Pr3++yG33kyTh1ng

I spent most of the day yesterday working on Microsoft stuff, but I managed to make some progress on the OpenView side as well.
I also managed to hit a member of management with a wadded up piece of paper and that was awesome! He was completely looking the other way and I grabbed some IBM paperwork, wadded it loudly and flung it. The ball bounced off his back and went into the waste basket. When he turned around I said, "Excuse me, I seem to have dropped my wadded up piece of paper."
He told me that it went in the wastebasket (it was a truly awesome accident) and I mentioned the NOCC clean up directive.
Later in the day the same member of management came back to speak to one of the network guys and I stared at him until he looked at me. Then I said, "We're getting a lemur!"
He called me a name and that name . . . was a swear word.
I told him I had no idea he was so firmly in the anti-lemur camp.
And then I (as I often do) got to thinking about cuteness and how it can change technology. For a while now, I've been adding images to internal email communications. As long as the answer is technically sound, who can argue with a picture of a bunny in a sweater at the end?



I've honestly never been asked about it. Seriously. But if I were asked, are bunnies not allowed to wear sweaters? It is a sleeveless turtleneck, which is a bit odd I'll admit. It is still within the rights of that bunny to stay warm on what looks like a blustery autumn day.



Anyone I have directly questioned about the images (rotating regularly as my desktop background) tells me that these bunnies are cute. By my random sample of opinions, I can say most people (both technical and non-technical) seem to freaking adore cute pictures ripped off the internet.
So I started thinking (having already accomplished WAY more than I set out to when I left the house (over an hour late) yesterday morning) about using the cute pictures in my dealings with the clients. Their power can not be denied.

My next call from an irate client could very well go like this:

Them: "Blah blah salespuke lied to me blah blah broken blah blah lost data!"
Me: "I understand your concern. Hang on a second, I'm emailing something to you now. Let me know when you get it."



Them: Stunned silence (I hope)
Me: "That little guy is freaking adorable isn't he? Look! He's using his little hands to eat that piece of corn! He thinks he's people! People eating giant corn!"

And once we have agreed on that (and what total heartless bastard wouldn't) then we can restart the conversation having established common ground. That one amazingly cute hamster could completely change the relationship.
Or they could decide I'm unbalanced, which would make them more reasonable as well.