My boss’s boss approached me today with a computer issue.  His laptop had been reimaged with Windows XP SP3 and his sound card stopped working.  The in-house tech folks had worked on it for about six hours without success.  He asked me to fix it.  After a few hours I did.

Boss: What can I do to thank you for your help?
Me: Well, this isn’t the first time.
Boss: No, it isn’t.  You’re pretty reliable compared to our in-house people and seem to do it for the whole department.
Me: Yeah, more and more of my week is dedicated to helping other people with computer issues.  But it seems to work out in the department’s favor.
Boss: Very much so.
Me: So hire me to do it full-time.
Boss: No can do.
Me: How about we invent a new temp class where I get paid slightly more?
Boss: Can’t do that either.  How about we meet midway between “you get a new job” and “I give you nothing” with “I buy you lunch tomorrow”.
Me: Deal.

Tomorrow’s meal?  We eat the director of budgeting.