The Vent and Rant Thread

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Hemmi

I wish I knew what stress free work was like. We're nothing but stressed these days. I told my boss today that if corporate wants to cut any more hours, they're going to be replacing most of the staff because we really need MORE people right now, not less.

Seriously, what makes you think that exists? Who has that type of workplace?

Hitch

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Seriously, what makes you think that exists? Who has that type of workplace?

Hitch

I did, once, at an internship.

That manager was one of the very few people who understood software engineering or, more accurately, creation of a product from scratch.

I told him that, if I said creating Functionality X would take +/- 10 working days, then it WOULD take two weeks give or take a day or so, and there was no point in trying to get me to do it in less, because he'd either pay with having no documentation, or lesser quality and less testing.

I also told him that trying to talk to me while I was behind the computer was a very bad idea. (Reason)

He understood. He accepted my schedule, advice with regard to software and hardware setups, and never asked a single question when I was busy. He always waited until I went for coffee, which would be 6-8 times a day; that was the point where I finished something and took a break for 10 minutes before starting the next task.

I delivered a product that is still in use today, and is still maintained. It's a custom content management system from the days where PHP4 was -just- being replaced by PHP5. Think 2005-2006. Wordpress wasn't what it is today; not by a LONG shot. I took a chance by actually putting PHP 5.x into production about half a year after its initial release. I can see its still the same system, because my name is still in some of the Javascript files as one of the authors.

Best workplace ever. Also, best manager ever. The one place I have been where people understood creating stuff. It was a company that did industrial automation, so they had some mechanical engineers employed.

At the end of my traineeship, the owner retired and put his son in charge (who's around my age). He asked me to stay and work on machinery instead of the CMS, as I actually specialized in industrial automation, and not in web development. (There wasn't a traineeship in Industrial Automation at that time.)

The only problem was that, compared to his father, the son was an idiot. He offered me minimum wage, while a starting university-level software engineer would normally earn around €300-400 more at most companies, so I didn't take that 'offer'.

The company still exists, but it's a lot smaller now.

[Greg Anos]

OR, as I always said; "If you pay peanuts, you get chimps. . ."

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

OR, as I always said; "If you pay peanuts, you get chimps. . ."

Speaking of Chimps

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Seriously, what makes you think that exists? Who has that type of workplace?

Hitch

I do. I work from home these days, part-time. The salary isn't big, but it's enough at the moment and the stress-free life is worth more to me than money.

The job is temporary, unfortunately, until the next year at most. Then I'll have to look for something else.

[4691mls]

Two unrelated rants....

It really bugs me that the night janitor at the building where I work always leaves the toilet seat up in the ladies' room after cleaning. It's a ladies' room. Leave the seat down!

My name has several common nicknames but I don't use any of them - I use the whole name. Today at work I was on a business call with someone I've never talked with before and he ended the call with "Thanks, Nickname". Why do people do this? Unless I ask you to call me by a nickname, don't do it!

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

It really bugs me that the night janitor at the building where I work always leaves the toilet seat up in the ladies' room after cleaning. It's a ladies' room. Leave the seat down!

Even our female janitors leave the seat up. I imagine it's to prove that it has been cleaned. And perhaps so it can dry underneath. I like knowing that it has just been cleaned!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I also told him that trying to talk to me while I was behind the computer was a very bad idea. (Reason)

At a previous employer, IT staffers were encouraged to install an IM client to be instantly reachable. I flatly refused without a direct order that I would protest. The issue was finally laid to rest in a conference call where a co-worker said "The nice thing about Dennis, is that if you call and he's at his desk, he picks up first ring. If he doesn't, he's not at his deask, and you won't get him in IM, either!" (Bless him!)

I refused for your reason. I was a systems and telecom admin, and a lot of what I did required careful thought and planning. I needed to make sure I understood what the problem was and that what I did would solve it. I needed quiet and concentrated thought, and got quite enough interruptions, thank you.

