[boulder.pm] My Lovely Day

rise rise at ipopros.com
Wed Nov 1 15:44:01 CST 2000


On Wed, 1 Nov 2000, Walter Pienciak wrote:

> I get an e-mail back:  "What are we supposed to do with the attached
> file?"  I'm too polite to say "I don't know and I don't care -- why
> did you ask for it in the first place?"  I also think that snarling
> "Shove it up your ass" would be insensitive and un-PC.  I choke out
> something bland.

Urgh.  

It's people like this that disprove the all too frequent claim that good
requirements are all you need. Might I suggest 
	perl -MCPAN -e "install Psychic::Reqs"
	use Psychic::Reqs qw(:compensate_for_idiots);
for all future projects involving these people?

[snip]
> this, if she really, really needs paper copies, and that the network
> admin there can show her how to print ASCII .txt files without having to
> cut and paste each one individually into a blank Word template file.
> 
> On-site, trained, several-years-experience admin *can't get it
> figured out*.

It really should be possible to get someone fired for demonstrated
incompetence, but somehow in American business it never seems to happen.
We're still dealing with the person at our parent company who thinks quote
system that produces XML with embedded control characters isn't a problem
because he "can't see them in IE" and the woman who forgot to pay our
phones and T1 for 6 months.

> A nice program we finished 2 months ago under heavy deadline *still*
> hasn't been linked to anywhere on the site.

Clearly you need to propose a team building exercise: hiking the Beartooth
Highway in November! Whoever makes it back alive is still on your
team. The rest can be considered 'attrition' and their budgets
reallocated. 
 
> I don't think I'm going to last much longer with this company.
> I feel the burnout coming.

I hate to say it, but leaving may be the best thing to do at this
point. Moving out here and telecommuting staved it off, but it sounds like
you're still caught in the mire of other people's ineffectiveness.

On a more positive (cathartic?) note, re our snowshoeing discussion here
are some prices:

Crystal Ski Shop 
3216 Arapahoe Avenue 
Boulder, CO 80303-1043
(303) 449-7669 

$10/day, + $8 per additional day, may go up later in the season

The Boulder Mountaineer
1335 Broadway 
Boulder, CO 80302-6201
(303) 442-8355 

$10/day, $15/3 days, + $5 per additional day

Is anyone up for a Boulder.pm (and other riffraff) snowshoe day after the
next snowfall?


Jonathan Conway
Senior DBA
ipoPros.com/TheStreet.com




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