Admit it: If you could get away with paying someone a fraction of your paycheck to do your job for you, you probably would. Telemarketing firms, IT companies and major manufacturers have been pulling that stunt for years now by cutting out the middleman (you) and shipping jobs to places where people work for way less pay--often to China and India. Americans often get upset and point the finger at these transnational corporations for undercutting our economy, taking food and health benefits away from our workforce.This, at least, is the story of one guy, Bob, who attempted to wield the power of the corporations for his own personal use, and who got burned. Before Bob lost his job last year, he worked as a developer for a "critical infrastructure" company in the US. He also held several other development gigs at various firms and companies. And he was good; his performance reviews painted a portrait of a hard-working, efficient and thorough worker. In fact, one of his employers named him the best developer in the building.Each day, Bob would get up and start his day promptly at 9 a.m. Here's what his typical work day looked like, according to Verizon's Risk Team assessment which outlines Bob's Internet browsing history. It's familiar, but with some conspicuous absences:
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- 9:00 a.m. – Arrive and surf Reddit for a couple of hours. Watch cat videos.
- 11:30 a.m. – Take lunch.
- 1:00 p.m. – Ebay time.
- 2:00 p.m – Facebook updates. LinkedIn.
- 4:30 p.m. – End of day update e-mail to management.
- 5:00 p.m. – Go home.