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Please do not write below the line

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312 points dcminter | 8 comments | 21 Oct 24 18:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.565s | source | bottom
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duxup ◴[21 Oct 24 20:23 UTC] No.41908169[source]▶
I worked for an old company that had a lot of old processes and paperwork. Many bits of paperwork had a "do not write below the line" type areas. I always wrote something ... nothing ever happened.

I once hand delivered some paperwork (I was running late) to HR rather than using the inter office mail service. I asked them about it, they told me "Oh you must be Mathew..." I was HR famous. They didn't actually mind, the company was so process driven that having to visually double check my paperwork was just how things were.

Later on they decided to repaint the entire office because we had slightly changed the colors of our logo.

Not long after painting I jokingly put up a piece of paper on a huge white wall that read "This space intentionally left blank." The movers who took down the art put up the art on that wall again, and spaced it evenly ... around my note.

It stayed there for at least 4 years before we left for a new building.

Process...

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1. grogenaut ◴[21 Oct 24 21:37 UTC] No.41908783[source]▶
My favorite thing when moving at the big co that owns my co is that they give you these stickers for desk items to show up... whatever you put the sticker on comes along to be by the desk. WHATEVER YOU PUT IT ON. The movers just do what the stickers said.

One coworker got every white board in the area. Another got a sandwich and some empty coke cans. Another got a sofa and an empty trash bag.

The Machine Works.

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2. sangnoir ◴[21 Oct 24 22:32 UTC] No.41909274[source]▶
> The movers just do what the stickers said.

I'd be pretty pissed if movers ignored instructions and tossed any of my stuff away of their own volition. I keep some non-functional belongings that may appear worthless to others, and my judgement should be what matters when moving or discarding my stuff.

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3. reaperducer ◴[21 Oct 24 23:01 UTC] No.41909457[source]▶
WHATEVER YOU PUT IT ON.

A company I worked for a long time ago paid to move me across the country. It hired both a moving company and a packing company. They both arrived on the morning of the big move and I told them to take everything, as I'd already packed everything I needed for the drive in my car.

Ten days later, the moving truck and unpacking company showed up at my new place, and among the items they unloaded was my kitchen trash can, complete with its trash from the previous city. Thank God I didn't have anything stinky in there!

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4. ForOldHack ◴[21 Oct 24 23:48 UTC] No.41909751[source]▶
The company I got acquired had a huge software library. On the way out on the last day at the old company, I put my cube number on every box that had software in it. It all went to my new cube, and when ever someone asked for an old manual, I would fish it out put their name on it and deliver it surriptishouly the next morning It took more than a year for the product manager to figure it all out, and by that time, they figured that all the software was too old. So ... I simply asked if I could have it all. They said o.k. I took home a box every day for more than a month, reg cards and license keys included. I sold every scrap.

Unexpectly a book I always wanted to read, which was written by a VP, he said he was coming by, so I had him autograph it. His note "please take it easy on them." Sold for more than $200.

The Machine Works, and mostly not the way it was intended. Sorry.

5. ForOldHack ◴[21 Oct 24 23:54 UTC] No.41909776[source]▶
Somewhere in the rules of acquisition, the river flows many many ways.

So long and thanks for all the mislabeled SSDs. Just wiped them single pass, and used them in systems all over.

It's your judgment and that should always be respected, but everything else... Catch-22.

6. neonsunset ◴[21 Oct 24 23:54 UTC] No.41909780[source]▶
There is something about this that makes the neurons in my brain just a little bit happier.
7. dredmorbius ◴[22 Oct 24 00:36 UTC] No.41910034[source]▶
At my last move I'd set aside a bunch of cleaning supplies, to clean the apartment after the move was completed.

The movers binned the lot.

I realised this only after they'd left.

I was quite displeased.

8. ◴[22 Oct 24 00:36 UTC] No.41910041[source]▶