Normally it is ok, the first matches start just about when people get home. Yesterday and last wednesday though, many people decided to “work” from home and the people that did show up, left a bit early. I believe the evening rush hour took place a couple of hours earlier than normally. As I was walking through the city around 5.30pm, you could see that many shops had closed early or were in the process of shutting down already.
But I’m in the Netherlands; about two thirds of the country watches the games.
In 2010 the world cup was taking up quite a bit of bandwith, as most computers had a live stream running.
The network team set around an email asking us not to stream the games as it hurts network performance. I thought this was a bit weird since the company HQ is in the US where people are mostly disinterested, the other large office is in Canada who aren’t in the tournament so will be completely disinterested, and the rest of us in EMEA are at the pub by the time the matches start.
We’re in Canada. We have screens in all of the common areas showing whatever game is on.
We had a team meeting last week and half of the conversation was World cup related. Most people seem to have their favorite teams and the rivalry was getting pretty intense before we actually turned to work discussion although that is pretty boring right now, my group is project work related and we’ve got a huge production issue so none of our resources can work on projects. We have time for the world cup right now.
On Thursday, we are setting up one of our training rooms with a live feed of the US-Germany game. Projected onto a 14 foot projection screen.
Snacks and drinks in the back of the room. Guidance is to not cancel meetings or miss deadlines, but if you can keep up with your work and still come watch with co-workers, that’s cool.
Los Angeles here. We are a translation company with employees from all over the world at all levels. It’s huge here. It’s the biggest event we observe.
There is a paper scoreboard on the main hallway wall. A large flatscreen TV was moved into the break room and the couches in there were rearranged in front of it. There’s a list of World Cup-watching rules posted (keep the noise down, no trash-talking, make sure your work’s covered) – it was also sent via email to all staff. One entire wall is covered with employee-made, country-specific banners. There’s a cart outside the break room with poster board and markers.
You can easily tell when a game’s on because the work bays empty out and the screaming, moans, wails, exclamations, death throes, etc. from the break room.
Another work bay has its own TV set up. One guy about 10 feet away from me has three Italy jerseys tacked to his wall.
Big impact! We’re allowed to wear soccer jerseys on Fridays for the duration. :rolleyes:
I only saw two people wearing them last Friday.
Other than that it’s only two days a year jerseys are allowed, your favorite (American) football jersey on Super Bowl Friday & your favorite baseball jersey on pre-opening weekend Friday.
The only impact it’s had on my office is everyone making fun of the guy that likes that children’s game. He’s under the misapprehension that it’s exciting. The Uruguary-Italy [del]match[/del] game ended 1-0, so he tried to lay low today. I frequently remind him of his oath to “defend the United States against all enemies, FIFA and domestic.”
This reminds me of the O. J. Simpson trial, and Desert Storm, when it seemed that everybody else where I worked–the L. A. County Office of Education–was watching the thing on TV and the Superintendent of Schools issued a memo about it. Except for me. I refused to watch any of it, even after a TV was installed up on the wall in the lobby (and the remote was kept at the desk). I’m no soccer fan, either.
Today at the company caf, they had an impromptu Mexican day in honor of Mexico’s win! Tacos and enchiladas all around. They’ve also had games on the caf TV since the world cup started and nobody has even complained–and everybody is getting sucked into watching. It’s been fun. People from different companies are chatting more, and lots of people are asking questions about the rules and what’s what. The secret is getting out - soccer is pretty cool.
I’m also running the office pool. It’s not a “serious” pool - you pay a dollar and pick a team that nobody else has chosen yet. Whoever’s team wins gets all the dollars. So that has generated a bunch of chit-chat. And once people have a reason to get a little interested, they can’t help but get invested in the whole thing.
Yeah, some people turn up their nose at the whole thing, but the folks who are open to enjoying it are having way more fun.
I’m American, by the way.
p.s. I set a meeting for Thursday at 2:30 instead of the usual 2:00. Nobody has asked why yet…I guess I’ll just go ahead and admit that it’s because the U.S./Germany game is at noon.
Is somehow being interested in the world cup contraindicated with being an American?
You don’t want them to watch during work hours, fine, but you don’t have to be an asshole about it.
There’s that bar that decked itself out to look like a Brazilian Slum. I think it gained some media time. We talked about it a little since it’s a few miles away. That was about it.
I was sure you were going to link to this picture, but no dice.
At our (Canadian) office, we have TVs on the wall which are usually tuned to some business channel or other. They’ve been tuned to World Cup games lately, though. We have enough multiculturalism in our office that there’s usually someone paying attention during most games.
People have been jabbing soccer fans for years about how we’re not supposed to watch soccer in the U.S. It’s one of the perks of being a business owner to heap on the ridicule. Or, as you might say, “be an asshole” about it. Any one of them can quit if they prefer watching soccer to their job. Soccer fans need to have a thick skin if they follow a sport viewed by most Americans as unworthy of their time. Given that the OP specifically asked how the World Cup has impacted our workplace, I think my response was within the scope off the thread’s topic.
