As it seemed

The director silently rustled with papers, as if searching for something. Sergei stared blankly at him, squinting his eyes slightly, and thought only that this meaningless conversation would quickly end. Eichars came up with a strange tradition of job interviews when they dismissed, having looked at such a reception by some company that was particularly effective in the framework of today's benchmarking. The calculation has already been received, a few things - a mug, an expander and a rosary - have long been in the car. It only remained to talk with the director. What is he looking for there?

Finally, the director's face lit up with a slight smile. Apparently, he found what he was looking for - the name of the person with whom he was going to talk.

- So, Sergey. - folding his hands on the table, the director turned to the programmer. “I will not take much of your time.” Actually, in your case everything is clear.

Sergei nodded in the affirmative. He did not understand what was clear in his case, and what was not clear, but he did not want to delve into the discussion, crack open old grievances and smear snot.

- I will ask a standard question - what, in your opinion, can be improved in our company?

- Nothing. - Sergey shrugged. - Everything is fine in your company. Good luck, happily stay, and so on.

- Like in the song?

- Like in the song. - Sergey smiled, surprised by the director’s knowledge of modern music.

- Oh well. - the director shrugged in response. - There seems to be nothing special in the reasons for dismissal. I admit, I am not particularly up to date with your work - the IT director, Innokenty, worked directly with me. I know his work well, but, in fact, I heard about you only the other day. When Kesha suggested you get fired.

Sergei involuntarily smiled. An image immediately appeared in my head - Kesha, with a sad face, as he knows how, sighing heavily, as if tearing off a piece of his heart, offers to fire the programmer. The only programmer in the enterprise.

- It’s strange that you generally lasted so long with us.

The director’s face was serious, and, given the circumstances, it seemed somehow unrealistically cruel, like in a film about a maniac or a killer. Sergei remembered a scene from the movie "Azazel", where some old man of special purpose is going to kill Fandorin. "It was a red face, and the gruel will be red." Calmly, without emotion, they say right in the face that Sergei, the programmer, is complete shit.

- You almost did not participate in automation projects. - continued the director.

- Yeah. - Sergey nodded.

- All programming tasks were performed by Kesha, despite his busy administrative work.

- Yeah.

- The ideas, thanks to which our company moved forward, were also proposed by him.

- Yeah.

- In crisis situations, when the company literally stood on the verge of destruction, Kesha was at the forefront.

- Yeah. - Sergey nodded, but could not restrain himself, and smiled broadly.

- What? - the director frowned.

- Yes, so ... I remembered one case ... Please continue, this does not apply to the topic.

- I am sure so. - seriously said the director. - Well, if we take purely professional achievements, then quality ... So, where is it ... Ah, here! You write govnokod!

- Yeah ... What ?!

Sergey’s face was distorted by an angry grimace. He leaned forward, stared at the director so that, just in case, he slowly straightened up and clung to the back of the chair.

- Govnokod? - Sergey asked loudly. - Is this your Kesha said?

“Well, actually ... It doesn't matter.” - the director tried to return the conversation to its former course. - As we are already ...

- Yes, fucking is not important! - continued to push Sergey. - Your fucking enterprise with its moronic projects, crises and licking the director’s ass for me, let’s say, on the drum. But to say that I write govnokod, I will not allow! Especially - freaks who have not written a single line of this code in life!

“Listen, you ...” the director got up from his chair. - Go away!

- And I will go! - Sergey also got up and moved to the exit, continuing to swear out loud. - Your mother, then ... Govnokod! Me and govnokod! But how he managed to put these two words in a sentence! But how did he manage to make a proposal! I still covered this ass with a goat when he almost leaked the office!

- Wait! - the director shouted when Sergey was already at the door.

The programmer stopped from surprise. He turned around - the director walked slowly towards, staring intently into Sergey's face. Damn ... He could leave and forget about it big top forever.

- Sergey, take another minute to me. - the director spoke firmly, but immediately relented. “Please ...”

Sergei sighed heavily, trying not to look at the director. It was a little embarrassing for my assault, and I wanted to leave as soon as possible. However, having decided that it was easier and faster to stay than to argue and try to escape, Sergey returned to his office.

“You can explain your phrase ...” the director began, when the interlocutors returned to their places.

