BOFH: The best way to stop an idea spreading is a controlled burn
The PFY and I know that the only way out of this is to stall till the end of the day, at which time the Boss's overnight reset will trigger, leaving him only a vague memory of having had a good idea.
Key points
- "We shut down a couple of switches, put the building in night mode, trashed a laptop and a mobile phone, then set fire to the building." "Yes." "Simply to stop a dumb idea?" "Yes." "And the funny thing is, I took a look at his scribblings – and it wasn't….
- "It looks like one of the distribution switches on 4 has crashed." >tappity "And not just 4 – it looks like the boardroom has gone down too." "It could be a virus," I say, using words I know the Boss will respond to.
- And the Boss's crazy ideas are, unfortunately, like bran flakes to his mental digestion, the output of which being delivered to the PFY and myself as a veritable slurry of poorly considered ideas.
He'll have seen something, read something, spoken to someone, or possibly overheard something in a toilet stall that will have sounded – to him – like a great idea.
Sure enough, he's back in his office, typing away furiously, which can only mean there's a memo on its way.
Additional details
- And if there's a memo, there's a path to reminding him of his dumb idea tomorrow...
- "AI," he says, pausing for effect, once he's rolled to a stop.
- In terms of stupidity, it's up there with saying Candyman into a mirror five times, power washing a gremlin, or visiting a basement when Jason's in town.
- Over time, the PFY and I have learned to equate these thoughtful moments with the BAG FULL lamp of a commercial vacuum cleaner at a waxing salon.
- So now I'm hiding in a cramped comms room on the fourth floor while I plug the crashtop into the CCTV VLAN so I can check on the Boss's location.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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