by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2013/04/11 07:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2013/04/11/10410235.aspx
Nothing technical whatsoever in this blog today!
It was a cross-eyed conversation, to be sure.
Have you ever had one of those?
They can be rewarding, though usually they're just grueling.
Every once in a long while, they can be both!
She was an ex-girlfriend.
Aren't they all?
But she was the first ex who was a full-time serf once I became a serf, over 4400 days ago.
At least she wasn't the not ex of a serf, the one who wasn't as separated as she claimed to be.
Talk about grueling and unrewarding! That one, I'll keep off the Blog!
She had just been relieved of her job, and told to find a new one, or absent that, to just get out.
Given all that, she wasn't too terribly happy, and more than a little bit stressed.
"So Michael," she opened, "what are you doing in a window office in the Partner Solutions Center? Weren't you on some localization team somewhere?"
"They were a World-Readiness team attached to a localization team," I quipped, annoyed at the odd distinction that no normal human makes.
"Sorry," she offered. "But what are you doing in Building 25 "Funny you should ask me that," I start. "My old group had some real challenges with accessibility and those issues kind of came to a head."
She blinked. "So you quit and end ended up here?"
"No, nothing like that. But they were holding me back," I explained. "I had to do something."
"What did you do?" she asked.
"I had to do something, like I said. So I thanked them for all of their efforts, and I 86'd them."
"You fired them all?" she asked nervously. "I thought you were a Program Manager 2. Where'd you get the authority?"
"Oh, I got promoted," I explained "I didn't do it myself. I have people to do that sort of thing now."
"Wow, I never knew you had it in you!" she said wonderingly. "Are you a DE or a TF or a VP now?"
"Talk to my people, we'll have lunch!" I quipped.
Eventually I dropped the charade, and explained that the World-Readiness team attached to a localization team was still around, and I was still working for them. But they did all get moved to Building 86, which when everything is said and done may cost ¾ of a million to retrofit accessible entrances, throughways, and egresses. So rather than firing me or making me work from home, they paid the low low price of $500 to move me, into a window office in the Partner Solutions Center. I work from home half the time and visit the perpetually inaccessible 86 maybe once a month.
And there was a happy ending -- she got an offer on the last day of her search.
All things considered, this particular cross-eyed conversation was pretty rewarding!
referenced by
2013/09/05 Building 86 is now completely accessible!