A conversation from last week

Last week I was traveling around RTP a bit, going to different work campuses, that kind of thing. I managed to get back to my real desk for one full day and found this voicemail waiting for me:

"Mr. Brown! This is (can't remember his name) from Desktop Support calling you about your brand new Dell laptop! Just let me know when I can slide on by and I'll get your old IBM T42 replaced."



Hum. Going from a Thinkpad to a Dell? That's a downgrade if I ever heard of one and, no, I'm not interested in giving up my road-tested and durable T42. Not at all and not for anything (this side of a 17" Macbook Pro).

(Calling back).. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. (voicemail picks up) (Phew, bullet dodged). "Hi this is so-and-so" (blah blah blah) BEEP "Hi, this is Greg Brown. I received your voicemail regarding the Dell laptop. I'm on-call this week and I'd really rather not swap out laptops in the middle if at all possible as I'll be required to access the company VPN immediately upon my arrival at home tonight and should something go wrong I'll have to spend the night at my desk. Can we push this install back to next week? In fact, I'd really rather keep my T42 if at all possible. Can you just give that Dell to someone else, or sell it on the black market or something? Thanks!"

My plea must have worked. It's Tuesday and I've not heard back from chipper laptop swapper since last Wednesday. Let's hope he did indeed sell my Dell on the black market. Or put it through an industrial shredder.