• anon (unregistered)

    Uh, why exactly was he fired? And why were the authorities looking for him? Nothing in the story indicates that they found his porn stash, and even if they did, that would answer the first question but not the second. This started decently enough, but really went nowhere.er

  • Anon (unregistered)

    Sounds like Rod's rod got him shafted.

  • Grinder (unregistered)

    Yes, I agree with the first post. The story unfolded nicely, was waiting for some kind of confrontation between Katie and Rod, some kind of sweet vengeance, the actual ending felt a little like a cold shower.

  • Nick (unregistered)

    Resignation semesignation, how about a lawsuit. That should cover the 6 months of unemployment.

    ~Nick~

  • (cs)
    leaving her without a job, but she didn't mind that one bit.

    With Rod gone, why wouldn't she mind?

  • Anon (unregistered)
    ...but also thanking her lucky stars that she was not in Jennifer’s shoes, reporting directly to Rod.

    Though she didn’t have any direct interaction with Rod, when Jennifer would return from a support call with Rod

    Ok, those two lines don't make sense. I assume the intention in the second sentence was that Katie didn't have direct interaction with Rod, but it reads like Jennifer (who, we are told reports directly to Rod) had no direct interaction with Rod. If you have no direct interaction with the person you are reporting to, that would indeed be a WTF.

    Also, I agree with the first post. This one just kinda petered out without any conclusion.

  • Pete (unregistered) in reply to Nick
    Nick:
    Resignation semesignation, how about a lawsuit. That should cover the 6 months of unemployment.

    ~Nick~

    Seriously, some HR lawyer would have a field day with this.

  • Beltshumeltz (unregistered)

    What is Maxcedrin? Google never even heard of it.

  • Some Tech Guy (unregistered)

    Great anonymisation there, making the lead tech a girl is straight out of leftfield but I know you need to protect the guilty parties so fair enough.

    Personally I don't see the problem with the CEO's porn stash, he's the CEO FFS. He pays your wage, keep out of his business.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Nick
    Nick:
    Resignation semesignation, how about a lawsuit. That should cover the 6 months of unemployment.

    ~Nick~

    Absolutely, lawsuit city. She should have grabbed the folder off Rod's computer and on to a flash drive for evidence.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Beltshumeltz
    Beltshumeltz:
    What is Maxcedrin? Google never even heard of it.

    It's the annoymized version of Excedrin. Or maybe it's the maximum industrial strength version.

  • Doozerboy (unregistered)

    Maybe Rod's hanging out with Darren in Mexico.

  • Jeff (unregistered) in reply to Grinder
    The story unfolded nicely, was waiting for some kind of confrontation between Katie and Rod, some kind of sweet vengeance, the actual ending felt a little like a cold shower.

    As I understand, most of these stories are at least based on reality.

    And in reality, things don't always unfold cleanly, coincidents happen, and plot lines dangle.

  • (cs) in reply to Grinder
    Grinder:
    Yes, I agree with the first post. The story unfolded nicely, was waiting for some kind of confrontation between Katie and Rod, some kind of sweet vengeance, the actual ending felt a little like a cold shower.
    You're right, they really should have made up a fake ending to make it more exciting. You know how everyone around here likes that.
  • Some PC Guy (unregistered) in reply to Some Tech Guy
    Some Tech Guy:
    Great anonymisation there, making the lead tech a girl is straight out of leftfield but I know you need to protect the guilty parties so fair enough.

    I've seen sexist comments approved before but this one takes the cake.

  • Andy P (unregistered)

    Can we agree to not have any more unconvincing and probably fake "smarmy boss forced to go on the run leaving heroic employees in limbo" stories? They're rather boring, and have nothing to do with code/computers at all. This story was just a few thousand words to say "a woman's boss got fired for reasons unexplained. The End."

    TRWTF is why this was ever considered for TDWTF.

