By: Andrew Robson [2002-07-12]

Emails I Sent at Work

many shall fall to elf-kind before the day is out


Is Andrew a woman?  Or am I(the editor) too lazy to look for better art?  MYSTERY ABOUNDS


There comes a time in every boy's life to delete the contents of his sent mail folder. When looking through it I came across some emails I've sent at work and felt the compulsion to force you to witness them as well.

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Yes, the great fake rubber dinosaur known as computer upgrades has risen from the depths, meaning many computers have been upgraded to run faster. If anyone notices their computer running faster and leaner and more reliably, its probably 'cos I upgraded the RAM. The computers in the Level 5 Training room have also been upgraded, so when you blank the student's screen you really will be taking away a great computer!

If any of you find your computer running faster but fear it may just be a placebo effect, please contact me and I'll let you know whether yours has been upgraded.
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Today last year's layers of grease and grime were flushed from the now newly-disinfected Webcats. Screens were cleaned, mouses were ungummed,
and mouse mats were sanitised. What does this mean for you, though?

1. The mice are now almost frictionless, therefore the same amount of force is not needed to push them around, using the same amount of force leads to mices flying off tables and hiding in holes in the skirting boards.

2. A newly deployed troup of ex-shoemakers elves have been deployed, they will be hiding in the stacks waiting to punish people who use the webcats with unclean hands. They will also punish the heathens that write on the screens with biro; yes, many shall fall to elf-kind before the day is out.

3. Statistical projections show that the newly cleansed webcats will increase productivity and speed of those utilising them by between 10-15% meaning less queues for the users, and an estimated 1-3% increase in academic excellence.

Be Vigilant, Citizens.

"MAKING WEBCATS WORK FOR YOU"
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For years mankind has sought a way to protect itself from being overrun by angry apes, a la Planet of the Apes. Many a time I have driven past the front lines on the way to work, where brave men and monkeys fight with bananas. Now you can help our boys on the front.

Our scientists have discovered they only want to over-run us because we are a bunch of scoundrels and sluggards; their only wish is for us to live in harmony with the world. To this end we must conserve energy this Christmas.

Yes! Before you go home to holiday, to watch the great TV on over Christmas, to eat all the pies and dance to the old Chrimbo tunes. Before, BEFORE that, turn off every electric-eating appliance you can find. e.g. computers, monitors, printers, photocopiers, faxes, lights, electric heaters, hair curlers, kettles, etc.

Do it for the monkeys, do it for the rain forests, do it for Mankind, but most of all do it for your country.
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The intranet server now known as cyberpig has arrived, wheee loads of fun.
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Has anyone seen the laptop, or borrowed it without returning it? It appears to have escaped its secure enclosure.

More importantly with it was the power supply which took months to order and get hold of a replacement.

If anyone has spotted a short grey laptop answering to the name of Toshiba please contact me.
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> please help yourselves to the chocolate cake in the staff room

The chocolate cake has been removed from the staff room where it was lit by the light emitted by the great fusion ball of flames in the sky known as the sun, whereupon light that escaped from the surface of the sun would take 8 minutes to reach the cake and melt it.

So if you're looking for the chocolate cake it's in the fridge and very delicious.
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It's ok everybody, the cable has been returned and is happily snuggling its projector mother in its small projector nest as we speak. My thanks to everyone involved in what I like to call "The Hunting of the Cable."

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I won't tell you what kind of context these emails belong in; have fun trying to work it out.

If I weren't so lazy I'd include the subject lines, with such favourites as "FUN FUN FUN!" and "A note to mice and staff.re: chocolate cake."

It's such a waste.

