Of Pencil Lead and Phonebooks...

...some days I'm glad I don't work full time in IT.

Today I was trying to get a copy of some paperwork, for tax reasons, so I had to run across the parking lot several times to reach the fax machine each time the lady, in a remote part of the country, tried to send it to me.  It didn't happen the first couple times and then she finally got it to work, only she sent it through wrong and I only got two blank pages.  I'm not complaining because it gave me some quality time, away from the desk, with fresh air (even though the air was thick with smoke from all the people running their chimney's last night, I assume). 

During one of my trips I ran into a coworker who I hadn't seen in awhile.  He stopped me and asked me how to transfer a file from one machine to another.  I told him the easiest way was probably with a thumb drive.  His native language isn't english so he tried explaining his dilemma to me despite the fat I had just shared my wisdom, a moment before, on how to remedy his problem.  Finally he asked if he could use the 'chip' that he had.  I got clarification that the 'chip' was a thumbdrive and said yes.  He ran down the hall to his office to grab the 'chip' while I chatted with another coworker.

Moments later he returns and hands me a long slender piece of plastic.  I tell him that the object he just gave me is a container of pencil lead and not a thumbdrive.  He looked at me curiously.  I popped the cap off and poured the lead into my hand and said it goes in a pencil.  He smiled and laughed and went back looking for his 'chip', which he never found. 

It reminded me of a similar incident a couple years before when I was in Laramie.  I was needing a thumbdrive to transfer some files and I stopped by one coworker's office and asked he had one.  He looked me in the eye and said, "Yes, hold on a sec."  He turned to his desk and picked up a phonebook.  I assumed the thumbdrive was buried on his desk, but no, he handed me the phonebook. 

I said, "No, not a phone book, a thumbdrive!" 

He then replied, "Sorry, I don't have one of those."  He took his phonebook back and turned around.  As I was leaving, he turned back and asked, "What the hell is a thumbdrive?" 

Maybe I should just carry a couple of them on me at work at all times.  It might make things simpler, plus I could scan documents and put them on there so I don't accidentally throw important tax documents away and spend the afternoon trying to receive them back...