  • Ram (unregistered)

    If my experience is any indication, "Rod" probably ran off with a big chunk of company money. I had a very similar conversation once- one day, evil creepy boss is there, the next day, he doesn't show up, and on the third, a new owner comes in and says, "Hey, the old owner drained the account and was going to let the company go under, even though there are other stakeholders that were backing him. So, if you hear from him, let us know immediately- we want our money back."

  • Matt (unregistered)

    So Katie worked for a sleazy, porn obsessed boss with a fake tan who could barely turn on a computer. Sounds like half the managers in the country. I had hoped for more WTF.

  • TheKoz (unregistered)

    Based on the ending, it leads you to believe she was fired because her name was in that porn stash... sounds like a MAJOR lawsuit to me.

  • bb (unregistered)

    Maxcedrin? Is that like Metamucil?

  • Erik (unregistered)

    So am I the only one who noticed the deplorable grammar in this post? The story itself had promise, although it relied a little too heavily on the cliche of the sleazy disgusting boss, but the grammar made it nigh unreadable in several places.

  • (cs) in reply to Doozerboy

    Actually, TRWTF is that Darren was able to elude capture for so long by changing his name to Rod and daubing himself with cheap fake tan (to match his new fake Mexican identity).

  • (cs) in reply to Andy P
    Andy P:
    Can we agree to not have any more unconvincing and probably fake "smarmy boss forced to go on the run leaving heroic employees in limbo" stories? They're rather boring, and have nothing to do with code/computers at all. This story was just a few thousand words to say "a woman's boss got fired for reasons unexplained. The End."

    TRWTF is why this was ever considered for TDWTF.

    You're focusing only on the ending, like none of the other details were important. Her non-technical boss had a fake tan that left orange-brown smudges on everything he touched, his chit-chat was hardly appropriate for the workplace, he kept a stash of porn organized by likeness to his employees... This guy sounds like a walking talking WTF. You're saying that without knowing why he was fired there's no story?

    I suppose we could have just had another typical post with some VB code so everyone could argue over whether C# is better than VB again. Those discussions are always so productive.

  • (cs) in reply to Doozerboy
    Doozerboy:
    Maybe Rod's hanging out.

    FTFY

  • Hurr Durr (unregistered) in reply to boog
    boog:
    Andy P:
    Can we agree to not have any more unconvincing and probably fake "smarmy boss forced to go on the run leaving heroic employees in limbo" stories? They're rather boring, and have nothing to do with code/computers at all. This story was just a few thousand words to say "a woman's boss got fired for reasons unexplained. The End."

    TRWTF is why this was ever considered for TDWTF.

    You're focusing only on the ending, like none of the other details were important. Her non-technical boss had a fake tan that left orange-brown smudges on everything he touched, his chit-chat was hardly appropriate for the workplace, he kept a stash of porn organized by likeness to his employees... This guy sounds like a walking talking WTF. You're saying that without knowing why he was fired there's no story?

    I suppose we could have just had another typical post with some VB code so everyone could argue over whether C# is better than VB again. Those discussions are always so productive.

    TRWTF is VB, amirite? AMIRITE?

  • (cs)

    Considering Rod's interest in his co-workers, I was wondering if maybe his real name is Dave and if he used to be a programmer.

  • (cs)

    I imagine Rod sounds a lot like Jackie the Jokeman.

    “OR is this some sort of HARD WOOD for those COUGAR women I've been hearing about lately? Get IT?! Hee Hee! Oooh Oooh! What!? That's good shit."

  • (cs) in reply to Maxx Delusional
    Maxx Delusional:
    leaving her without a job, but she didn't mind that one bit.

    With Rod gone, why wouldn't she mind?

    It was a crappy support job and she might have gotten a new boss that could have been worse (could also have been Rodolfo calling in from Mexico).

  • Carl (unregistered)

    The Real WTF is that Rod emphasizes the word "it" in the phrase, "get it?"

