Not the kind of multitasking we're looking for

Pilot fish gets a programming assignment at a federal agency that requires a security clearance -- and to his surprise, there's no "leper colony" for new hires whose clearances haven't yet come through.

"You were assigned a desk with the group you would be working with, so everyone could get to know one another," says fish. "They trusted the employees with clearances to not 'share' with the guy who didn't have an agency computer yet.

"They also had an extra unsecured network that everyone could use for browsing the Internet. You could bring in your own laptop, but it had to be tested and certified by the agency to be malware-free. After that, you were welcome to browse cat videos all day until your clearances came through."

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