An attorney decided he was going to Texas with this laptop so he could work while vacationing at his in-laws' house. Now you have to remember, this was back in the days where the normal method of firm remote network access was via dial-up modem directly to the firm remote access server. This attorney was given written instructions stating that if he was to going to be dialing the firm network from a hotel, he would have to manually add "9" to the phone number dialing string (IF the hotel required a "9" to access an outside line); otherwise the "9" was not needed and all he would have to do was "double-click" on the remote access dialing software and click "Dial."

Before the attorney left for vacation, his laptop was configured by the IT Department so all he would have to do would be to add the "9" if required as outlined in his written instructions. So, what did this attorney do? While at his in-laws' home (which is definitely NOT a hotel), he made several attempts to dial the firm network using the long distance phone number of the firm remote server, manually adding a "9" AND a "1" (even though this was not part of his written instructions, he assumed that since it was a long distance call, he also need to add a "1" manually). Now keep in mind, the IT Manager had already configured the laptop to dial the long distance number ("1" included) PROVIDED the call was not being made from a hotel. And, keep in mind the attorney's WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS specified only adding a "9" if he was staying at a hotel.

So what did this attorney do? He accessed the remote dialing software to dial the firm network, added a "9" because he didn't read the instructions, and added a "1" because he knew it was a long distance call (again, not reading the instructions). So, in effect, he added a "91" to a long distance number that already had a "1" thereby having the frist three numbers of the dialing string to be "911."

After several attempts at trying to connect to the firm remote access server, the IT Manager received a phone call from this irate attorney complaining about how the instructions he was given did not work. While on the phone with this attorney, the IT Manager heard sirens in the distance getting closer and closer to him, then a very loud banging on the door. When the attorney's father-in-law answered the door, there stood the Police asking "who keeps dialing 911 over and over again." They were not at all amused.

The moral of this story is ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR IT MANAGER'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER!

Deliver the van.

The firm rented a van to take attorneys to a retreat at the beach. After the retreat, the Human Resources Director was instructed to return the van to the rental company and to have a runner pick her up there. The HR Director and the runner proceed to the office parking garage where they both get into the runner’s car. Now, the runner was thinking that apparently the van was located somewhere else and they were going to pick up the van and then proceed to the rental company so she said nothing and just followed the driving directions given to her by the HR Director. Upon arriving at the rental company, the HR Director exclaims, "Oh gosh! We forgot the van!"

Smoking Cessation -- Sometimes spell check doesn’t help.

An HR Director convinced her firm to pay for a life-saving health benefit. Forms were completed and signed and then faxed to the insurance company. One of the partners came by and picked up the fax as it was rolling through the machine only to see that we had signed up for a “Smoking Sensation” class rather than a Smoking Cessation class.