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Admin
It's difficult to say, because we don't know how things escalated to that point (I would imagine some words were exchanged before something gets thrown). Also, none of us can say "I would have done..." because we've got the benefit of spending time to think what to do. In real life, you reacting in real-time (also pays to keep a cool head in a business environment).
Again, not saying to quit the job or storm off in a huff, but there are other ways of handling it that don't involve becoming physical (say getting a liaison between you and someone else).
Admin
I've developed similar habbits of dignity and self-respect. Somewhere along the lines I realized that a shitty employer needs me a lot more than I need them.
If you're good at what you do, you SHOULD have connections with people who can help you find work faster than that. If you're some gun for hire, then you're screwed, and quite frankly, deserve being treated like shit at that point.
Admin
Homophones just need more education. Their fear is based in ignorance. One of yy best friend had a name that sounded like another word [etc.]
Admin
Whilst the original story is not really readable or enjoyable, it being written in third person present tense, all the embellishments that get added don't do much to improve things. Frothing at the mouth? Come on...
Admin
Admin
... except their version of BASIC (which I was given the opportunity of learning) was completely incompatible with every other version of BASIC that was around at the time. Mind, come to think of it, so was everybody else's version of BASIC completely different from every other version, so no big deal. It opened us youngsters up to the concept of dialects in the context of computer langiaes.
Admin
If you haven't developed a reliable technique for handling this sort of situation, then there's several options I can think of (not all mutually exclusive):
a) You go to Jonathan and open an equal-to-equal conversation with him: "Consider the following hypothetical situation ..." and continue from there, with a "What would you do?" sort of question on the end of it. If he's as intelligent and reasonable as one would assume from this tale, he would know what you mean and the ball would be rather more firmly in his court.
b) You share your experience with the consultancy firm which placed you, and warn them of possible lack of smoothness in relations with this company in the near future. At the very least the name "Mortimer" will be noted and logged.
c) You write a polite email to Mortimer's superior requesting clarification of the terms under which you are employed, with specific reference to the communication difficulties you are having with Mortimer. There may be more subtle ways of getting his boss on side, depending on the nature of that boss - but always beware he may be even worse than Mortimer. I've seen that happen in the past.
Admin
yea - Carmina Burana would fit the picture better
Admin
Yes - and Mortimer is a Cock.
Admin
Yes, you get those by clicking on the "Bobby examined the report" phrase. Some kind of "cornify" link, it seems.
It's probably there just to catch us people who select text while reading...
Captcha: "Lorem ipsum ... sit amet".
Admin
I'm guessing that this was at TVA?
Admin
[quote user="Billy Goat Gruff #1"] Good analysis, but it's "rite of passage" not "right". Homophones are tricky but it's worth trying to get them correct.[/quote]
Homophones just need more education. Their fear is based in ignorance. One of yy best friend had a name that sounded like another word [etc.][/quote]
Rite, like last rite performed on Hindu corpse?
Admin
[quote user="Nagesh"][quote user="Billy Goat Gruff #1"] Good analysis, but it's "rite of passage" not "right". Homophones are tricky but it's worth trying to get them correct.[/quote]
Homophones just need more education. Their fear is based in ignorance. One of yy best friend had a name that sounded like another word [etc.][/quote]
Rite, like last rite performed on Hindu corpse?[/quote]
That's rite.
Admin
The model numbers don't ring a bell (maybe if you divided by 10), but the series of events sure sounds like Wang around 1989-1990 timeframe
Admin
The model numbers don't ring a bell (maybe if you divided them by 10) but it sure sounds like Wang in the 1988-1990 timeframe.
Admin
Admin
Where you learn to quote?
Admin
It's a bit like terms like 'retarded' and 'disabled'. they started life as careful and sensitive euphemisms for unpleasant terms, but over time the real meaning simply rubs off on the nice new term, it becomes an insult once more, and a newer, even more abstract euphemism must be invented to describe these unpleasant terms in polite company.
The same vicious spiral of euphemism inflation took place with the AS/400
Admin
Admin
Probably the same place you learned to code...
Admin
No enough space in that place for two people.
I hope your learned brain get this reference, otherwise you can go ahead and shred all documented evidence of achieving education.
Admin
Wow, I don't even know how to respond to that...
[Protip]
If you want to be a successful troll, you should at the very least make some sort of sense in your ramblings, otherwise it's like trying to respond to 'purple monkey dishwasher!'
[/Protip]
Admin
And this is why I'll never again wear a chicken outfit to a interview.
Admin
Admin
I would look at my contract for a reinstatement cause. After all, if I had a one-month penalty in my contract for early termination, I cannot think of anything better than an unstable boss who keeps terminating the contract and then rehiring me.
Admin
I can honestly not understand why Bobby didn't leave the very first day. If my manager would call me a waste of budget I would tell hem to f*ck himself and then leave. I'd rather be unemployed then working for such a unpleasant person.
