I don’t mind it when the nice Generation Y girl in my department brings over a stack of invoices for me to sign.  It makes me feel like Captain Kirk from original Star Trek series, because during the quiet times in that show, you could frequently see a girl walk up to him in his captain’s chair and give him an electronic tablet to sign.  And he would sign it and give it back to her and then order the ship to go to warp speed or something. So I like to think, hey, that’s totally me when I’m signing these invoices.

But two things tend to ruin the image for me.  First of all, I start to think about it and realize, what the hell was Kirk doing signing a tablet anyway? Couldn’t he just punch in a thumbprint or have his retina scanned or something?  Why would they be relying on signatures in the future?  And what is he approving, anyway--paper clips? Photon torpedoes?  More mini-skirts for the crew? Don’t they have staff people on board to handle that for him? Why does the captain of the goddamn Enterprise need to sign for all that stuff?

And second: I realize that the girl handing me the invoices probably has no idea who Captain Kirk is.