• Vincent (unregistered)

    So wait.. he rejected himself?

  • (cs)

    Something tells me that this will not be dealt with face-to-face.

  • Ian (unregistered)

    Obviously he only stamped it 4 times. He should be demoted.

  • (cs)

    Damn, that (aggregated) organisation is one ball of twine... Wonder what they're developing/maintaining and how that'll look under the hood.

  • Bunchoo (unregistered)

    He'll need to file permit A38 next.

  • AndrewB (unregistered)

    Sooo... The protagonist is forgetful? That's the punch line? Oh I get it. He works under such a complicated bureaucracy that his head is constantly spinning and he couldn't possibly be expected to remember what he did three months ago.

  • Jason (unregistered)

    This is taken from Brazil. Sometimes I feel my workplace is a little like this...

  • highphilosopher (unregistered) in reply to steenbergh
    steenbergh:
    Damn, that (aggregated) organisation is one ball of twine... Wonder what they're developing/maintaining and how that'll look under the hood.

    You cannot question the use of the software without filing an a3c-44 form. This form esures that you are held liable for any intellectual property leaked from this company.

  • Another Brazilian Guy (unregistered) in reply to Jason
    Jason:
    This is taken from Brazil. Sometimes I feel my workplace is a little like this...

    Funny that I was thinking exactly the same (even the name "Luis" is spelled the same in portuguese.)

    I used to work for the state government in Brazil and it was mostly the same as the related on this story.

    Thankfully I left that hellhole a couple of years ago!

  • hdgdl (unregistered)

    Damn, this makes Dilbert look funny.

  • Spudley (unregistered)

    I'm pretty certain I read a Dilbert comic once that had a very similar punchline.

    (not to say it isn't true, because the scary thing is that most of Dilbert is true.... it's just also very very funy... in a scary sort of way)

  • rewind (unregistered)

    +1 for the img. +5 for a more original theme.

    Be careful for the TPS Report Cover Page that you forget, for the TPS Report Cover Page may forget you.

    captcha: immitto = I'm me too. Rather self-reflective and existentialist. I will ponder this all day.

  • Jim the Electrician (unregistered)

    Wow, this works on two levels - not only is the problem in the story the same person as the one looking for the problem, but also the submitter of the story is the same individual who comes out looking bad from the story. (Not to mention that the author of this comment comes out looking bad from having posted it...)

  • (cs)

    Vern from Accounting can give you clarification, but nobody ever sees him. KnoWhutImean?

  • Pretty good (unregistered)

    Some have disparaged this a bit, but there are two nice WTFs in this one.

    First, that he rejected his own request. Second, that it took three months, through some arcane and tortous bureaucracy, to get there while adding zero value.

    Nice

  • Anom (unregistered) in reply to Another Brazilian Guy

    The movie. Not the Country :P

  • Thg (unregistered)

    Battle not with WTFs lest ye become a WTF; and if you gaze into the WTF, the WTF gazes into you.

  • (cs)

    How many times do they have to tell him to submit a 27b-6 before he actually does?

  • Jugis (unregistered)

    So he can request and approve any new feature he wants? "Maybe I needing later..."

  • Anon (unregistered) in reply to Another Brazilian Guy
    Another Brazilian Guy:
    Jason:
    This is taken from Brazil. Sometimes I feel my workplace is a little like this...

    Funny that I was thinking exactly the same (even the name "Luis" is spelled the same in portuguese.)

    I used to work for the state government in Brazil and it was mostly the same as the related on this story.

    Thankfully I left that hellhole a couple of years ago!

    The film Brazil, not the Country

  • Right Wing-Nut (unregistered) in reply to bryan986
    bryan986:
    How many times do they have to tell him to submit a 27b-6 before he actually does?

    THEY can tell him all they want. THEY are just mindless functionaries.

    Now, when HE tells someone to file a 27b-6, well, that's different.

  • (cs)

    I hope the bit about encoding dates in hex is real and not just made up for flavour or anonymisation; that's a whole new level of WTF right there.

  • Ramses So let it be written so let it be done (unregistered)

    The Battle of Hastings!

  • (cs)

    Luis writes the code. Luis rejected himself. That's bureaucracy.

  • SR (unregistered)

    Is Luis K a relative of Josef K?

  • Steve the Cynic (unregistered)

    This reminds me of a play I read many years ago, by John Irwin. It was called The Parrocrat, a not-so-gentle satire on British bureaucrats. The protagonist keeps parrots, but is also a relatively senior civil servant responsible for some sort of approval process related to parrot-keeping. He is frustrated in his private life because of the difficulty of getting approval for something he wants to do. As the play progresses, we see him pushing the approval request higher and higher up the chain of responsibility in his own department, until it eventually reaches his own desk.

    ((SPOILER, although it is a very obscure play from the early 1960s, so you are unlikely to encounter it))

    So complete in his mind is the separation between work activity and hobby activity that (a) he bothered to play the bureaucratic game pushing this request up through a pile of his own subordinates, and (b) he rejects the request without realising that it came from himself.

    An Error Occurred An Error Occurred

  • (cs)

    Luis K neds a card.

  • Vlad Patryshev (unregistered)

    This is brilliant. This is Kafka.

  • Anonymous Coward (unregistered)

    Holy CRAP! Is that...no...it can't be...is that...an honest to God, PUNCHLINE?!?!?

    Kudos to whoever filled out the 24601EZ punchline requisition form; this one made me chuckle. I've almost done this myself on a ticket I'd written months before, but caught my name at just before clicking apply.

