# Help me plan an exit strategy in the MMP **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** mmp\ **Created:** [December 2, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268 "2019-12-02T11:57:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/21 "2019-12-02T16:38:19Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Packing tape around the casters of his chair are a quick, cheap prank. One of the other engineers removed the casters from Baby Engineer’s chair one time. 😃 And I may add some rice to the mix. It’s almost, but not quite, as bad as glitter. Roxy is down for her nap, so I have an hour or so of quiet time. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/22 "2019-12-02T16:45:56Z")
I think I read this one elsewhere on the SDMB. Buy a cheap burner phone, and program the ring tone to be something unusual, annoying, but brief. Hide the phone somewhere it’ll be hard to find. Maybe tape it to the back of the cubicle wall or under a surface. Then, at random times, call the phone. See how long it takes to drive him crazy. This prank may be a little more expensive than some of the others mentioned here, but it can also last a lot longer. If you can get in and recharge the battery, and maybe find a new hiding place, it could go on for weeks or months. Or until they carry him out, twitching and screaming. Subsequent posters can suggest suitably awful ring tones. My ideas include a scritching sound like a rodent in the wall, a single soft beep, or a faint sigh or moan. The important thing is that it be short enough that it will be hard to locate the source. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/23 "2019-12-02T16:49:22Z")
Getting in after I’m gone will be pretty much impossible. Plus I’ll be too busy post-retirement to drive 20+ miles one way for any prank. But it reminded me of a former coworker who mounted an automatic air freshener sprayer under one guy’s desk - took him several weeks to find it. I wonder what those things cost… ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/24 "2019-12-02T16:50:19Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My boss is retiring in July, and I’m training to take over her position. The president of the company thinks all I do is programming, and he doesn’t think we need a programmer. The thing is, I’ve written all of the programs we’re going to use. The _other_ part of my job is to process the data through the programs I’ve written, keep up with the businesses sending us data to ensure we get their data, getting the data to where it needs to go… In other words, data processing. A lot of our data must be run through my programs. While it’s not absolutely necessary for someone to know how to write Easytrieves, they need to know how to use them and to make adjustments when the data format changes or for other reasons. I think we’re getting him to understand that there’s more involved with my position than he thinks. > > I work for a non-profit member-run company. We do get paid for data that is used, but our income comes from the products generated by the data. We’re just breaking even now, and I can’t remember the last time we got raises. We’ve been lucky to get contributions to our 401ks. > > I’m not having any fun. Writing programs was fun. Processing the data through them isn’t. Being married has been an expensive venture, and I’m _way_ in debt. It would be nice to work someplace that gives raises. And then there’s the 230-mile round-trip commute to the office twice a week. And the president doesn’t seem to be impressed by all of my hard work over the past 12-plus years. I suspect that when my boss retires and I take over her position, the president will decide I’m ‘not a good fit’ or something. > > I’m wondering if I should start looking for alternative employment now, or wait to see how things pan out. I think I’d rather work the floor at Costco or Trader Joe’s, or find a data job in town (only 25 miles away). I’m getting tired. Leave. The winds are not blowing in your direction. Knocking down the 230 miles r/t to less than 50 miles r/t is like a raise in itself. And your mood will be so much brighter! Plus, you’ll have much more time to play here in SDMB:p ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/25 "2019-12-02T16:56:30Z")
Prank ideas- Get an [air horn](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCSJGGC/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_Ieu5DbYF4QHDR). Tape it into the back of a drawer so that when he pushes the drawer closed it goes off. It’s extremely startling. Is he keeping your old computer? Take a screen capture and make it the background. Then create a new folder on the desktop and move all other icons into the folder. It will look like the shortcuts/icons are still there but they will be hidden. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/26 "2019-12-02T16:56:31Z")
Who has to clean up the prank? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/27 "2019-12-02T17:02:05Z")
He’ll just move his computer from his desk to mine. Mine will go to IT and be wiped, and probably retired since it’s almost 4 years old, which makes it close to ancient. It’s still running Win7. \*\*Flytrap \*\*- he’ll have to “clean up” but I have no intention of making a disgusting mess there. I just want to mess with the kid a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/28 "2019-12-02T17:12:32Z")
Prank. When I worked at Edwards AFB, we had those grey, government-issued steel desks. There was a pencil/pen trough at the front of the middle drawer. I pranked a coworker by stretching a rubber band across the trough, with a ‘paddle’ in the middle made out of punch cards. I used whole punch cards to keep it from hanging up when the drawer was opened. Winding the rubber band/paddle assembly, I filled the middle compartment of the trough with confetti (the ‘holes’ from a 3-hole punch). Next, I slightly disconnected the cord to my coworker’s telephone handset so that it would prevent her from hearing anything when picking up the phone, or else just drop out completely. This was a prank I’d already done a couple of times, so I knew she knew it. When she came back from lunch, I called my coworker. She plugged the cord back into her handset and said, ‘Ha, ha, ha, John! You’ll have to try something else!’ I said, ‘Yeah, I guess I will.’ We hung up, and then she opened her desk drawer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/29 "2019-12-02T18:31:39Z")
Wrap the desk in Saran Wrap (or as they call it in the U.K., cling film). Rice/confetti isn’t funny and it just makes a mess. Is it possible to affix your desk to the ceiling? Upside down of course. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/30 "2019-12-02T18:33:58Z")