  • SR (unregistered)

    I reckon organising his stash according to resemblance to female employees puts him a huge creepy cut above your average pr0n loving boss. And I agree with those saying he swiped a load of money and fecked off (and that TRWTF is VB)

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to SR
    SR:
    I reckon organising his stash according to resemblance to female employees puts him a huge creepy cut above your average pr0n loving boss. And I agree with those saying he swiped a load of money and fecked off (and that TRWTF is VB)
    Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you on that one. It's one thing to have a healthy fondness of porn, quite another to categorise your collection based on likeness to colleagues. And what about that VB, right? Is that not the real WTF in this story?
  • Machtyn (unregistered)

    Yes, I felt the ending was quite abrupt and didn't make sense. Perhaps Jennifer found the stash, resigned over the phone, then contacted shareholders and/or police. They built up evidence, Rod caught wind of it on the same day that Katie coincidentally found the stash.

    They let her go... she could then collect unemployment. But certainly a lawsuit is in order against the company and Rod personally (once they catch him) based on harassment. She probably does not have a case for wrongful termination... maybe. (IANAL)

  • C (unregistered) in reply to Pete
    Pete:
    Nick:
    Resignation semesignation, how about a lawsuit. That should cover the 6 months of unemployment.

    ~Nick~

    Seriously, some HR lawyer would have a field day with this.

    Absolutely. Sounds like the subject of said story has no clue about the world. Taking that folder straight to HR and calling a lawyer immediately would be the appropriate course of action. Shame, missed out on a huge amount of money with the way sexual harassment cases go.

  • MightyMax (unregistered)

    In rod we trust

  • (cs) in reply to MightyMax
    MightyMax:
    In rod we trust
    Funny -- I was actually thinking the same thing when I read the headline. Certainly an inanimate carbon rod would make a good replacement for the Rod of this story?
  • airdrik (unregistered)

    If I may do some extrapolation, what probably happened is that there was an encounter between Jennifer and Rod that caused Jennifer to quit. On her way out she took note of the porn (I would be surprised, considering how much she had to work on Rod's computer, if she hadn't discovered them) - probably on a removable drive - and ratted to the police. The police took their time in investigating him (probably finding charges other than just having porn on his HD), and arrested him about the time that Katie discovered his collection.

    I don't see the "Curious Perversion in Information Technology", though. The closest thing is a pervert CEO of a software company. I for one would like to see less articles about perverts and more about perversions in information technology.

  • U+1F4A9 (unregistered)
    vicious substance
    Rod is a creep, but calling his bodily secretions evil -- now that's exaggerated.
  • Todd Lewis (unregistered) in reply to Erik
    Erik:
    So am I the only one who noticed the deplorable grammar in this post?

    Of course not. This site suffers from trying to straddle both sides of the "Norman Rule", to wit: for a successful daily web site, either you must have access to an otherwise scarce information source, or your content must be supplied by the readers themselves. (Don't Google it; I just made it up. I have no idea who Norman is.)

    Readers do supply the comments and the stories. But the editors [feel they] must massage the message so to speak, and doing this well consistently is beyond their time/talent constraints. So the grammar and re-writing suffer. Think of it as a bonus game in which you get to propose your own edits. Just keep 'em to yourself -- unless they are really funny -- because most of us are tired of hearing about the weird grammar and bad rewriting.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to C
    C:
    Pete:
    Nick:
    Resignation semesignation, how about a lawsuit. That should cover the 6 months of unemployment.

    ~Nick~

    Seriously, some HR lawyer would have a field day with this.

    Absolutely. Sounds like the subject of said story has no clue about the world. Taking that folder calling a lawyer immediately and then straight to HR would be the appropriate course of action. Shame, missed out on a huge amount of money with the way sexual harassment cases go.

    FTFY. HR are not on your side, they work for the company, not for you. If you really think you might have a case, get your lawyer on-board first.

