The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

A good guy here named Chris died at 32, he was in great health, just had a congenital heart ailment that caused a heart attack.

Shit just happens.

Captcha: what happened to all the good captchas?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

EmperorOfCanada:
Why don't we here this story more often. In all my years around IT companies it is usually the opposite, over and over.

It's a little bit depressing that the ending of this story is the WTF.

dhouse109 · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

//delete

dhouse109 · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

public enum HealthStatus {
    WELL, HEADACHE
}

class HumanBeing {
	public HealthStatus healthStatus;
}

interface IHealthStatusTreatment {
	public void treatHealthStatus(HumanBeing aHumanBeing);

}

class Ibuprofen implements IHealthStatusTreatment {
	public void treatHealthStatus(HumanBeing aHumanBeing) {
		//TODO: treat HEADACHE with over the counter drugs
	}
}

class AcmeDrugs implements IHealthStatusTreatment {
	public void treatHealthStatus(HumanBeing aHumanBeing) {
		//TODO: treat HEADACHE with something exotic
	}
}

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

MP (Real):
Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

TRWTF is that you and the guy that originally posted the comment are able to get on the internet and post comments, yet can't understand basic English.

Meh, it's not like literacy is a condition for going online. More like the opposite.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

TRWTF is he gave his cell phone number to a recruiter. Biiiiiiig mistake.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

MP (Real):
Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

TRWTF is that you and the guy that originally posted the comment are able to get on the internet and post comments, yet can't understand basic English.

Dance puppet, dance!

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

"He had hoped a Reese’s Cup might assuage the fact that his wife was sitting in the hospital"

I never expected to read the word "assuage" on the Daily WTF. I'm usually tickled when you guys actually use punctuation correctly. Well done, Mr. Fancy Pants $10 Word.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

frits:
Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

If she was already known to be allergic to more common antibiotics, a more exotic one would be in order.

A winnar is yuo!

The reason this particular antibiotic is "exotic" in the first place is that in women it occasionally has the side effect of...(wait for it)...heart attack symptoms. But after trying several other options, there we were. The reason I only spent half a day in the hospital (unlike our protagonist, apparently) was a lucky coincidence involving an emergency cardiologist who'd happened to see the same thing a few months before.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

TRWTF is reaching for a Reese peanut butter cup when your wife may have just had a heart attack.

Falcon · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

swedish tard:
Im from a family of swedes which have an affinity for berserker rage. Most of us are quite good at controlling it though, but once you get there... Well... Lets just say its a bad idea to be in the way of someone that actually went berserk, and not just throsing a tantrum++.

D-Fens (Michael Douglas) from "Falling Down"!

dubbreak · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

notromda:
Vollhorst:
Cell phone in a hospital? Idiot.

Cell phones are quite ok in hospitals except in a few high priority areas, where it's clearly marked. Heck, the nurses were even using cell phones in ICU.

And the surgeons have their iphones and blackberries in the OR (and often a dock to play music off their iphone). My wife is a OR nurse and I get to hear about the playlists of different surgeons.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Falcon:
swedish tard:
Im from a family of swedes which have an affinity for berserker rage. Most of us are quite good at controlling it though, but once you get there... Well... Lets just say its a bad idea to be in the way of someone that actually went berserk, and not just throsing a tantrum++.
D-Fens (Michael Douglas) from "Falling Down"!

That is quite different from a berserker rage. ;) Although a fun movie none the less.

ObiWayneKenobi · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

I call shenanigans. We all know how the story REALLY ended:

Monday morning Peter was let go for "insubordination" since Jeremy and the CEO were golfing buddies. As he was being led away by security, Jeremy snarkily asked him "So, Peter, how's your wife doing?" and laughed as he was thrown outside before Peter could strangle him.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

At the risk of mentioning literature on an IT site, Ian McEwan's novel Saturday has some scenes in the OR, and the selection of music is dwelled upon. Never having been a neurologist, I can't say how accurate the novel is, but the character is pretty convincing, and McEwan seems to have done a fair bit of homework.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Wait, you're telling me we got a story where the subject had a spine and responded with appropriate anger?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

This happens often, in my case, the Finance guy went on to be CEO and is in the newspaper from time to time. These people are self centered and care little for others beyond lip service. They have contempt for those that can be bullied and bully often.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

And, seriously, this:

He almost immediately regretted doing that, as getting sacked might put his family’s health insurance at risk.

Is TRWTF. How much of a fucked up, barbaric country is this that would remove somebody's health care right when they need it most?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anon:
And, seriously, this:
He almost immediately regretted doing that, as getting sacked might put his family’s health insurance at risk.

