[thewebcount]

I remember being at a small company in the late 90s. We hired a new engineer and he used AIM. The boss was furious that the new guy was spending his time on the clock chatting with friends (and possibly leaking company secrets to people at other companies!). They forbid him to use it, so he would log into it every morning and set his status to some childish message about how his employer wouldn’t allow him to use it during business hours.

I remember thinking it was odd that the engineer would think it was OK to be chatting with friends while he was supposed to be working, but I also thought it was odd that the boss was so pissed off about it. It’s not like we didn’t (physically, IRL) chat among ourselves about non-work stuff, too. As long as we were getting our work done, who cares? Now everyone has chat and social media on every device, include their own that they bring with them anywhere, including work.

I also remember that when I was a kid, I was never supposed to interrupt my father at work by calling him, unless it was an absolute real emergency, like the house burning down. Times have changed!