Oh man! [2002-07-12 01:12:56]
You guys are really scraping the barrel.
[2002-07-12 01:23:17] Jonas
You should've seen the one that got rejected.
Cookies [2002-07-12 02:06:38] Jacques Kitsch
Sometimes I look in the file to see what cookies I've accumulated, I don't know where they all come from.
Anthropomorphising mices to pieces [2002-07-12 02:26:49] dunc
Tech support for bath university library, aren't you.
Tech [2002-07-12 05:45:53] Jacques Kitsch
Why? No mouse ball jokes?
Astonishing, my dear Holmes! [2002-07-12 05:57:34] dunc
Anyone who thinks information access for students is a good thing is obviously library staff. Having to organise clean mices as opposed to complaining indicates tech staff. The tatoo on his left arm and his rolling gait shows that he gets drunk a lot which indicates a university somewhere. The obsession with cleanliness probably extends subconciously to choice of home, thus suggesting Bath. Also the email address is a bit of a giveaway. The lack of ball jokes is curiously inexplicable in this context, but there you go. One of life's little mysteries.
Well, then, Watson... [2002-07-12 06:07:56] Jacques Kitsch
How do we account for the blue hair? A cyberpunk of some sort?
ahem [2002-07-12 06:20:22] dunc
He says it himself; "many shall fall to elf-kind before the day is out". Such people are often flamboyant by nature.
Library Paste [2002-07-12 07:09:34] Jacques Kitsch
Then perhaps that wasn't library paste which he was eating. What sort of paste was it, you may well ask. Alimentary, my dear Watson.
Small correction [2002-07-12 11:14:42] Oscccar
Dunc, if you look closely you'll see he's got the shakes, which indicates to me he's just quit the life of drink and is suffering violent withdrawl pains.
Elbowed [2002-07-12 11:55:12] Jacques Kitsch
I thought that the chick had elbowed him in the groin when she went to point, that causes those kind of lines.
Or [2002-07-12 12:43:11] Oscccar
If you look at it long enough, it looks like she's manually servicing him. That would also cause those lines
Doh! [2002-07-12 13:07:16] Jacques Kitsch
That's not her finger! I should have noticed that!
I agree with the first post [2002-07-12 17:06:04] sally
yes. not everything one types is interesting.
Hey! [2002-07-12 18:07:32] Jacques Kitsch
I'm batting 1,000!
I'm sorry. [2002-07-13 02:55:40] Annna
I am busy apartment hunting, filmmaking, working and looking for work that does not involve so much poopie. Also, editing submissions for Portal of Evil and I need to buy gas and do laundry and actually cook up some of this Rice-a-Roni instead of eating hot dog buns with cream cheese and jam for lunch.

I have a couple of things in the works.

While I'm at the bully pulpit, do NOT go see Reign of Fire For one thing, Christian Bale does NOT get naked and kill a whore with a chainsaw. It really is awful, and that's coming from someone who likes both British people and the apocalypse.

Matie made me go before work. After work, though, I finally got around to seeing The Bourne Identity, which was okay. It was pretty much like a live-action The Iron Giant, except instead of a giant robot it was just Matt Damon again.
Cow Skulls&Fanatics [2002-07-13 12:25:09] Jacques Kitsch
Evidently, in Bly, Oregon they have Muslim Fanatics and also sell cow skulls! What an interesting country this is. I guess since Weyerhauser left, the people of Bly have branched out. Bly is the mispronounciation of an Indian word for where two rivers come together.
[2002-07-13 17:08:09] jana
At the risk of sounding like an undergrad who's just taken women's studies:
Isn't it great how in the picture for this article, the person with the computer problem is the chick?

Then again, maybe she's showing him what GOOD data looks like and rubbing the fact that he's a loser. That must be why he's got those shaky lines around him.
Exchange Student [2002-07-13 18:54:05] Jacques Kitsch
Yeah, I thought he was a foreign exchange student, and she was showing him how to keep the books for the Smegma Pi sorority.
he's the boss [2002-07-13 20:49:50] pithymood
and she's pointing a jpg of his butt that's circulating via office email.
Jana [2002-07-13 23:25:05] Jonas
"At the risk of sounding like an undergrad who's just taken women's studies: Isn't it great how in the picture for this article, the person with the computer problem is the chick?"

"Chick"? I assume your prof failed you.
The Picture [2002-07-13 23:55:44] Annna
I thought that the Indian guy was being shocked, puzzled and/or dismayed, from his facial expression and movement lines. As the woman looks more smug than confused, I figured she was pointing out the part of the spreadsheet showing his embezzling or pointing to the fuzzy yet oddly-familiar face on the security camera footage.
Maybe it's just cause my school is full of retards [2002-07-16 22:12:24]
But if this picture were a situation where I go to school it would be more like the chick with the bad 80's hair pointing out an error to yet another completely inept instructor who hasn't the slightest clue how to fix it never mind actually run the computer...
was that a little off tangent?
you tosser. [2002-07-24 02:39:09] xxxyyy
I'm so glad I don;t have to put up with your shite email on a day to day basis.
The saving grace [2003-02-05 16:12:00] Antwan
Ah, a zirealism comes next...
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