# Work, politics, and a solution
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-politics-and-a-solution/52459
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 30, 2001, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-politics-and-a-solution/52459 "2001-01-30T21:56:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2001, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-politics-and-a-solution/52459/1 "2001-01-30T21:56:11Z")
Work politics.
Everyone has to deal with it. Some people do it better than others. I’m trying to decide if I handled this in the right way.
First, some introductions.
- The hero of this play, **LNO** , the valiant senior tester in the quality assurance department.
- The villain of this play, **BudgetingMoron** , the tightfisted Scrooge in the accounting department.
- The sidekick of the hero, **Faithful\_Guy** , the programmer in search of a whiteboard for the end of his row of cubicles.
[Act 1]
_Accounting department. Enter **Faithful\_Guy** and **BudgetingMoron**._
**Faithful\_Guy** : Hello. I need a whiteboard for the end of my row.
**BudgetingMoron** : No, you don’t. Request denied.
**Faithful\_Guy** : Um, I really do. We’re tacking up sheets of paper every morning, and ripping them down in the evenings. The improvised whiteboard is wasting money.
**BudgetingMoron** : Then you’ll have to find another way.
**Faithful\_Guy** : Sigh.
[Act 2]
_Off in the bowels of software development. Enter **Faithful\_Guy** and **LNO**._
**LNO** : No whiteboard?
**Faithful\_Guy** : The blankety-blank blank blankety-blank. _[Edited for content.]_
**LNO** : Let’s see if I have any luck.
[Act 3]
_Accounting department. Enter **LNO** and **BudgetingMoron**._
**LNO** : Can I have a whiteboard for the end of my row?
**BudgetingMoron** : No. And since I know you talked to **Faithful\_Guy** , I now have a grudge against you.
**LNO** : Sigh.
[Act 4]
_Off in the bowels of software development. Enter **Faithful\_Guy** and **LNO**._
**LNO** : I’ve got an idea.
**Faithful\_Guy** : Will it get me a whiteboard? We’ve used up all the copier paper, and people are getting mad.
**LNO** : Let’s conspire. Psst psst psst psst psst.
**Faithful\_Guy** : Good idea. Want a slice of pizza?
[Act 5]
_Accounting department. Enter **Faithful\_Guy** and **BudgetingMoron**._
**Faithful\_Guy** : I hear you don’t like **LNO** very much. If you get me a whiteboard, I can get back at him for you.
**BudgetingMoron** : I want proof, then you get your whiteboard.
**Faithful\_Guy** : Deal.
[Act 6]
_Off in the bowels. **LNO** at his computer. A day passes._
**LNO** : Time to send an email to **BudgetingMoron** , **Faithful\_Guy** , and a dozen other people.
**LNO** emails: Help! Someone slashed my tires and killed my dog!
[Act 7]
_Accounting department. Enter **Faithful\_Guy** and **BudgetingMoron**._
**BudgetingMoron** : Wow. You did that?
**Faithful\_Guy** : Uh, um, er. Can I have my whiteboard?
**BudgetingMoron** : Sure. Wow, that was great. I feel kinda bad about the dog thing, though.
[Act 8]
_Bowels of software development. **Faithful\_Guy** and **LNO** share a pizza and look in awe at the pristine whiteboard._
**LNO & Faithful\_Guy** : Yay!
The end.
---
### Author:  [@racerx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racerx)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-politics-and-a-solution/52459/2 "2001-01-30T22:24:47Z")
LOL!
That is the new Greatest Story Ever Told, replacing the Bible.
---
### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-politics-and-a-solution/52459/3 "2001-01-31T02:45:31Z")
If that’s the greatest story ever told, and it’s only been viewed 24 times, I clearly need to come up with better thread ideas.
Of course, now I worry that **BudgetingMoron** reads the SDMB and may take his vengeance out on me. Especially if someone lets him know that I never had a dog to begin with.