The Resemblance of Sanity
"$20 says you can't." The PFY reached for his wallet.
"You don't know what you're doing, Grasshopper." I gave him a quick smirk. My fingers flew against my open terminal shell, and then I was done. "Do you want to reconsider?"
"It won't work man, I'm telling you." The PFY placed the $20 on the table. I pressed enter and we both looked at the phone, It took less than a minute for it to ring.
"Damn it, rstrt, stop that!" Nerdy didn't seem to be quite as amused as I was.
"Fine, fine. Just making $20."
"That's it man, I'm changing our wireless password."
"Come down stairs and I'll buy you a coffee to make up for it, how's that sound? In fact, it's Skip's treat."
The PFY rolled his eyes and handed over the $20. We were sitting in the Deli with my laptop. I had recently discovered that there was a certain table that hit just right to pick up a little bit of the third floor's wireless network. I had been there before, so I didn't need to crack the password. Nerdy met up with us a couple minutes later.
"Alright, fess up. How the hell did you do that?" The PFY asked after we all got a fresh cup.
"Simple, Nerdy here is a Mac guy. I happened upon his password not too long ago but he never changed it. Simple SSH session into his Macbook and a say command and it'll talk to your intended victim."
"Which, scares the daylights out of someone that's in a quiet room. I'll be changing that password, by the way."
"Nerdy, in the last five years every password you've used has been from Pokémon or Legend of Zelda. It's not a hard guess."
We all chatted for a while, just enjoying a quiet lunch break for once. My phone didn't ring, neither did the PFY's. It was relatively quiet in the company, lately. It had seemed that Geoff's arrest made HR become even more erratic than ever, but the Head of HR (HoHR) had been sending her cronies to the Dregs instead of confronting me directly. I was happy enough with this arrangement, since no one was giving me the hundred yard stare. If I'm completely honest, it was actually fun at work again. The PFY had completely earned my trust, and we made a pretty solid team. Our users were happy, upper management was placated, even the HoHR hadn't had a complaint since we rebuilt the system that night.
"You three look like you're having a good time, better not let HoHR see that." Money had come down for a sandwich and decided to stop by. I was glad that she hadn't taken it personally, my mild use of blackmail. Though, I suppose it would have been an eventuality that IT was audited, but I wanted the CEO on my side. The tape of HoHR shutting off the exchange server didn't need to be shown, CEO was already upset enough with her antics as it was. We finished our coffees, and sandwiches, and headed back to the Dregs.
"You totally cheated." The PFY grunted, out of breath from taking the stairs.
"Certainly not, it's not my fault you didn't bother to check all the details before opening your mouth." We walked back to the dregs to find a note taped to my door.
'Can you call me please, I need to talk to you.' It was signed by one of our biggest VPs, Really Cool Guy (RCV).
"rstrt, good! I need to have a private word with you, can I come down?"
"Sure thing, RCV. The PFY didn't go after your daughter or something, right? I'd hate to have to bury him." I was slightly louder with my threat to the PFY as RCV's daughter was his age, and I'd seen how the PFY looked at her when she came in a few days ago. RCV laughed and said he'd be right over. He came in and shut the door behind him. RCV was about six four, maybe six five, his hair was completely white. He was older, but didn't act like it. He was a fun loving guy, really happy all the time. I always enjoyed the chance to work with him, since he seemed to have that kind of charisma about him.
"So, here's the skinny. This stays between you and I though, okay?" I nodded "Good. I'm starting my own company with a couple of the VP's from here. I want to contract you out to do our IT, you and Skip, just until we get completely on our feet. I've already discussed this with CEO and he's fine with you doing a little bit of side work, if you're interested."
"Count me in, RCV. Just give me a list of what you want and an idea of your budget and I'll get to work planning. What's my time frame?"
"Six months from now, if that's okay. I'd like to have doors open the beginning of next year." He handed me an envelope. "That should be all the details, but if you need more just ask me." We shook and he walked off. The PFY appeared in my door a moment later. I explained the offer, and the PFY looked rather excited. When he went back to his desk I looked over the paper in the envelope, RCV's budget literally read 'Whatever you need.'
Little did I know that there was already whispers of my conversation with RCV on their way to the ears of HoHR…