The internets, they are dead.

At least, if you work in my office, they are. I have no idea what's going on, but for the last two hours, we can't get to anything on the 'net at all. The odd thing is that IMs and our e-mail are working just fine. It's just if we open I.E. and try to go to any page, we can't get on. It could be days, even months, before I get to post this.

There is so little work I can do without the 'net any more. I have an entire list of Tasks To Be Done, only one of which doesn't need internet access. (Okay, actually I have an entire but short list of tasks. The work is really slowing down around here.)

I have one phone call I could make. I have a bunch o'bookkeeping stuff to do but that bores me, so I'm procrastinating.

For those who care (ignoring those who don't), the whole Bernie-DiamondGirl situation came to a head yesterday.

Bernie, who is many things, none of them spelled s-m-a-r-t, sent out an e-mail saying he was sure we could all see that the work was evaporating. And saying he'd meet with me at 9:00 a.m. and with DiamondGirl at 3:00 p.m.

And, oh, by the way, in the meantime, DiamondGirl, here's a list of tasks that Must Be Done today, and I'm assuming you won't notice that these are the precise things that need to be done in order to make your job redundant at 3:00 today.

Unsurprisingly, DiamondGirl sent him an e-mail saying, very politely, that she was available all day and would rather not have his meeting about her future postponed until the end of the day.

After which, he and I did a one-hour conference call with a new vendor. Then he told me that if she asked me I should tell her to talk to him but if she asked me point-blank I should tell her the truth about what was going on, and then he got up and left the office for 20 minutes, pretty much guaranteeing that, yes, she would ask me what was going on and I'd be forced to tell her, relieving him of the responsibility.

Does that strike anyone but me as a tad cowardly?

Fortunately for the sanity of us all, I am not that kind of a coward (my fears lie in other directions) and when she asked me point-blank what was going on, I told her.

(For those still reading, he was giving her two weeks' notice and asking her if she'd like to keep doing contract work, part-time, for the company for the next three months while she looked for another job. So, you know, it's not like he was firing her at 3:00.)

Then I sent him an e-mail telling him I'd told her, and it still took him another 1-1/2 hour to get up the nerve to actually talk to her, face-to-face.

And, of course the moment they stopped fighting it, talked to each other, and agreed they'd be happier apart, they both felt like ten-ton weights had been lifted off their shoulders. They both went around practically singing for the rest of the day.

I, of course, was physically ill for the rest of the work day, from the stress, so it was nice to be them, but not so much me.

Today, lacking anything else to be mad about, he's mad at our clients because they don't want to pay for what he wants to provide. And he's determined not to just provide what they want to pay for.

Oh, internets. Why do you not love me today?