"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Friday, March 05, 2004
Stepping in Mud
prob-lem Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English probleme, from Middle French, from Latin problema, from Greek problEma, literally, obstacle, from proballein to throw forward, from pro- forward + ballein to throw -- more at PRO-, DEVIL
1 a : a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution b : a proposition in mathematics or physics stating something to be done
2 a : an intricate unsettled question b : a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation c : difficulty in understanding or accepting
3 : result of one person lying to another person
I really hate dealing with human beings sometimes, ya know?
For myself, I am honest to a fault. I can't remember the last time I told a bald faced lie to anyone. I can't even remember the last time I invented one of those shifty half truth numbers. No one else can remember either.
Truth and honesty are important to me.
Dealing with someone on a truthful level, as I see it, is a sign of respect. Lying to someone is a clear message of grave disrespect for that person. Lying to someone clumsily is even worse.
OK, enough philosophy. Let's see if I can relate what just happened and maybe make some sense of it myself by doing so. I am doing some self analysis here, and you're invited for the ride if you like.
Fact #1: I am the Controller and Director of IT for my company, and work with several other members of management. One is the office manager, whose name is Mitsi.
Fact #2: As part of my job, I am responsible for computer security at my company.
Fact #3: We allow our computers to be used for personal purposes if such does not conflict with work duties or job performance. A lot of companies think that this would be stupid.
Fact #4: In order to make fact #3 work, there has to be an honest and open exchange of information between the desktops in the company and myself. That avoids serious problems, like viruses and whatnot.
Fact #5: In the past, I have been able to depend on that and not have to snoop around on other employees' systems. I educate them and depend on them to take proper precautions and ask questions when needed.
Fact #6: In October of this year I began to see some unusual activity on our corporate firewall. From a cursory glance, it appeared to be coming from Mitsi's desktop. About the same time, her AOL log in vanishes from my buddy list. We use our AOL connections for internal messaging and email. When I question her about this, she replies that she is now checking her email on the web interface and not starting the IM software.
Fact #7: Several times over the next month or two, I send her emails and they are not checked. I question her again, and she replies that she seldom checks that account. The conversation shifts and I never really get an answer to where I SHOULD send them to.
Fact #8: Four weeks ago, which would have been the beginning of February or so, she is out sick. Another employee needs to access the net and I start Mitsi's computer. The AOL companion starts automatically, displaying a log in that I had been unaware of. Its named "Onegrl4u2nv" or something like that.
Fact #9: I confront her about that the next day. She claims it was a log in she just created so that her boyfriend could get emails ("Onegrl4u2nv"?) She says that I had not asked her about log ins since it was created, so when she told me she had not done that it was not a lie. She also says that she was unaware that I had to be notified when log ins were created, etc. I inform her that yes, since the equipment AND the account were owned by the company, yes she did have to let me know about it.
Fact #10: I then asked her to add me to the buddy list on that account. This would enable me to track the usage. She replied that she never used that account.
Fact #11: Two weeks ago, her computer gets a really bad polymorphic virus. I have to spend the better part of a day trying to clean it. I don't want to think what would have happened if it got loose in our network. She says she has no idea how it got on there.
Fact #12: This week, she gets another one. This one is a trojan hijacker. I remove it. She says she has no idea how it got on there.
Fact #13: Last night, I stay after work to see if I can find the hole. I am going through her computer with a fine tooth comb, and come across the directory that was created on the unauthorized AOL login. It is dated 10/8/03.
Fact #14: Gravely suspicious, I run her AOL companion. She has stored her password, so I log in. Every person at our company with a computer is on her contact list EXCEPT me. In addition, there are about 30 more names on the list.
Fact #15: There are only two ways for this to have happened. Either she (1) typed all of those names in, or (2) used AIM to export her list then imported it into her new login, after which she deleted only my name.
Fact #16: I personally put through a 50% raise for this girl a year and a half ago. We had worked together and worked together well.
Fact #17: She, of course, denied all of the things I found, claiming that she never used that login and did not create the buddy list. These excuses are, of course, impossible. The only way that the buddy list could be there is to (1) run AIM and export from her main account, (2) switch to the new screen name and import the list, and (3) individually delete my name.
Fact #18: Although I do not think the AOL thing contributed to it, I still cannot determine the source of the viruses on her desktop, and she still denies doing anything that would have caused it.
Fact #19: She was about the only person I would have counted as a friend at work.
Fact #20: Once you have stepped in mud, does your foot ever really get clean until you wash it?
I really hate dealing with human beings sometimes, ya know?
I am so dissapointed.
Comments are VERY welcome on this post.
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC), Dialogues, Phaedo
