I work in a media and design role for a small business operating out of an extension on the back of my bosses house. There are six of us in the office and there are six iMac computers, mine being the newest most-powerful machine as my last one ended up running too slowly to operate. It was decided that we'd splash out and buy the best iMac we could spec, to prevent this happening again.
Long story short is: My boss has zero issue with allowing his kids to log into and install games on this work machine after we've all gone home for the day.
There are other computers that would be far better suited to this. We have slower admin iMacs that would be fine, but for an unexplained reason he has chosen this machine, and its driving me mad.
I set up a different user profile last week for the kids as I was sick of my tabs and projects being closed when I'd get in of a morning, but that isn't where the issues end.
I get in in the morning and there are snotty tissues on my desk, the mouse and keyboard are greasy and all of my stuff has been moved.
I know for a FACT that his feral children are filthy as they never flush the toilet, so they're definitely not washing their hands either. They then spend all evening touching the keyboard and mouse and its freaking me out.
Am I being unreasonable here? I'm willing to STFU if I am, but being by bosses kids I feel somewhat stuck. I have mentioned it to the HR guy (not super helpful, but sympathetic) but is there any more I can do?
Help!
Password protect it ?
take the keyboard home
can you take the power cable home with you?
Do you have a lockable drawer you could put the keyboard and mouse in? Or if they are the wireless type with the wee usb thing take that home.
Speak to your boss....
And get another job.
Change the admin password and don't tell your boss.
Hopefully he doesn't know how to reset it without knowing it.
Working from home, I can see the appeal of that, working from someone else's not at all.
Really the only option you have is an overwhelming retaliatory attack. Do you have any revolting brats of your own or can you borrow some?
Curl one out on the keyboard before you leave in the eve.
Thanks for the responses so far.
I cannot simply hide the keyboard and/or mouse as this would not go down well, I know that to be a fact. I have expressed my displeasure with my boss, but these are his kids and it is his home after we all leave at the end of the day, so its a sensitive topic.
I'm more looking for -
a: Reassurance I'm not being petty
b: Ideas of how I can prevent the kids using the machine. For instance, is there some secret covert app that can block them out and 'confuse' them for a few days, as I think after a few days of not being able to log on they'll just pick a different machine...
Thanks again.
Take a photo of the home screen, get it printed up to the size of the monitor then stick it on the front of the screen.
It’ll confuse them for 20seconds which will buy you enough time to get lemon zest squirted into their eyes.
Or put a rattle snake behind the desk, when they come in and start pissing about it’ll wake it up and probably attack em’
It possibly is a bit petty but that would drive me nuts.
It's also braindead installing games of unknown provenance on work machine. The risk of getting ransomware or other malware is real, even on a mac. Look up 'keranger' for example.
Download some specialist material. Blame it on the kids.
Tell the boss to buy the kids their own frickin computer! He can still claim whatever tax rebate VAT dodge as a work computer, but won't piss his employees off!
https://www.medisupplies.co.uk/Cleaning-Infection-Control/Medical-Wipes/Clinell-Alcohol-Wipes
tbh, I'd probably just take in my own keyboard/mouse and lock them away at the end of the day.
Can you but a cheap usb keyboard and mouse, put yours away and leave those plugged in? That would at least keep some of the stickiness away. If you want to put them off then the mouse could have a dodgy button and the keyboard missing a few letters if that helps. Or be a euro/us spec one with a slightly different layout.
, but these are his kids and it is his home after we all leave at the end of the day, so its a sensitive topic.
It's your workplace. Some health and safety standard must apply. He is probably taking the writedown from the device for the business, which he should reduce if it doubles as a personal device. Suggest to him that when his kids do something which loses some work product from the device it will cause serious business disruption. Then make sure it happens.
Yeh, just send random Peppa Pig/fortnite memes to your entire mailing list and blame the kids.
It seems a bit petty to me. its not your computer, its the bosses companies computer, he can choose to let his kids play on it.
I get the frustration at having the desktop/tabs messed with, and how that interferes with work, cant you just set the kids up with a different user account so they mess that one up instead of the account you use for work?
Regarding the keyboard/mouse issues, I suspect the on;y way round this one is to buy your own keyboard and mouse and use these and take them home at night, leaving the snotty keyboard and mouse for the kids.
Or, you could graciously offer to give your super powerful mac to someone else in the office and you put up with a slower one.
I get in in the morning and there are snotty tissues on my desk
I really hope it is snot...
Spill pop all over it and blame them. Alternatively leave an angry bear under your desk at the end of the day. I’ve done this and the only small downside was having to leave the country, grow a beard, never seeing my family again and having to change my name.
Report your boss to the council for running a business from a domestic abode, he will have to relocate it to a proper premise far from the snotty germ ridden kids; problem solved.
Alternatively, make the Clown ^^ your screen saver
It seems a bit petty to me. its not your computer, its the bosses companies computer, he can choose to let his kids play on it.
Bollocks, you should have the expectation of a reasonable professional work environment, your boss wants to save cash and base you from his house he should provide a workplace not a creche.
