Smoke and wires

It was about four months ago that I first mentioned to the Oxford-based IT person at my workplace that my monitor background was too busy for me to work efficiently and please could I have a plain background. He said he'd look into it. When I chased him about three weeks later he told me that it wasn't an IT issue, it was an Internal Comms issue. I contacted Internal Comms and after a few weeks managed to convince them that it was OK for me not to be distracted by their noisy photos. They said that IT would have to find a workaround. Nothing happened. I chased Internal Comms and Internal Comms chased IT.

Six weeks ago my monitor suddenly went black and I was elated. I thanked Internal Comms but they said they knew nothing about it and sure enough, the next day it was back to screaming photos.

I chased Internal Comms and Internal Comms chased IT.

I chased Internal Comms again and Internal Comms chased IT again.

Last week I forwarded to Internal Comms and IT some information about a course that had been sent to me by our Training Department that included a section on the visual environment needs of some workers.

Internal Comms chased IT again.

Today I had a phone call from IT who told me to press the start icon then search for 'Ease of access'. Scroll down to 'background settings' and click 'remove background images'.

Job done. Screen black.

'Is it that easy?' I asked, stupefied. 'I know other people with the same problem.'
'Yes, but don't tell them. We got special permission for you and we need them to apply so we have a list of who is not seeing the photos.'

And that, it seems, is more important then enabling people to do their work.