I went in to work yesterday, a Sunday, so there was no one else around. I like the quiet of an office outside of business hours, but as I got closer to my cube, the quiet was broken by an intermittent beeping noise. It was persistent, and also annoying as all git out, so I followed it to its source. For a moment I thought it was just a jammed printer pleading for attention.

No such luck. The sound was coming from higher up, from a wireless device of some sort, maybe a relay, perched on the wall between two cubicles. The infernal machine bore a sticker which said, "Do Not Touch."

I tried to figure out how to throw it against a wall without actually touching it, but I just don’t have that whole telekinesis thing going on. And since I didn’t know what purpose the device was serving, I didn’t feel I could flout the authority of the sticker and just yank the cord out. So instead I went back to my cube, put on my headphones, and turned up The Clash. Which worked really well, except during the silence between tracks, when I could still hear that crazy-making beep.