<<< :: >>>

Lessons Learned.
2001-09-12 5:01 p.m.

So I guess you are all wondering why I locked my diary.

Well the story goes like this:

One day at my job I came in after work to print large posters for my boss. While waiting the five minutes it took for the edge of the print to reach the roll, so I could tape the edge of the print to the takeup roll, I checked my diaryland stuff, checked my email, etc. the usual.

Sometime after these events occured my boss and his cohort decided to look at the history folder in Internet Explorer on my computer, where they found the link to my diary. They then read multiple entries in my diary. They also found that I had been streaming real audio on my computer.

The next day my boss explained to me that they were looking on my computer and found my diary, and please to not stream real-audio, as Microsoft can find out about all the illegal software we have on our computer. I explained to boss that I had know idea such things could happen by streaming real audio, and therefore I would not do it again.

I then proceeded to go sit down at my computer. I looked in the history folder of my computer and saw that they had indeed read many entries of my diary. I proceeded to delete my entire history, and everything else on the computer that was personal including a sign I had made with my boss's permission for my grandmother. I immediately halted all use of internet at work for any reason, just to be safe, and not screw up the computer, and so that they would not read my diary anymore.

Later that day, at school, I, feeling somewhat violated, wrote that kind of pissed off, irrational entry calling them perverts. I also wrote a sarcastic entry pretending that I was sabotaging my computer at work, which was my way of expressing my frustrations of their suspicians of me.

Assuming that since I deleted all links to my and my friend's diaries on the computer I forgot all about it.

A few days later my boss's cohort, who had memorized my diary's address, and had gone to my diary at home and read it, came in to work accessed my diary on my computer, paged back to the entries about my work and made it look like I had written the entries at work. Or had accessed them from work.

The next day my boss fired me.

He then printed out copies of my diary and showed everyone who I work with.

Some of these people have since called me, to hear my side of the story, which is this:

I wrote entries about work. I was frustrated. I did it on my own time. They were anonymous. I didn't mean for anyone to see them. I, in no way sabotaged the computer.

Sunday I called my former boss to explain this to him. He made it sound like he understood. He said that I was a "casualty of war" and that he is just trying to get his business going. I thought everything would be okay once I found a new job.

However my boss is still telling everyone that I sabotaged his computer and showing everyone printouts of my diary.

Not only that, but he is telling people that I finished projects late all the time, which is a blatant lie. Not only did I never finish projects late, but often, due to lack of work, I finished projects the day I recieved them, which is days before they were even due.

In fact I organized the whole system of print orders and created a work order form to track them, organized them in the computer, and made a system of keeping track of them, while in progress. I explained to all the people at the counter the new system and explained where the orders would be when they were done.

Lessons learned:

1.Don't use your work computer for personal use, ever.

2. Don't assume that people you know are not reading your diary.

3. Don't write anything in your diary that you wouldn't post on a billboard outside your house.

4. Don't assume that just because you have told the truth people will believe you.

5. Don't assume that people will have the integrity to NOT print out pages of your diary and show every person they know.

6. DON'T take a job when you have a really bad feeling about it! Even if they pretend that you are going to be a designer!

So whether or not I continue this diary, I don't know.

I am tempted to delete every entry and pretend diaryland never existed.

I know you all enjoy reading my diary and am sorry if this is a dissapointment to you. It is a dissapointment to me to.

This diary has been very therapeutic to my pyschotic life, and I have enjoyed and appreciated all your comments supporting me.

God Bless

Tara