The old joke:
"When I was hired to run the IT department of a major company my predecessor left three letters in the desk that was now mine. Each letter was clearly labeled; System Failure #1, System Failure #2, System Failure #3. A post-it note was attached to the bundle of letters.
In case of a substantial system failure open the letters in order, once per failure, and they will help you through the problem.
I put the letters back in the desk and forgot about them.
"About one year later we had a cascading server failure that left our corporate intranet and several important production servers off-line. While repairing the problem I remembered the letters. Curious, I opened the first letter.
“Blame me, your predecessor”
The day after we got the servers back up I was called in to my boss’s office to explain what happened and why were down for so long. Taking my cue from the letter I blamed my predecessor. My boss was satisfied with my answer and let me go.
About six months down the road we had another big failure. This time our primary database server went down and the secondary was having trouble dealing with the load. I had to put a lot of extra hours into getting them back up and we lost a few transactions due to the backup server not being able to function under the load.
Once again, I reached into that desk drawer and opened letter #2.
“Blame the equipment”
This time I lamented to the boss about how it wasn’t my fault. It was that backup server! If we had some good equipment to run on these things just would not happen. He was satisfied with my answer and I went back to work.
Things ran smoothly for the next 18 months. Then we got hit with a virus that somehow got past our firewall and wreaked havoc on our systems.
I opened the third letter.
“Write three letters”
- Author unknown."
--http://duggmirror.com//security/The_Three_Letters_a_funny_IT_story/plain.html
"The joke originates during the Cold War. The new Soviet premier takes office and finds three letters in his desk. In the original the "equipment" is replaced with "Americans."" --http://duggmirror.com//security/The_Three_Letters_a_funny_IT_story/plain.html
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http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5872383
This story is adapted from one about an incoming big corporation
CEO meeting in the office of his deposed predecessor. I think it an
interesting commentary of what it must be like to be a newly
inaugurated President of the United States.
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After the inauguration, the outgoing president invites the new
resident of the White House for a brief talk in the Oval Office.
Among other things, the former president has left his successor the
traditional note of congratulations and advice.
The former president tells his happy and enthusiastic successor
that things are tough in the country and the world right now, what
with economic upheaval, the threat of war, and a real need to
reunite the country after many years of strife and disagreement. He
offers this advice:
"I've left you three letters in the upper right hand drawer of your
desk. Open the first one whenever you get into trouble and you'll
be fine. Likewise, open the second and third letters if you get
into more trouble after that and you'll be fine."
And, sure enough, not long afterwards, the new president indeed
gets into some deep shit and opens up the first letter, which says:
"Blame your predecessor". Sure enough, blaming the old president and
his failed policies indeed gets the new president out of trouble
and back on track to his agenda.
But, some time later he again gets into some serious trouble and
decides to open the second letter.
"Blame the unions", it says. Yep, can do what with the UAW and the
federal unions, no sweat. And once again, the magic works.
But sadly, a third time the now not-so-new president finds himself
in political hot water and decides to open the third letter. He is
shocked to read:
"WRITE THREE LETTERS AND GIVE THEM TO YOUR SUCCESSOR"
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https://www.glgroup.com/News/Time-to-Write-Your-Three-Letters-14503.html
Remember the story about the three letters, a new buyer comes in on the first day of his job, the retiring buyer hands him three letters and says " These may help you with your job". The new buyer opens the first letter and it reads " Blame it on the old buyer" This lasts for 3 months and he opens the second letter it reads "Change everything". A year goes by and things are not working out so the buyer opens the third letter it reads " Time to write your three letters"
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http://constitutionclub.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/three-envelopes-for-obama/
In October of 1964, party insiders fed up with what they perceived as poor judgment by Soviet Premiere Nikita Kruschev in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Chinese Cold War and an economic collapse, oust him from office. His replacement, Leonid Brezhnev, comes into the Kremlin for a final meeting with him before taking power. Kruschev picks up three sealed envelopes and says “My friend, when I found out my job here was over I sat down and wrote three letters. They are numbered one, two and three. I will put them in the top drawer of what will now be your desk.”
“What are they for?” Brezhnev asks.
Kruschev smile wryly. “A day will come when you and the Motherland will be in grave trouble. And after you have exhausted all options and it appears nothing will save you I want you to open this first letter, do what it says, and you will be saved.”
“And the second letter?” Brezhnev asks.
“The second crisis.” Kruschev says. “And so on.”
Brezhnev thanks his predecessor, sits down at the desk and promptly forgets the whole exchange. But a few years later he finds himself embroiled in a deep crisis from which he can see no way out. Then he remembers the letters and opens the first one. It says:
“BLAME ME.”
Brezhnev blames Kruschev and it works. The crisis passes.
A few more years go by and another crisis hits. This time Brezhnev is not worried because he knows he has two letters left. He opens the second. It says:
“BLAME AMERICA.”
He blames America and it works. The crisis passes.
A few years after that a third crisis hits, but again Brezhnev’s not worried because he has one last letter. He opens it. It says:
“SIT DOWN AND WRITE THREE LETTERS…”
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