This was a real letter of resignation written by an IT employee:
Dear Mr. Baker,
As a graduate of an institution of higher education, I have a few very basic expectations. Chief among these is that my direct superiors have an intellect that ranges above the common ground squirrel. After your consistent and annoying harassment of my coworkers and me during the commission of our duties, I can only surmise that you are one of the few true genetic wastes of our time.
Asking me, a network administrator, to explain every little nuance of everything I do each time you happen to stroll into my office is not only a waste of time, but also a waste of precious oxygen. I was hired because I know how to network computer systems, and you were apparently hired to provide amusement to myself and other employees, who watch you vainly attempt to understand the concept of "cut and paste" for the hundredth time.
You will never understand computers. Something as incredibly simple as binary still gives you too many options. You will also never understand why people hate you, but I am going to try and explain it to you, even though I am sure this will be just as effective as telling you what an IP is. Your shiny new iMac has more personality than you ever will.
You walk around the building all day, shiftlessly looking for fault in others. You have a sharp dressed useless look about you that may have worked for your interview, but now that you actually have responsibility, you pawn it off on overworked staff, hoping their talent will cover for your glaring ineptitude. In a world of managerial evolution, you are the blue-green algae that everyone else eats and laughs at. Managers like you are a sad proof of the Dilbert principle. Since this situation is unlikely to change without you getting a full frontal lobotomy reversal, I am forced to tender my resignation, however I have a few parting thoughts.
When someone calls you in reference to employment, it is illegal for you to give me a bad recommendation. The most you can say to hurt me is "I prefer not to comment." I will have friends randomly call you over the next couple of years to keep you honest ,because I know you would be unable to do it on your own.
I have all the passwords to every account on the system, and I know every password you have used for the last five years. If you decide to get cute, I am going to publish your "favorites list", which I conveniently saved when you made me "back up" your useless files. I do believe that terms like "Lolita" are not usually viewed favorably by the administration.
When you borrowed the digital camera to "take pictures of your Mother's birthday," you neglected to mention that you were going to take pictures of yourself in the mirror nude. Then you forgot to erase them like the techno-moron you really are. Suffice it to say I have never seen such odd acts with a sauce bottle, but I assure you that those have been copied and kept in safe places pending the authoring of a glowing letter of recommendation. (Try to use a spell check please; I hate having to correct your mistakes.)
Thank you for your time, and I expect the letter of recommendation on my desk by 8:00 am tomorrow. One word of this to anybody, and all of your little twisted repugnant obsessions will be open to the public.
Never f--- with your systems administrator. Why? Because they know what you do with all that free time!
Wishing you a grand and glorious day,
Cecelia
Oh yeah - the boss resigned the next day!
First off, The Lion King 1 1/2 is a brilliant film - one of those rare Disney sequels that doesn't take itself too seriously. I thought it was interesting how Hakuna Matata is used in the same way as Ka is to not just represent a way of life but a group of people. Timon makes reference to the fact that "our Hakuna Matata is now broken" much in the same way that Roland refers to his group of travelers as their ka-tet. Not sure why this caught my attention but it did!
"No worries for the rest of your days" - what a dream! But is that really what we want our kids to aspire to? A life of lounging around and doing what you want when you want? I don't think so. So why is it that it seems like every time I watch a Disney movie it never seems to come with a truly wholesome message? Not to mention that there are almost none with solid family units - even dating back to the original "classics" a parent always died or was never there to begin with. What's up with that? Maybe Comcast in their quest to "Empower Disney animation team to build on legacy of success" will decide to drop the legacy of broken homes and values.
This is what I have to wake up to?
OK.... so I was in the car with my brother dropping him off by his apartment and he wanted to see how something worked on my laptop. I booted up and immediately it pops up that a Wireless Connection is available. Curious by nature, I of course clicked to see if it was encrypted, but surprisingly it was wide open. I of course connected and started poking around and did some quick port scans. It took me approx. a minute and a half to be sitting on someones C drive with Admin access to their entire machine.
