User tricks, security treats

30.10.2006

Ecoterrorist

His trick

The office environmental saboteur is never satisfied with the temperature, humidity or workspace lighting. On cold days, he plugs in space heaters to the clean power, and on hot ones he props open doors to secure areas. He's rumored to be the one who keeps turning up the thermostat in the data center, and tapes over the cooling vents on critical systems because they're too noisy.

Your treat

Switch his cube to a 5-amp circuit breaker if you can find one, or put him on an at-capacity circuit with his manager or a few co-workers and wait for it to blow. Present a "golden heater" award at the next division meeting for the most productivity lost due to an overloaded circuit. If doors remain propped open, a well-crafted spurious theft report may prompt intense questioning from security guards. If facilities management is game for some Pavlovian conditioning, see if they'll wire up a nearby unused thermostat to an alarm that sounds if it's changed up or down.