Next time you want to buy a Canon....(be thankful you don't work here)

[WriteDown]

You may want to remember this....

http://www.dannychoo.com/detail/mac/eng/image/19639/Canon+Electronics.html

[begin_within]

1. Wish I'd known that before I bought my Canon A480

I like the camera, but now I'm sorry I bought it.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Nikon it is!

[Irreverend IX]

15. Nikon is more or less a branch of the Mitsubishi conglomerate...

And Mitsubishi owns some ultra-conservative publishing companies and has a terrible environmental record. Canon has a fairly good environmental record in comparison and has been incorporated in some green mutual funds. I don't know if you can stay ideologically pure when buying a camera.

[BlooInBloo]

17. I was being sarcastic. I know full well that ANY large company I consider buying anything from...

will have practices that result in the instant revocation of my "true progressive" membership.

[jody]

3. Vaguely recall a story about a worker who hadn't been paid in a year or more but continued to work

for fear of losing his job.

[WriteDown]

5. I'm scratching my head now. nt

[mitchum]

4. I'm only gonna steal them from now on

[JVS]

27. +1

[MadHound]

6. Hmm, and where did the Japanese learn these draconian management techniques?

Oh, yeah, from the US.

Really, those of you who are expressing shock and outrage over this really need to take a tour of US factories. You'll see things that are just as horrible. It's not a Canon thing, it's not a Japanese thing, it's a capitalist thing.

[DS1]

7. Riiiight

Because the Japanese had an ideal feudal society with absolutely nothing wrong with it before the Americans showed up. Gimmie a fucking break.

[MadHound]

9. Look, I'm sorry that facts don't agree with you,

But Japan did import it's factory and manufacturing models directly from the US. During the period from 1900 throughout the interwar period, Japan imported these technologies and methods from the US. As part of the Japanese rebuilding process, the US exported these technologies, management techniques, and above all, attitudes directly to Japan in order to return them to economic stability ASAP. These are historical realities, and if you don't believe me, well then, there are plenty of books documenting what I'm saying here.

Don't believe me? Go to your nearest Kinko's('scuse me, now FedEx office). Note the fact that there is absolutely no chairs behind the counter where the work is going on. Those folks stay on their feet for eight hours at a stretch, except for their meal break. I know, I worked there for a few years.

Or go to your nearest factory, go out on the work floor. Notice that there are no chairs there. Notice that the people are moving at a fairly fast clip, oh, wait, they're moving faster now, the line's been sped up. Factories slowly kill people, go look up the health stats.

And where do you think this whole "walk at a certain pace" came from? Oh, yeah, those darn time-motion studies that were so popular up until the mid-sixties. What, you don't think that we exported those to Japan too? Puhleeze Vulcan:eyes:

Look, you may not agree with these facts, but facts they remain, ones that can be read in many a history book. Sorry if this somehow bums you out, but oh well, facts can do that sometimes.

[mitchum]

14. Slightly OT: I'm a fellow ex-Kinkoid...

started back in the day when it was still a hippie/capitalist company and they really did give the workers a lot of laxity in terms of hours, personal dress, breaks, profit sharing and etc...(although there was always a sort of creepy cult of personality thing going on with that whole Paul thing) but slowly and incrementally it became the "efficiently" oppressive hell you described. I'm very glad to have gotten out of there 10 years ago.

[MadHound]

21. I worked there for three years in the mid ninties

I worked overnight for a couple of reasons, liked the slightly better pay and the fact that I didn't have management hanging over my shoulder. Of course being the night shift meant that I got all the really strange orders. Regularly had the state AG dropping off murder scene pics for upcoming court cases, yuck, blood and guts all over. Or the pervs who wanted copies of their semi-nude girlfriends and such for swinger ads. Probably the strangest was when I came in one night and saw a friend of mine who also worked there behind the counter just going into a tweaking frenzy. Turns out the state AG had dropped off a box of, get this, coke, pot and paraphenalia to have color copies made to be picked up the next day. Idiot manager didn't demand police protection, didn't say that "hey, we'll do this one while you wait", no, he simply put it in the bins and kicked onto the overnight folks.

Well, my friend, being an ex coke addict and looking at somewhere around a pound of the stuff was just going nuts, me, I'm looking at that long line of windows up front that allows everybody to see everything, especially at night. I took the entire box, remaining in full view of all cameras, and put the entire thing in the safe so that the morning shift could take care of it. The morning manager started to go off on me about not doing the job, and I just went ballistic about the lack of security, the legal ramifications, the fact that I could be called to court about chain of evidence matters, etc. etc. She saw my points and backed down, but still. I was out of there six months later.

The tech aspect of the place was fun, I've always had a bit of printer's ink in my blood. But the regimentation and creeping corporate atmosphere really bummed me out. I always thought the tie thing was a safety hazard(can you say soft lamination machine), and I hate uniforms.

Now though I think that Kinko's is on a slow roll to being out of here. With the advent of personal printing, computers and such their services are becoming less and less in demand, after all, who's going to run down to Kinko's and run off forty SS copies when they can do the same thing at home with their inkjet:shrug:

We'll see though, however I'm still a bit pissed at them. There was that big promise that Kinko's would go public, and I had a fair number of promisary shares. They kept kicking around that promise for over a year, then with no warning, paid everybody off with cash instead and immediately afterward became part of the FedEx line. Hell, I would have loved to have had a few hundred shares in FedEx.

Oh well, fun memories from that time. Nothing like having a good looking drunk woman wanting to color copy her naked breasts, and then proceeding to run off twenty copies at a dollar a pop, all in front of myself and everybody passing by.

