Commenting beneath a special username in case any of my colleagues learn AAM, as that is quite recognizable. I’m the territory-marker on this story, though I stay satisfied that it was completely justified.
I work for a state company. It’s a reasonably large company with about 1,100 folks within the headquarters constructing and one other 500 or so in different areas across the state. Like most governmental entities, cash is all the time tight, and no matter is bought is sourced for the bottom doable price.
Because the pandemic broadened in March of 2020, the company was confronted with the necessity to socially distance these 1,100 or so individuals who labored at HQ, ideally by having them do business from home. Nevertheless, as a result of cash is all the time tight, the one staff who had been issued laptops had been senior administration, i.e., perhaps just a few dozen out of the 1,100 people within the HQ constructing. The remainder of us had desktop tower-style computer systems.
Once more as a result of cash is all the time tight, there definitely weren’t lots of of unused laptops stacked up in a storage room someplace simply in case they had been wanted, so there was some severe scrambling to strive to determine how everybody might do business from home at very quick discover. The IT people scrounged up lots of of Skinny-Consumer fobs, issued them to everybody who might work remotely, had every of us obtain Distant Desktop software program onto our private computer systems at house in order that we might basically work on our desktop computer systems within the HQ constructing from our kitchen tables dozens of miles away, and whereas it wasn’t elegant, we made it work.
Nevertheless, the biggest division of the company was prohibited from telecommuting because of the nature of their work (numerous PII and entry to safe federal websites). They couldn’t proceed to work all crammed right into a single dice farm on account of social distancing necessities, however additionally they couldn’t work remotely. So there have been many technique conferences at very excessive ranges, till lastly one of many Powers That Be got here up with a Sensible Concept!
The Sensible Concept was that these 400 or so people who needed to proceed working in-person within the constructing could be briefly moved out to desks on all 4 flooring, retaining not less than one empty cubicle between every occupied one, and so they might all do their work at these desks utilizing the computer systems that had been on the desks already!
…..the identical computer systems that the remainder of us had been engaged on remotely from our kitchens.
We discovered about this Sensible Concept on actually the ultimate day we had been allowed to be bodily within the workplace. Almost all of my bureau had already shifted to distant work, and I used to be one of many two folks from my unit nonetheless within the constructing, ensuring that desks had been cleared and information put away earlier than we left for an unknown variety of weeks or months. And the ultimate factor I did earlier than I left the constructing on March 17 was to print out and tape indicators on all 30 or so of the pc towers in my bureau. Every signal, printed in 84-point font, learn:
STOP!!
DO NOT TOUCH!!
This laptop is getting used for distant entry!!
DO NOT TURN ON!!
DO NOT TURN OFF!!
DO NOT TOUCH!!