Admin
Admin
The contractor is the real what the fuck here. I've never been disciplined, terminated, etc. for dealing with toxic personalities like this before. Many ways of doing it. I've seen a guy jailed for treating me like this on a job. I got the dude to attack me. Nothing else mattered at that point, and I never had to see him again. People that are that angry are easy to manipulate into blowing up.
This guy obviously had no self-confidence and that's very easy to pray on. Any pictures of the wife or daughter on the desk? Make some sexual comment about them. Daughter underage? No problem. Ask when she turns 18 and if it would be okay to start screwing her then.
As long as there are no recording devices, the guy will sound like a nutter when he tells the boss on you. Just deny it.
Secondly... Why would you ever turn anything in ahead of deadline? Especially if you are a contractor that will have your contract terminated early. I learned this working in an office at age 21. You go from fast food where it's all about speed and then to an office. I learned well the long-term consequences for turning shit in way ahead of deadline.
I double my time estimates and turn everything in right at deadline. Fully polished. And I don't get all stressed out and work a shit ton of hours. In fact, I have enough time to screw around on the internet reading sites like this for more than half the day. My performance reviews are superb for never being late on a project and having no issues at the time of delivery.
It's all about making people think what you want them to think. It's not rocket science, people. Those I see with issues with office politics, etc. are always incapable of making people think what they want them to think. It's manipulation, but I don't like to call it that. It comes with a bad connotation.
Admin
It's all about being aware of recording devices and what you say in emails. Mortimer was a punk bully and could have been delt with as such. He's probably one of these idiots that wants to "throw down" every time you insult him. People like this will get really close to your face and start breathing on you and possibly spittling little droplets as they speak in a low voice while staring at you bug-eyed. I've found that an effective way to deal with these assholes is to actually spit in their face. They are usually so shocked by it that they hesitate on the attack greatly and are easily thrown off balance and dropped when you block the attack. You should always come out on top with your job and him gone after you explain the self defense. If you have an audience, don't spit on them. You may still get them to attack and claim the self defense without provocation.
This is ALL contingent on the audience feeling the same way about the guy as you do. If you are having issues like this with someone that everyone else likes, then you are doing something very wrong and will probably not be working there much longer.
This is answering your first question on what we'd expect to happen if he demanded professional treatment. I can't be arsed to cut the rest of the comment.
Admin
In late 2008 I worked at a place like that. All I can say about this story is that
Admin
It's OVER 9000!!!
This rivalry between naming based on logical progression versus naming based on generating excitement happens often with tech products, for example, Windows operating systems, CPUs, cell phones, etc.
Do you think it has to do with the right-brain versus left-brain ways of thinking? It seems to be to be best to appeal to both groups, that is, to order products in some way to show the obvious progression for the left-brain thinkers, but for those who don't care about the internal specs, give a name that would still get them excited about the new product, but without confusing them.
CAPTCHA - dolor (wow, a real word!) pain, grief
Admin
Probably he was young and fresh or maybe he had a wife with a newborn baby and had to take shit for the time being. God knows. Everyone starts from somewhere and everyone is at risk of having to take some shit at some point or another.
The WTF is to remain that vulnerable to that kind of crap all the time.
Admin
Yearrrrs ago I joined what was then a major computer manufacturer as a contractor in support of some personnel costs projection 'reports' yes paper. The manager I was assigned to wasn't fond of contractors - and greeted me each morning and every time I entered his office with "So, got a job yet?" I was so thick-headed I thought it was his idea of a joke - anyway, my contract was extended multiple times (3+ years as I recall) at the accounting departments request, I even taught a bunch of accountants VISICALC on Apple II's during that period.
So, my advice is to laugh off the snide remarks, probably from someone without the b___ls or smarts to become a contractor.
Frank the Crank - 49 years in the business (30+ contracting)
Admin
Depends on the situation, I suppose. Option 1 (the polite method): Bring it up with HR (either the company or your contracting company). Depending on your jurisdiction, they may or may not be required to take the complaint seriously. You may even luck out and discover that your complaint is the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Option 2 (the evil method): Pull a Fight Club, and show up at HR with a black eye.
Admin
Hey guys,
Hit that read source button. Scroll down until you see huge chunks of fixed-width comment text. You find the original submission.
WHEE.
