Today I did the most dangerous thing you can do in corporate life.

I clicked SUBMIT.

Leslie asked for an “Intent to Relocate” form, so I complied. (If Leslie asks for your intent, you document your intent. That’s just survival.)

Here’s the emotional journey of that one button:

1. The Green Button:
   “Form completed. SUBMIT.”
   This is the hopeful phase. You’ve done the work, you’re a responsible adult, and you believe systems exist to support you. Adorable.

2. The Orange Button:
   “Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.”
   Suddenly, you’re not moving figurines, you’re signing a treaty. You mentally review every choice you’ve made since 1998, then click anyway because the owl could be watching.

3. The Spinning Messages:

   • Validating intent…

   • Checking jurisdiction…

   • Confirming existence of assets…

   At this point I’m pretty sure the system is judging my life choices, my jurisdiction, and possibly my existential purpose. All because I wanted some desk speace.

4. The Red Screen:
   “404: Service Not Available At This Time. Please Contact Compliance.”

   There it is. The most honest message in the entire building:

   We made you do all of that for nothing.

So now, instead of simply moving the figurines, I have:

• An unsubmitted form

• A screen telling me to contact a department I try very hard to pretend doesn’t exist

• And the knowledge that my “intent” was apparently too ambitious for our infrastructure

Tell me:

• What’s the most dramatic warning screen you’ve ever gotten for a very small action?

• Have you ever clicked “submit” and felt like you’d just launched a missile… only to get an error message?

• And why does IT never need an “Intent to Break Everything” form before they take down the system at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday?

In the meantime, the figurines are still on my desk, living in a state of undocumented limbo just like half our projects.

If you’re out there bravely clicking SUBMIT in a world of 404s,
I’m right there with you.

Donna

#IAmDonnaLake
#SubmitAtYourOwnRisk
#404FeelingsNotFound
#MiddleManagementMagic

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