Is TRWTF. How much of a fucked up, barbaric country is this that would remove somebody's health care right when they need it most?

It has nothing to do with the country. Health benefits were traditionally provided by companies here. You lose the job, you lose the benefits.

Of course, that's all changing now. We'll see how that goes.

NerfTW · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

MP (Real):
Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

TRWTF is that you and the guy that originally posted the comment are able to get on the internet and post comments, yet can't understand basic English.

TRWTF is that you think everyone on Earth speaks English.

NerfTW · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

swedish tard:
frits:
I have a feeling most people's berserkers would gas-out after 10, maybe 20 seconds of berserking. Especially readers of this site.

If you go berserk for real, you can go full steam for 10-20 minutes even if you are an elite couch potato. Of course, you are going to pretty much black out when the rage subsides. Even people in good shape are completely spent after such an episode. Im from a family of swedes which have an affinity for berserker rage. Most of us are quite good at controlling it though, but once you get there... Well... Lets just say its a bad idea to be in the way of someone that actually went berserk, and not just throsing a tantrum++.

Oh get over yourselves. There's no such thing as "Berserk". it's called being a whiny little baby throwing a temper tantrum. Most people grow out of the "I'm the Incredible Hulk" fantasy. You might want to try that.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Pah!!

Heart attack at 37, she's clearly not tried hard enough. I had mine at 31.

They can be a lot of fun when the pain/fear subside and you get to spend weeks off work, watching mindless dull daytime TV. Buy a motorbike and use the off work time to do something constructive like ride around the country seeing the sights (stuff what the doctors say about not being allowed to ride)

The tablets that you have to take every day for ever can be a pain in the arse though..

frits · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

NerfTW:
swedish tard:
frits:
I have a feeling most people's berserkers would gas-out after 10, maybe 20 seconds of berserking. Especially readers of this site.

If you go berserk for real, you can go full steam for 10-20 minutes even if you are an elite couch potato. Of course, you are going to pretty much black out when the rage subsides. Even people in good shape are completely spent after such an episode. Im from a family of swedes which have an affinity for berserker rage. Most of us are quite good at controlling it though, but once you get there... Well... Lets just say its a bad idea to be in the way of someone that actually went berserk, and not just throsing a tantrum++.

Oh get over yourselves. There's no such thing as "Berserk". it's called being a whiny little baby throwing a temper tantrum. Most people grow out of the "I'm the Incredible Hulk" fantasy. You might want to try that.

Really? There's no such thing as berserk? -1 for feeling the need to report that newsflash.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Zylon:
re:me:
It's a badly timed "frist" post cloaked in unfunny sarcasm. Of course, that's just my opinion. I suppose it may have made someone laugh; if only at the fact that it was second.
Actually that was satire, not sarcasm. You are clearly an individual with a terrible, stunted sense of humor.

Sorry, you are not going to shame me into thinking that was funny.

And, wow, you're really invested in correcting my wayward opinions for a guy who didn't author the original post.

RHuckster · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

AnOldHacker:
First!
What? You think it's rude to take up comment space with a meaningless "First"? Do you know who I am? It is YOU sir, who is wasting space with your complaint! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

One of the people who's complaining is my wife, who is EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT. Your argument is invalid.

Mason Wheeler · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

Clearly, you've never known anyone who had cancer.

Mason Wheeler · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anonymous Cow:
Anon:
And, seriously, this:
He almost immediately regretted doing that, as getting sacked might put his family’s health insurance at risk.

Is TRWTF. How much of a fucked up, barbaric country is this that would remove somebody's health care right when they need it most?

It has nothing to do with the country. Health benefits were traditionally provided by companies here.

"Here" being "in this country", right?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

TRWTF is: how did the CEO find out?

campkev · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Pedro:
The antibiotic is exotic. The condition is common. Two adjectives describing two different things. Parses fine here.
An exotic treatement for a common condition? No, still isn't parsing right here I'm afraid.

For fuck's sake, are you really that dim? A medical condition can have more than one treatment. For example, you have a COMMON bacterial infection. The COMMON treatment is penicilin, however you are allergic to it. The less common treatment is drugB, however it is made out of baby seals, which offends your personal sense of ethics so you don't want to take that one. The least common (one might even say EXOTIC) is an herb that grows only on the top of Ayers Rock. Your aren't allergic to this herb and it doesn't violate your principles, so you take it. So you are taking an EXOTIC treatment for a COMMON condition. Savvy?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Axe:
The tablets that you have to take every day for ever can be a pain in the arse though..

Have you tried swallowing them instead?

campkev · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

kieron:
TRWTF is reaching for a Reese peanut butter cup when your wife may have just had a heart attack.

