The course of true love?

This afternoon, Jane had to go down to Board Silly – they were play testing the new version of the DRM software, and there were one or two problems. While Monique and I are now working on the DRM, Jane still knows more about it than anyone else in the company, so she tends to act as the front line support.

She couldn’t solve the problem initially, so she came back for her laptop, then left to go down to the store again, so that she could test it in situ (so to speak). 

To do this, she had to run some cables across the floor – every store is connected to the network, but there are a limited number of ports, because usually there is not a great demand for them. The computers that provide the interface to the network and the MCP are connected, but that is normally about all that has to be. (There are one or two stores that have more ports, but they generally have a good reason – such as the cafe on the first floor that provides internet access and terminals to their customers – but there are only a few of those). 

Being the conscientious person she is, she put a chair across the cables to ensure that no one would trip over them, and one of the staff started walking the floor so that they could warn anyone who came in. (While our beloved Prime Minister might think that Health and Safety is a joke and doesn’t need to be taken seriously, some of us are more sensible!)

While she was working there, Evan happened by, and apparently spotted the cables. Jane saw him, but was too busy to talk to him. A few moments later, another member of the supply department (Ted) walked by – a member who is…… well, I don’t wish to speak ill of the people I work with, but he is not one of the most popular people and he can be a bit….. annoying at times.

Jane figured out what was wrong – there is a slight change needed in the integration subsystem in the DRM – but managed to provide a work-around for Board Silly (and any other store that might have the problem) until the change can be implemented and tested. She then tidied up the cables and came back to our office, only to find Timothy (one of the Triumvirate and Chief Operations Officer) waiting for her, asking why she had needed to run the cables across the store in the first place. 

After she explained, and Timothy left, we tried to work out who had told him, and eventually figured out it was Ted – trying to get Jane in trouble (for reasons that were not exactly clear). While it does seem a tad petty and silly, there are several reasons why he might have done it – it is to do with the way The Hive is set up, and the way staff payments and incentive payments are handled. 

But as we were packing up to go home, Evan came in to ask if Timothy had stopped by to sort out the "cable problem".  After a somewhat surprised exclamation from Jane, it turned out that Evan had thought she was having problems, and mentioned it to Timothy because he wanted to make sure the senior staff were aware of anything that might make Jane’s job harder for her to do.

Which was just such an utterly adorable action, and so sweet a motive, that I have been smiling about it ever since.