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If you don't work in corporate America, you will not know the nightmare hell that is IT Services. Sorry IT readers, but it's true. In my experience, IT Services is most generally extremely very un-helpful.

Where I work now, when I have an issue, I go online and submit a helpdesk ticket. That ticket is routed and re-routed until it ends up in someone's "Crap To Do" pile. Depending on the nature of the issue, it will go to India. Wait, no; it always goes to India, regardless of the nature of the issue.

Then, someone calls me. Now, I do enjoy the people of India. Unless they are trying to get me to ride in their rickshaw/buy their handpainted sarong/get in their cab/give me a tour of a fort/etc. They are a very generous people. But when I speak to an IT person in India on the phone, I have such a hard time understanding him (yes, it's usually a him). We go back and forth trying to resolve my problem, and the ticket is ultimately re-routed. Usually back to India. At some point, we figure each other out and either the issue is resolved, or we don't figure each other out and I realize that living with the problem is easier and much less painful than the conversation I'm having and give up.

So. Wednesday morning I came into the office, submitted my ticket, and prepared to wait it out. At approximately 4:00 pm Wednesday afternoon, I received an e-mail stating that an item had been shipped and would arrive at my desk on Thursday. I assumed it was a new power cord, docking station, or maybe just maybe a new hard drive.

Giddy and light-headed at the prospect of receiving some gift in the mail, I arrived this morning to find a huge box on my desk. After ripping it open and digging through styrofoam and plastic, I shrieked with glee to find a laptop!

Ah, the little things that make my heart go pitter patter. It was new. Brand. Spanking. New. My ticket had been resolved, and I had to just swap out the hard drives. And that was it - I was back up and running in less time than it takes to change a baby's diaper. (Well, for me to change one anyway, because let's be honest: first you have to undress the kid, then do the whole diaper-removal process, then you have to chase after the kid when he runs away from you stark naked. Then you have to apply booty condiments and such, and then you put on the new diaper and clean clothes. Then you clean up the mess he made when he peed across the room...suffice it to say, it takes me a while to change a diaper.)

I guess this is how IT rolls at my office. What is your issue? Your laptop won't start without the docking station? Send a new laptop! Your "H" key is sticking? Send a new laptop! Your monitor is a little fuzzy? Send a new laptop! You have ants marching across your keyboard because they know you eat at your desk and drop cheese crumbs in there? Send a new laptop! Okay, I'm exaggerating, but I did find it a little odd that no one even called to discuss the problem with me. They just placed an order for a new laptop and here it was today.

Just don't tell my boss. She has an ancient laptop and her requests for a newer, faster one have repeatedly been denied. Shhhh...