So the question is what is it going to take before people start taking security seriously. People are quick to say Microsoft is not making secure systems and is responsible for all of the viruses and vulnerabilities. This may be partially true but I think part of the blame needs to go to the user as well. Would you leave your front door wide open for anyone to come right in? - of course not! So why do people leave their computer equipment sitting out there for anyone to poke around in? Is it ignorance, lack of technical know how, or just plain stupidity? I just don't get it.
Can someone please tell me what is up with those deformed rats?
"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." - Sun Tzu
Technology vs. People - which needs to outpace the other to have a solid organization? Discuss.
I promised myself I would not add to the insanity and write about the whole Janet Jackson thing even though it is ludicrous and the media is blowing the whole thing way out of proportion and the American public is loving it..... but I saw this news article today and it drove me nuts. I mean come on people - get a life already. You don't see the Jews and Christians screaming and yelling even though their symbols appeared in the background during another performance on the Grammys. I truly believe that the media has stirred up Americans and it is now open season for the Entertainment Industry - do I hear 20 bucks on another of the big 3 networks deciding to pull something off the air that had been planned during the next week or two for fear of being sued?
Outkast was using their freedom of speech and expression - not attempting to add to the "commercializion of our symbols." It is ridiculous to think that just because you are not actually part of a specific culture or sect that you can not use symbols or props that relate to that culture. I worry that the movement started by the Jackson superbowl controversy is going to become stronger and stronger until we end up losing that ability to express ourselves in public in any form because we need to worry that someone will be offended. For all I know someone could read this and be offended by my position - and there probably will be - but that does not mean that I shouldn't write it.
Oh, and one other thing. I don't know who the kid was, but he was really cute!
I just came across this article and it started me thinking. Seems like an American Airlines pilot took advantage of the time he had with an audience that had no where else to go to do a little missionary work and try to convert the heretics. So did the pilot really do such a bad thing or was he just practicing his freedom of speech? While it may be annoying to have had to sit through that flight and I can see how if I was on it I would be really annoyed, but don't we experience the same kind of thing every day? I was at the supermarket yesterday and the cashier started talking to me about the weather - same situation! I was stuck in a place I could not leave listening to something I was totally disinterested in yet I do not think anyone would suggest penalizing the cashier.
So what is it about religion that hits us so hard and makes us do crazy things (like blow oneself up or simply demand an airline pilot be reprimanded)? I've been thinking alot about this question lately. I don't think I have formed a final idea on this, but it boils down to the unknown. All religion (even if it is not called "religion", I am referring here to a way of life) is based on some kind of leap of faith, whether it be something that a human being supposedly did or the existence of a God, at some point there is going to be a factoid that just can not be fully explained by rational thought. This makes the decision to believe in a religion a more personal one than any other as you are relinquishing that firm grip on reality that can be explained and moving into the unknown.
So now the question comes to how personal do you make it? Obviously some people (commonly referred to as fanatics) are not able to rationally deal with the personal choices they have either made for themselves, been taught since they were young, or have been brainwashed with. These people begin to lose their rational thinking even in areas that are not bound by religious thought and end up doing the things that most of us will unfortunately end up reading about in the news. But for the majority of us religion becomes something which we are able to use to add some rhyme or reason to an otherwise random life. It is only by trusting that our personal leap of faith is the correct one that we are able to keep moving and growing throughout this life. This is why we take offense when someone attacks that belief - it is a personal attack on the very thing which keeps us sane.
What a feeling - to have had your last day of work and not have a care in the world. Of course that's not entirely true. I still have my concerns with where I am headed professionally and unfortunately find myself constantly second guessing myself if I made the right decision. To make it even more difficult, my old company made me "an offer you can't refuse" to stay with them in a "consulting role" for another month and at the same time are trying to convince me to stay long term. So now I am "consulting" and still dealing with all of the things that made me want to leave in the first place, but getting paid to ignore them!
(As a random aside I found this a great take on outsourcing.)
So anyway, where will all of this end up? I only wish I knew. One of the reasons I left was to spend more time with my family. The new job has promised this but as I get deeper into talking with them I begin to have my doubts. If it isn't going to allow that, then what is the point of changing in the first place? I have a call with one of the VP's from my old place today so I guess I'll update this with more thoughts after that is done.
