How Do People . . .

. . . Do you ever wonder how some people are able to get dressed in the morning? I have a certain manager - he's definitely much more highly compensated than I am . . . yet his incompetence knows no bounds . . . this morning, I was forced to explain to him something he does for a living . . . a process we (should, at least) follow EVERY DAY! It's one of those things that makes you wonder how he's been doing his job if he doesn't understand it . . . It's like a co-worker of yours, who drives to work every day, saying he doesn't use the steering wheel when he's driving - wait, that's brilliant - that's exactly what transpired here . . .

Anyway, I have to go see who my wife is doing . . .

Did you mean "how"?

As you may or may not know, Killer Robot's wife had surgery yesterday. It was a fairly straightforward procedure, and she is going to be okay. But I had to drop in to let you know about the question I was asked this morning. A certain manager of mine, who has less than decent grammatical skills, sent me a simple, heartfelt e-mail:

"Who is your wife doing?"

Egads!!!

Improper Signage . . .

As you may or may not know, a sign was recently placed near a printer in the Killer Robot's vicinity. This sign discouraged the use of an exclamation made famous by an Al Pacino role in the late 80's, notably in a movie co-starring (according the Killer Robot's wife) the adorable Chris O'Donnell. Anyway, it was brought to our attention this afternoon that the sign has been removed. As the Killer Robot enjoys office hi-jinks, he set off immediately to find the perpetrator of this act. Alas, the aforementioned admin assistant had removed it, at the urging of her print cartridge mentor.

The irony in all of this is the fact that the print cartridge mentor has, in the past, placed (what some would consider) inappropriate signage above the men's urinal, expositing on certain employees less than exemplerary marksmanship . . .

a Touch has Occured . . .

. . . a certain engineer, who may sit in the vicinity of the Killer Robot, has been known to be a space invader. In fact, this engineer is sometimes called "space invader" by his co-workers (unbeknownst to him, of course). Anyway, late this afternoon, another co-worker, one who works with the storage of rows and columns, was chatting as he prepared to depart for the day . . . when it happened . . . his space was invaded! The touch was a gently placed hand on his arm, resting easily on the fabric of his poplin shirt. A-HA - so it's not just me . . .

What are we working on?

I just overheard a senior manager, like you know, two levels above me, suggest revising our print cartridge recycling policy to our administrative assistant.

Seems that this guy (or girl) recently discovered that Staples offers $3 instant rebates on all printer cartridges. He (or she) decided that perhaps this aa would serve the company very well by investigating the process, one which has been in place well over six years, and that works (apparently) quite well, as I'm not prone to tripping over print cartridges on my way in in the morning.

Anyway, I'm glad he's not focusing on the strategic direction of our organization or anything.

Does it bother anyone . . . ?

When proper grammar is optional? Why is it optional? Is proper grammar a thing of the past? Have we reached the point, as a society, where "you knew what I meant" is actually accepted and, in some instances encouraged?

This morning, I was asked by a certain manager of mine: "did you every get this finished?"

For your reading pleasure, I submit my thought process regarding this question.

Upon my first perusal of the question, I was struck by the use of the word "every." "Every" changes the dynamic of the sentence. What was the interrogator trying to extract. What "every" could he be referring to? Could he have left "body" off of "everybody?" Could it have been "one" - such as "everyone." In fact, if the "every" could have something left off, perhaps something else has snuck in, like the "you" or, the "t" in this . . . Maybe the original sentence was intended to be "did everyone get his finished," as in, a group was working on a particular (male) individual's project, and a status was required. Or, maybe, the "y" jumped in randomly, as it is often wont to do . . . hiding out above the "h," like you've never tapped it inadvertantly . . . and maybe the sentence should be, "did you ever get this finished" and . . . there, that's what makes it art, is the "ever" . . . Whatever would I do with "did you get this finished?", as this leaves much more room for escaping the binary answer of "yes" or "no."

Of course - maybe I should just not worry about the typos :-)

Pop Culture

Because some of you are so out of touch with current music/movies/books/happenings, this will be a recurring thread

On the IPod:
Borne - "Loss of Signal"
Angels and Airwaves - "We Don't Need to Whisper"
Five for Fighting - "Two Lights"
Richard Buckner - "Devotion + Doubt" - particularly the song "Figure"

On TV/DVD:
Season 1 of Friday Night Lights. I can't believe these actors aren't really the people they're portraying. It's not about football. Or maybe it is about football. The same way Grey's Anatomy is about medicine, or LOST is about airplanes.

On the Nightstand:
Mavericks at Work by William Taylor. As a certain co-worker known for managing rows and tables would call it, the next "Book du jour" of management.

Why the Blog

In the Shadow of the Robot (or ITSOTR, for short) has been created to keep former office occupants abreast of current goings-on at a certain company's Lakeland IT office . . . the Blog will be updated periodically, and parts of the contents may be fictionalized/dramatized/false . . . This blog is not to be taken seriously, and any resemblance to any real-life individuals, events, or animals is completely inadvertant . . . Also, please note that the Killer Robot has never actually killed anything, and in fact, is completely inoperable.