Stress Management in the Workplace: Passwords and dogs that I have known! (Part One)

(Note: Jan says I don’t know when to shut-up. I think she’s right. This look at “humorizing” stress is so long it will be in three parts. Hope you enjoy Part One!)

A few years ago, the word “password” didn’t mean a lot to most of us. For those of us old enough to remember, it was a new TV game show that burst onto the scene in 1961. Or it was in the context of “secret password” as used in a hideout my friends and I had as we played Cowboys and Indians. I remember our “secret password” was our name spelled and pronounced backwards. I was Mij Bob Yrebslos (midge bob yee-rib-slosh)!

Since the beginning of time until not that many years ago, 99.9% percent of the population had no need for a password of any kind. Boy, those were the good ol’ days! Things started to change for me in the 1980’s when I was introduced to the IBM System 36 at work. Then in the early 1990’s, the World Wide Web was gaining popularity and was available to a limited extent to folks living in my neck of the woods. The need for passwords increased and along with it ”User ID’s” were born.

In the less than 20 years since that time, we are drowning in a cesspool of passwords. I (just this minute) counted the spreadsheet Jan and I keep to help us manage our way around the internet and we have 139 User ID’s and passwords! Now is that ridiculous or what? We’re thinking about signing up for a service to make these “top secret” passwords more secure but that will require another User ID and password! So, please allow me to back up about 25 years for a moment…

The IBM System 36 came on the scene at my work about 1985. All that was required was a simple four-letter password that we had to change periodically. My memory system involved using either a body part or my most recent ailment. Simple enough! Examples include “cold” or “flue” (sometimes I had to misspell the word to make it work), or I might use just plain “sick”.

It was particularly easy for me to remember my password when a body part was ailing. After neck surgery, I used “neck.” After cataract surgery, I used “eyes”. After wisdom teeth surgery, I used “hurt” because teeth had too many letters. Then there was the password after hemorrhoid surgery, but we won’t mention that one.

In the mid-90’s, we saw the implementation of the PC at work along with Web-based programs. Passwords became a bit more complicated but were still manageable. Then we added more on-line databases and User ID’s came onto the scene. Ever notice how User ID’s are even more difficult to remember than passwords? There have been numerous times that I knew my password but couldn’t use it because I had forgotten my User ID…(to be continued…and it gets funnier…just hang in there)

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Tagged as: Life Balance, Stress, Technology