[mitchum]

24. Now, that's the Kinko's I remember...

running off homemade porn for customers
reading psychiatric reports
making copies of the KKK Christmas letter
finding a mispaced gun in the self service area
having to remind coworkers not to roll joints in view of the cameras
special "discounted" jobs that went out the backdoor
much more...
Although nothing as mindboggling as the coke story though.

Like you, I also enjoyed the tech aspects of the job (Damn, that's a clean copy!), but found the creeping corporate culture to be ultimately intolerable.
The ironic thing is that when my store was run like a pirate ship, it was at its most profitable.

[DS1]

26. I think you have your timelines wrong

Those time-motion practices weren't invented until much later, well after the war, and to lay the blame on the US for exporting them to Japan, which has long being a society revolving around shame is simply ludicrous, in my mind.

Of course, we're going to disagree with this. I don't think Japan by any means was a model society, abuse runs through its history as well.

[WriteDown]

29. You may want to brush up on your history...

Try feudal Japan for starters. It is laughable to think that this type of "die for the company" culture comes from the US.

[michreject]

10. Those workers are office staff

Not factory assemblers. Their desk and chair have been removed.

[MadHound]

13. Perhaps, perhaps not,

Can't really tell, but even if it is office workers, ie white collar, does that somehow make it more horrendous. Factory workers out on the floor in the US are on their feet eight hour shifts, but we're supposed to suddenly feel concern when it's white collar workers who are standing.

Look, whether white collar or blue collar, the fact remains that this sucks for anybody, and this sort of draconian treatment is a direct result of Japan's importation of US management styles back during the post-war occupation. Hell, it's not even that far away from what goes on in most US factories and businesses. But somehow we're supposed to hate the Japanese for doing this while ignoring the source of where these practices came from? I don't think so.

[michreject]

18. Lots of people stand on their feet while at their jobs for 8 hrs a day

and have for years without any influence from another culture.

Bank tellers, Cashiers, Ticket agents, Mail carriers, and even Dog walkers. The list is long and distinguished.

[WriteDown]

34. But few have computerized hallways

to monitor walking speed. :)

[michreject]

37. That's a new on one me nt

[WriteDown]

35. But few have computerized hallways

to monitor walking speed. :)

[eilen]

25. Then why were we sending managers to Japan in the 1970's and 80's

to learn the Japanese management techniques/stye? I remember the "unique" Japanese business model being shown on tv-- 60 minutes or one of those shows.

[WriteDown]

30. Once again....

brush up on your history.

[armyowalgreens]

8. I guess Nikon's getting my business.

That shit is completely ridiculous.

The guy that runs that place needs to read "Leisure-basis of culture" by Josef Pieper.

[ContinentalOp]

11. Standing while you work is kind of better for your body though.

Sitting in an office chair is not exactly great for your back. Lots of people have jobs where they're on their feet all day. They should at least have some tall stools though.

[Deja Q]

23. Agreed; I've done a lot of sitting and without a half-decent chair, it will catch up on ya over time

It is better for the leg muscles...

[EndersDame]

28. As a former retail monkee and current tray slinger I agree

When I was a hostess for Corporate Pizza Kitchen we couldnt even sit down when the place was dead and we were wiping down menus The bussers couldnt sit whilst rolling silver ware.The Waiters werent allowed to sit either and we all worked six hour shifts running around like headless chickens for six hours. Not nearly as intense but it reminded me of that. I now work at a restaurant that is not corporate and anal about sitting down.

[Obamanaut]

12. And remember this also, from the article, the book title

"A company will do well if you get rid of the chairs and computers" and then consider how often one can read posts here such as "Can you give us cube rats more info?"

One might get the idea that some workers are not working as busily as they could be due to the distractions of the internet and posting thereon.

When the employer hires a worker for eight hours, is eight hours of work too much to expect?

[RedCappedBandit]

16. Love how the president has a nice, comfy chair in his office. prick. nt

[tabasco]

19. This is not the camera division of Canon

it's the division that makes scanners printers.

They need to replace this mental case.

Sort of old school Japanese-Spartan craziness.

I read in the comments section that these workers are well paid with great benefits.

[Fumesucker]

20. Right offhand I can't think of a single construction labor type job

You do sitting on your ass..

Hell, drywall hangers and finishers will spend eight hours a day or more walking on stilts that put your head nearly nine feet in the air. Walking stilts is horribly uncomfortable after a while because if you get the straps tight enough where they don't flop around there is always pressure on the bottom of your feet even when you pick them up.

And let's not talk about falling from nine feet high on the typical construction job where there is debris of all types laying around everywhere.

[Deja Q]

22. "much more quicker"?

:rofl:

The "let's rush" idea has been confirmed to be bass-ackwards too...

I love their camera quality, however... Beats the **** out of Sony and Nikon...

I'm surprised that they need so many computers... I have five also, but I only use one at a time and two are permanently decommissioned.

Oh, did you see the follow-up page?


Workers vs boss -- sad.

[WriteDown]

31. Blatantly false....

Canon does have better P&S cameras, but Nikon is vastly superior to Canon when it comes to DSLR's. Check out the D90, D300, D700, and D3x reviews at places like dpreview.com or dcresource.com. Better body construction, better high iso images, and better metering.

[iamthebandfanman]

32. just curious but

nobody forces people to work for Canon correct?

seems like faux outrage if you ask me...

many many businesses here in the United States dont allow their workers to sit for ANYTHING besides using the rest room and on breaks.

[WriteDown]

36. And those businesses...

have computerized hallways to monitor walking speed? Japanese culture is completely different from US culture. Many workers would give their life for their employer. Its the new shogunate.

[Bombero1956]

33. are they allowed to sit in the bathroom?

and are they required to do their business within a certain timeframe? Take the bosses chair away too.