• Trevor D'Arcy-Evans (unregistered)

    Do not read this comment!

  • Steve the Cynic (unregistered)

    What, no comments already?

  • Steve the Cynic (unregistered) in reply to Steve the Cynic
    Steve the Cynic:
    What, no comments already?

    Grr. Lost out. Bah!

  • Zapp Brannigan (unregistered)

    Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out? How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence? Will his tortured mind give in to its uncontrollable desires? (Announcer grabs Stimpy, forces him closer to the button.) Can he resist the temptation to push the button that, even now, beckons him even closer? Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history? At the MERE...PUSH...of a SINGLE...BUTTON! The beeyootiful SHINY button! The jolly CANDY-LIKE button! Will he hold out, folks? CAN he hold out?

  • Ralph (unregistered) in reply to Trevor D'Arcy-Evans
    Trevor D'Arcy-Evans:
    Do not read this comment!

    Crap!

  • (cs)

    I kind of feel silly asking for clarification on this story, sort of like discussing plot holes in a porno, but at the end it begins to refer to "the technician." Was it in fact not John R. that had pushed the incorrect SMS package, or did he indeed push the "Do not use this push" package?

  • Pedantic (unregistered)

    It appears the WTF is there is no WTF or that the story itself is so malformed that it's a 'Chose your own WTF' evidently.

    WTF?

  • (cs)

    TRWTF is the way this story has been written.

  • IrishlyRucked (unregistered)

    There's a bit near the end that seems to be missing.

  • (cs)

    ...

  • (cs)

    "DO NOT SEND THIS WTF PACKAGE!!"

  • Boris (unregistered)

    Bout like the intern who pushed the big red "DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON" EPO button on his way out the door at one of our facilities.

  • Zapp Brannigan (unregistered) in reply to Xanthus179
    Xanthus179:
    I kind of feel silly asking for clarification on this story, sort of like discussing plot holes in a porno, but at the end it begins to refer to "the technician." Was it in fact not John R. that had pushed the incorrect SMS package, or did he indeed push the "Do not use this push" package?
    I had trouble understanding this WTF as well. So I just made up my own ending with Megan Fox and Jessica Simpson.
  • Orclev (unregistered)

    Do NOT taunt Super Happy Fun Ball.

  • JT (unregistered)

    Do not finish this WTF!

  • Stimpy (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan
    Zapp Brannigan:
    Oh, how long can trusty Cadet Stimpy hold out? How can he possibly resist the diabolical urge to push the button that could erase his very existence? Will his tortured mind give in to its uncontrollable desires? (Announcer grabs Stimpy, forces him closer to the button.) Can he resist the temptation to push the button that, even now, beckons him even closer? Will he succumb to the maddening urge to eradicate history? At the MERE...PUSH...of a SINGLE...BUTTON! The beeyootiful SHINY button! The jolly CANDY-LIKE button! Will he hold out, folks? CAN he hold out?

    NO HE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAN'T

    pushes button

  • nerfherder (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan

    So in your version did Jessica push the SMS package?

  • Protector one (unregistered)

    So the protagonist is the messer-upper? That's... unusual! The WTF-story template always has the intelligent protagonist be an observer! And how did poor old John manage to mistakenly push SkyNet to all systems?

  • Disapointed (unregistered)

    WTF! Not the story, but rather the lack of one, 90% of that story was completely unnecessary. It seem to me that some one is trying to hard to write a narrative and lost the point of the story on the way. That story should have been one paragraph long, that's all the real content it had; the rest was pure fluff.

    I thought the point of this site was to make you say WTF about the CONTENT of the story.

  • Carlos M92 (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan

    I had trouble understanding it too...did he or did he not send the wrong package? If he did, and he had carefully taken notes about the user, the OS and the package, did he not think about the name of the package? Or did he just click on the wrong package because his finger slipped when a hot girl passed by his desk?

  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered) in reply to Disapointed
    Disapointed:
    WTF! Not the story, but rather the lack of one, 90% of that story was completely unnecessary. It seem to me that some one is trying to hard to write a narrative and lost the point of the story on the way. That story should have been one paragraph long, that's all the real content it had; the rest was pure fluff.

    I thought the point of this site was to make you say WTF about the CONTENT of the story.

    It was like someone had taken a WTF, compressed it down to Twitter-size, then tried to make a full story out of what was left.

  • SAMO (unregistered) in reply to ubersoldat
    ubersoldat:
    TRWTF is the way this story has been written.

    Agreed!

  • non - sensical (unregistered)

    ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD

  • Zapp Brannigan (unregistered) in reply to nerfherder
    nerfherder:
    So in your version did Jessica push the SMS package?
    Sort of. I was the SMS package delivery guy. But it also involved a pillow fight which escalated into a tickle fight and then everyone's clothes fell off.
  • (cs)

    Was there a button at the bottom of the submission page marked "DO NOT SUBMIT THIS STORY" ?

