Comment On Difficult Personality

Very important for management to prescent before subordinetes.

LAME FRIST!

AKISMIT!

The real WTF isn't this company. The real WTF is not walking out on day two.

anon:

The real WTF isn't this company. The real WTF is not walking out on day two.

Or else, walking out instead of mopping the floor.

The alleged problem caused by developers customising their desktops (no automatic familiarity with the layout on a colleague's machine) is trivial to solve, of course. Roaming profiles have their problems, especially if you have a mix of Windows versions - profiles rarely roam cleanly in this case - but they are the best solution to this problem.

All of which assumes (1) a Windows-based network, (2) an NT-style domain, and (3) a semi-competent admin. Of course, the admin is probably Frank, but that's just one more reason to go.

Run. Grab your belongings and leave. Things will only get worse.

A highly-educated friend once got a job designing exhibits for a science museum. On the first day they handed her a mop "because of budget cuts". It was also her last day.

New blood gets mop duties.

OMG, so epic!!! Now run!!!

ubersoldat:

New blood gets mop duties.

OMG, so epic!!! Now run!!!

Wow I don't believing this at all. In India we have cleaning crew coming in every day twice to clean floor and carpet. Is this America or some other god forsaked country?

Roaming profiles are Windows' lame attempt to kludge around a pathetic problem that springs from their own failure to do it The Right Way like any mature OS did 30 years ago. (Hint: data can travel at the speed of light. There is no need for it to "roam".)

But even without them, how the hell would one developer's desktop have any effect on what another developer saw?

Methinks the WTF runs deep here. And the "F" clearly stands for Frank.

FrostCat:

anon:

The real WTF isn't this company. The real WTF is not walking out on day two.

Or else, walking out instead of mopping the floor.

This. I would be somewhat annoyed by a boss micromanaging coffee breaks when I'm out of a resource - knowledge, in this case - I need to do my job. I would be extremely bored by a freaking 4 hour-long design meeting, in which 3 hours are purely about things that do not concern me now or in a near future, but that's still within acceptable boundaries. I would also hate to go through said 4-hour long meetings without as much as a 5 minutes break, but I still wouldn't jump the boat yet.

But the cleaning part? It's too much stupidity to bear

Nagesh:

ubersoldat:

New blood gets mop duties.

OMG, so epic!!! Now run!!!

Wow I don't believing this at all. In India we have cleaning crew coming in every day twice to clean floor and carpet. Is this America or some other god forsaked country?

Erm what's the difference between the two??

TRWTF is that the begin part about trying to get a meeting with Bill seemed to be completely unrelated to the rest of the story. Seriously, WTF?!?

Oh, wait, it started with him trying to setup a Friday meeting, and then he couldn't because he had the Friday mop-and-slop. So he lost an entire Friday and part of Monday.

I should really read more carefully.

You know, come to think of it, why not have a small coffee machine at each desk, for greater time efficiency? It's not like they're expensive nowadays.

Serves me right for expecting a better end to that story... :( Oh well.

Thats the kind of workplace where you are a soldier. You do what is told and never volunteer for anything.

What The Frank?


Capcha: wisi - I wisi never have to work for Frank.

You people and your customized desktop backgrounds make me sick. Creating new folders and organizing your files differently. You all think you're a bunch of special little snowflakes, don't you?

This is why the musicians' union mandates a quick break every 90 minutes: that's about the amount of time you can expect full productivity from people before they start getting bored or squirrelly.

Nonsense.

A boss that micro-manages but then have his developers clean the office?

Anon:

TRWTF is that the begin part about trying to get a meeting with Bill seemed to be completely unrelated to the rest of the story. Seriously, WTF?!?

Oh, wait, it started with him trying to setup a Friday meeting, and then he couldn't because he had the Friday mop-and-slop. So he lost an entire Friday and part of Monday.

I should really read more carefully.

Wow! Passive-aggreive much? Editing my psts for me intead of repling is a bit underhandd. And my oiginal pont stands. It sudnly switches from talking abou Bill to taling about Frnk without explation.

Anon:

TRWTF is that the begin part about trying to get a meeting with Bill seemed to be completely unrelated to the rest of the story. Seriously, WTF?!?

Oh, wait, it started with him trying to setup a Friday meeting, and then he couldn't because he had the Friday mop-and-slop. So he lost an entire Friday and part of Monday.

I should really read more carefully.

I understood that Bill wasn't willing to spend time educating the newbie until after the Friday afternoon cleaning session, because the chances were so high it would be wasted time when the newbie didn't come back on Monday.

Personally, I wouldn't have the slightest problem with cleaning the office. You're getting paid developer money to wander round with a mop daydreaming on Friday afternoon, resting up for the weekend, instead of trying to cudgel a last bit of work out of your tired brain at the end of the week? Sounds great to me. It's not like there's suddenly going to be a rush surprise clean-up job keeping you at your desk all evening.

