Every have a time that you constantly run but never get anything useful done? The IT staff is gone, there is just me and one other developer and he will not work out side is box, so I get everything else, everything. I am trying to update an application which hasn’t been used in two years and is now needed. It takes time and dedicated thought to get everything setup right for 2007. I dig in, get most of the application up into my head, I start pounding away at the keys–I got it, here we go this will do it. BAM, “Could you please help me, my mouse doesn’t work” I hear on the other side of the phone which just blew everything I had going in my head onto the adjacent wall.
“Sure, be right there”, I say. Can’t allow somebody not unable to work during the busiest time of year… So I truck on over to the helpless user.

On my journey through the office, which is always a dangerous and scary thing to do, I hear my name called and “Quick Question”, I start to shiver.

Let me tell you about quick questions, the answers are never anything close to being quick. Sure the asker may be able to express their question in ten seconds, but it will take the next thirty minutes to explain the answer and probably another task to add to the ever-growing list.

Throw it in FogBugz, I’ll get to it.

So I continue on to my helpless, mouse-less user who must get running or the company will just fold now and we will all be out on the street (sarcasm). I hear from afar, “Hey, did you get my email about the new report requirements?”

So now I am thinking, sure I saw the email in my inbox, but no way have I opened it, no way; It’s just too depressing to see some huge new report requirement, which somebody surely new about two months ago and is now given to me one week before in needs to be delivered, ugh.