Not Being the Nice Guy (split from Random Rants OA)

[Timsup2nothin]

Calling me a Mexican is "satirical"?

Wow. I find it hard to believe that this is genuine, because I never would have suspected that anyone could be so stupid as to think I was calling you a Mexican. Are you trying to get me to respond in some particular way here?

Barring something like a witness, or door card logs, both almost a given in any open office environment.

You seem to have more respect for the speed of HR than I do. By the time they are looking for a witness, my guess, they are likely to be saying "so, at 3:27 PM on a Thursday seven weeks ago someone sent an e-mail from your co-worker's computer over there. Did you happen to see who that was?"

I will admit that door card logs would be an issue, but I was using a typical cube farm model where I was already in the door to get to my own desk.

 

[warpus]

You're forgetting that a woman accusing you of sexual impropriety is probably going to be taken very seriously by HR. If you actually did it and have no alibi, that might be good enough for them. They're there to protect the company, not you.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

You're forgetting that a woman accusing you of sexual impropriety is probably going to be taken very seriously by HR. If you actually did it and have no alibi, that might be good enough for them. They're there to protect the company, not you.

I'm not forgetting it. I'm actually hard pressed to understand why everyone is assuming the woman would even think I did it in the first place.

Everyone here is basing their reaction on the foundation of "well, you started right out as the person who did it" and responding accordingly. From the perspective of the person who left their computer unattended the biggest issue is that some unknown person sent an e-mail from their unattended computer. Their next biggest issue is that it's embarrassing as far as the person it was sent to goes. Do they tell that person "oh, hey, I didn't send that" and admit to leaving their computer unattended? Do they think "whoever got to my computer was probably even more interested in pranking the person they sent it to than they were in pranking me?"

Personally, I find that last part more likely than the idea that they sent it to themselves, and would be surprised if anyone NOT operating from the initial fact "Tim did it" didn't follow that path.

 

[Lexicus]

I'm actually hard pressed to understand why everyone is assuming the woman would even think I did it in the first place.

I also must have missed the part where the hypothetical coworker this was done to was specified as a woman.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I also must have missed the part where the hypothetical coworker this was done to was specified as a woman.

Yeah, that was thrown in after, by someone else.

 

[warpus]

I'm not forgetting it. I'm actually hard pressed to understand why everyone is assuming the woman would even think I did it in the first place.

Oh, I was operating under the assumption that she's accusing (the hypothetical) you. If nobody's accusing you, then that changes quite a bit.

Still though, chances are that somebody saw you do the deed, or at least do something on her computer.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Oh, I was operating under the assumption that she's accusing (the hypothetical) you. If nobody's accusing you, then that changes quite a bit.

Still though, chances are that somebody saw you do the deed, or at least do something on her computer.

That assumption was instantly made by a bunch of people and the conversation went that direction, so no surprise that was part of it when you came in. I've been consistently trying to get an answer to the question why people leaped to that assumption.

On the other point...

If you flip their desktop, or use whatever other creative suggestions have been presented, the person knows as soon as they return that someone has been screwing around with their computer, and they are likely to ask people nearby, and it is likely that someone can and will identify you. It is very unlikely that when they return they will check their e-mail sent folder. So they won't ask immediately...and "hey, did you see someone screwing around with my computer last Tuesday?" is a lot less likely to get a serious answer.

 

[Lexicus]

That assumption was instantly made by a bunch of people and the conversation went that direction, so no surprise that was part of it when you came in. I've been consistently trying to get an answer to the question why people leaped to that assumption.

But dude, first we need to get to the bottom of why you called Manfred a Mexican.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

But dude, first we need to get to the bottom of why you called Manfred a Mexican.

I've been to the bottom. Manfred was there. Apparently it was a ditch.

 

[Takhisis]

For the record I genuinely don't see the humour in it. I like the "screenshot your desktop, set it as the background, and hide all icons & windows" as a better prank. We used to do that in school computer lessons, back when pranking people was last considered funny.

Eurgh, you've reminded me that I am old enough to have had computer lessons in schools because they were so new and nobody had one at home except people who absolutely had to use them for work.

And yes, pranking was funny.

