3 ms·

Many years ago, I arrived to my half-height cubicle at a Fortune 100 company to see that my desktop PC case was ajar. I set the CRT aside, opened it, and realiz

by pushcx 19d ago

Many years ago, I arrived to my half-height cubicle at a Fortune 100 company to see that my desktop PC case was ajar. I set the CRT aside, opened it, and realized that the RAM had been removed. My neighbor explained what must have happened: another employee must have needed to double their RAM from 8 to 16 MB. Requisitioning an upgrade was a weeks-long bureaucratic process that required approval by one's manager and IT, perhaps prompting a review of per-team resource allocation. Repairing a broken PC was a trivial help desk ticket; my PC was restored in an hour or two.

slumberlust 19d ago
This was common at our East coast Amazon site circa 2019 as well, but for monitors.
walrus01 19d ago
Reminds me of the kids in my high school who stole individual 4MB 72-pin SIMMs out of a bunch of computer lab desktop PCs to upgrade their approximately equivalent generation motherboard/CPU home systems to whatever was their max capacity, in an era when a 16MB RAM desktop PC was a high performer. Shortly after all the PCs got locks on them.
- Scoundreller 19d ago
  then they learned how to pick/shim locks
peddling-brink 19d ago
Was this explanation given with a wink and a nod, or did your neighbor always have 16MB of RAM?
saghm 19d ago
Sounds like the neighbor could have just taken the RAM from their own computer out and claimed someone stole it and then called IT to provide them with replacement and then opened it back to and put theirs in. Seems pretty selfish to disrupt someone else's day for this instead of your own; they could have gotten back up and running before you did since they could have put in a help desk ticket before you even got in.
- polyterative 19d ago
  I like the way you think.
- bossyTeacher 19d ago
  Maybe. Anyway, let us not forget that both of these actions are unethical.
  - nekusar 19d ago
    Sure, theft is theft. But when your corporate policies put weeks/months for an upgrade, and you can do it in 3 hours by reallocating to the same business (no theft), that's just using broken business practices to people's advantages. And also, what ethical frame work are you using? Or is this the 'feels' framework?
  - rigrassm 19d ago
    In this context it's not one individual stealing from another. This is a temporary reallocation of a dormant resource within the system to a more critical process that requires those resources to perform its function and ensure the system remains stable. In this framing I'd be inclined to argue not taking the RAM would be the unethical choice. Unless this company was actively working against humanities survival, then the ethical thing to do would be to steal the RAM and not use it!
    - saghm 19d ago
      You're spending a ton of effort to try to craft implausible scenarios like the RAM only being "temporarily" taken or the work it was used for being critical. I could just as easily claim that the one who's RAM was taken had critical humanitarian work that didn't get done in time because their RAM was stolen so their coworker could play the latest game that required 16 MB. The actual facts that have been established make neither of these less likely than the other because they're both incredibly unlikely, and it's kind of bizarre that you seem to think otherwise.
  - saghm 19d ago
dylan604 19d ago
Was this before IT had the ability to look at all of the machines to see which suddenly had a different RAM config?
- gpm 19d ago
  > from 8 to 16 MB Yes
  - dylan604 19d ago
    Yeah, I've never been in IT, so I didn't know when tools were available to remote into nodes on the network. The low RAM sizes was precisely what led me to ask
    - prpl 19d ago
      We’re talking about ~’94 here…
    - dlcarrier 19d ago
      Back then, if computers needed to be centrally managed, they'd give employees terminals and run everything on mainframes or X servers. Personal computers were often not even networked.
- hypercube33 19d ago
  I've worked at a bunch of orgs and no one is bothering to look at ram size changes they just note what it's at when they get a call.
- 3eb7988a1663 19d ago
  IT tech was probably the one who suggested the approach.
PorciiVorbesc 19d ago
>Repairing a broken PC was a trivial help desk ticket; my PC was restored in an hour or two. Except that even IT would know that a missing 8MB RAM stick is not a defect, it's (petit) theft, since RAM stick have no legs to just wander around by themselves. If it's gone, then an employee stole it. Defect is when that 8MB stick would be ... defective.

by pushcx 19d ago

slumberlust 19d ago

This was common at our East coast Amazon site circa 2019 as well, but for monitors.

walrus01 19d ago

Reminds me of the kids in my high school who stole individual 4MB 72-pin SIMMs out of a bunch of computer lab desktop PCs to upgrade their approximately equivalent generation motherboard/CPU home systems to whatever was their max capacity, in an era when a 16MB RAM desktop PC was a high performer. Shortly after all the PCs got locks on them.

Scoundreller 19d ago
then they learned how to pick/shim locks

peddling-brink 19d ago

Was this explanation given with a wink and a nod, or did your neighbor always have 16MB of RAM?

saghm 19d ago

Sounds like the neighbor could have just taken the RAM from their own computer out and claimed someone stole it and then called IT to provide them with replacement and then opened it back to and put theirs in. Seems pretty selfish to disrupt someone else's day for this instead of your own; they could have gotten back up and running before you did since they could have put in a help desk ticket before you even got in.

polyterative 19d ago
I like the way you think.
bossyTeacher 19d ago
Maybe. Anyway, let us not forget that both of these actions are unethical.
- nekusar 19d ago
  Sure, theft is theft. But when your corporate policies put weeks/months for an upgrade, and you can do it in 3 hours by reallocating to the same business (no theft), that's just using broken business practices to people's advantages. And also, what ethical frame work are you using? Or is this the 'feels' framework?
- rigrassm 19d ago
  In this context it's not one individual stealing from another. This is a temporary reallocation of a dormant resource within the system to a more critical process that requires those resources to perform its function and ensure the system remains stable. In this framing I'd be inclined to argue not taking the RAM would be the unethical choice. Unless this company was actively working against humanities survival, then the ethical thing to do would be to steal the RAM and not use it!
  - saghm 19d ago
    You're spending a ton of effort to try to craft implausible scenarios like the RAM only being "temporarily" taken or the work it was used for being critical. I could just as easily claim that the one who's RAM was taken had critical humanitarian work that didn't get done in time because their RAM was stolen so their coworker could play the latest game that required 16 MB. The actual facts that have been established make neither of these less likely than the other because they're both incredibly unlikely, and it's kind of bizarre that you seem to think otherwise.
- saghm 19d ago

dylan604 19d ago

Was this before IT had the ability to look at all of the machines to see which suddenly had a different RAM config?

gpm 19d ago
> from 8 to 16 MB Yes
- dylan604 19d ago
  Yeah, I've never been in IT, so I didn't know when tools were available to remote into nodes on the network. The low RAM sizes was precisely what led me to ask
  - prpl 19d ago
    We’re talking about ~’94 here…
  - dlcarrier 19d ago
    Back then, if computers needed to be centrally managed, they'd give employees terminals and run everything on mainframes or X servers. Personal computers were often not even networked.
hypercube33 19d ago
I've worked at a bunch of orgs and no one is bothering to look at ram size changes they just note what it's at when they get a call.
3eb7988a1663 19d ago
IT tech was probably the one who suggested the approach.

PorciiVorbesc 19d ago

>Repairing a broken PC was a trivial help desk ticket; my PC was restored in an hour or two. Except that even IT would know that a missing 8MB RAM stick is not a defect, it's (petit) theft, since RAM stick have no legs to just wander around by themselves. If it's gone, then an employee stole it. Defect is when that 8MB stick would be ... defective.