(A huge peeve was the chap in the cube next to mine who would put his phone on speaker to have both hands free, then have long conversations wtih friends where I got of hear both sides. I have a problem. I can't ignore speech. My mind insists on listening and trying to parse it. At home, my SO watches TV with headphones as a courtesy because of that.)

The underlying problem is what computer folks call stack processing. You can concentrate on one thing at a time. If you are interrupted, you must save your place, handle the interruption, then go back to what you were doing. Computers are much better at that than people, and too often, the result of interruption is losing your place and having to find your back. Productivity plummets.

(I've had amusing conversations with folk proud of their ability to multi-task who go on about how many things they can do at once. "And how many of those things do you actually finish?" is a question that produces hostile responses... )

And I've had conversations with technical peers where I've said "We are techs, but we report to non-technical managers. If we do our job well, we're invisible. Everything Just Works. We only become visible when something breaks. We need to educate our bosses about just what is involved in seeing that things Just Work, so they can fairly evaluate us when performance reviews occur."

It's an uphill battle.
______
Dennis

[Rumpelteazer]

Seriously. I managed to avert another cold. But this morning I had a gooey eye, which isn't unusual when I've just had a cold. But it kept getting icky and got worse over the day. Towards the end of the afternoon it also started to hurt a bit and now it's swollen. The skin underneath my eye is irritated from wiping.

I rarely get an eye infection. If it isn't better by tomorrow I'll have to make an appointment at the GP to get it looked at. I had planned on going to see The Post in the cinema tomorrow, but I'll move that to Monday.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

At a previous employer, IT staffers were encouraged to install an IM client to be instantly reachable. I flatly refused without a direct order that I would protest. The issue was finally laid to rest in a conference call where a co-worker said "The nice thing about Dennis, is that if you call and he's at his desk, he picks up first ring. If he doesn't, he's not at his deask, and you won't get him in IM, either!" (Bless him!)

I refused for your reason. I was a systems and telecom admin, and a lot of what I did required careful thought and planning. I needed to make sure I understood what the problem was and that what I did would solve it. I needed quiet and concentrated thought, and got quite enough interruptions, thank you.

(A huge peeve was the chap in the cube next to mine who would put his phone on speaker to have both hands free, then have long conversations wtih friends where I got of hear both sides. I have a problem. I can't ignore speech. My mind insists on listening and trying to parse it. At home, my SO watches TV with headphones as a courtesy because of that.)

The underlying problem is what computer folks call stack processing. You can concentrate on one thing at a time. If you are interrupted, you must save your place, handle the interruption, then go back to what you were doing. Computers are much better at that than people, and too often, the result of interruption is losing your place and having to find your back. Productivity plummets.

(I've had amusing conversations with folk proud of their ability to multi-task who go on about how many things they can do at once. "And how many of those things do you actually finish?" is a question that produces hostile responses... )

And I've had conversations with technical peers where I've said "We are techs, but we report to non-technical managers. If we do our job well, we're invisible. Everything Just Works. We only become visible when something breaks. We need to educate our bosses about just what is involved in seeing that things Just Work, so they can fairly evaluate us when performance reviews occur."

It's an uphill battle.
______
Dennis

Like flying the blackbird (SR-71). The better you are. the less people notice you. . .

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I do. I work from home these days, part-time. The salary isn't big, but it's enough at the moment and the stress-free life is worth more to me than money.

The job is temporary, unfortunately, until the next year at most. Then I'll have to look for something else.

I've simply never had the pleasure or, for me, anyway, the luxury. I've worked "from home" for...gosh, just under 30 years. Since '89. But somehow, that never lessened the pressure or stress of dealing with my clients. ;-) (Except, I do confess, when I am driven to derangement, I'll stop everything and climb on my Waterrower. It is my salvation, when things are going to make me pop a blood vessel in my head. But in the last decade, I've only done the Salvation Row about 3x!)

Someday, I'm going to retire, and just work on or play with whatever *I* want. I can't wait to find out what that's like.

