Prioritization Paradox
Planted March 1, 2024
Mansi wept!
She wanted to take a knife and slash at her computer. The stupid machine had decided that it was more important to restart right now than let her work. She called the machine names which would have brightened her mother’s ears and then cursed the company that made the operating system. All in her head as she worked for the company.
She had to run the script before 5:30 pm, otherwise, she won’t be able to go home till 7 pm. That was how the company’s cabs worked. And she shuddered at the thought of booking a taxi and explaining the path to driver. “Damn you!” she said to the machine as a dot continued moving indicating the progress.
Mansi checked her watch - it was 5:10 pm right now and it would take the script around 10 minutes to run. She had ten minutes before giving in to despair. She went to get a glass of water - 9 min left; she chatted with her colleague nearby - 7 min left; she played a quick game on her phone - 3 min left. Her heart rate picked up as she looked at the watch. And then - her computer was back to life.
“Yes,” she shouted and opened the software. It was blank. Her file was conspicuously absent.
“Where did you go?” Mansi shouted and went to the folder where the file was saved.
The folder was not there.
“It’s wiped clean,” whispered Mansi, all sense of time forgotten. She sat there stunned for one whole minute before the corner of her mouth twitched. Before she knew it, she was laughing and packing her bags.
“What happened Mansi?” The guy sitting next to her asked.
“I just realized how quickly something loses its priority if it ceases to exist,” said Mansi and ran for the cab. She had one minute and it was the most important thing to her now.