Well, regular readers in this thread have shared in my workplace woes - specifically the adventures with my boss in computerland .....
Could things deteriorate any more you might wonder?
Of course they can .... For instance, take yesterday afternoon:
I get a call from my boss - it seems that after lunch he went to the local university's Surplus Stores to buy a new office chair.
[Disclaimer: he's a millionaire and has an office full of perfectly good, almost brand new chairs.]
So why buy a used dirty chair for $10? Why, because it's only $10 of course. And, when he has meetings in his office, having to wheel chairs in from other offices is embarrassing.
So, he returns with 2 chairs - a LARGE executive chair (for him) and a second SMALL chair to use for additional seating for meetings.
Sounds simple, right?
1. He wheels them into the room that houses the server for the company - it's the coldest room in the building and has empty floor space - and tries to adjust his new chair - it's supposed to tilt back and it won't tilt.
2. It's supposed to tilt back and won't tilt - so he begins fiddling with the ratchet under the seat that has directions printed on it in microscopic script.
3. Logic fails to reveal how to operate the ratchet.
4. He then decides to use brute force and starts to fling himself in & out of the chair, banging into the back of the chair - in case the tilt mechanism is stuck.
Why is this maneuver a problem? Aside from the fact he's 65 years old and not used to any exertion? And his face is turning tomato red?
5. The chair is on wheels ... so that his bouncing is rolling the dang thing into the tables holding the server and associated computer equipment. He weighs almost 200 pounds, so the chair is being propelled with considerable force .... into the computers ....
6. Attempts to intervene rationally are ignored and the physical temper tantrum continues.
7. What am I doing you ask?
8. I'm acting as the human bumper - sitting in the 2nd chair I am skittering about behind him trying to block his attempts to destroy the company computers with a $10 chair that won't tilt.
9. This goes on for almost an hour ...
10. I finally convince him to tilt the chair to view the alleged tilt mechanism.
11. Judicious use of a flashlight reveals that the seat was attached bass-ackwards to the base. He only has to unscrew 4 Phillips head screws, rotate the seat 180, and screw it in place.
Simple, right?
12. He runs out and fetches the electrician and the grounds keeper. The electrician holds the flashlight, the guy who cuts the grass operates the screwdriver, and .....
THE LARGE $10 CHAIR IS HEALED! It now tilts!
It only took 2-1/2 hours, the time of 4 employees, and the near coronary of the boss.
Oh, BTW, the computers were unscathed ....
Today, you ask? Who is using the new chairs? Why no one! They're filthy ... and, so far, he can't find anyone stupid enough to volunteer to clean them.
He'll probably pay the lawn guy to hose them off.
[Why yes, thank you for asking, I AM preparing for early retirement.]