July 28, 2000

Quitting Time!
   by stacy <pfftnet@stacy.pfft.net>

Or is it? It's 5:05pm on a Friday afternoon, and I was planning on heading home around 5:15 or 5:20. That would be a little short of the 8 hours they say they're paying me for, but I say the work I do is a little excessive considering the salary I get. My point is, that all works out.

Anyway, I plan on going home in 10 minutes. However, some guy from the sales department is going on a business trip next week, and he decided to test his dial-up account just before he was leaving for the day. Did it work? Of course not. So, he comes to get me and demand that I help him out so he can go on the trip and pitch out product to some potentially lucrative customers. None of which he can do without access to his email for 3 whole days, of course. PFFT!

So, I go to his office and check out his laptop. I spot the problem right away (he didn't update the phone number after our offices relocated last month and all the phone numbers changed), but I rummage around in the Dial-Up Networking settings for a while, just to make him nervous. A few comments to the effect of "I just don't see what's wrong.. everything seems to be setup OK. Are you sure you didn't change something recently?" make him sweat. Literally. I can see it dripping down his temples.

I'm a nice person. I don't keep up the charade for long, and all of sudden I notice the phone number, change it, tell him to test it, and all is well. He thanks me for saving his life. I wish I could tell him how little faith I have in my company's ability to sell our product with people like him responsible for it, but instead I mutter something about having a successful trip. I also suggest he try the dial-up sometime before 5pm on a Friday the next time he goes out of town, because he'll never know whether I'm here or not. I can't help but smile slyly as I go back to the office. The MIS department has all the power, and they know it. We just have to make sure they remember when they get uppity on us.

Published: July 28, 2000
Editor: stacy