I learned about this forum from my old boss who suddenly became very interested in the postings of a particular person and wanted me to find out who it was. I did figure it out, but I lied and said I hadn't. My boss was a pr1ck and I wasn't about to bust someone for expressing him or herself honesty.
When I was still employed by US, I did so because I had no place else, really, to voice my frustrations about the company and its ways of doing business. That only increased with the advent of the US/HP merger. Post-employment, I spend time and energy here because I like to see what I'm missing. Sometimes for sentimental reasons; sometimes for a reminder of why I'm happy I don't work there any longer.
US treats its employees like crap.
They can talk about "open door policies" and "environments of effective employee communication" and "360 degree feedback" until their heads pop off, but the fact is that middle management doesn't give a good GD about how we feel. They care about how we produce.
As a member of management, I listened to my employees' concerns (and commiserated on a number of occasions) openly. But I might as well have been pissing into a fan when it came to communicating that stuff upline. Nobody cared. One of my bosses was always famous for saying "Tough. If it were fun, they wouldn't call it work. Tell X person to quit their b1tching and do their GD job or we can always fire him or her and they can work somewhere else."
At some point, that sentiment starts to trickle down. Junior management gives up. Then the front-line realizes there is no point trying to make things better, and as a result, they find another outlet.
And thus, we find ourselves on this forum making our issus available for all of cyberspace. And then they try to squelch that by having corporate moles lurking on here to make people paranoid and issuing Draconian "ethics policies" that include mention of being boiled in oil if one posts on the internet.
If they'd just listen to people in the first place, all of this would be unnecessary, and the dude (or dame) who thought up USAV wouldn't be getting rich and we'd be out enjoying the sunshine.
