Y2k-ready? Clock, yes; VP, not quite

It's late 1999, and at this telecommunications company, all the necessary Y2k changes have been made, tested and retested. And everyone is pretty satisfied, says a pilot fish there.

"A couple of days before the big day, IT directors met with their respective Y2k teams to thank them for a job well done," fish says. "My director pulled together a meeting with the five or six people in his organization that worked on the Y2k project.

"After all the attaboys and other congratulatory remarks, my director says, 'There's one last thing I'd like to share with you.'"

Director begins handing out packages, which all the team members immediately open. Inside each one is a high-end, multifunction electronic clock with multiple alarms, multiple time zones and a host of other features. And each clock is emblazoned with "Year 2000" and the company logo.

Fish jokingly remarks, "These are pretty cool. Too bad they aren't Y2k-compliant." Everyone laughs, including the director, and the meeting breaks up.

Fifteen minutes later, fish gets a call from a very irate VP of IT.

The VP proceeds to tell fish that he has spent a lot of money on these clocks, and they're going to be handed out not only to the Y2k teams, but also to the rest of the people in IT who supported the initiative by taking up the slack while fish and his cohorts actively worked on the project, and what does fish mean exactly when he says that they "aren't Y2k-compliant"?

"I could barely get a word in edgewise, so I just waited for him to wind down," says fish. "I finally told him that it was just a joke, and that everyone laughed when I made the statement, even the director. That calmed him down somewhat, but he was still a little ticked.

"I won him over when I told him we appreciated the recognition and were especially grateful for the gift, which really was an exceptional clock that was also Y2k-compliant."

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