Wrapping the desk isn’t an option. It needs to be something that isn’t obvious since we share the office, so it’ll be limited to drawers, the knee hole, and maybe the narrow gap between the desk and the wall. Wonder if I can construct a false drawer bottom, then put marbles under it?? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/31 "2019-12-02T19:27:41Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > FCM…what about post it notes covering the desk top? I like the packing peanuts in a drawer too. > I’ve been awake most of the night. Dozed a couple times. This is crazy. My brain is tired. My body is sore. Did too much. > Rh6e Siamese cats are all over me. As soon as I sit down here they come. I would train them to wear swesters bit I value all my fingers and eyeballs. > Washin a bunch of sheets cats will love that. > Gotta eat. > Good mornin’ y’all So sorry for my incoherence here. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/32 "2019-12-02T19:41:34Z")
Incoherence? I understood it. What does that say about me, then?? :eek: I can see where bad weather + Roxy = exhausting day! Plus daughter is using my car today as hers is still in the shop, so we couldn’t even have gone to the library or the museum. Add to that, she doesn’t speak English yet… this grandmothering is hard work!!! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/33 "2019-12-02T20:02:04Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > So sorry for my incoherence here. ☹ Have you _seen_ some of the regulars around here? :o ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/34 "2019-12-02T20:07:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > My boss is retiring in July, and I’m training to take over her position. The president of the company thinks all I do is programming, and he doesn’t think we need a programmer. The thing is, I’ve written all of the programs we’re going to use. The _other_ part of my job is to process the data through the programs I’ve written, keep up with the businesses sending us data to ensure we get their data, getting the data to where it needs to go… In other words, data processing. A lot of our data must be run through my programs. While it’s not absolutely necessary for someone to know how to write Easytrieves, they need to know how to use them and to make adjustments when the data format changes or for other reasons. I think we’re getting him to understand that there’s more involved with my position than he thinks. > > I work for a non-profit member-run company. We do get paid for data that is used, but our income comes from the products generated by the data. We’re just breaking even now, and I can’t remember the last time we got raises. We’ve been lucky to get contributions to our 401ks. > > I’m not having any fun. Writing programs was fun. Processing the data through them isn’t. Being married has been an expensive venture, and I’m _way_ in debt. It would be nice to work someplace that gives raises. And then there’s the 230-mile round-trip commute to the office twice a week. And the president doesn’t seem to be impressed by all of my hard work over the past 12-plus years. I suspect that when my boss retires and I take over her position, the president will decide I’m ‘not a good fit’ or something. > > I’m wondering if I should start looking for alternative employment now, or wait to see how things pan out. I think I’d rather work the floor at Costco or Trader Joe’s, or find a data job in town (only 25 miles away). I’m getting tired. Somewhat different situation, but I ran a small nonprofit for about 5 years. The pay wasn’t great, the hours long, and the benefits few and unpaid. I loved the job and believed in the program, but it was exhausting. Start looking now for a job in a for-profit closer to home. You’ve put in your time in a non-profit, and it’s not working out financially. Whether your boss changes his mind or not, you’ll likely still be in debt and burned-out if you stay. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/35 "2019-12-02T20:08:47Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Incoherence? I understood it. What does that say about me, then?? :eek: > > I can see where bad weather + Roxy = exhausting day! Plus daughter is using my car today as hers is still in the shop, so we couldn’t even have gone to the library or the museum. Add to that, she doesn’t speak English yet… this grandmothering is hard work!!! Mom, you are so nice. I’m feeling better and not so stoopid. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/36 "2019-12-02T22:19:04Z")
Got my first Christmas card today. Kind of sad, it’s from my cousin whose husband died earlier this year. Only her name on the card. On a happier note, I saw on FB that today is my great-aunt’s 95th birthday. She is really my grandfather’s cousin, but she is married to my grandmother’s brother. His 95th birthday is on the 13th. I think it’s cool that they have been together for so long, over 70 years. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/37 "2019-12-02T22:22:02Z")
Have not read. Yet. Freaking irk took all my time. I even asked old grouch (acting director) an got permission to only irk 6 hours today and tomorrow and still irked 7 today. The 1st of the month should NEVER be on a Moanday. I guess I will burn the midnight oil to get all this stuff put away and tidied before the maid comes on Wednesday and turns around and walks out. I am trying to finish BAT (big ass tree) and the exchange of regular fancy China for Christmasy dishes. Too much. Have not read but will. Happy New Week. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/38 "2019-12-02T22:35:16Z")
Mundane personal victory: Alex Catt hornked, and I caught it with a wad of paper towels before it hit the floor.😃 Having a martini. **Moooommmmmm!!!** , Buy some Dolla Sto spatulas, and stick them in the desk drawers so they are almost impossible to open. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > So sorry for my incoherence here. ☹ It seemed OK to me. Which may be a sign you need help.😉 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/39 "2019-12-02T23:22:05Z")
\*\*doggio \*\*- I’m planning a trek to the local dollar store to see what I can see. The 'nanner bread was really good, but then it always is. Supper was good. I’s tahred - 5AM is going to sneak up on me tomorrow. But only 6 more times… ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268/40 "2019-12-02T23:22:43Z")
Howdy Y’all! I spiffed da cave and made sup which has been et. Did not leave the place all day which I lurve! Tomorrow, however, I shall venture forth. I need to take care of a few things, so might as well go deal. Le Sigh. Also Firday, the church leadership development thingy I got myself involved in cranks up again, so I shall have to go participate and make nice with other people for a day and a half. WOE! Oh well, at least the food is good. **Beck** coherency has never been exactly a strong tenant of the MMP. Matter of fact the less sense one makes the more it makes sense to most of us. We thrive on senselessness up in hear! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-plan-an-exit-strategy-in-the-mmp/844268.md?page=3)