Perusing pr0nz at work? Here's a protip: Save it in a file marked 'private' A Frenchman who was fired after his bosses discovered porn stored on his work computer has been told his human rights were not violated by his employers' snooping. The case goes way back to 2007, when Eric Libert was suspended from his role as head of the regional surveillance unit in Amiens, northern France, for railway firm …
"Flicks de grumble"? Non, monsieur! Le expressione et "flicks grumbleissant", decide par le Academie Francaise!
On such matters, do the Frogs still use "les flics" in much the same way that some Rosbifs use the term "the filth"? I'm sure there's some lukewarm humour to mined there.
On such matters, do the Frogs still use "les flics" in much the same way that some Rosbifs use the term "the filth"?
From what I hear around me(1), it seems that "the cops" is a better translation than "the filth", but I wouldn't want to say that it's never used in a way that I'd translate as "filth" or "pigs".
(That is, it seems to lack most of the pejorative element that's in "the filth".)
(1) Pay attention, you there in the back! I've been living and working in France for the last nine years, and outside my home, almost everything I do is done in French.
Apparently, one of the first uses of photography in France was... government-approved images of an "artistic" subject (i.e. nude women), the said image - approved for sale - being called an "academie". Before photography, the approval system was for painters in the same line. With photography it got rather overloaded. This golden age was from about 1840-1855 according to Wikipedia Not Safe For Work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_photography which seem to be mainly citing a television documentary which I admit I remember quite well myself. Perhaps you do too.
So the stuff was official then.
Students of how technological progress is propelled may be pleased to note early adoption of stereography, the 19th century's virtual reality, if you will.
@Teiwaz:"I've been places they've run open soft skills sessions about hugs and offered massages...."
If you're called to attend one of these sessions by your employer, you won't get any hugs or massages.
You might get to sign a piece of paper at the end though, promising not to hug or massage your female colleagues...
Some of us are content merely to have a shit at work on that basis.
A long time ago I worked with somebody who would always go for a crap five minutes after lunch break ended. It was an hour-long break so employees had the opportunity to do some shopping or whatever after eating. But he'd always hold it in until lunch break was over, rather than do it in his own time
I'm not faulting him for that attitude, but some days he did look a little strained before visiting the bog. A man of principles, prepared to suffer discomfort rather than violate those principles.
A long time ago I worked with somebody who would always go for a crap five minutes after lunch break ended. ..... A man of principles, prepared to suffer discomfort rather than violate those principles.
I always admire a man of principles. But we should recognise that the employers are fighting back, using such inhumane tactics as "Bear's Arse" brand toilet paper made from iron filings, swarf and powdered nettle and jellyfish mix. Or, as one German-owned energy supplier tried, scouring the world to find a supplier of the lightest weight single ply toilet paper they could buy. After finding how easily this tore, the employees (self included) took to using metres of the stuff for each wipe, leading to two and a half years of expensive maintenance because the bogs were always blocked, and no saving on the bog roll costs because more got used. Even after they reverted to normal trade grade arsewipe, the hard learned lessons means that people were still stuffing the bog with metres of the stuff.
It's interesting that the French are known for strike action and generally being lazy. Yet when they do go into work they look at porn... and have rules that means it might, in some circumstances, be alright.
It's a wonder they get anything done over there. Then again I'm not sure what the market demand for shit cars and disgusting cheese actually is.
Now, I'm not familiar with France, apart from the Dunkerque ferry terminal. But I do think that your observations are incorrect.
"It's interesting that the French are known for strike action and generally being lazy. "
https://data.oecd.org/lprdty/gdp-per-hour-worked.htm
France consistently has a slightly higher productivity of labour than the UK.
"**** cars"
Ermm, not sure what your experience in this area is, but I've had my Renault Clio Estate for a decade or so and it's been extremely reliable and fuel efficient. Best compactish car for carrying loads of stuff I've had since my Austin Maxi (now, that dates me :).
"France consistently has a slightly higher productivity of labour than the UK."
The graph on that page you link is GDP growth normalized to 2010, so not relevant. If you look at absolute numbers you will find that the UK has a higher GDP per person. However GDP is a very strange measurement tool. Anyone who has had to deal with French bureaucracy will tell you it's very hard to achieve anything as there are vast armies of bureaucrats there to make it difficult. However all of the time and effort spent both producing the bureaucracy and people (at work) navigating around it counts as GDP even though the sum of the effort is zero. Hire a million more bureaucrats that make it even harder to get real work done and GDP goes up!
They get sacked. In the UK you do not.
This is a real case from a real UK Fortune 100 company.
1. A lady is about to have a formal interview with HR and her new manager because she has not produced any work for the last 6 months (since management changed) and it is not clear if she did before that.
2. She suffers a fit in the middle of the interview, foam at the mouth, ambulance, etc. The works. Apparently because she is overly stressed out by the proceedings. She is carted out leaving the laptop in the room.
3. Manager smells something iffy and orders the laptop to be inspected and mail searched.
4. When her laptop is inspected, HR and manager find a thread with a colleague discussing exactly what drugs does she need to take, what time before interview and in what dose.
5. Queue gross misconduct dismissal proceedings for both people involved.
6. Union steps in. The thread with the colleague was in a a folder called Private.
7. All proceedings are dropped, manager leaves shortly, both employees still "work" (quotes needed) in the aforementioned PLC.
So, dunno about P0RN, but defrauding your employer is definitely OK if you are in UK and you stash it in a folder called Private. Just do not forget to pay your union racketmembership fees on time.
I am preserving the name of the PLC to protect the guilty. It is a company often discussed on the Register (and the case is actually well known outside it too).
They get sacked. In the UK you do not.
If you think it's difficult to sack someone in the UK then you have no experience of France.
When the choice of closing an office is the one in the UK or the one in France, it will be the UK one closed every time, simply because it is much, much cheaper to do so.
"When the choice of closing an office is the one in the UK or the one in France, it will be the UK one closed every time, simply because it is much, much cheaper to do so."
Management can be held personally liable in France.
If my French boss had sold a subsidiary in the manner that UK HQ wanted him to do, he could have faced jail.
When the choice of closing an office is the one in the UK or the one in France, it will be the UK one closed every time, simply because it is much, much cheaper to do so.
The upside if that is that when US management is looking to expand, they'll hire in the UK long before they'll add staff in France.
So... Woman who has been made to feel useless and redundant for six months is dragged into interview, suffers epileptic fit because she hasn't had correct medication - very likely, in my experience, because the time of the interview has been changed at the last minute - and employers take the opportunity to ransack her personal files? Yeah, I'm completely sure they acted impeccably.
So.. Woman who has been made to feel useless and redundant for six months is dragged into interview, suffers epileptic
1. Woman in question did not produce any known piece of work for 5 years. Change of managers uncovered it.
2. Woman in question consumed drugs to SIMULATE a fit. She discussed exactly what and how much she needs to take in order for the fit to start within 30 minutes from the moment she takes them and discussed in detail what are her risks and how to minimize them so she does not kick the bucket by mistake.
3. Woman in question did not produce any piece of work for the next 2 years after that (until I left the company in question - about a year after her manager).
4. She defrauded her employer and colluded to do so with another union member. They would probably have criminal convictions for fraud both of them if it was not the union stepping in (the company in question is unionized to the point where even the managers have a union).
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