Wednesday 4 October 2000

Pic of the day: Norwegian readers: Sandemo alert! She's started yet another new series! De Svarte Ridderne (The Black Knights), and as usual it is full of romance, ghosts, romance, drama and some romance. This book has hardly any sex in it at all, which I consider an improvement. (Then again, it is the first book in the series.) The woman is certainly productive! I thought she had retired after her three earlier series, all of which are cult hits here in Scandinavia.

Ethically impressed

Today I went to Audio & Video, a smallish store here in Kristiansand that sells high-tech multimedia. (They seem to be good at DVD for instance). This was the place where I had found an MP3 player at substantially reduced price, demo used. They were to call me when they had found the cables and such, but some time had passed. I worried that they might have given up on finding me at home (I tend to get home late). Or worse, that they had discovered how good a deal they had given me, and just hoped that I would forget it all.

The opposite was true. They had not found the USB cable, true enough. But what this guy had done, was to order a new complete player for me. Which he told me that I would get at the same price - I only had to wait three weeks or so.

I must be easily impressed, because I was like WOW! A human doing the right thing even when not forced to? I did not say that, actually, but I'm sure I looked astonished. Would I have done the same in his situation? I would like to think so. Would I have expected anyone else to do so? No. Not even a pietist, humanist or idealist. When it comes to losing money, all bets are off.

It's one thing to not cheat; another to walk the second mile. This guy was a victim of unforeseen circumstances; I would certainly understand if he had asked me to just forget the whole thing, though I might have wondered whether he had indeed not found the cables or just regretted a too generous deal. Now that he's probably going to lose money on it, I am basically shocked. My belief in human nature has suffered a ringing blow. Perhaps humans are not so bad after all! Or at least not all of them.

If you're on the south coast of Norway and you want to buy audio or video stuff, I'd recommend to visit this shop. I think the address is Skippergata 11, it is fairly near the main street. They also have the most fascinating gadgets, such as a discman sized DVD player with a small flat color display built in. (Oooh!) I did not see if they also had a pocket grimoire with zombie detector, fax and email ... but when it comes, it will probably be there first. :)

***

On the other hand, if I may say so, we had a possible conflict coming up at my workplace this morning. Last afternoon, Staffman sent an e-mail implying that there were run some jobs on the server which were not cleared with the department leaders. The mail was sent to me, and to the reserve data guru (NTNTG) and with a copy to the administrative office leader. The net effect was to project the image that the reserve guru had been doing some vigilante work on the systems. By an amazing coincidence, that particular person was not at work that day. I sent a reply to the same people, intending to clarify the ambigiousness (we computer guys are actually expected to run some of these jobs) and request that further proceedings be debated in a micro meeting instead.

This came to pass today, and I hope most of the misunderstanding was cleared up. As usual with such things, it was not meant the way it looked. (I had sort of expected this, given the rather decent level of cooperation we have had in the past.) It seems that reserve computer guy had indeed got clearance for the jobs, but informally. I guess this just goes to show that one should limit the number of people who get copies of an e-mail, when in doubt. :)

***

In vaguely related news, we're trying to eradicate Solitaire, Freecell and Minesweeper from our Windows NT workstations. The reason is that a number of more than zero employees has confessed (hopefully without torture) that they are addicted to one of the above. Personally I am a pessimist in this regard: I think the problem is not with Freecell but with the psychosocial workplace environment, the same that ensures that most of us leave with a disability pension rather than staying on till old age. Of course, I could be wrong. It happens, now and then.

Work ethics is not a one-way thing. If you don't respect your job, it is hard to give your most for it. I'd be more than happy to spend my workday playing Solitaire rather than work, but I have other hobbies. On the other hand, I'll stretch a bit to help out my coworkers. They are after all just innocent victims of the system too. :) Tomorrow evening for instance, I am likely to stay at work till 22 (10PM) or later, to watch over the installation of a new telephone central. Depending on how long it actually takes, my journal may be delayed. I hope not, though.

***

In final, almost unrelated national news: The national budget proposal was, uh, proposed. The Labor government launched a rather blatantly socialist budget. This may appeal to their core voters (those who still remain, I might add) but there is no real chance that it will pass. Labor is in minority - in fact, they can't even make it with the help of the Socialist Left. So the best bet is that the budget will get wildly unbalanced before it's finished, sending the interest rates soaring once again.

I was tempted to buy a new outer jacket today. I was tempted to buy a new and more luxurious fragrance set for my personal hygiene. (Well, not that personal - soaps, deo, aftershave, that kind of stuff.) And of course I was tempted to buy a micro DVD player, in case you had not guessed. Seems like the next fad is shopping again. But then I think of the upcoming interest rates, and put my hands in my pockets to keep them from pointing out all the things I "need". It worked for a day, but Light knows how long I can stave it off.

It's hard to be human. (Try who will.) I'm that much more impressed when someone actually does it well.