  • Isaac Eiland-Hall (unregistered)

    Ugh. I think the problem is the narrative, not the ending. It sounds like a simple WTF: "So there's these packages, see, that that had to send out to customer machines. Well, one time, this moron sends out one calls 'DO NOT SEND THIS EVER', and the company cancelled the contract"

    At least, I guess that's about what happened. I'm not sure how John's narrative relates to the multiple machines going down. Did he send out said patch? Did he send it multiple times? How did multiple machines get hit? Why would a fix for one not work on the rest of them?

    Meh.

    Well, maybe this will help. Back in 1996, I worked for a now-defunct tech support outsourcing company in Dallas called Stream, International. I feel safe after well more than a decade saying that I supported HP DeskJet printers...

    One call, a lady asked me how to print on both sides of the paper.

    What I intended to answer was, "Well, ma'am, first you have to get double-sided paper. But seriously, you click on...." -- that was my intent. But before I could "But seriously", she said, "Ah, thanks!" and hung up on me.

    ...

    If I'd had it in my power to find out her number and call her back and apologize for a silly joke, I would have, but I was powerless. So I've, for many years now, had a vision of some poor lady going to Office Depot and asking for double-sided paper... I still feel guilty.

  • kayakyakr (unregistered)

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who read the last paragraph and though that there was a large chunk of very important information missing. Quite surprising considering the amount of information included in the story that could be deemed unnecessary.

    It's like a form piece: 1: Generic dumb question for IT 2: Business setup 3: Situation 4: Conflict 5: Blame a character that isn't the protagonist (not necessary, apparently) 6: Punch-line.

  • Mike (unregistered)

    Who uses their ring finger to click the right mouse button? Weirdos.

    Also, Cliff's Notes for long, boring, anti-climactic WTFs in the future please.

  • (cs)

    This WTF is a shaggy dog story.

  • SomeCoder (unregistered)

    Uh... yeah. So... can someone who's not high please re-write the story so it's understandable?

    Sorry but I really don't get what happened here.

  • Hassan E. (unregistered)

    I have a similar story in this vein.

    One time, I spilled some coffee all over my desk, and I thought maybe it was going to damage my keyboard and my space bar would never work again.

    But! It turned out somebody down the street knocked down a powerline with their car.

  • Mystery Meat (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan
    Zapp Brannigan:
    nerfherder:
    So in your version did Jessica push the SMS package?
    Sort of. I was the SMS package delivery guy. But it also involved a pillow fight which escalated into a tickle fight and then everyone's clothes fell off.

    Go on...

  • (cs)

    Here's my summary of the story. Please fill in gaps that I might have missed.

    This guy worked tech support at a crappy job in a crappy building with crappy co-workers. One day he deployed some patches (over 56k since details are suddenly important). He came in the next day and a bunch of stuff was broken. He was convinced that he broke stuff so then he thought the job, building, and co-workers were cool now. Eventually it came to light that someone deployed a package that said "Do not deploy" this. It was a technician.

  • Josh B (unregistered)

    Quality over Quantity plz.

  • (cs) in reply to SomeCoder
    SomeCoder:
    Uh... yeah. So... can someone who's not high please re-write the story so it's understandable?

    Sorry but I really don't get what happened here.

    Summary, slightly dumbed down for those of you having trouble following:

    OMG THIs one tiem i was sposed to sent out an upd8, but I sent out like the wrong one even though it said don't sent it! I was lyke OMG WTF GUYS! I TOTLALLY SCREWED UP!!!!1eleven!!

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Mike
    Mike:
    Who uses their ring finger to click the right mouse button? Weirdos.

    Also, Cliff's Notes for long, boring, anti-climactic WTFs in the future please.

    I thought that too. My middle finger that is hovering over the right mouse button, my ring finger and pinky is dangling off the side.

    And to agree with everybody else, the writing on this WTF really sucked.

  • Kris (unregistered)

    God that was an awful story. Next time get someone who can write.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to akatherder
    akatherder:
    Here's my summary of the story. Please fill in gaps that I might have missed.

    This guy worked tech support at a crappy job in a crappy building with crappy co-workers. One day he deployed some patches (over 56k since details are suddenly important). He came in the next day and a bunch of stuff was broken. He was convinced that he broke stuff so then he thought the job, building, and co-workers were cool now. Eventually it came to light that someone deployed a package that said "Do not deploy" this. It was a technician.

    Much better than the original.

