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Tours de Farce: Share & Share Alike
“That will do it, Ralph. That Metallica song was the last one.”
“And just in time, too, Harry. The RIAA starts scanning for pirated music tomorrow. If we hadn’t deleted these songs from this computer, our boss might have been in serious trouble.”
“I hear you. According to the news, the RIAA is going to sue those who are seriously into song-trading. And with over 5,000 songs on this computer, like the latest by Cher and Nelly, our boss was sure to be sued for copyright infringement. And… And… Why the sad face, Ralph?”
“I don’t know, Harry. It’s just that when I was hired for this job, I thought I’d be doing big things with computers. You know, important stuff. Instead, I’m searching hard drives for potential copyright violations.”
“I hear you, Ralph. I thought this job would be the pinnacle of my career, not checking out hard drives for songs by Guster and Art Garfunkel. Such is life, I guess.”
“I got to admit, Harry, with all those songs in his shared directory our boss was a prime candidate for a lawsuit. As if he doesn’t have enough to worry about without the RIAA coming down on him for sharing Ziggy Marley or Fleetwood Mac.”
“I know. In fact, I never saw so many songs on one computer. From Aerosmith to ZZ Top, he had them all. I wish I had a collection as big as his.”
“That’s for sure. You know, you gotta wonder where he found the time to download all those tunes. I mean, with his schedule and all.”
“You’re not kidding, Ralph. It would have taken me weeks to assemble the entire Rolling Stones catalog on my hard drive, and I don’t have half the responsibilities he has.”
“I guess that’s why he’s the boss, Harry.”
“How so, Ralph?”
“Well, part of being in charge is the ability to delegate responsibilities so that others shoulder the workload. I mean, if it wasn’t for his staff taking care of business for him, he’d never have time to download all those Liz Phair songs.”
“Or Mariah Carey, Steely Dan and Neil Young. I guess that’s why he’s sitting in the big chair, and we’re -“
“Just a couple of computer geeks following orders. Anyway, that takes care of this computer. What’s next on the list, Harry?”
“Lessee. We’ve scrubbed the boss’ computer, but we still have to take care of Powell’s machine, as well as Rumsfeld’s, Ashcroft’s and Cheney’s.”
“Then we better get moving, Harry. I got the feeling it’s going to be a long night.”