Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Charger That Went AWOL

A few of us had a distressing few weeks when we realised with horror that the charger we use to recharge the batteries of the video camera which is practically the lifeline of the 10 year project had disappeared without a trace. All accusing eyes turned to B, the last person believed to have used the video camera. A thorough search in all possible locations proved to be a futile effort. It seemed as though the charger might have developed a few legs and ran off in the middle of the night. The owner of the video camera (Our sales department) wasn't very happy with the knowledge, and it was finally decided that all the members involved in the using of the said camera would pool in some money to get a new charger.

So, last week B went to the shops with the video camera to get a replacement charger. And much to his dismay (and ours later), none of the shops had the type of charger we needed. In fact, they had no replacement units at all, but gave B an unconvincing promise of attempting to locate one via Sony.

The thing is while B was busy at the shops, T and I were doing our own investigation and this is what we discovered:

According to T, he used the charger at AP's place because all his extension sockets were occupied. Another thing we realised is that AP had moved to the empty table near mine, but did not take his extension socket along with him (He's leaching power from my the unoccupied sockets of my extension) Also, soon after AP moved from his original place, PT who recently became pregnant had moved to our office because her original work station is quite exposed to the solvents from the factory. The IT expert at our place had helped her install her computer at her new place. A call to the IT expert confirmed that he had indeed removed a charger from the place where PT sits and he had given the charger to PT herself. So both T and I asked PT if she had been given a charger to which she said yes (she wasn't aware of us looking for the charger because she is a naturally clueless person, and is not directly involved in the project and therefore we never imagined her to be the possible culprit) Nevertheless, it wasn't at her table or drawer and she said that it's most probably either in her car or at her house.

A few days later, she brings the charger back to work. While we were busy worrying, the charger had happily been in hiding in one of the most unlikely locations in the world. Unbelieavable! One worry down.... 9 and a half years of worry to go :)

6 comments:

  1. 9 and a half years of worry? What's there to worry about?

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  2. Oh, wow. That was like a neat little short story. I really felt for you and your crew and then when I got to the detective bit I knew straight away that you would find it or it would turn up. Glad it is back with ya'll :)

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  3. jonfun: Yeah... long story, I'm afraid :)

    orhan: I'm glad too... if the circumstances of it going missing wasn't as weird as it was, the story may have never been told :)

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  4. It's always somewhere! In my old workplace there was a usual culprit who would pick random things off people's desk and move them elsewhere, causing not a few panics. She would also have the whole place in uproar every time she lost something, which would inevitably turn up where she left it.

    I've always wondering each time this happened (it happened about once a week) why she didn't think back to the last time and keep it quiet until she retraced her steps, but no, she never did that!

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  5. Glad to know the mystery of the missing charger has been solved. No more worries (I hope) for you, missy.

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  6. Aunty: I can imagine everyone running around looking for whatever your usual culprit has misplaced. She's the last kind of person anyone needs :)

    Lizza: I'm glad we found it... and I do hope so too :)

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