Here’s a story that will make any IT person cringe. A few months ago my company started doing work for a new client, a laptop computer manufacturer. From the start of our engagement I was hearing rumors about how this company’s president was notorious for refusing meetings with anyone who showed up using a laptop other than one they had manufactured.
Well, as it turns out, the rumors were true, and since then my company has had to issue new laptops to anyone attending a meeting at our client’s office. Retarded? Maybe. Frivolous? You bet!
But wait, that’s not the end of the story…
Today the word came down the pipeline that not only are our account reps not allowed to attend client meetings with laptops that weren’t manufactured by our client, but our designers must also do all of their work on desktop computers manufactured by our client.
Have you ever tried to explain to a designer that they can’t use a Mac to do their work? How about 40 of them?
UPDATE: This client also does not provide on-site guess internet access; wifi or wired. This means that my company must buy EVDO cards for every laptop we bring to the client’s office.
I wish I could make this stuff up.
