Temporary file storage was fine, as long as it made it to the server before the user left for the day. Generally it only took one "reminder" morning of realizing that wasn't the same workstation box as one was using yesterday (a.k.a. panic) for the forgetful ones to get on board.

Oh my goodness, yes! There would have been riots otherwise. The moves also gave us the opportunity to catch people with passwords written down. (Something that was a "one warning, then fired" violation.)

It's funny `cause it's true!

That is one of the best ways I've found to encourage reluctant users to store their files on a fileserver. Explicitly telling people that their workstation hard drives are considered expendable and interchangeable does quite a bit to overcome the "but it's MY computer" mindset that persists for some users (even the ones from after the time of nigh-omnipresent LANs). Also, moving workstations from desk to desk as part of "regular computer maintenance" will flush out the remaining laggards (that was one the best things I've ever seen a CIO think up.)

So, was I just imagining this sort of thing would make a lawyer salivate, or is that actually what is happening?

Well, you can hope to have moved on to a new job by the time the eventual lawsuit(s) hit the news.

My thoughts exactly...

M4n, your signature compels me to post this link: http://www.cracked.com/funny-5691-vuvuzelas/

I've done tech support for an attorney who works in employment issues, and he loves finding comments like yours in emails during the discovery phase. It's entertaining to watch a middle-aged man jump out of his chair to dance around, fist pump and yell "Cha-ching!"

I go to work to get paid for what I do, not to relive the glory days of the college fraternity that I never joined.

Your post points out why (in a pragmatic way) more women are needed in management: it makes it hard for bad female employees to claim sexist treatment when they are justifiably written up or otherwise disciplined (or, "counselled", as some HR departments like to say).

Personal anecdote (my cool story, bro): At a previous job of mine, I had the experience of a new manager coming in after I had been there for a year. She was the first female manager for that unit, and she was tough. A compliment from her for good work consisted of a quick nod, but screwing up got you chewed out. It was a bit of an adjustment for me from my previous manager, but since I did a decent enough job, I didn't have much trouble. The substandard programmer who skated by under the previous manager because she was hypersensitive to criticism and he was afraid of a lawsuit was gone. Quickly. About a week after that, the guy who capitalized on having gone to the same college as the previous manager instead of debugging code was gone, too. The order was critical, it turned out. It was hard for the guy to claim sexism when the employee fired before him was female.

About the "previous job" part: When the project I was working on was completed, and the pink slips started landing, the new manager gave me a glowing letter of recommendation. She wasn't effusive with praise in the normal course of operations, but she was efficient and appreciated employees that generated minimal drama. That showed in the letter.

An excellent example of the mindset that gets escorted out of the building, clutching at pink slip and a cardboard box full of its possessions, sputtering, "W-what did I do?"

And al-Qaeda doesn't even accept replicants as members...

Somehow, I'm picturing the eye builder from Bladerunner when I think about reverse-engineered irises.

Mother of God... it all makes such horrible, horrible sense now...