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Harmless Pranks During a Downsizing?
Jailbrekr asks: "I am the I/T manager for a large horticultural firm, and will soon be a victim of aggressive downsizing. The downsizing is so aggressive that my position, the only I/T related position, will be eliminated. Being the lone gun has meant that I have held a significant amount of power within this organization, and until now, have refrained from abusing it. Seeing as I will soon be out of work, I have begun my (tongue in cheek) 'reign of terror'. To start, this week is 'Gummi Bear Week', where everyones wallpapers now have a (worksafe) gummi bear theme.What I need are suggestions. What can I possibly do that is work safe, humorous, and not something which will get me fired prematurely? During the dot bust, when downsizing was all the rage, what did the tech geeks do to abuse their power, and keep the workforce entertained during those especially stressful periods?"
Shouldn't you start sending our your resume and start figuring out who won't be fired so you can ask them to provide a reference for you?
Just don't do something stupid like running magnets over all of the backup tapes, that would be wrong and terribly illegal, especially if someone were to hollow out the inner workings of all of the servers.
[o]_O
It's handy that your .sig is tied directly to what you said:
/"
"Run this and win a free pony: sudo rm -rf
Gave me a laugh!
Karnal
You claim to be at a large company, that you are the only IT staff, and you are about to be downsized. You don't say whether or not the company will continue operations, will it?
If this company is going to continue operating it will need support for its IT infrastructure. Where will this support be coming from? There is no one better to support them, right now, than you so, use this as an opportunity. Set yourself up as a consultant or the one they outsource their support to. This lets them keep operating smoothly and offers you a chance at a pay rise.
It happens like this all the time. The full-time IT staff is downsized, only to return the next day as contractors getting paid much more than they were the day before.
If however, you play pranks and are generally unprofessional about the job then you lose your job and a good opportunity.
Maybe that's why they're letting you go...
Be professional, and don't mess with their systems. In this day and age, it's not a good idea to be labelled as a "[cr|h]acker". Best case scenario: you get let go early. Worst case: they blame all of their problems on you (now and in the future), and/or The Law comes knocking at your door. That level of liability is not good.
Having said that... enjoy your "paid vacation". Don't put in overtime or give the extra effort unless you know the rank-and-file workers (not management) will be harmed by it.
Turn the pager and cellphone off when you're not at work.
Take time every day to look at the newspaper's job section -- even if you've already got something lined up.
This is place-specific, but... if your company has an informal dress code, show up in a suit and tie. And make sure that you are adamant about your hours that day -- or cut back a few hours. If you're in a suit-and-tie office, tweak the dress code as far as possible within the letter of the rules.
Take the time to correspond with friends and contacts, giving them all your new email address.
Catch up on your reading. Put your name in ink on your computer books, or if you want to be bold, pick up just about anything else. You know what will be least (or most) upsetting to your coworkers.
If at all possible, try not to write any kind of scripts to automate your job. This sounds petty on the surface, but if/when something breaks you don't want to be getting any phone calls -- or having it look like you got in to break something. Unless you're getting a nice stay-bonus or severance package, what happens after you're gone is not your problem.
If you do the opposite ("do good to those who harm you, etc."), you have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are a worthwhile source for the consulting work they will surely need, and a good reference.
Horticulture is a good model for your preparation:
First, prepare the ground. Make an extra effort to make sure that things will run as smoothly as possible, put together a plan for them that includes what you, in your professional opinion, consider the minimum admin support - perhaps a visit once per month.
Fertilize. If you do this, you may develop the first valued customer in your consulting business, which might continue after you take another job ==> extra $$. They already trust you enough to employ you; now they will know they can trust you enough to retain you.
Plant the seed. Ask them for a letter of recommendation. Ask the boss to send it to his friends, citing the reasons he is forced to let you go. He may well find you your new job, or several good consulting prospects.
Water and nurture. This may be the opportunity for you to establish your new life at the next level.
Have faith. Watch as God (or whoever you prefer to consider) gives rain and sun to your new life.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
I mean, it's not like there are links to follow or anything?
How come everybody is all "Don't be 'that' guy", rather than attempting to understand the intent of the post? He even states, IN THE TEXT that he's looking for harmless things to do that will KEEP EVERYBODY AMUSED. I mean, it takes like, what, 5 minutes to do stuff like change the wallpaper for well administered workplaces?
Seriously, he's not doing damage, and he doesn't seem to be interested in malicious behavior, just some fun for dark times.
here's one:
Set up a message broadcast system and play a game of simon says with everybody in the office.
hmmmm?
Staff live in fear of the power of the IT people. Anything you do that reminds them of this will be taken badly. Even the most light-hearted of practical jokes will get your arse handed to you.