  • Edward von Emacs, VI (unregistered) in reply to anon
    anon:
    Uh, why exactly was he fired? And why were the authorities looking for him? Nothing in the story indicates that they found his porn stash, and even if they did, that would answer the first question but not the second. This started decently enough, but really went nowhere.er

    How do you expect Mark Bowytz, the author, to know? Katie's story was that Jeff came in and said it was confidential. If Mark had made something up to finish the story, others would be criticizing him in the exact opposite manner: saying he made it up, its not conceivable, etc.

    To me, the story wasn't particularly surprising -- can think of exactly the sort of CEO -- but I enjoyed reading it. Not every story has to have the same effect.

  • (cs)

    Judging by the "hard wood" comment, Rod seems like 1 or 2 drinks (or 1 good cleavage shot) away from a grab, or even 'sleep with me, or you're fired'. I'd start in his stash for the folder name with the current employee name that has the most pictures.

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to airdrik
    airdrik:
    If I may do some extrapolation, what probably happened is that there was an encounter between Jennifer and Rod that caused Jennifer to quit. On her way out she took note of the porn (I would be surprised, considering how much she had to work on Rod's computer, if she hadn't discovered them) - probably on a removable drive - and ratted to the police. The police took their time in investigating him (probably finding charges other than just having porn on his HD), and arrested him about the time that Katie discovered his collection.

    I don't see the "Curious Perversion in Information Technology", though. The closest thing is a pervert CEO of a software company. I for one would like to see less articles about perverts and more about perversions in information technology.

    Your extrapolation makes no sense. Why would she go to the police? Owning porn isn't a crime (unless you live in Saudi Arabia or something), even if it's organized by resemblance to other people. The harassment is not a criminal matter, it's a civil matter. IANAL, but I'm pretty sure the police would just advise you to hire a lawyer and fill a lawsuit.

  • SmittyBoy (unregistered) in reply to C
    Absolutely. blah, blah, blah. Shame, missed out on a huge amount of money with the way sexual harassment cases go.

    Except winning a judgement and collecting it are two very different things.

  • SmittyBoy (unregistered) in reply to C
    Absolutely. blah, blah, blah. Shame, missed out on a huge amount of money with the way sexual harassment cases go.

    Except winning a judgement and collecting it are two very different things.

  • Ryan (unregistered) in reply to SlyEcho
    SlyEcho:
    It was a crappy support job and she might have gotten a new boss that could have been worse (could also have been Rodolfo calling in from Mexico).

    Umm, except it seemed that she LIKED her job except for the interaction with Rod, and Rod was now gone. She would rather work only 6 months out of the last 12, subsiding on ramen noodles, than working at a job she didn't mind for a new boss that could have been worse?

  • (cs) in reply to Andy P
    Andy P:
    Can we agree to not have any more unconvincing and probably fake "smarmy boss forced to go on the run leaving heroic employees in limbo" stories? They're rather boring, and have nothing to do with code/computers at all. This story was just a few thousand words to say "a woman's boss got fired for reasons unexplained. The End."

    TRWTF is why this was ever considered for TDWTF.

    I second that.

  • wtf (unregistered) in reply to U+1F4A9
    U+1F4A9:
    vicious substance
    Rod is a creep, but calling his bodily secretions evil -- now that's exaggerated.

    You don't know Rod.

    (captcha: genitus - ewww)

  • joe blow (unregistered)

    Your all a bit lawsuit happy. Also, VB is the real WTF.

  • RBoy (unregistered) in reply to Jeff
    Jeff:
    The story unfolded nicely, was waiting for some kind of confrontation between Katie and Rod, some kind of sweet vengeance, the actual ending felt a little like a cold shower.

    As I understand, most of these stories are at least based on reality.

    And in reality, things don't always unfold cleanly, coincidents happen, and plot lines dangle.

    You said dangle... heh heh

  • (cs)

    Jane of all trades

    ITYM "Jill of all trades". The correspondence of generic first names is John <=> Jane, Jack <=> Jill.

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