Operation: 303

So there is an episode of the American version of The Office where two coworkers mess with the weird guy’s head by sending him fake letters from the CIA and telling him to do certain things. There’s also a hilarious episode where they send him letters to himself from himself in the future, but that’s for a different story. Anyway, I’ve kind of stolen that concept but tweaked it a bit to make it more pertinent to my own office environment. I'm on a mission to mess with my neighbor. Well, not my neighbor, neighbor - she's cool and has done nothing to deserve the level of "messing" I'm thinking. I mean my creepy, "Awkward Acquaintances and TMI" neighbor (if you haven't read that entry in my blog yet, stop reading and go do that). To those of you who know me and want in on it, just say the word, I could use all the help I can get.

Now, you might be thinking that it’s cruel to think of screwing with people like this. To those people I will say only, did you read that blog story I just told you about?! Why do I want to do this? I dunno... vindication, because I can, good ole' fashioned fun, whatever - you name it. This guy is getting on my last nerve. Every day at work I have to watch him literally find ways not to get anything done, which, apparently, gets harder after six months of doing it. He rolls into the office at 9:45am after staying up all night playing World of Warcraft with all his weird cyber buddies, leaves the office at 10am to make a 30 minute coffee run, then spends the next two to three hours tracking down every other WOW player in our office to talk about the neat-o escapades his fucking mage (or whatever the hell the characters in that game are called) had last night (which, by the way, include raiding zeppelins in mid-air, throwing parties for his 'guild', and attending the weddings of other WOW players for the, I quote, free booze - WTF?! ). Right about then its lunchtime, and we all know that takes 90 minutes. In the afternoon he might bother to go to a conference call, but then he's so exhausted from all that work he'll have to find something to yell at the admins about and then go find his WOW cronies again and spend the next hour and a half talking strategy for tonight's quest, then he'll spend about an hour aimlessly walking around the site so nobody can find him to ask him to do anything, and he's out the door by 4:30pm max to get home and start the cycle over again.

So maybe you can see why this guy irks me. Hence, Operation 303. It is very simple, which is why it’s so brilliant. There are three WOW players who all sit right by me at work, and who constantly engage in very animated conversations about some random ass WOW topic. To them, one comment made to passer-by (my friend Blake who's a manager there) can set their little gamer, quest-hungry brains spinning: hey, did you get the details on operation: 303? They want us to get started on that ASAP. WOW’ers hear, but they aren't included, and it sounds like something important - I get instant Dwight-like reactions: What? What is operation: 303? Can I be involved? Is it dangerous? ... No, I tell them, you shouldn’t have heard that. Besides, it’s not like video games, and we don't need anymore help, thanks. I can see the wheels in their heads actually spinning.

What is Operation: 303? Hell if I know. World of Warcraft = WOW = IIIOIII = 303... Just something I thought would be fun. And, oh, it is.