And that makes no sense, fish thinks -- especially since he and his group are a long way from the nearest printer. Can one of the printers be moved over by us? he asks an IT tech. There's already a plotter nearby, so it should be easy.

Sure, that would be a great idea, IT tech says -- I just need my boss's OK before I can do that.

Fish e-mails the IT head honcho. No response. Tries again a week later. Still nothing. But one day fish happens to spot the honcho in the break room, and asks him about the printer.

Honcho's excuse? "He's been really busy working on an office space reshuffling," says fish. "He says that the printer situation will be handled as part of that move."

The move soon starts. Half the cubicles in the office are disassembled, including the entire area where the doubled-up printers are sitting. They're pulled out of service, and everyone gets a memo: During construction, only two printers will be available.