My Final Day at Microsoft

Today is my final day at Microsoft. Over the years I have had the pleasure of pranking someone who works for me. It started when he was a college intern and I would lower his desk one inch a day until he looked like he was sitting at a pre-school desk. Ah the good times we had.

On my way out I simply couldn’t resist one more job. Two things to know for context. He just spent a month setting up his office. Tweaking it. Adjusting it. Getting everything just right. Additionally, a week ago he came to work in a Visual Studio LightSwitch logo’ed polo shirt, which was very out of character for him. It turns out that he hadn’t done his laundry, and that was all that was left.

With this in mind I set out to “improve” his office set up and ensure he always had clean clothes to wear. (My accomplices shall remain nameless to protect the guilty).

Here are some photos of the final result (sorry, forgot to take “before” photos):

First we removed all the THREE desks he had (which required cutting 1.5 cable locks before resorting to disassembling the desks completely), leaving behind only a bookshelf and a couple portable drawer units. The bookshelf became the desk, and one drawer unit became a side table while the other will be used as a chair.

The desk is efficient although crowded.

Since we aren’t barbaric we ensured to leave his scotch and a copy of The Economist.

To ensure he would not go without a wardrobe, I supplied him with a full stock of the very logo’ed shirt he wore to work

Finally, we established some working guidelines for how to dress throughout the week.

Now don’t think we are too cruel. This is all in the spirit of good fun and life at Microsoft. Plus, he had an idea something was up when he left for vacation the night BEFORE my last day at Microsoft (who does that!), as proven by the note he left on his desk (now proudly on display in his window).

I’ve had a wonderful run here at Microsoft. You’ll find me at <www.dougseven.com> from now on.

D7