Bass Ackwards

It's craziness...CRAZINESS I tell you!

I stumbled upon what I think is a very bizarre rule / policy / process at work today.

See, last week, we had been asked to provide a list of all equipment we were in need of. If we had any specific needs/features in mind, we should list those, otherwise, we would likely end up with old equipment from surplus. We compiled the list and sent it off.

My supervisor advised that we work "through normal channels" for some of the items, one of which was a keyboard. So, I sent the request to the person/department that deals with smaller items like that. The keyboard we requested was one with the programmable hot-keys (you know, like virtually every other keyboard made in recent years) for mail, Internet, My Computer, etc....

This request was misunderstood, and it was thought to be for an ergonomic keyboard (the ones with the the two halves angeled towards each other). Well, it turns out that there are a bunch of those in stock, but to get one, you need to have a doctors note!!!???!!!!!

How crazy is that???!!! A keyboard that is designed to prevent repetitive stress syndrome / carpal tunnel cannot be obtained until you are already afflicted with said disease/syndrome!!!!! After you've crippled yourself, though, no problem, we'll let you have one of these that are already purchased and collecting dust.

Just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I asked for an ergonomic keyboard, was denied until I am actually crippled, now I can get one. Is it just me, or is that retarded??

As for the keyboard we really wanted, it will likely have to go through a whole approval process where we have to list 3-5 bullet points of *why* this keyboard is needed rather than a "standard" one (from storage/surplus), 3-5 bullet points explaining the risk to the organization if this particular keyboard is not purchased, etc... So, it would cost many times more than the keyboard's purchase price in time/effort/paperwork to get it approved.

I'm sure glad I already have my Swingline stapler!!!! :-)