Shiny new computer room for this local office of an international manufacturer is very, very state of the art.
"Everything is new -- desks, chairs, glass walls," says a programmer.
"To top it off, access to the new computer room is controlled by a fingerprint reader, to show off our use of advanced technology."
To get into the room, staff must type in an access code, then place the correct finger on a lens for authentication.
All goes well for a few months, until the fingerprint reader lens gets a little grimy and the reader starts generating errors, says the programmer --"resulting in more difficult access for us peons needing to frequently get into the computer room.
"Complaints to the IS manager fall on deaf ears, as he is always able to make it work -- even though it may take him five tries and 10 minutes," the programmer says.
But the boss isn't around much -- so the programmer and his cohorts take the low-tech approach and block the computer room door open. That is, until the IS manager catches them at it. Then the dictum comes down: Never EVER block the door open -- or else.
"Feeling put out by this ultimatum, we grab the documentation for the reader and learn that we can set tolerances on the fingerprint identification," says the programmer. "So we set all the peons to a low tolerance and the IS manager to a high tolerance.
"The result was that all of us peons could place anything -- even a pencil -- on the fingerprint reader, and enter," the programmer says.
"The IS manager, however, could never gain access, even with repeated marathon sessions and accompanying swearing."
But it doesn't last much longer, the programmer says: "Finally, the fingerprint reader, being 'defective,' was replaced -- with a simple magnetic card reader."