  • Another Brazilian Guy (unregistered) in reply to Anon
    Anon:
    Another Brazilian Guy:
    Jason:
    This is taken from Brazil. Sometimes I feel my workplace is a little like this...

    Funny that I was thinking exactly the same (even the name "Luis" is spelled the same in portuguese.)

    I used to work for the state government in Brazil and it was mostly the same as the related on this story.

    Thankfully I left that hellhole a couple of years ago!

    The film Brazil, not the Country

    Clearly, the film was inspired in the country!!!

  • Crash Magnet (unregistered) in reply to Another Brazilian Guy
    Another Brazilian Guy:
    Anon:
    Another Brazilian Guy:
    Jason:
    This is taken from Brazil. Sometimes I feel my workplace is a little like this...

    Funny that I was thinking exactly the same (even the name "Luis" is spelled the same in portuguese.)

    I used to work for the state government in Brazil and it was mostly the same as the related on this story.

    Thankfully I left that hellhole a couple of years ago!

    The film Brazil, not the Country

    Clearly, the film was inspired in the country!!!

    But, was the country inspired by the film?

  • Hermes (unregistered)

    Great gorilla of Manilla! A letter from the Central Bureaucracy. "Attention, Hermes Conrad. You are about to receive a letter from the Central Bureaucracy." Oh, my God! It's from the Central Bureaucracy!

  • Matt (unregistered)

    Luis is technically correct... the best kind of correct :)

  • (cs)

    It's nice to see that protocol is being followed by mypasttself. Myfutureself will be annoyed, but what has he done for me lately?

  • Bub (unregistered)

    ....and people wonder why there are workplace spree killers....

  • RFairey (unregistered) in reply to Bunchoo
    Bunchoo:
    He'll need to file permit A38 next.

    He must be working in the Hausdorff that Sends You Mad.

    Why not try the new circular B-39?

  • Griphon (unregistered) in reply to Crash Magnet

    No, the title was inspired by the song. The movie had nothing to do with the country.

  • Downfall (unregistered)

    This is actually standard practice in embedded systems, when there's no file system to record 27b-6s. It's no big deal.

  • (cs) in reply to AndrewB
    AndrewB:
    Sooo... The protagonist is forgetful? That's the punch line? Oh I get it. He works under such a complicated bureaucracy that his head is constantly spinning and he couldn't possibly be expected to remember what he did three months ago.

    I have a feeling this is more of a case of obfuscating killing the punchline. If Luis K had only been with the company a week when he discovered the problem is seems unlikely he would have been the one to reject it three months prior. It seems more likely that Mr. Fischer did.

  • Seminymous Coward (unregistered)

    He violated the Golden Rule, treating (who he thought was) another person as he would not himself wish to be treated. He is also clearly not big on understanding questions before answering them. He is TRWTF.

  • Frzr (unregistered) in reply to Spudley
    Spudley:
    I'm pretty certain I read a Dilbert comic once that had a very similar punchline.

    (not to say it isn't true, because the scary thing is that most of Dilbert is true.... it's just also very very funy... in a scary sort of way)

    Boss to Dilbert:

    Do you remember when the company president visited? You asked why your project had been cancelled.

    He promised to get an answer. That task has been delegated all the way back down to me.

    I'd like you to craft a response for me. You'll have to put your new project on hold until this is done.

  • (cs)
    After a few moments, Luis swept the fragments of his mind off his desk, and dutifully filled in a 27b-6.
    NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo <slo-mo diving save> you'll start a time-loop ... time-loop ... time-loop ... time-loop ...
  • Another Brazilian Guy (unregistered) in reply to Griphon
    Griphon:
    No, the title was inspired by the song. The movie had nothing to do with the country.

    Well, it did... even if unintentionally... the stupid bureaucracy.

  • (cs) in reply to Griphon
    Griphon:
    No, the title was inspired by the song. The movie had nothing to do with the country.

    I think I'll wait for the book ...

  • (cs) in reply to bearda
    bearda:
    I have a feeling this is more of a case of obfuscating killing the punchline. If Luis K had only been with the company a week when he discovered the problem is seems unlikely he would have been the one to reject it three months prior. It seems more likely that Mr. Fischer did.
    Read the article more carefully.

    He discovered the missing feature on his first day and submitted a change request. It took three months for the rejection to make its way back to him. At one and a half months into that process, he had received the change request and rejected it.

    Seems perfectly clear. And an excellent WTF.

  • Nibh (unregistered) in reply to Vincent

    Information Transit got the wrong man. I got the right man. The wrong one was delivered to me as the right man, I accepted him on good faith as the right man. Was I wrong?

  • 1.0 (unregistered) in reply to Ian

    Bring me the forms I need to fill out to have him taken away!

  • dkAllen (unregistered) in reply to Vincent

    This reminds me of the story my boss used to tell me about his time with an engineering firm (a conglomerate, really) with a name which rhymes with "Rectal" - seems they filed suit against some company or other in South America for right-of-way. Half-way through the trail, the "Rectal" Engineering discovered they owned (through a torturous maze of subsidiaries) the smaller company which they were suing.

    End of lawsuit.

    It takes a lot of bureaucracy to sue yourself. And for some reason, we're back in SA again, probably in Brazil.

  • Cliff notes anyone (unregistered)

    That story could have been told in half hte words. My head is spinning just like Louis'

  • Ross (unregistered)

    It's a good thing he wasn't on fire. This whole system of his could be on fire and no one could even turn on the kitchen tap without filling out a twenty-seven B stroke six... bloody paperwork.

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