What it means when users, One Click

Douglas Chick ** 

I think one of the more enjoyable moments of being a network administrator is walking in someone's office and they give their mouse a single click. Not two or even three clicks, but one click. Many of you reading this already know where Im going with it, those that havent gotten it yet will have to read on to find out.

One click from an end user can be porn, an online personal bank statement, or chatting with a friend. One click can be reading the news, sending an e-Card or reading his or her AOL, Yahoo, or MSN e-Mail. The one click of which I speak is when you walk into a users office and they click a single click to close whatever it is they didnt want you to see them doing online. Many times I will say, Ah, playing on the Internet? and of course their answers are all identical. I was looking at (their page here) I dont care that you know. They always say they dont care that you caught them playing on the Internet. When the truth is they do and it is I that could care less.

It is the female supervisors within a company that are enraged the most when someone under them gets caught on the Internet, men supervisors rarely care. Women are dedicated and stern bosses that work hard and expect their workers to work even harder. Their workers are usually women too, but this doesnt grant them any special privileges. It would seem that women bosses treat women workings more severe than they do the men workers. Why, I do not know.

Men supervisors dont care a flip about their underlings accessing the Internet to check the traffic report, maybe what the movie times are or reading the news, as long as their work gets done. Ive worked in three corporate offices of completely different types of business and all three are identical when it comes to the accounting department and how the controller or VP of finance treats their workers; worse than the other departments I can tell you that. Perhaps youve noticed it as well. If you monitor these things like I have, I can tell you that its those that work in the accounting department that update their resume weekly, look for a job daily and hate their boss the most. Oddly they also are the ones that bring gifts to their boss when it is his or her birthday. Ive seen no other corporate department do this except for the accounting group. They buy cards and cake for people that they hate. Seems a very odd thing to do.

Furthermore, I can always tell when a one click, I call them one-clicks, is about to give notice. It's expressed in the change of their mouse clicks; their one click turns to two or three clicks or no clicks at all and they leave their web page right out in the open for everyone to see and walk to the restroom.

Most computer people cant be categorized as one clicks. Computer people can be downloading MP3s, reading the news on Google, taking a practice test for a certification at the same time looking at porn and think its perfectly expectable behavior. We are gifted with great skill in multitasking.

I've noticed other strange behavior in their characters as well, such an obsessive compulsivity about resetting the thermostat. But that's an article for another time.