Disconnected

One of the enjoyable things about being suspended is the "disconnect," as in: disconnected and denied all electronic access to the building, the network, and one's voice mail.

Apparently, someone has a How To manual that says all ex-employees are disgruntled and destructive. Apparently, also, the How To manual doesn't address suspended employees who may still need to work for the company and ignores the statistic that most destruction is accomplished by disgruntled current employees still on the job.

Oh, and the compact of trust - "Give me your word" - does not seem to apply anymore, either. Well, no surprise about that: the How To manual has no place in it for employee-management goodwill, only worst-case scenarios.

But, discarding honor and trust as elements in the workplace, there is still the matter of inconvenience to the company.

A few years ago, The Cube was in a company where 80% were laid off in a single hour - a bloodbath preceded by disconnecting everyone from the network. This earned The Cube a $100/hour consultantcy the next week when called in to reconstruct a $50K advertising poster that no one still there knew how to access.

After the recent suspension, fun fun, The Cube was "disconnected" from all company access. Now, since returning, The Cube has had much leisure time, since it is easier to disconnect than it is to reconnect the myriad accesses evolved over a 5 year period of employ. Every couple of hours we come to a standstill as we discover yet another access that bars performance of the job.

And, of course, nothing is ever reinstated, reconnected, or re-passworded without a glitch. 3 hours Monday, 1 hour Tuesday, another 3 hours today. All with other employees waiting as well.

It was a good How To book, one that knows a lot about the dark side of human nature and beans about the better part of people and how things work in the cubicles.