.Hang in there any one going through such crudyou can only hope fate catches up with them at it's own accord Usually it does but no where near fast enough most would argue.Every time i hear HR i now cringe !If you have an attitude problem and have the customer skills of a raging meth head.Well our beloved JNM's here will hire you !NQA just make sure you make a good impression on the boss face first *slurp!And your virtually guaranteed a spot.Fact]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191530]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[337]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:16:55 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[For programmers, Asperger's is ability, not disabilty (nt)]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191258]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191258]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jkameleon@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:26:28 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[I agree]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191264]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I think a lot of things labeled as a &quot;disability&quot; or &quot;disorder&quot; today are bogus. I think it comes from the assumption that everyone is supposed to be completely balanced. A lot of people who are labeled to having a &quot;disability&quot; are really people that have a great strength coupled with a great weakness. When I was young they diagnosed me with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder). It's fairly common and I am sure most of you have heard of it. True, I do have a hard time focusing on things, not because I am &quot;attention deficit&quot; but because my mind is going a mile a minute and thinking about many different things. Being &quot;ADHD&quot; in my opinion is a great strength but requires a lot of discipline. It's like harnessing the power of a storm.I think many of the great people in history would be diagnosed with a sundry of &quot;disorders&quot; these days. What sort of problems would Albert Einstein be diagnosed with if he lived today.It is my advise to anyone out there who has been labeled with some kind of problem that if people tell you that you won't be able to do certain things in life because of your &quot;problem&quot;, don't listen to them. I've had people tell me my whole life I couldn't do things and I've proved them wrong by doing many of the very things they said I couldn't.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191264]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Brenton Keegan]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:13:41 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Have read about Asperger Syndrome]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191262]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[But that doesn't excuse a bad boss or coworker. I had one like that, I shot him/her and buried it out back.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191262]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[davidt@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:08:53 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[it's a prerequisite for a succesfull programming career.]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191260]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Damn straight .  They got me with that and ADHD, just means I program really fast and come up with really complicated functions that no one can seem to understand (Job security  )]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191260]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Slayer_]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:07:50 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Perception on the writer]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191249]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I'm also familiar with Asperger's and other ASDs. Part of the problem with these disorders is they also affect the individual's sense of &quot;right and wrong&quot;. My own observation is that dealing with things like hypocriticism and unfairness is very difficult. So I'm sure that adds to the writer's stress.My advice is to consult a lawyer or doctor to see if being forced to work in this enviroment is affecting you in a way that you could be entitled to stress leave.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191249]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[TBone2k]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:55:27 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Anguish]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191230]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Coping with it is to keep it and to feed it.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191230]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[santeewelding]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:25:22 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[From Alice's coworker]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191225]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[The woman who emailed me about this issue was unable to post a comment. She asked me to post this for her:I assure you, I am not pulling anyone's leg.  I wish I was.  I am in programming.  I'm the only programmer, and the only one in my current company that knows anything about computers or programming.  My boss doesn't know enough to even know if I'm doing a good job or not.He tends to rely on the opinion of men he meets on airline flights.Fortunately, years ago we purchased a computer accounting system from an outside vendor, and their owner/accountant/programmer keeps telling my boss how good I really am (I find his bugs and correct them when he can't).  I'm 58 years old.  I changed jobs frequently, until I finally realized that nothing got any better, and probably never would.  I can do the work, but because of my poor people skills, good companies won't hire me.  I finally realized that I have probably been hired by a series of bad companies, and that explains my experiences.  I have two very common, and entirely harmless, autistic traits: 1. prosopagnosia, which is &quot;face-blindess&quot;, i.e., I frequently cannot recognize the faces of people I've worked with for years, and 2. uncharacteristic eye contact, i.e., too much, too little, or in the &quot;wrong&quot; rhythym.  This means that a certain group of people get a &quot;creepy&quot; feeling about me, which I cannot fix, and they don't understand no matter how hard I try to explain.  This, in itself, is part of what makes even high-functioning autism a handicap, not just a difference.  Changing jobs just means that I'm faced with an entire new company of strangers, without any foreknowledge of who I will have unsolvable problems with, or how to go about dealing with the problems that will always come up.  At least my current job is &quot;the devil I know&quot;.  We used to have a &quot;real&quot; HR person.  She and I got along great, and she instituted a series of improvements.  However, she left after 6 months (I suspect in frustration/disgust), and a few months later, her changes were rescinded.  Since some of those changes had to do with long-time employees getting more vacation time, when they were rescinded there were a lot of hurt feelings.  &quot;Alice&quot; is also miserable here.  She and I are both dependent on our health insurance, myself because of pre-existing conditions, her because of her husband with pre-existing conditions.  She announced to me at one time that she saw HR as her way out of this company and into a new job; that's apparently why she pushed to fill this long-standing empty position, and my boss didn't really care either way.  With 20 years of seniority, and being only 4 years from early retirement, I don't like the idea of changing jobs if I don't have to.I'd hate to wind up with no seniority in a new company, and then in this tough economy have them start layoffs.  I work in a &quot;right-to-work&quot; state.  This has to be one of the original oxymorons, because what it means is that you basically *don't* have any right to work.  It means that employers can fire anyone, at any time, for any reason.  Their only potential liability is that if they fire too many people, their unemployment insurance payments go up.  That's it.  We have already been sued, years ago.  We're still here.  And we've had major embezzlement incidents, 3 of them, in a company of less than 50 people.  I have come fully &quot;out of the closet&quot;...I've told my boss about my condition, and he knows it is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  However, that doesn't protect you in the case of mass layoffs.  That seniority thing looks better to me right now than a different job.  My problem is: how do I live with my conscience?  Knowing that I should really stick it out, and try to stay put until I can arrange to retire, how do I deal with watching co-workers suffer?  It isn't an issue of legality; we're too small a company for most federal laws to apply to us, and there are so few protective state laws that there might as well be none.  I've finally gotten myself into a comparatively comfortable position...my desk is in the computer room, we have to keep the door closed for the a/c for the servers, most of the employees have been moved to the opposite side of the building, and I successfully fought being moved with them by pointing out that re-running all the cables to the servers would be hugely expensive (true, and not an exaggeration, although at first my boss refused to believe it until I documented it).I'm doing okay...but I feel so sorry for the employees who are not.  I try to ignore it...but every few months, another incident happens that has me so upset, I find myself contemplating &quot;just quitting&quot; on the spot without even having a job to go to.  Any insight that might help me cope would be welcome.  ]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191225]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Toni Bowers]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:13:02 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Social skills]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191146]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Perhaps it is because women, on the average, have better social skills than men.  You are aware, of course, that your comment requires a single example to the contrary to be proven inaccurate.  I suspect that TR members can provide several examples to the contrary.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191146]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Geek3001]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:45:44 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Really?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191125]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Do you really need to throw that question out there?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191125]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jeanie2424]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:38:38 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Women]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191105]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Why are all HR jobs taken up by women ?]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-319855-3191105]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Englebert]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:09:48 -0700</pubDate>
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