Your Name:

You know, come to think of it, why not have a small coffee machine at each desk, for greater time efficiency? It's not like they're expensive nowadays.

True, but you'll have to stretch your legs sometime

"What's happening?"

It's spelled, "Whaaaaaaaaaaats happening."

Yeah, this is definitely not in California, labor law violations like that would get Frank sued into the Stone Age.

But yes, the RWTF is why is anyone working for this fool.

This is standard operating procedure in a startup where the boss/grand poobah thinks he's God. And the response (i.e. quitting) is SOP too, although usually anyone with a clue doesn't wait a week they do it the second day.

lumberghed

Um, yeaaaaaah, Alex, I'm going to have to ask you to post a WTF report on Thursdays now.

Oh, oh, and I almost forgot. Ahh, I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and post one on Saturday and Sunday, too.

(And I think Remy really should've cornified "lumberghed".)

You know who else wanted to be a special little snowflake? Hitler

TRWTF is that there's an innate assumption in these comments that people can just afford to quit a job because it sucks without first having another job to go to.

In reality, normal people would see that their job is terrible and immediately begin looking for a new job while trying to milk the old job for all the pay you can. That pretty much seems like what Steve did.

Mopping the floor is weird and extremely uneconomical, but a nice break from the dev work. Four hour long meetings every week, however - that'd really kill me!

Googled "lumbergh", still no wiser. You want to make up new gerunds, fine. Just use something those who aren't USians might have a cat in hell's chance of understanding.

Are you allowed to work in IT without having seen Office Space? I thought that was codified as an international standard by the UN. - Remy

Nagesh:

ubersoldat:

New blood gets mop duties.

OMG, so epic!!! Now run!!!

In India we have cleaning crew coming in every day twice to clean floor and carpet.

Lier, idiot. Even untouchables will not come by-weakly.

Robyrt:

This is why the musicians' union mandates a quick break every 90 minutes: that's about the amount of time you can expect full productivity from people before they start getting bored or squirrelly.

If it truly makes people more productive overall, the union wouldn't have to mandate it. The employers would require it, in their own self interest.

Yeah, I got nothing ....

The article was the troll today. I'm calling BS. What's on deck for tomorrow?

Dear Penthouse, I never thought something like this would happen to a loser like me, but...

Other than the mop that sounds suspiciously like a previous employer.

Although they insisted on 9-6 working with zero flexibility.
I was rather glad when I got to sit in several meetings thinking "I don't care, 'cos you're getting my notice soon" while he was thinking that my few days off (clearly interview days off) hadn't panned out right for me ;)

Richard:

Robyrt:

This is why the musicians' union mandates a quick break every 90 minutes: that's about the amount of time you can expect full productivity from people before they start getting bored or squirrelly.

If it truly makes people more productive overall, the union wouldn't have to mandate it. The employers would require it, in their own self interest.

If employers weren't sometimes their own worst enemy, unions wouldn't be needed.

ffelthc what:

Personally, I wouldn't have the slightest problem with cleaning the office. You're getting paid developer money to wander round with a mop daydreaming on Friday afternoon, resting up for the weekend, instead of trying to cudgel a last bit of work out of your tired brain at the end of the week? Sounds great to me. It's not like there's suddenly going to be a rush surprise clean-up job keeping you at your desk all evening.

I agree. Especially when there's almost nothing to clean since the hired cleaning crew did most of the work! Sounds like the perfect deal for a Friday afternoon at work :-)

FrostCat:

anon:

The real WTF isn't this company. The real WTF is not walking out on day two.

Or else, walking out instead of mopping the floor.

TRWTF is not hitting Frank with the mop.

Your Name:

You know, come to think of it, why not have a small coffee machine at each desk, for greater time efficiency? It's not like they're expensive nowadays.

Are you stupid? They are goddamn developers, and I want them to develop, not drink coffee at their desk.

ffelthc what:

Anon:

TRWTF is that the begin part about trying to get a meeting with Bill seemed to be completely unrelated to the rest of the story. Seriously, WTF?!?

Oh, wait, it started with him trying to setup a Friday meeting, and then he couldn't because he had the Friday mop-and-slop. So he lost an entire Friday and part of Monday.

I should really read more carefully.

I understood that Bill wasn't willing to spend time educating the newbie until after the Friday afternoon cleaning session, because the chances were so high it would be wasted time when the newbie didn't come back on Monday.

Personally, I wouldn't have the slightest problem with cleaning the office. You're getting paid developer money to wander round with a mop daydreaming on Friday afternoon, resting up for the weekend, instead of trying to cudgel a last bit of work out of your tired brain at the end of the week? Sounds great to me. It's not like there's suddenly going to be a rush surprise clean-up job keeping you at your desk all evening.

You are hired. Join us next Friday.

csrster:

A highly-educated friend once got a job designing exhibits for a science museum. On the first day they handed her a mop "because of budget cuts". It was also her last day.

I'm astonished by the arrogant attitude here. As a highly paid individual, when your boss gives you a mop you do that cleaning work. It's his decision.

