Assignment: Worklife

Editor ~ introduction: So sGr, I've resisted printing my own students' work. But as soon as I read this one (after a stack of the usual, predictable responses to the assignment), I decided to share it with you. Hope you agree-after all, Peng~i lasted three months longer in this job than I would have. t-Td. Assignment If you are currently employed (or have been employed) in an office or other workplace setting, think about your own experience. If you haven't, talk to a relative or friend who has. Write a brief but careful analysis of computerization in that workplace, from the perspectives that we have discussed in this class. • How does the use of computers in this workplace affect the people who work there? • What problems do they encounter? • How do they solve (or work around) them? • How do the class readings and discussions help to explain what is going on? • Is there anything going on that isn't explained by the class readings? Be prepared to share and compare your observations with others in the class. "Hey, Jim! I'm five orders behind!" I shouted at the general manager standing beside the soft drink dispensing machine. "Ok, where are you on the screen?" he turned back and asked the two sandwich makers in the kitchen. "Two double cheeseburgers for drive through, sir," answered one, wiping some sweat off her face while looking up at the blue screen above her head. "Excuse me! I ordered a spicy chicken. But I got a 99-cent double stack instead." I turned my eyes away from the kitchen and saw a middle-aged man standing before me, holding forward a quarter pound sandwich on a foil wrap. "What? Oh, I'm sorry. But what was your order, sir? The man babbled while I frantically tried to go back on my own screen to find the man's order. But this aroused a round of protests from the kitchen, "Owh, Owh, Owh, what are you doing? Pengfei, we are done with those orders!" All the sandwich makers shouted vigorously and watched in horror as the orders they just finished serving jumped back on their screen one and a time from the right margin of the blue background while the current ones disappeared off to the left. "Ah, sorry, sorry, there it is! I found your order, sir." I looked up at the disgruntled man still …