  • (cs)

    Here's something funny, one of our systems has a red button on it. This red button is behind a little locked door on the front of the system. There's no indication what it does, or what it's purpose is. There is also no power button on the front of the box. The purpose of the system is to send and receive radio communications for ambulance, fire, and police. The purpose of the red button is to delete all the data without confirmation.

    I think we bought a spy communications computer.

  • SomeCoder (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    akatherder:
    Here's my summary of the story. Please fill in gaps that I might have missed.

    This guy worked tech support at a crappy job in a crappy building with crappy co-workers. One day he deployed some patches (over 56k since details are suddenly important). He came in the next day and a bunch of stuff was broken. He was convinced that he broke stuff so then he thought the job, building, and co-workers were cool now. Eventually it came to light that someone deployed a package that said "Do not deploy" this. It was a technician.

    Much better than the original.

    Agreed. I like some embellishing on the WTFs but today's was just inane rambling.

  • (cs) in reply to Pedantic
    Pedantic:
    It appears the WTF is there is no WTF or that the story itself is so malformed that it's a 'Chose your own WTF' evidently.

    The boss says, "It looks like most of the systems are down." What do you do?

    If you decide to investigate the problem, turn to page 12. If you decide to wait it out, turn to page 20. If you decide to pop in a Jessica Simpson DVD, turn to page 69.

  • (cs) in reply to Protector one
    Protector one:
    So the protagonist is the messer-upper? That's... unusual! The WTF-story template always has the intelligent protagonist be an observer! And how did poor old John manage to mistakenly push SkyNet to all systems?

    Here's what happened:

    1. The SMS package I sent did not go through for some reason.
    2. The customer called back on second shift and said he hadn't received it yet.
    3. The second shift person sent the wrong package, and to the wrong destination -- everybody, rather than the customer who had called.
    4. Every system that was incompatible with the package (over half of them, if I remember correctly) was brought to its knees, requiring a very lengthy rebuild.
    5. I didn't see the offending package myself, but was told it was marked "DO NOT SEND THIS PACKAGE..."
    6. Despite losing the company a multi-million dollar contract, he was not fired. It was considered a training issue.
  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to JamesQMurphy
    JamesQMurphy:
    Pedantic:
    It appears the WTF is there is no WTF or that the story itself is so malformed that it's a 'Chose your own WTF' evidently.

    The boss says, "It looks like most of the systems are down." What do you do?

    If you decide to investigate the problem, turn to page 12. If you decide to wait it out, turn to page 20. If you want the answer, turn to page 42. If you decide to pop in a Jessica Simpson DVD, turn to page 69.

    FTFY

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to aggle-rithm
    aggle-rithm:
    6. Despite losing the company a multi-million dollar contract, he was not fired. It was considered a training issue.

    You need training for somebody not to send a package marked "DO NOT SEND"?

  • Lincoln (unregistered) in reply to Mystery Meat
    Mystery Meat:
    Zapp Brannigan:
    nerfherder:
    So in your version did Jessica push the SMS package?
    Sort of. I was the SMS package delivery guy. But it also involved a pillow fight which escalated into a tickle fight and then everyone's clothes fell off.

    Go on...

    I assume no one survived?

  • Jay (unregistered) in reply to Isaac Eiland-Hall
    Isaac Eiland-Hall:
    One call, a lady asked me how to print on both sides of the paper.

    What I intended to answer was, "Well, ma'am, first you have to get double-sided paper. But seriously, you click on...." -- that was my intent. But before I could "But seriously", she said, "Ah, thanks!" and hung up on me.

    ...

    If I'd had it in my power to find out her number and call her back and apologize for a silly joke, I would have, but I was powerless. So I've, for many years now, had a vision of some poor lady going to Office Depot and asking for double-sided paper... I still feel guilty.

    Aisle 1: Double-sided paper

    Aisle 2: Moebius paper

    In an effort to destroy all possible humor by over-analyzing: photo and presentation paper are often "one-sided" in the sense that only one side has the coating or texture and thus only that side is intended to be suitable for printing. And of course if you're talking label stock, that's always "one-sided".

    In another sense, I think the New York Times is a very one-sided paper.

  • RBoy (unregistered)

    The real WTF was that I read the whole article....

  • (cs) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    aggle-rithm:
    6. Despite losing the company a multi-million dollar contract, he was not fired. It was considered a training issue.

    You need training for somebody not to send a package marked "DO NOT SEND"?

    I wouldn't think so, but...evidently.

  • (cs) in reply to RBoy
    RBoy:
    The real WTF was that I read the whole article....

    I was halfway through it before I realized it was a story I had submitted.

  • (cs) in reply to IrishlyRucked
    IrishlyRucked:
    There's a bit near the end that seems to be missing.

    I'm not sure, I didn't even make it to the

Leave a comment on “How to Tempt Fate”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #255659:

« Return to Article