Hitch

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hitch

But somehow, that never lessened the pressure or stress of dealing with my clients. ;-)

Hitch

No, of course it wouldn't. Dealing with clients just isn't part of my duties at all, our company has other people for that. I've never been a "people person", so I've always tried to find jobs where I don't have to deal with any clients personally on a regular basis. I don't envy those who do.

[Hemmi]

Yes, my job would be wonderful if I didn't have to deal with customers. But I do. Hopefully things are going to be on an upswing soon.

[GrannyGrump]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I'm sure I've told this here. The Satan guy? Anyone remember?

Hitch

So, Hitch. Ya gonna tell us about this one? My curiosity bump is itching like mad!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

So, Hitch. Ya gonna tell us about this one? My curiosity bump is itching like mad!

Y'know, I know that I told this one, but, here we go:

Once upon a time...a certain bookmaker had an actual office. (This is before I realized that nobody, ever, came to the office. Not once, except...well...). Anyway, this was early, early days. The halcyon days of self-publishing, when everyone and their brother had manuscripts in their desk drawers, dying to escape, er, see the light of day.

We get in a manuscript, entitled something LIKE "I am Satan." Now...you know, guys, I tend to assume that people are using creative license. I look at it, it's in Word, no major issues, I issue a quote, and we make the books. The gentleman in question has an unusual name, so I think, for some reason, that he might be residing in Europe.

Anyway...we send him aforementioned books. And kids, the mascara hits the fan, as they say in politer circles than those I inhabit.

The man emails, shrieking IN ALL CAPS. We've altered his book. We've changed the text. This isn't what he wrote; we are clearly persecuting him, for the circumstances of his birth--as the AntiChrist. Yes, I know that the AntiChrist and Satan are NOT the same person/entity/whatever. I'm just telling the story, folks, not the creator thereof.

Now, in hindsight, I know what you 20/20s are thinking..."but, Hitch, when you read the manuscript, didn't it strike you that..." and the answer to that is, NO. I didn't, because I didn't bl**dy read the thing. We never do. I mean, for what we charge, who the Hades has time to read them?

I try to reason with him. He calls me, and now he's shrieking, furreal. Not in all caps, in decibels. I send him screenshots, of his manuscript, and the book, pointing out that if he'll just check the file he sent us...

Nothing works. So...in retribution, he decides to take the only course of action that he feels will get him the resolution that he wants--he decides to drive, across three states, to "come and get [me]" for altering his sacred words.

Now, by this time, genius that I am, in making the screenshots, etc., I've read some of the, er, writing, and I realize that perhaps, just perhaps, yon Satan might be stark raving bonkers. I know more, now, of course, but at the time, all I had was his apparently real name (we get a LOT of pen names, and don't even know the real names until payment is tendered), an email address, and his threats.

And Satan did, indeed, drive across three states. Fortunately, I called the Sheriff, relayed the story, provided the evidence (that I had in writing), and Beelzebub's email address. The Sheriff was, finally, able to intercept him (n.b.: about one-half mile, mind you, from my office...).

Spoiler:

(n.b. #2: those of you who recall that I served, I live in a competitive shooting household, etc., will know that yes, indeedy, I'd armed myself, but I was having nightmare visions of trying to explain how some "poor guy" hired us and was shot for his pains, and the reputation of my company going right down the toilet PDQ...)

As it turned out, the old Prince of Darkness was, well, off his meds. Literally. He was a severely bipolar individual, with some other mental challenge thrown in, and he'd stopped taking his meds, about two weeks, IIRC, before he sent us the manuscript. By the time we'd finished the books and sent them to him, he'd had a full psychotic break, and unfortunately, we were in the line of fire. His unmedicated brain didn't like what his medicated brain had written, even though, ahem, apparently, he still thought he was The Morning Star. Or the AntiChrist. One of those guys.

The following day, I got a PO box, and changed all our mailing addresses, on everything, to that. I even used it as the "physical address" for Yahoo, the Goog, etc., even though you are NOT supposed to, but my attitude was, screw 'em if they raised hell about it. I mean, I don't think that they run around unprotected on their campuses!

And that, my friends, is the story of how The Devil Went Down To Phoenix.


Hitch