Contracts
Ok, so where's your cut off point for reading contracts?
I don't think I've ever read the EULA on any of the software I've installed on any number of computers. I've signed up to random websites with throw away email addresses and just checked the box to say I've read the terms and conditions. If things involve serious contracts renting accommodation, setting up any form of internet banking, buying things online, etc. I more careful and yet with some things I don't even consider reading them.
This particularly thought dump was inspired by a little conversation in the office today, as we gleefully signed forms accepting company shares as part of the whole profit sharing bonus we get. Someone asked if any one actually read any of the points on the form before we signed it (there were maybe 12 short sentences) beyond checking the number of shares, and then cheerfully admitted he hadn't. For all we known we'd just signed over the shares to the directors, and all our worldly goods, first born children and souls. Yet no one bothered to read the form.
However if any one of the managers had said just sign it and hand it back, you can guarantee a lot more people would have read it.
It's intriguing how implicit trust changes across different circumstances. Fundamentally people don't trust other people's perceptions. It's not that different than the affect you get if you say don't touch it it's hot.
I don't think I've ever read the EULA on any of the software I've installed on any number of computers. I've signed up to random websites with throw away email addresses and just checked the box to say I've read the terms and conditions. If things involve serious contracts renting accommodation, setting up any form of internet banking, buying things online, etc. I more careful and yet with some things I don't even consider reading them.
This particularly thought dump was inspired by a little conversation in the office today, as we gleefully signed forms accepting company shares as part of the whole profit sharing bonus we get. Someone asked if any one actually read any of the points on the form before we signed it (there were maybe 12 short sentences) beyond checking the number of shares, and then cheerfully admitted he hadn't. For all we known we'd just signed over the shares to the directors, and all our worldly goods, first born children and souls. Yet no one bothered to read the form.
However if any one of the managers had said just sign it and hand it back, you can guarantee a lot more people would have read it.
It's intriguing how implicit trust changes across different circumstances. Fundamentally people don't trust other people's perceptions. It's not that different than the affect you get if you say don't touch it it's hot.