Get this, I'm the sysadmin of a small office (~25 people). Anyway, new guy got hired and I'm told to set him up with a workstation. So I goto our company's Dell page, get one all ordered, goto the manager for approval (around $1,100) and he gives me a quizzical look.
It seems they wanted to me to dig one of our old P-166mhz boxes out of storage and let the new guy use it. I asked if he was doing email or soemthing simple. Nope.
Seems he's one of the new statistical analysis guys but due to tax purposes and some memo from corporate, there will be no knew systems purchases for analysts. Makes no sense to me as they crunch massive numbers.
BUT!!! Here's the good part, I convinced my manager to give the new guy my current system (p3600, 256, 20gb) and let me get a new one (since I'm not an analyst). I got a brand new system (single 2.2ghz, 512mb, 80gb, gf3, etc.) as well as thanks from the analysts who saw me prepping the crusty, dusty old p166 as well as my supervisor who added a note to my file on my ingenuity and problemsolving abilities. I'm still in shock (not really) but corporations make no sense.