I'd fire people with such an attitude just because of their sheer arrogance. If you are too good to wield a mop, you're certainly not good enough to develop my software. People like this can certainly not be trusted to do the dirty work when things take the wrong turn.

Now I admit that you should spent 95% of your time developing, but it's just no attitude to be too good for any kind of work. I'd fire such arrogant pricks immediatelly.

OH YEAH, YOU'RE SO ROCKSTAR DEVELOPERS. WHY NOT HAVE TWO BARELY DRESSED WOMEN WHO FEED YOU A COCKTAIL AFTER EVERY LINE OF CODE? ARROGANT ELITISTS.

I honestly had a hard time with this article largely because of what you're saying. My first job was the sort of place where you were expected to do anything that needed doing. The job description for every position included a line "And any other duties assigned."

At the same time- that was a summer camp, and not exactly a highly professional environment. Nowadays, if my boss asked me to sweep up, I wouldn't get pissy about it, but I'd have to seriously wonder why they're putting an expensive IT resource on scut work like that- that sort of resource misallocation is the sure sign of something wrong.

Not a bad troll.

However, let be clear - Frank is a cunt.

B00nbuster:

csrster:

A highly-educated friend once got a job designing exhibits for a science museum. On the first day they handed her a mop "because of budget cuts". It was also her last day.

I'm astonished by the arrogant attitude here. As a highly paid individual, when your boss gives you a mop you do that cleaning work. It's his decision.

I'd fire people with such an attitude just because of their sheer arrogance. If you are too good to wield a mop, you're certainly not good enough to develop my software. People like this can certainly not be trusted to do the dirty work when things take the wrong turn.

Now I admit that you should spent 95% of your time developing, but it's just no attitude to be too good for any kind of work. I'd fire such arrogant pricks immediatelly.

OH YEAH, YOU'RE SO ROCKSTAR DEVELOPERS. WHY NOT HAVE TWO BARELY DRESSED WOMEN WHO FEED YOU A COCKTAIL AFTER EVERY LINE OF CODE? ARROGANT ELITISTS.

I hope you are being sarcastic, because otherwise I am astonished by your stupidity. If I were your boss, I would ask you to work as a sex worker or a hired gun, because it is my decision, and as per your own principles, you must accept it.

OH YEAH, YOU'RE SO ROCKSTAR DEVELOPERS. WHY NOT HAVE TWO BARELY DRESSED WOMEN WHO FEED YOU A COCKTAIL AFTER EVERY LINE OF CODE? ARROGANT ELITISTS.

Sounds good to me.


No, really, in most parts of the world developers are far to expensive to do cleaning work.

Zapp Brannigan:

Richard:

Robyrt:

This is why the musicians' union mandates a quick break every 90 minutes: that's about the amount of time you can expect full productivity from people before they start getting bored or squirrelly.

If it truly makes people more productive overall, the union wouldn't have to mandate it. The employers would require it, in their own self interest.

If employers weren't sometimes their own worst enemy, unions wouldn't be needed.

If the individual employees made themselves worth something more than just another ___, they could negotiate their own terms or leave for a better employer.

I work hard to be not just another developer ... that's why I'm reading / posting to this ... at ... work
...
gotta go.

MrBester:

Googled "lumbergh", still no wiser. You want to make up new gerunds, fine. Just use something those who aren't USians might have a cat in hell's chance of understanding.

You want to make up new adjectives, fine, but the internationally-accepted term for people from the US (in English) is "American".

I kind of doubt that you actually searched for it. The top hit is a Wikipedia page (a good start) that clearly explains the character.

In English, technology, and business, "adapting" words to other parts of speech is standard, well-known practice. Hence, lumbergh (v.): to do something in the fashion of Lumbergh.

"...we can't afford to waste a minute of time just because you needed to be a special little snowflake."

I can't argue much with Frank's logic here. I have said this, verbatim, before.

B00nbuster:

csrster:

A highly-educated friend once got a job designing exhibits for a science museum. On the first day they handed her a mop "because of budget cuts". It was also her last day.

I'm astonished by the arrogant attitude here. As a highly paid individual, when your boss gives you a mop you do that cleaning work. It's his decision.

I'd fire people with such an attitude just because of their sheer arrogance. If you are too good to wield a mop, you're certainly not good enough to develop my software.

I get paid $50/hr. That's about 5x what cleaning crews make. If you want to pay me to mop, I'll do it, but don't expect me working weekends to make up for it.

Waht? Moping is half the responsibilty in IT job. Other job is dust and keep cattle out of server room.

B00nbuster:

OH YEAH, YOU'RE SO ROCKSTAR DEVELOPERS. WHY NOT HAVE TWO BARELY DRESSED WOMEN WHO FEED YOU A COCKTAIL AFTER EVERY LINE OF CODE? ARROGANT ELITISTS.

Wait you mean most of us don't have barely dressed girls feeding us at our desks? I negotiated up, they aren't dressed at all.