You are absolutely right. Clearly he should have gone out for a full fledged meal at a restaurant and been gone for an hour and a half instead of being gone for 5 minutes.

Just being sarcastic. Of course, what he should have done was not eat at all the whole time his wife was in the hospital, that way he could be in tip-top shape to help his wife.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

java.lang.Chris;:
The only time I upset a director, I almost ended up dismissed for misconduct.
This was on a project where I had proposed using Informix, the company's preferred choice of RDBMS. As we needed new hardware, the budget wasn't sufficient for Informix, so I proposed PostgreSQL as a free alternative. The DBA preferred MySQL as he was familiar with it, so MySQL was chosen despite my reservations about its suitability.

Cut to six months later, and I was supporting the database as a well as the applications, since the DBA turned out to be a lazy sod. I needed to tweak some performance parameters, and having tested it on both development and QA environments I got approval from my boss to do the changes on the live environment.

About half an hour later, the monitoring system went crazy as performance of the apps went through the floor. It turns out that MySQL had decided to quietly drop all the indexes!

I informed my boss of the situation, and set about rebuilding the indexes, which periodically locked the database. Part way through, I received a call from a company director, saying he'd heard I'd "fcked" his system and calling me a "cnt". I hung up in shock, and went to see my boss who suddenly claimed he was unaware of the changes I'd made and wouldn't have approved them if he had (despite his approval being a rubber stamping exercise as he was non-technical with a background in publishing).

I found myself up for a dismissal procedure, but thankfully had all the emails from my boss, as well as support from a contractor who was aware of the details and disgusted at my boss. The upshot was the dismissal proceedings were withdrawn, but the director was not censured nor did he offer an apology. I quit the next day.

This must not have happened in the U.S. Here you would have sued, and quite possibly won, a wrongful dismissal suit based on a hostile work environment.

--Lego

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Lego:
This must not have happened in the U.S. Here you would have sued, and quite possibly won, a wrongful dismissal suit based on a hostile work environment.
--Lego

If he quit, how can it be wrongful dismissal?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

I'm glad for the happy ending here... I've been through a very similar situation. A few years ago, my wife was in the hospital, in the cardiac unit (in her 20s, not in her 30s... chew on that one), and I got a phone call from work. I spent 45 minutes, while my wife was having a cardiac stress test, explaining to my boss and the finance manager how the ERP system handled cost calculations.

To be fair, both were quite concerned about my wife (no douchebaggery here), but when you're waiting to find out how your wife's heart is doing, work is the very last thing you want to be thinking of.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

It's ironic he's getting getting reese cups from the vending machine of the hospital he's at because his wife almost had a heart attack.

Kensey · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

I've had two "so, that's how it's going to be" moments that led to job changes. (No nose-to-nose confrontations, but A Turning Point Was Reached.)

One was the manager who ordered me to finish a project I'd been working on in my personal time (it was for the company, after a point, but he didn't want to pay actual hours to work on it so it was still done at my own pace). He actually said "Either have that done tomorrow or have your resignation on my desk." The next day he got the one and a few weeks later he got the other (after I'd lined up a new job).

The other was the manager at my last job who tried to order me to circumvent security policy on a federal government system, and griped at me in an e-mail copied to all my co-workers about not coming up with "excuses" when I refused. I hit Monster that night and less than 3 months later (a couple of months ago) I started my new job.

I did once tell a senior contract manager on a conference call who was griping about my emergency patch to "his" failed system "I can un-fix it right now if you like." No, he wouldn't like, it turned out, and he was very deferential after that.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anon:
And, seriously, this:
He almost immediately regretted doing that, as getting sacked might put his family’s health insurance at risk.

Is TRWTF. How much of a fucked up, barbaric country is this that would remove somebody's health care right when they need it most?

One that values "freedom". We don't want the government to oppress us by helping us stay alive.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

OMG! A happy ending!

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

NerfTW:
swedish tard:
frits:
I have a feeling most people's berserkers would gas-out after 10, maybe 20 seconds of berserking. Especially readers of this site.

If you go berserk for real, you can go full steam for 10-20 minutes even if you are an elite couch potato. Of course, you are going to pretty much black out when the rage subsides. Even people in good shape are completely spent after such an episode. Im from a family of swedes which have an affinity for berserker rage. Most of us are quite good at controlling it though, but once you get there... Well... Lets just say its a bad idea to be in the way of someone that actually went berserk, and not just throsing a tantrum++.

Oh get over yourselves. There's no such thing as "Berserk". it's called being a whiny little baby throwing a temper tantrum. Most people grow out of the "I'm the Incredible Hulk" fantasy. You might want to try that.

