  Well, I officially ran out of work last week. I've been spear-heading a large development project for the past two years or so. Recently, I stumbled into a $40,000 expense and warned the appropriate people, but nobody took me seriously until I sent out an email saying that all development was on hold. By some very frequent coincidence, all decision makers were on holiday, and so I've been idle for over a week.
(When I say idle , I mean learning cool work related stuff on the Internet. ) However, word got out to the IT director a few days ago, and behold, her pile of annoying trivial tasks fell upon my shoulders. I guess it would be inappropriate to complain about having to do work at work, but ... well ... nevermind.
So I set about checking one after the other of her unfinished tasks off my list with all the speed I could muster. I always try to impress people when I actually enter the office. I fixed hard-to-track-down bugs in spreadsheets, adjusted accounting reports, made Y2K updates (there really were Y2K bugs-- I thought it was a joke), and even learned a new, yet somehow useless computer language. The real treasure, however, was the response I got from the locals. "Wow, did you just wave your magic wand over Josh's pricing spreadsheet? " Josh had no luck for eight months, but I fixed it within an hour of coming in. "It's what I do," I try to say in all humility, as if I hadn't just worked like a madman to leave this mysterious and awe-filled perception. Their meager requests for help in the mind boggling world of computer errors have gone unanswered for so long.
Then I come to town and make it all better by wiggling my nose. I can do no wrong, just keep quiet and collect the adoration. Perhaps this is ridiculously arrogant, but it keeps my job fun. I accidentally cultivated a folk hero status, and now I must maintain it whenever the opportunity arises. 