My Bosses kids do the same thing with mine. They’re nice kids and clean so I don’t mind. (The cleaner ****s my desk up anyway).
Separate log-ins is a must, otherwise they ruin the save point on my games 😉
a: Reassurance I’m not being petty
It's a business machine. It's a massive security risk and wholly irresponsible. Will you take the fall when a virus takes down the building?
b: Ideas of how I can prevent the kids using the machine.
Isn't that what passwords are for?
... or better yet, infect it with a virus yourself and then go "I told you so!" (-:
Tell your boss that GDPR will eat him and his kids when it all goes wrong.
Can you run somethin like seti@home (if it still exists) in an aggressive mode overnight. If you use all the system resources up it'll be too slow for gaming and they won't use it.
Password?
For those asking about passwords I have actually set up a user profile for them, which they have started using, but the issue of the machine being loaded full of malware etc remains.
The SETI@home thing appeals - are there any similar things out there that would render the computer unsatisfactory to a rude little 8 year old gamer shitbag child, for a few hours at least?
It would need to be low key.
OK I am using PC so might be different.
I have password to lock the entire computer.
i'd be looking for another job, unprofessional doesn't even cover it.
Kids will just force reboot the machine if it's too slow for them.
Kids (generally) might be stupid, but they are not idiots.
I would spent 20 minutes each morning cleaning the keyboard and generally huffing and puffing about not being able to start on time.
a: Reassurance I’m not being petty
Not petty at all imo. Not even my partner is allowed to touch my work machine - I'd sooner share my toothbrush!
Open a load of browser frames with all sorts of really interesting stuff (Peppa Pig on YouTube or whatever), screenshot it then use the screenshot as a background picture.
When you finish for the night, ensure all tabs are closed and they will go on and see all this stuff but none of it wil work because it is just the background picture. They will assume it is broken and go off and bother someone else's bit of kit.
For those asking about passwords I have actually set up a user profile for them
Whatever for? That's just capitulating to the little shits. Delete that and set a password on your own account FFS.
What's your backup policy like? What if they were to delete some 'useless files' to make space for their games?
Is there anything confidential on there? Customer data? GDPR issues?
Kids will just force reboot the machine if it’s too slow for them.
That's what startup jobs are for. Preferably sensitive to time of day. No idea how to do it on a Mac unfortunately, don't suppose they have systemd do they, cron perhaps?
Or maybe edit their game shortcuts to a script that runs a fork bomb!
Could you find an app that throttles the CPU in some power save mode, or disable the graphics card driver so it defaults to crappy on board graphics. Or a program that throttles the internet connection to a crawl? Even better, set up a remote desktop and keep killing their game or rebooting the PC so they lose interest...they'll soon move to the next PC!
Or maybe edit their game shortcuts to a script that runs
a fork bomb!Pornhub.
Let's face it, there's any number of ways you could knobble the machine. But why should you?
Just say no, password-protect the machine, don't tell anyone the password, and walk away. That's what passwords are for. Tell him to buy them a $%^&ing iPad.
It's a business machine, every PC / Mac in the building should be locked when not in use as standard practice. What would your customers think if they knew it was going on? That's not an environment I'd want a business partner to have, I'd be paranoid that any design / whatever sent out might have some trojan embedded in it which could take down my network. A company in Norway got hit the other day, it's cost them something like £30 million to put right so far. Google "Hydro ransomware attack."
Because ultimately what's the boss going to do? Sack you for not letting his kids play with a work computer? HR will be all over that like a tramp on chips.
What Cougar says
Don’t tell us, the office is on the same network as his house too?
Password protection with a really long, complicated password that’s only known to you.
As others have said, allowing the miserable little wretches free reign on a work computer is just irresponsible, and I’d take every step I could to stop them.
Or else find some virus that emails garbage to everyone on the mailbox contact list and blame it on the brats when customers get shitty about their mailboxes filling up with crap.
You're not being petty nor unreasonable, but your being a bit daft setting up an account for them to use. Delete that account lock down the computer on Monday.
Go and speak to your boss directly about it. Tell him why firstly, don't let the kids tell him what you've done, cause that'll just turn into a drama.
If your boss goes against you, quietly go and find yourself another job.
It would piss me off, and I'm not that possessive over my office space. I have some colleagues who would actually combust if they came into that every day. Some folk are very particular (and maybe rightly so) about hygiene, tidiness and IT security so this sort of thing would cause massive stress. Presumably your boss likes working from his home as he feels it's an informal and productive environment for him. If it's causing stress to his employees then that's surely not what he wants?
Oh and another couple for the passive agressive retaliation list would be report to HMRC that IT hardware is being bought on company pound for home use. All the better that it's a mega top spec. Also set up to record the browsing history and leave in a brown envelope for the kids to find the next night, but I'm sure it'll all be homework reasearch...
I get in in the morning and there are snotty tissues on my desk, the mouse and keyboard are greasy and all of my stuff has been moved.
I know for a FACT that his feral children are filthy as they never flush the toilet, so they’re definitely not washing their hands either. They then spend all evening touching the keyboard and mouse and its freaking me out.
And you really think adults are any cleaner ?
