Simply put, there is nothing better for adhoc work than Perl. Knowing how any environment works, there is always somebody who needs "just one quick report" again and again and again. Or, if you've been lucky like me, and you work in an environment where nearly every interface between systems is broken somewhere, you need some good script to fix the database quickly, and for me Perl has done it for me.

Although it may seem in your environment that the only way that web services can be done is with .NET, Perl (using SOAP::Lite) is the quickest way to test web services. I use Perl almost exclusively as a client to Web Services since I started using it about a month ago. I'm sure with the MSness of your environment, that web services will be popping up in your workplace.