Between LOTS of keyboards and LOTS of chairs

This pilot fish runs a busy call center and doubles as the company IT department -- 140 users, a mix of operating systems, and one in-house IT guy.

"For years my boss, the company president, was content to set broad parameters on projects -- costs, deadlines, functionality -- then leave me free to perform," fish says. "Since he was in his 60s, not computer literate, and had to worry about the big picture, the relationship worked very well.

"But on my last project, he started making random, arbitrary technical decisions that ran contrary to the goals he wished to accomplish -- like exposing the customer credit card database to threats, in the course of trying to implement a payment gateway."

Fish is caught between his professional responsibilities and his loyalty to his boss, but he figures that if he explains the implications of these decisions, the boss will re-examine their respective skill sets and roles.

Bad move. The boss doesn't see that feedback as helpful -- to him, it's insubordination.

Seeing the project implode, and not knowing what to do, fish expresses his frustration to the company's in-house therapist. Unfortunately, someone in the next office can overhear their discussion and decides to share those details with the boss.

Now he views fish as not just insubordinate, but outright untrustworthy -- and decides to fire fish.

But just before that, he shows up in fish's office, complaining that his PC is broken. What are the symptoms? fish asks. It seems the PC won't let him sign into the Unix server. Anything else? fish asks. Yes -- the keyboard lights are acting strangely.

"I didn't need my tool kit for this one," sighs fish. "He had accidentally hit his numbers-lock key, and didn't know how to correct it. I told him that it was a common PEBKAC problem that was quickly fixed.

"Had I known that he would drop the hammer on me the next day, I would have explained what PEBKAC meant."

Sharky's favorite acronym is TTOITL. Send your true tale of IT life to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll snag a snazzy Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.

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