Admin
Okay, holy fuck. The original submission actually makes the TDWTF version tame. For those of you who can't be bothered reading the source code, here's the original submission:
<!-- Original sub, included for completeness: The client's needs are simple: they produce electricity and their distributors resell it. The distributors report their usage in a space delimited file originally meant for an AS400. Now they use PC's and they want to accept XML. The client's IT people are also simple. Six months into the project they realized that they'd hired a 'programmer' who would have had a hard time spelling 'XML,' much less creating a program to accept it. That's when they engaged a head hunter to get someone who 'knew something.' So they hire a contractor with a great reputation on a year-long contract, THEN inform him that they're six months behind on the project. During the next month the contractor writes the program and the client changes the specs for it without telling him. The program is submitted to QC with the new spec and of course fails miserably. When the contractor asks for the new spec, the person who wrote it tells him, "No," and someone else has to ask for it and email a copy of it to him. The contractor begins to rewrite the program, and the IT department head panics and throws three 'helper' programmers at the project. All of them program in VB.Net, the program is in C#. Over the next month, the 'helpers' code nearly 300 new errors into the program and claim that they need two more months, which goes past the deadline to begin real time runs. The IT department head implements a mandatory overtime policy. Because overtime isn't written into the contractor's agreement, he is paid straight time. The IT department head doesn't bring this up until the contractor has worked over 70 hours of over time, then swears to the contractor's company that the contractor agreed to this. Rather than leave, the contractor corrects all of the errors in the program in two days, putting the program ahead of schedule. The client then rewrites the spec again and the helpers come back. Over the next month, the contractor brings the program through the morass and gets it through QC. In the interrim, the IT department head tries to 'go for a personal win' and develop the actual file upload portion of the program separately with inhouse developers. In four months, they can't figure out how to create a website that uploads files over the Internet. At the eleventh hour, eight of them cobble together a solution that only works in their DMZ. It actually saves physical files to a network location. The contractor informs the other development team that they SHOULD be saving these files to a database, but they ignore him. Four weeks before the program actually goes live, the client reveals that the file uploader has to be able to evaluate different types of files, and the rest of the program has to be able to accomodate a non-standard input to random changes in the database. Fortunately, the contractor has foreseen this and created a completely modular program which can handle the varying input. He writes a complete explanation on how the integration can be accomplished on time. The client refuses to read the explanation and tells the IT department head how he wants the program written. The new input needs to maintain the physical file creation because the client plans to integrate Schematron with the program on his own. The department head assigns one of the previous programmers to perform the upgrade to the file upgrader. Neither of them know what Schematron is or how it works. The contractor tries to explain Schematron to them, but the client informs him that he already knows, which is good enough for the IT department head. The IT Department Head doesn't care that the program will never be able to utilize Schematron, because the client won't find out until after the program is finished. The day before the program is supposed to go live, the in house programmer claims that he will need two more months to develop the new file upload program. He has never once asked for any help from the contractor. The IT Department Head then informs the client and blames the contractor. A meeting is called and the contractor is finally asked, "How long would it take YOU to fix the file uploader." The contractor has already written the software. It is implemented that day, tested and works. The next week, the IT Department Head calls the contractor's company and tries to back out of the contract six months early because he now doesn't need the contractor. The IT Department for this company is (understandably) a huge client, so the contractor is asked to 'be a good sport' and take a two-week severance. The contractor points out the specific clause in the contract where he would have been responsible for a month's pay if he had left early, and a compromise is reached. Three weeks later, the IT Department Head calls the contractor directly and wants him to come in and work for a week, writing documentation for the software, arguing that he's being paid a month of severance. This is, precisely, how to piss off a contract programmer.-->Admin
You really don't need to go that far. A simple, polite, quiet 'please don't speak to me like that' goes a surprisingly long way. You might as well have said 'I like horsecocks' for the stunned silence it produces.
Admin
Admin
He's probably thinking of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx7XNb3Q9Ek&feature=related
Admin
How do you access a flat file with a Role Playing Game?
Admin
Go Robo!
Admin
Admin
I went to Common in Minneapolis in, IIRC, 2005. I sat through a presentation where the director of marketing SWORE they would never ever change the name again. It changed shortly thereafter. I believe it was then known as the i5.
Admin
Just throw it all into a CDATA tag or something and get back to collecting more certifications.
Admin
I agree with your logic. Most IT communities, even in big cities, are actually very small. I've always been of the mentality that you never know who's help you will need later in obtaining a position. Managers don't live inside secluded boxes. They have contacts and friends in other companies. Maybe companies YOU worked for. And who couldn't use more positive references for their resume?
I personally think it is very immature to leave in a huff. As a consultant, your gig only lasts 6 months on average. That means that even if the environment is the most horrible thing you have ever been through, you're only there for 6 months. Do the contract and leave with dignity and respect. Whether you know it or not, chances are your reputation will precede you in future opportunities (especially as a consultant/contractor). And, chances are your coworkers know the pain of your situation and they will only respect you for enduring.
Admin
reminds me of THAT story: the marketing idiots boasted about how good their second system would be, so NO ONE bought their first system...THEN they boasted about how good their THIRD system would be, so nobody bought their second system...went bankrupt without ever making a single sale! i've actually heard TWO stories like that, in the second one, it was the CEO who talked the company out of business!
Admin
After that kind of greeting should have headed straight to HR, otherwise you lose any rights complaining about this kind of treatment.