The Stalled Server Room

A few months back, Jen Frickell's company was given some bad news. When their lease ended, they'd have to move out of their second-floor suite. The good news, however, was that a suite would be available on the first floor. All they'd need to do was pack up and move downstairs.

It was a fairly reasonable request, so the company's executives signed a new lease and prepared to move. There was, however, just one, small hitch. The nice little server room they built in the back of their office - equipped with air conditioning units, ventilation, dedicated power, backup power, and so on - could not be relocated. Not only would it cost too much, but there was simply no room for it. The server room would just have to remain upstairs.

Obviously, the new second-floor tenant wouldn't want their neighbors walking through their office to access a server room, so building management and the company's executives came up with an alternative: wall off the server room door and build a new one. It seemed simple enough, but there was, however, just one small hitch. The only available wall to install a door was adjacent to the women's restroom. Inside the handicapped stall.

And since you're reading about it here, you know that didn't stop them. Here is the email from building management:

From: ---- -------- Sent: Monday, May 5, 2008 4:37 PM To: Everyone Subject: Server Room Access  Hi all.   As you all are aware, we have new tenants that have moved into  the 2nd floor suites.  The access to the server room is now via  the women’s bathroom.   There will be a sign on the woman’s door that can be changed  from OPEN to CLOSED and vice versa.   Should you need to enter the server room, please change the sign  to CLOSED.  Once you are done, please change it back to OPEN.   Once you enter the bathroom, you will be able to access the  server room via the handicapped stall. Please close the stall  door prior to entry, just in case someone doesn’t see that the  bathroom is closed.   I know this isn’t ideal, but if we adhere to this protocol, I  don’t think anyone will be disrupted.   Thanks!  Let me know if you have any questions.  ---- -------- Building Management