- Which one? - Sergey perfectly understood what the director wants to hear about, but suddenly, by some miracle, he was interested in the govnokod.

- You said something about ... As you put it there ...

- Kesha almost leaked your office, and I covered his ass.

- That's it ... Tell me more?

- Okay. - Sergey shrugged, sensibly reasoning that the director has the right to know, and there is no longer any need to keep a secret. - Remember the check?

- What check?

- When unpleasant men in masks, camouflage uniforms and assault rifles at the ready burst into our office, rummaged through the papers, dragged the server, took all the flash drives and put us in cancer?

- Of course. - the director smiled. - It's hard to forget.

- Well, you know the result - they did not find anything. All that they ... Well, they could find ... It was on the server they had taken. However, they could not get a single byte of data from the server, and returned it to its place.

- Yes, I know this story very well. - a dismissing shadow ran across the director’s face. - Including, through its channels, directly from ... It doesn’t matter, in general. What did you want to say? About Kesha, as I understand it?

- Yes, about Kesha. - Sergey nodded and suddenly smiled. - You just said that he played a role there, pulled us out of the crisis ... Is this connected with the audit?

- Yes, it was about these events that I spoke.

“Can you tell me what Kesha gave you?” I'm really curious.

- Sergey, I'm sorry, we are not playing children's games here. - The director began to drill the programmer with a trained look. - Your version, my version ...

- Well, did I go then? - Sergey slowly got up from his chair and took a couple of steps toward the door.

“Your mother ...” the director cursed. - Well, what kind of clowning, huh?

- Clowning ?! - Sergey flared up again. - No, excuse me, which of us is fired on far-fetched charges? Yes, if far-fetched - sucked, and okay out of the finger! It makes no difference to you - one more, one less, and now what should I do, eh? Where can I find work in our village? Clowning ...

- Good, Sergey. - Director conciliatory raised his hands. “I apologize to you.” Sit down please. I will tell my version how you want it.

Sergey, still blazing with indignation, returned to the chair and, clapping his tongue, stared at the table.

- Innocent told me so. - continued the director. - When he saw that they came to us with a check, then, first of all, he rushed to the server room. As I understand it, he needed to activate the data protection system that he had installed earlier, when ... Well, we found out that there is a chance of verification. He activated the system ...

Sergey again clicked his tongue and somehow hopelessly smiled.

- When he activated the system, then, as I understand it, it was necessary to hide the security key, which was on the USB flash drive. Otherwise, if he came to masked men, there would be no sense in the protection system - they would have access to data. Conscious on the go, Innocent realized that the best place for a flash drive was asking for an apology, toilet. And rushed there. Apparently, he overdid it, attracted attention, but still managed to run to the booth, and even close the door behind him. He destroyed the USB flash drive, but the pursuers, realizing that Kesha was hiding something, broke down the toilet for us, dragged the CIO by the scruff, and inflicted light bodily injuries along the way - which, incidentally, was recorded in the emergency room, Kesha's fingers were ripped off blood. However, as these Herods did not try, they could not achieve anything else from our hero.

“And now, the true story of Little Red Riding Hood.” - Sergey waited a long time for his turn to speak. Let's start in order.

Sergey took a short pause, building up the potential for interest in his person.

- Firstly, it was not Kesha who established the defense, but I. This does not seem very important, but, in fact, determines all further events. To be honest, I tried to explain to him how this works, but he still did not understand. Therefore, I ... Mmm ... I took into account the stupidity of Keshi.

- How exactly?

- Do not interrupt, please, I’ll tell you everything, otherwise I'll get lost. - continued Sergey. - Secondly, Kesha did not run to any server room. You can check the cameras, ACS, whatever. I'm not sure that Kesha generally knows where the server room is, and how it differs from the boiler room.

- That is, how was it not in the server room? - the director was sincerely surprised. - No, well, though ... Okay, let's say. What about the toilet?

“Oh, it's almost complete truth.” - Sergey smiled. - And he ran quickly, and the door was broken, and minor injuries. Only now ... He ran so fast that he locked himself in the toilet even before the masks reached the entrance to the office building. You can ask Gena - at that time he was in the toilet, washed his hands, but still did not know anything about the check. If you remember, then the panic button worked for us - the watchmen managed to press. But Gena thought we were just testing a warning system.

