Taunt the PFY
I used to be a computer consultant. This meant that I had no power, a £10 sign off authority, and a borrowed laptop. But sometimes, I'd end up being followed about by the IT Department's PFY (pimply-faced youth for those not in the know).

One day on-site, me and the PFY were working on an Exchange Server machine. Time came to reboot it. Now, this would crash everyone's Outlook, so I told him to send out a global email, to tell everyone to sign out of email by shutting down Outlook. Off he went, proud to be trusted with an important mission. When he got back, we did whatever we needed to do, then brought the machine back up. Once we were happy, I told him to go back and email all the users that the server was up again. Once more, he went off, strutting proudly at the importance of his mission. He got back to his workstation and started typing. Then, a colleague of his asked what he was up to, and he told them he was emailing to say that the email server was back. They, not unnaturally, fell about laughing and suggested that he page people through the telephone system.

Back he came to me, miffed that I'd sent him on a fool's errand. I told him to think on next time, and to consider this a learning experience. He grudgingly accepted my advice.

They don't let me have any power.
(purplegod counting down for Christmas!, Sat 10 Jul 2010, 22:07, 3 replies)

You are BOFH
AICMFP
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Mon 12 Jul 2010, 11:49, closed)

.
I like stuff like that.

I once asked one of the travel people at work to book me a room in a hotel with a sea view.

This was in Sao Paulo, 45 miles from the nearest sea.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 12 Jul 2010, 12:19, closed)

I had to do a similar thing today
apart from the bit where I teach the PFY a lesson. But I think that might be coming...
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Tue 13 Jul 2010, 18:15, closed)