How to pretend work for Apple

[CptStern]

fascinating story on how a cancelled project at Apple saw the light of day

I used to be a contractor for Apple, working on a secret project. Unfortunately, the computer we were building never saw the light of day. The project was so plagued by politics and ego that when the engineers requested technical oversight, our manager hired a psychologist instead. In August 1993, the project was canceled. A year of my work evaporated, my contract ended, and I was unemployed.

I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up.



His contract in another division at Apple had just ended, so he told his manager that he would start reporting to me. She didn't ask who I was and let him keep his office and badge. In turn, I told people that I was reporting to him. Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive. We worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week.



People around the Apple campus saw us all the time and assumed we belonged. Few asked who we were or what we were doing.When someone did ask me, I never lied, but relied on the power of corporate apathy. The conversations usually went like this:

Q: Do you work here?
A: No.
Q: You mean you're a contractor?
A: Actually, no.
Q: But then who's paying you?
A: No one.
Q: How do you live?
A: I live simply.
Q: (Incredulously) What are you doing here?!




We were saved by the layoffs that began that month. Twenty percent of Apple's fifteen thousand workers lost their jobs, but Greg and I were safe because we weren't on the books in the first place and didn't officially exist. Afterwards, there were plenty of empty offices. We found two and started sneaking into the building every day, waiting out in front for real employees to arrive and casually tailgating them through the door. Lots of people knew us and no one asked questions, since we wore our old badges as decoys

http://www.pacifict.com/Story/

read to the end, the final line made me lol (dont jump ahead it wont make much sense)

 

[Druckles]

Indeed, that's quite a brilliant story...

 

[CptStern]

it works for me and we're in relatively the same area

 

[DreamThrall]

google cache worked for me:

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cach...com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

[Druckles]

it works for me and we're in relatively the same area

/me notes down your address.

I have no problem with the link. You want to try again?

 

[DreamThrall]

Good read btw

 

[Pesmerga]

Heh, that's pretty funny. My math teacher uses a similar graphing calculator app on Windows XP, but it's certainly not a Microsoft product.

 

[Barney Fife]

I saw something similar in "Office Space" don't let em burn down the building.

 

[Beerdude26]

Heh, awesome story

 

[99.vikram]

A Dilemma

Part of me wants to make a snarky comment about how the rest of us are aware of Digg and Reddit. The other part says that the members here might have some unique views on this old topic.

Either way, it's slightly annoying when you see stuff here that's already been posted on Digg/Reddit.

 

[Druckles]

Dude, it's Stern. You don't argue.

 

[CptStern]

Part of me wants to make a snarky comment about how the rest of us are aware of Digg and Reddit. The other part says that the members here might have some unique views on this old topic.

Either way, it's slightly annoying when you see stuff here that's already been posted on Digg/Reddit.

sorry but that's absolutely retarded reasoning (this is becoming a trend with you) ..i for one dont read either ..and you are not the centre of the internets. Just because you've read it doesnt mean the rest of us have ..as evidenced by the comments in this thread up until your arrival

 

[Darkside55]

I don't like math. I don't like Apple. But I loved this story.

 

[Unfocused]

Great story.

 

[99.vikram]

sorry but that's absolutely retarded reasoning (this is becoming a trend with you)

Ooh BURN! :O

I do not seek violence, native of HL2.net. I come bearing gifts!

 

[Dynasty]

I laughed pretty hard on the last line there.

Quite a good read, killed a few minutes and gave me my daily manditory laugh-out-loud article.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Haha that was actually pretty good. I didn't expect to read the whole thing but it drew me in. Great story.