The director nodded silently, continuing to stare at Sergey and listen attentively.

- He sat in the toilet Kesha almost all the time checking. - continued the programmer, already clearly enjoying both history and himself. - Until these gentlemen with machine guns did not want to call the hedgehogs.

- What?

- Well, to the toilet, in a little way. Although, I don’t know, maybe I could send a parcel ... It doesn’t matter. In short, they came to the toilet, pulled all the doors - apparently out of habit. Then bang - one does not open. Suspected something was wrong. But Kesha, not from a great mind, when he closed, broke a handle - specifically, such as not a working booth. So he, in fact, received his injuries of a mild degree, in other words, his torn fingers. Guys, without hesitation, carried out the door - it’s flimsy, and their foreheads are strong. Well, they dragged Kesha.

The director was not looking so carefully. His gaze shifted from Sergey to his own table.

- So, here the fun begins. Kesha had a flash drive, and he immediately gave it away. Introduced, supposedly the IT director, all that, I’m ready to cooperate, here is the protection key from the server, please fix it in the protocol. For joy, they almost kissed him, they led him under the handles to the server room, where Kesha was solemnly confused - he was asked to show which server the protection was from. Without thinking twice, he poked at the hefty. The guys laughed - even they knew that this was not a server, but an uninterruptible one, which occupies half the rack. Somehow, with grief in half, they found what to remove from us, and got away.

“Wait ...” the director suddenly turned a little paler. - It turns out ... After all, they said that they did not find anything ... But in fact - what, they found? We, therefore, have to wait ...

- Nothing to wait for. - Sergey smiled. - As I said, Kesha is dumb. When I put protection, I took this into account. I gave him a USB flash drive with some kind of left key - I don’t remember what software it was from ... In short, just a text file with gibberish. And, just in case, he also damaged the flash drive, physically. I don’t know for sure, but I’ll assume that when they couldn’t turn on the server, they thought that it was a bad flash drive. Perhaps they have pride, so they decided to pretend that they did not find anything. They definitely could not turn on the server.

“Are you sure about this, Sergey?” The director asked hopefully in his voice.

- Of course. - as seriously as possible, the programmer answered. - Everything is simple there. To turn on the server, you need a flash drive. Normal, which is in my country house. If you enable it without a flash drive, then physically, of course, it will start, but the system will not start, but it is impossible to get data from disks, they are encrypted. Turned off the server - everything, without a flash drive you can’t turn it on.

- That is, if we turn off the electricity ...

- That will be all right. - Sergey smiled. - I bought an uninterruptible ... That is, you bought - very good. Just enough to drive to my country house and back. Well, if the server crashes - anything can happen - then ... Well, no flash drive can help, lift the same time.

- And if, for example, they did not take the server? The director asked. “Did you just copy the data from it without turning it off?”

- There is such a possibility. - Sergey nodded. “But, if you remember, preparing for the test, we have been monitoring the practice for a long time.” They do not like to mess around, prefer to take with them. In the end, they have much less programmers and admins than these iron-born, who knock the door out with their forehead, not always their own. You can’t take it with you on every trip. And programmers love to work in their cave, they are afraid of daylight, like worms. Well, in the end, I would have to copy terabytes, but on some USB, well, they’ll stay without lunch. In short, given all the risks, we decided to do as we did. Well, they did not fail.

“Once again, Sergey ...” the director thought for a moment. “I don’t understand why you gave Innocent a flash drive?”

“He knew that he would give her back.” Well, a man like that.

“And you are not like that?”

“I don't know, to be honest.” - Sergey shrugged. “I'm not a hero, but ... Okay, I will not fantasize.” I knew that Kesha would give, so I used it.

- Used?

- Well. These guys would not leave without the certainty that they had taken something valuable. And what could be more valuable than a secret flash drive received from the CIO who is hiding in the toilet?

- Well, in general, perhaps ... But, damn, I do not know ... Tell me, please, Sergey - they just did not copy the data?

- Exactly. You can call any hackers, turn off the server, and ask them to download at least something. Well, to be sure.

“No, don’t ...” the director shook his head uncertainly. - I try to believe people. Perhaps I’m not always right in this.

