From: Rhonda Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 16:39:31 -0800 (PST) To: The BOFHcam Bloke Remember the jerk I told you about? I thought he quit. NO. He took the rest of the week off to recover from what he felt was a "hostile" work environment. Today, at 6:30am, I check my voice mail and Alvin the Chipmunk (Employee Relations) would like to see me at 9:00am. First thing in the friggin' morning. Yes, it is Monday. *sigh* Forgot about the little weasel until I got to HR. Saw his file, my file, Stuart's file and was ready to kill. Not good. Two hours of explaining our respective points of view... and we get to leave. He has been transferred to a "less stressful" environment. (What about ME!?) Stuart is seriously pissed. I am rather amused at this point. Never, ever have I heard an adult male complain of a "hostile" work environment. Wimp. Weasel. As we are leaving, Alvin the Chipmunk steps on my broken toe. I am no longer amused. It is no longer at a 45 degree angle, but I spend the rest of the day in a pain killer induced haze. And I am amused again. What the wimp didn't know, is that I have been with this company for forever and a day. I am very well thought of. In the US, sysadmins are worth their weight in gold, practically. They are never, ever let go and we do try not to aggravate them too much, lest they leave. We pay them well and treat them well (mostly). And, in keeping with our corporate mission of a "career oriented and people friendly" environment, Stuart is my mentor. Meaning, that he gives me advice on career moves, problem solving, (although several of his solutions are useless and involve someone named Guido) and just plain venting. Because I work closely with upper management and am respected and Stuart is probably one of our most invaluable computer people, the wimp should have just shut up and taken what he deserved for screwing around with the computer system. The worst thing he could ever have done is to attempt to take down both of us. One would have been bad enough, but both? Moron. It is strictly against company policy, per systems, to ever download anything from the Net not preapproved. This includes screen savers and such. And reassigning fax modems and printers can get you fired, if not outright killed. And in his little file, is the little page from the employee handbook that bears his signature acknowledging this. The highlight is, I certainly hope the wimp enjoys the mail room. Unless one of his co-workers goes postal, he should have little to no stress. There is, occasionally, some justice in the world. Unfortunately, it is still only Monday.