Remote worker says they got reprimanded for using ‘mouse jiggler’ app | Hacker News Reader

Remote worker says they got reprimanded for using ‘mouse jiggler’ app

dailydot.com

11 pointsfirstSpeaker17 comments

The article is about a TikTok video that an influencer did about a Reddit post from a person who got penalized for using a mouse-jiggling app that helps them simulate working two full-time jobs at once.

I'm sorry but I'm just having a really hard time taking literally any of this seriously.

Wait, I'm confused. What's the defense of this? Why is there a presumption that this is okay to do? This person is trying to do more jobs than they have time for and failing. The people on this subreddit are clearly on the "it's bad cause you got caught" side of things.

I don't care how many jobs you work if you get the work done. Likewise, if you find a job that requires less of you than you have time in the day, that's great!

But if your goal is to do two jobs badly instead of one job well, I do judge you, because you're crossing the line to harming others with your negligence. That's not something to be celebrated.

Edited to add, on a related note: What company cares if your system is active or not? Nobody is checking my laptop to see how many hours I'm working or what hours they are. My performance at my job is the proof.

I wouldn't defend this, but I think the support for it comes from frustration with being surveilled and micromanaged by remote employers.

There are too many jobs that care too much about squeezing employees for every possible minute of work, instead of letting performance be the proof.

Not only that, we've been fighting for 20+ years for remote work. Now that it's finally here, people like this risk reverting back to the commute life. This person should certainly get fired.

Get your work done, you're probably paid well for it. If you don't like what you do, go work somewhere else.

On one hand, yes, but realistically, if I am achieving the work I am assigned and contributing acceptably at meetings, then I should get the pay. If it took the IT department to notice a jiggler app and flag the employee because the manager was so asleep at the wheel, then the manager either needs to be fired with the employee or everyone needs to accept the behavior and move on. You get a couple of weeks grace when you're hired, but eventually people set a work rhythm and shouldn't be able to hide forever.

If more work is demanded, then maybe the pay should be increased accordingly, because they clearly were willing to pay the guy what he already got for the work he was already doing.

And I would welcome all these idiot managers getting the boot because they're too busy playing politics and planning power grabs to spare a thought for what is happening in their own kingdoms. A great leader is a huge force multiplier for a team and we need opportunities for talent to get promoted.

According to the article the person was missing stands and other meetings for "thunderstorms" and "power outages", and the mouse jiggler was the last straw. I think more likely there was concern about the employee and they looked into what the user was doing and saw this. So... the person "wasn't" achieving their work.

Key quote from the woman: “Apparently, the mouse jiggler was the last straw since I had been missing standups and having ‘thunderstorms’ and ‘power outages’ since I started.”

Sounds like she's been skiving off in general. She's lucky she's still employed at all.

I can't speak for how this person was using Caffeine, but I hope this doesn't launch a wave of negative attention towards it.

Believe it or not, I use a pencil and paper to think, diagram, and write notes when coding. My screen timeout is locked with some kind of god-mode-admin rights that my limited Mac Fu hasn't been able to circumvent. Very annoying to have to deal with the screen shutting off while I'm actively using the information on it. The Caffeine app has been invaluable for my productivity, and it's much better for power use than say, keeping the screen awake by having a Zoom meeting with just myself.

I can't recall ever having the screen blank when I was actively using the information on the screen--that implies everything you need being on one screen, something I find very rare.

Blanking when thinking or diagramming is another matter, that's happened to me plenty of times. It's been a long time since I've written much of anything in the way of paper notes, unless what I want isn't text it's easier to just open an instance of notepad on another monitor.

I guess you think faster than I do :) or your timeout is more generous than 10 minutes.

Incredible that they were only put on a PIP for getting caught for this.

Could one possibility be that their business goes through the formality of a PIP first then at the first sign of a problem lets them go? I've seen some companies do this to reduce risk of lawsuit though I am not a lawyer and do not know how that works in every state/country or if HR departments may be at times guilty of cargo-culting.

In all my days I've never seen a company that didn't have a cynical PIP. It's just the HR and Legal dance they do to enforce a decision that has already been made. It builds a paper trail in case you take them to court, and the person overseeing it has only enough familiarity with your work to downplay and undercut your achievements.

Downloading an app designed and known for this purpose is the worst way to do this

Yeah, it's equivalent to bringing a six pack to work. I'm incredulous that anyone would be so naive as to do that.

A six pack doesn't have very many legitimate use cases during working hours. Tools that keep the screen awake do; just because you're not pushing buttons doesn't mean you aren't using the computer.

E.g.: Referencing the content on the screen while working out the problem on paper.

Zoom meeting, party of one! Your room is now available!

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