And if you want to have some extra fun, find two computers that are facing away from each other, and plug in one PC's keyboard and mouse into the other PC and vice versa

Ah-ha… this is what you do after the HR people have told you to clear off. With as many computers as possible.

 

[Mise]

If someone is even having to consider going to HR to complain that someone is sending unauthorised emails of a sexual nature to other members of staff from their computer, then this is surely a hint that your "prank" is not funny, and certainly not a good idea. It's staggering that people are even still talking about it as a valid concept for a real actual adult with a real actual job to do. I mean, the level of immaturity required to think that this is in any way a reasonable thing to do in the workplace. It's not even a reasonable thing to do in a school, but I suppose you can't really expect brains that are not fully developed to see how dumb this is.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

This post made me wish I had any kind of image-editing skills, because I want to make an animation of Neo dodging bullets in the Matrix except Neo is labelled "Manfred" and each bullet is labelled "the point"

God Lexicus, coming from you that's astounding. I still can't forget the one where you deduced I was comparing having women CEOs to drinking arsenic, just because I talked about both things in completely separate posts in the same thread. Or all the other myriad times were you completely misunderstand (or, to be charitable, wilfully misrepresent) other poster's statements. By no means just restricted to mine either.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Wow. I find it hard to believe that this is genuine, because I never would have suspected that anyone could be so stupid as to think I was calling you a Mexican. Are you trying to get me to respond in some particular way here?

Obviously I don't genuinely think you were actually calling me a Mexican, but given that I've stated that I have no idea what you meant by "ditch digger", and that the top google searches define it as either someone who literally digs ditches or a slur for a Mexican, and that you've chosen not to elaborate, I have to assume something don't I. So I'll just assume you're calling me a Mexican, since I don't think you think I dig ditches for a living. And yes, I was clearly trying to prompt a response along the lines of "what I meant by ditch digger was...", but you don't seem to want to do that so never mind I guess.

If someone is even having to consider going to HR to complain that someone is sending unauthorised emails of a sexual nature to other members of staff from their computer, then this is surely a hint that your "prank" is not funny, and certainly not a good idea. It's staggering that people are even still talking about it as a valid concept for a real actual adult with a real actual job to do. I mean, the level of immaturity required to think that this is in any way a reasonable thing to do in the workplace. It's not even a reasonable thing to do in a school, but I suppose you can't really expect brains that are not fully developed to see how dumb this is.

Oh please enlighten us as to how the real world works Mise. I'm sure with your bloated Mexican ego you know best after all.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Wow! Everyone is Mexican!

 

[Kyriakos]

You could read Sopenhauer. He was rather angry about how the world is, re nice guys and what women want etc

 

[rah]

If you want a simple, harmless prank, just use ctrl+alt+down to turn their screen upside down. If they're a tech guy, it'll probably cause no more than a moment's confusion, but will serve as a pointed reminder about locking your screen.

This one was one of my favorites. (the wallpaper one freaked them out a bit too much) It's quick and obvious that someone was able to do something on your machine because you were negligent about security. I didn't care if they asked their co-workers if anyone saw me do it, because I was the boss and it only reinforced the message. I've had to fire people that were consistently negligent in this area.
And of course in today's world you're usually more likely to have your security breached by someone that works for the company.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And yes, I was clearly trying to prompt a response along the lines of "what I meant by ditch digger was...", but you don't seem to want to do that so never mind I guess.

What I meant by ditch digger was ...

It was a satirical reference to your claimed knowledge of the "real world" of office pranks and policies.

Sorry I didn't preface that in a way that would make it understandable for you the first time, and that all the subsequent clarifications were too complex.

 

[Lexicus]

I still can't forget the one where you deduced I was comparing having women CEOs to drinking arsenic, just because I talked about both things in completely separate posts in the same thread.

That was the example you used to illustrate your point that not all change is good. I thought your use of it was perhaps more illuminating than you realized.

 

[Arakhor]

Sorry I didn't preface that in a way that would make it understandable for you the first time, and that all the subsequent clarifications were too complex.

Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't see how "ditch digger" applies to that.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Maybe I'm being dense, but I don't see how "ditch digger" applies to that.

It was the least "officey" job I could think of at the time.