A little story, probably of no interest...
 

It's probably of no interest to anyone but anyway:

Just got laid off early from a lowly temp office job in a bank. The reason given was I was asking too many questions about how things work (what? Someone taking an interest in something?) and I had (perhaps naively, perhaps not) in a moment of sheer boredom tried to have a laugh with one of their permenant staff by as far as I was aware obviously playing around, joking with him and asking him his password. I was duly reported to the department manager (after I'd finished for the day of course)

I have been deemed a threat to the security of the bank now and let go early, what's more the agency will no longer assign me to any positions involving a computer or (get this) anything that has money involved with it.

I have never had nor ever will have any interest in compromising any system, even if I had the ability too.

Final irony: From the first day I started in that job for about two weeks after, the manager had given me their username and password so that I could log onto the system as an account hadn't been set up for me. I have pointed out this little hypocripsy to them - it's okay to atcually give away details, but not to joke about it - if we don't talk about it it can't be a problem.

I should know by now - when you're a temp - don't take an interest in anything.

Anyway...

Wow that sounds pretty harsh just for larking around a bit to lighten the boredom. Hope things work out for you :)

Cheers, everything is cool, It's an anecdote I'll have for old age, telling the grandkids how I became an "enemy of the state" , it's a bizarro old suspicious world. :)

Just be glad you didn't do that here in the States - you'd be given a free trip to Guantanamo Bay! And a really nice orange jumpsuit too!

i was wondering how long it would take for someone to post flamebait here...

looks like it was aprox. 2.5 hours...

Just couldn't resist that one... It was TOO big of a target ;)

You should have learned something from this, don't ask for others passwords cause apparently the person you asked it from didn't think it was very funny.. ;)

I Know but alas, the usual temp induction program which consisted of "sit there and do something" didn't cover the company handbook so unfortunately I missed the whole of chapter 6 "Corporate Humour - We Tell The Jokes Around Here"

Orange Jumpsuits ? Don't find that funny, I'm telling the site owner on you *sneeks away* :)

i get the feeling those people at that place were probably super protective about their operation... who knows what kinda stuff they discussed before you got there... "keep your eye on him, i want to know everything he does..." so when the staff member goes to the manager and tells him about your joke it sounds like something ten times worse than what it is... but it's because of the TEMP factor... no compnay will give a temp the same level of trust for obvious reasons, so that kinda limits the stuff one can do as a temp, like make jokes related to corporate security...

I don't see any confusion about the situation. But, I do think Looking_Lost was a bit naive about the situation.

There is a big difference between giving somebody access to a user account and password temporarily until they get setup with their own - and - having that person start asking other people for their user name and password. It quickly looks like "social engineering". That's an old hacker term.

What may seem innocent with your friends and school is not usually taken the same way at work. Especially in work environments where customer privacy and security cannot even have a hint of being compromised.

You'd best change temp agencies and try again under less cloudy conditions.

And quit being so weird at work. ;)

yeah, maybe they thought you were trying to pull a kevin mitnick... :)

either way, jokingly asking someone for their password isn't social engineering...

Well, I don't have a problem doing that now. Oh well, back to telesales probably to ask as many weird questions as I like and get paid for it :D

It's because you use Linux. Work is a consipracy.

I don't know what the laws are like in the UK. But if that happened to me here in the US, first place I'd stop after being let go is a lawyers office. I'd sue the bank, the temp agency and all their mamas too, just for laughs. :o

BTW, since he wasn't pretending to be someone else, it can't be "social engnerring." They, on the other hand, slandered his name, defamed his character and at the very least owe him the wages he'll lose between now and when he finds another job.

Depends on what state you live in as well over here in the US. Some states your boss or work can simply state that they don't like you for the reason they fired you and there's nothing you can do about it.. ;)

Yeah, you may not win in some states, but you can still sue anyone at anytime for anything. Besides, it's not really about winning or losing; it's about making life as difficult for them as they're making it for you. A good lawyer can keep them tied up in court for years, even if there's not a snowball's chance in heck of you winning. ;)

Good Idea! I'm setting up a fund to fight them. If you could send your credit card details to.... Ah, hell!! I've done it again!! :)

Seriously though, aswell to just get on with things as long as it doesn't adversely affect me in the long run then they can go and take a running jump. In the mean time I'll hop over to St. Andrews for the G8 summit and stand outside waving a small placard or handkerchief depending on the pollen count that day.

With no pun intended, I literally dislike those who would go to such measures to sue anyone, company or individual even.

The only time I'd sue would be under life threatening type issues where it was a very "serious" life altering situation that truly affected myself or my family. And for example, I wouldn't sue an airline if it crashed and my wife was on it.. but I would sue it if the pilot was drunk at the time and the airline did nothing about it.. that would be considered serious to me. I know the risks involved in almost anything with life involved, I'm just trying to state that I really hate people for sueing for pleasure. Money isn't going to solve anything unless it was actually lost but what your saying you'd sue for I just find unethical and morally wrong for your reasons.

You're still young. After life's kicked you around some you may feel different and start kicking back.

Being young has nothing to do with my views about suing others for sheer pleasure. Just cause I get old doesn't mean I'm going to sue the first chance I get when something doesn't go my way in life.... and life's already kicked me around probably more than some experience in a lifetime.. ;)

I think in this crazy day and age a lot of people have lost their sense of humour or need a good dose of salts or something.

There was an incident here in Albany a while back where some guy got on the local plane to Perth ( state capital ) and joked about a bomb on board, the aircrew assessed the situation and decided it was harmless, which it was, but not so the local police super ( who is very good at getting his face in the press ) they wanted to charge him and even brought in the federal police. I'm not sure how the case has developed but surely the aircrew should have some say - but no, according to the police "thou shalt not make funny jokes about bombs on planes"

And yes I know : bombs on planes are not funny but if the aircrew assess the situation as harmless why should the police be involved ......

And this attitude of suing everyone who even farts in the wrong direction .....
And I not being extreme here !!
The New Zealand Govt recently wanted to tax beef and dairy farmers because their cows farted too much - causing global warming.

My God what has this world come to
floppy

And just to finish things up something that made me smile and think of the people in that bank….

I was watching Future World there, head bureaucrat was arguing with other zealous bureaucrat about the procedural anomaly of another over zealous bureaucrat (obviously not taking into account any human aspect). Finally the head bureaucrat admits defeat with paraphrase: