The 9 train was skipping over a bunch of stops again this morning, so I had to take the bus from 96th to 120th. Not a terrible inconvenience, but I had to go straight to my 11am meeting… 15 minutes late.

After the meeting, just as I sit down at my desk, one of the DBAs rushes into my office, looks at me a second, half frantic, half confused. Then stumbles with her words before asking, in a tone implying more authority than she has, “What are you doing?”

I looked at her a second, slightly shocked, then replied, probably louder than I should have, “I just got out of a meeting. I just sat down at my desk. What are YOU doing?”

I already knew the answer: she was in my office asking me stupid questions.

Sure, one of the database servers was still down from getting hacked yesterday. And sure, I knew I had to rebuild it today. But I work at the university precisely because I don’t expect people to stick their nose in my office and ask me what I’m doing.

Well, that, and because I don’t have to tuck my shirt in.

Within 2 minutes Matt (the office mate) started playing this clip, turning the tension into a much needed belly laugh.