A witch hunt...86% sure
This is an attempt at expressing myself through a short story. I don't expect many of you to understand it, or even be entertained. However, it is mostly for my own uses and records. That much being said here I go...There once was a man named George. George was a simple man who lived in a simple house. He got up every morning and did his job. George was a manager. It was his responsibility to coordinate the daily schedule, itinerary, board meeting and luncheon for the day. Not to mention the general management of his subordinates. There were ups and downs to this job, not the least of which was determining waste around his department. This due, in part, to budget cuts, and his bosses upstairs demanding detailed scrutiny of the slightest infraction.
George had a secretary named Jessica. She was a bright girl, passionate about her job. Always helpful; getting his coffee, taking notes, scheduling his day and taking phone calls. He would be truly lost without her.
George was in charge of two staff groups in his company. Of these two groups there were two special people; Stanly and Bob. Bob was clean cut, well groomed and neat; both in appearance and in job performance. Stanly, top in the company for job performance, wasn’t always so clean cut or well groomed. Stanly just didn’t strike George as being the perfect person for his particular job position. Stanly always got his job done. He got it done well and in a timely manner. But there was a flippantness in his efficiency. It was almost as if he didn’t care about his job. Or perhaps his job was too easy...
One day a report came into George’s office of the misuse of the company’s computer system. George didn’t think much of this. These types of things happened. Why, just last month, someone in the corporation had stolen a different company’s motto! They had tried to blame George’s company, but never caught the culprit.
The solution now was to simply check the computer network for recent activity, and cross-reference it with any employee work codes. Jessica came in and attempted to give him a message, but he was busy. Like most problems, it wasn’t to be easily solved. Apparently, after using the computer, the employee had simply deleted the log directory. It would be nearly impossible to backtrack now!
George thought and thought. His bosses were asking questions. It wasn’t that any harm had been done; it was the fact that they had been made to look like fools by not having complete control over their staff. Jessica came in and asked if he had a moment, he didn’t. They had to save face, someone had to be guilty.
George had always been the problem solver, he always had an answer. But this time, it seemed an answer was not forth coming. His bosses kept calling; he had to come up with something. And so, he made a decision.
He called a staff meeting. No one wanted to tell him anything. George quickly became angry. How dare they? If they weren’t going to help him, then he certainly wasn’t going to help them. He was fairly confidant that someone in Stanley’s group had something to do with all this trouble. After all, Stanly didn’t always seem to care about his job, and might be just the one to set a bad example for those under him. In fact, perhaps Stanly himself was the one guilty of misusing the computer! Whisperings from Bob’s group only added to George’s suspicions that Stanly was in fact the guilty party. According to his notes, George was 86% sure of it. He would get to the bottom of this and prove himself right once and for all. If no one wanted to come forward willingly, then he would make them. George made up a new work schedule, so that, effective immediately, all the “less than savory jobs” would fall to Stanly and Stanly’s staff. TPS reports, data entry and extra time on survey’s. Not exactly punishment, but not very nice either. Sooner or later someone would squeal. If they didn’t, he would continue with more of the same until they did!
This went on for some time. George grew more and more frustrated. Why wasn’t it working? Why wasn’t anyone coming to him to explain the error of their ways? This wouldn’t look good if he couldn’t get the answer he wanted.
In his frustration he yelled aloud, “I’ll see the computer user burn!”
Little did he know that Jessica was at his office door yet again, in an attempt to give him the message she had been trying to bring to his attention. But she was so stunned at his dire outburst that all thoughts of delivering the simple message flew from her, and with lowered head she went back to her desk. She didn’t dare touch her computer. If fact, she didn’t touch anything on her desk. One could get in such trouble for doing just about anythingg these days. Better to just sit there and let the day pass by. It was safer that way.
posted by Zeke @ 6/26/2007 02:06:00 AM
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