Not quite, its an entirely different animal than temper tantrum. But you might also not believe in any other intense feelings such as grief?

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

If the working environment is untenable, thereby driving you to quit, it can still be considered wrongful termination. It's called "constructive discharge" in US law.

See http://www.timslaw.com/constructive-discharge.htm

And Akismet, I promise this comment is not spam!!

Mason Wheeler · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

NerfTW:
Oh get over yourselves. There's no such thing as "Berserk". it's called being a whiny little baby throwing a temper tantrum. Most people grow out of the "I'm the Incredible Hulk" fantasy. You might want to try that.

IIRC the Berserkers were real warriors who would go into a real rage-filled state in which nothing mattered except hurting people and breaking things. They had to use some sort of drugs (funny mushrooms or something like that) to achieve it though; it's not a condition you come by naturally, no matter how angry you are.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

SR:
Lego:
This must not have happened in the U.S. Here you would have sued, and quite possibly won, a wrongful dismissal suit based on a hostile work environment.
--Lego

If he quit, how can it be wrongful dismissal?

It is called constructive dismissal. It means your employer forced you to quit by either making or allowing working conditions to be unbearable. In this case the gender based profanity would be one piece of evidence in support of that claim. Based on the specific profanity used I am assuming Chris is female.

--Lego

Matt Westwood · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

SR:
Lego:
This must not have happened in the U.S. Here you would have sued, and quite possibly won, a wrongful dismissal suit based on a hostile work environment.
--Lego

If he quit, how can it be wrongful dismissal?

There's a scenario in this country called "constructive dismissal", or something like that, where you are deemed to have had no other recourse but to resign because your working conditions are intolerable. For this you can sometimes sue. Quitting as a result of a director referring to you as the female pudendum may well fit into that category.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

SR:
Axe:
The tablets that you have to take every day for ever can be a pain in the arse though..

Have you tried swallowing them instead?

this...THIS is why I visit this site. Many times the comments eclipse the original story as far as entertainment value is concerned.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

campkev:
kieron:
TRWTF is reaching for a Reese peanut butter cup when your wife may have just had a heart attack.
You are absolutely right. Clearly he should have gone out for a full fledged meal at a restaurant and been gone for an hour and a half instead of being gone for 5 minutes.
Just being sarcastic. Of course, what he should have done was not eat at all the whole time his wife was in the hospital, that way he could be in tip-top shape to help his wife.

Clearly he should have asked the nurses, who have nothing better to do, to hook him up with a feeding drip.

Aaron · 2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Anon:
And, seriously, this:
He almost immediately regretted doing that, as getting sacked might put his family’s health insurance at risk.

Is TRWTF. How much of a fucked up, barbaric country is this that would remove somebody's health care right when they need it most?

If the story is true then this is probably part of the reason it turned out the way it did. If you've spent more than 6 minutes in management then you know that firing an employee immediately after a hospital stay (or before a planned one) is practically corporate suicide. Say hello to skyrocketing legal fees and months or even years of having your name dragged through the mud.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Lego:
SR:
Lego:
This must not have happened in the U.S. Here you would have sued, and quite possibly won, a wrongful dismissal suit based on a hostile work environment.
--Lego

If he quit, how can it be wrongful dismissal?

It is called constructive dismissal. It means your employer forced you to quit by either making or allowing working conditions to be unbearable. In this case the gender based profanity would be one piece of evidence in support of that claim. Based on the specific profanity used I am assuming Chris is female.

--Lego

The specific profanity used is gender-neutral (or even selects for a male target?) in UK/Irish flavors of English. Chris might easily be a male being chewed out by a limey or a mick

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Vilx-:
there is one WTF in there - why was Peter trying to remember phone numbers and not using the phonebook of his cell phone?

Because (until Droid) a phone is not a computer in the sense that you cannot script, run and verify your own backups. Thus, it is only a temporary data storage device that will randomly fail when least expected, and, because you're in the habit of relying on an unreliable device, you won't remember anybody's number to call them for help.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

Vollhorst:
Cell phone in a hospital? Idiot.

If cell phones in hospitals, or for that matter airplanes, were one one-thousandth the safety threat sign-makers pretend they are, you'd be patted down at the entrance, like they do when looking for guns at the courthouse.

2010-06-22 Reply Admin

NetTears:
TRWTF is having a heart attack at 37.

Heart disease is not always a heart attack, or congestive heart failure. Abnormal heart beats (Arrythmia) or viral infections can cause heart monitors to show changes, just to name two.

Environmental factors and genetics can result in heart disease. It's not always within the person's control.

Critically Conditioned

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