Unless the word “Messiah” appears somewhere in your job description, chances are you are an expendable, easily replaced, asset at whatever office or factory serves as your place of business. This is especially true in a global recession where people with advanced degrees and years of experience are available at a moment’s notice. With this said the threshold for career suicide is now much lower than it used to be. While you will still probably lose your job if you use your boss’s daughters name in the same sentence with the words “Kama Sutra” or if your companies clients hear a flushing noise from your end of a conference call, people being fired for misusing their office computer is something that is on the rise.
While those who have lost their jobs, homes, various family members, and social skills while playing World of Warcraft for twenty hours a day have pretty much gotten what they deserved (getting lost in geek world while forsaking the real one is just plain stupid. These guys should turn off the computer and meet a nice girl) they are not the only ones whose gaming habits are resulting in a pink slip.
People playing poker in cyberspace is much more reasonable then the WoW addicts. This is because it is not some demented fantasy world they are being sucked into, but rather a hobby that helps them increase their incomes. While most cases of people getting the sack for online gaming involves them doing this during their lunch hours, technically “their time”, they are still doing it on company servers. This is a violation that a number of employers put on the same “moral” level with using the company supply cabinet as your own personal Walmart or warming your hands on the receptionist’s bottom.
Some employers have firewalls that take the temptation away completely, while others don’t. Having access to online gaming at work doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not being tracked. Remember, even during something that is technically “your time”, it’s still not your time to do anything you want. Save the internet poker playing for the computer at your home.