- That's for sure. - Sergey grinned.

- In terms of?

- Ah ... No, everything is fine. I meant Kesha.

- Yes, Kesha ... What to do now ... On the other hand, we are all human beings. Nothing, in general, criminal, he did. But we should probably talk to him. Heart-to-heart.

“So, do I still need you?” - Sergey began to slowly rise from his chair, carefully following the inconsistent monologue of the director.

- Oh no, Sergey, thank you. - the director has caught himself. - I ... I don’t even know ... Maybe you and I ... Well, I don’t know ...

- What? - Sergey paused, not straightening to the end.

- Ah ... Yes. - The director finally got together. - Sergey, we need to talk again. I think that with your dismissal a mistake could come out. Already have a job offer? I understand that ...

- No. - Sergey landed again.

- Good. Let’s discuss everything again tomorrow morning. Today I need to talk with Innocent. So, he ... Yes, he should be at my place, there is something

with Wi-Fi , the wife asked ... - It's normal there with Wi-Fi. - answered Sergey.

- In terms of? Do you know what? - taken aback director.

- Well yes. In the morning I went and did everything. You didn’t think Kesha was doing this?

- Wait ... What exactly is doing?

- Well, that’s it. A grid around the house, GSM amplifiers, Wi-Fi repeaters, cameras, a servochka in the garage ... I did it all. Kesha just drove me to his lordly car, otherwise they probably could not have been allowed into your luxury village.

- No, they would let me in, they write out a pass there. - the director did not notice the irony. - Damn it ... So Kesha, as it turned out ...

- Well, as it turned out.

- Okay, he’ll come, let's talk. It is not clear, though, what is he doing there so far ... Is it drawn, or what? Does the activity mimic? And what was there with Wi-Fi today, Sergey?

- Your spouse asked to change the password. She says she read somewhere that she needs to change passwords periodically. It makes no difference to me - I arrived, I did it.

- Yes, passwords - yes ... - the director again fell into some mental prostration. - Oh wait, give me a password? And then my wife and I ... Well ... A little quarrel yesterday. Well, you know how it happens ... It may well not say a password, but I’m without Wi-Fi, like without hands ...

- No problem. - Sergey took out a smartphone, dig deeper, found a password, took a sheet of paper from the table and carefully copied a long, meaningless phrase onto it:
ZCtujlyz, elenhf [fnmczcndjbvBNlbhtrnjhjvRtitqgjrfnsnfvcblbimyfcdjtqchfyjqhf, jntxthnjdbvgjntyn

- How long. - proud of his wife, the director nodded. - Perhaps this is a complex password? I mean, reliable?

- Yes, there are different registers, and special characters, and a decent length. - confirmed Sergey. - A serious security claim.

- As soon as you remember him. - Director turned a piece of paper with a password in his hands.

- Yes, drive it once, it will be remembered in the device. In general, such passwords usually mean something. This is some kind of phrase, in Russian, which was typed in the English layout. I was too lazy to translate, so I don’t know ...

- Well, okay, I’ll ask her when she leaves a little ... Maybe tomorrow ... Thank you, Sergey!

- I am glad to help.

- Well, see you tomorrow!

- Well, I'll be in the morning.

Sergey left the office in mixed feelings. Since yesterday, learning about the dismissal, he managed to go through all stages of grief. There was denial for a couple of minutes, anger lasted almost until night, causing the body to rinse with a shock dose of alcohol, the bargaining was limited to an attempt to write an angry letter to Kesha, but his wife stopped, and in the morning, along with a hangover, she rolled up depression. However, having reached work, and then, having rolled once again to the director’s cottage, and having completed the work under the “tyzhprogramist” sauce, Sergey accepted everything.

Now the story was making an unexpected turn. Not dizzying, but unexpected. The director will not expel Kesha for the story with verification, that's for sure. But Sergey’s work will probably be looked at more carefully. Although ... So, if you think about it, then ... Babah!

Sergei did not even understand how he ended up on the floor. Something, or someone so quickly rushed along the corridor that knocked down the unfortunate programmer, like a hanger. Raising his head, Sergey saw a vague silhouette of a running director.

PS Look at the profile if you have not been for a long time. There is a new reference.