• TheDev (unregistered) in reply to Smash King
    Smash King:
    No, the REAL WTF is on people assuming that Derrick had at least ten million. He obviously made much less money but he had the privilege to have an account at Scarlet just because he worked there.

    Would any of you be an employee if you had 10 million at the bank?

    Derrick was a client of, not an employee at, Scarlet.
  • Bob N Freely (unregistered) in reply to CaptainSmartass
    CaptainSmartass:
    TRWTF is that there's a newly divorced millionairess on the market, and the story didn't provide enough information to find her and woo her. She's had her fill of cheating rich guys, maybe a loyal poor guy would be just the thing for her, now.

    Maybe someday when your ship comes in, she'll understand what kind of guy you've been.

  • Stewie (unregistered) in reply to ContraCorners
    ContraCorners:

    And, hopefully, your "co-worker" is out of job! Regardless of what you or your "co-worker" think about the morality of Joe's arrangements, you have no freaking business discussing Joe's credit card accounts or SSN with anyone not specifically named on the account. (You don't say that the wife isn't named on the account, but I strongly suspect that she wasn't.)

    This is a serious violation of confidentiality and I hope the Joe sued your company out-of-business.

    I thought the same thing at first, but presumably 20 years ago this was much less of a big deal.

    And, this was not the bank, it was the collection agency. Nowadays, I agree, the person should be out of a job quick.

  • (cs) in reply to Dirk Diggler

    Whooops my bad... just as redbeard did, I confused the OP with the anti-hero too. And just like him, I also went and grabbed a giant cup of coffee.

  • Mark (unregistered) in reply to frustrati
    frustrati:
    BTW, great story. Not very much focus on the IT part, but still great.

    That's true, but what I liked so much about it is how it shows how major the ramifications can be of a simple data migration error.

    In some industries there are strict laws regarding what kind of account data can be mailed out. It gets more complicated after a divorce when the 2 parties are no longer legally entitled to access each others' information. That's when a company can be held liable for sending the new account data to the wrong mailing address.

  • Billy Joel (unregistered) in reply to Bob N Freely
    Bob N Freely:
    CaptainSmartass:
    TRWTF is that there's a newly divorced millionairess on the market, and the story didn't provide enough information to find her and woo her. She's had her fill of cheating rich guys, maybe a loyal poor guy would be just the thing for her, now.

    Maybe someday when your ship comes in, she'll understand what kind of guy you've been.

    And then you'll win.

  • Crabs (unregistered)

    The girl in the picture, despite looking pissed, is pretty hot. Can we get her contact info?

  • Mark (unregistered) in reply to Crabs
    Crabs:
    The girl in the picture, despite looking pissed, is pretty hot. Can we get her contact info?

    Are you for real?

  • simplicity (unregistered) in reply to DelawarePete

    I think I can sum up that whole story: Joe is a douchbag.

  • Sean (unregistered)

    Not much of a WTF here.

    A development team let a bug slip through (the story even calls it a minor bug). This was not a result of poor management, terrible code, lack of intelligence, or any of the things that make up usual WTFs. It seems that it was a result of a simple mistake, which even the best of us make from time to time. As a result of said bug someone who was have an affair got caught. More of a "got what's coming" than a WTF.

    Add that to the fact that there's parts of the story that don't seem to add up and you have a dull wtf. Specifically 9000 being added to an account of an individual who has over 10 million in manageable assets is very trivial. It's roughly equivalent to me (having manageable assets of less than 10k [yea I know I'm just out of college and poor]) having a "secret" savings account that grew by $9. Hardly a great start to a "new life" fund.

  • Shinobu (unregistered)

    I see no WTF here. The software worked as it should. And the outcome was the best outcome one could think of.

  • Steve H. (unregistered) in reply to Shinobu
    Shinobu:
    I see no WTF here. The software worked as it should. And the outcome was the best outcome one could think of.
    If losing $450 million dollars of client business is considered the best outcome for you, then I don't want to work where you work.
  • Tom_fan_63 (unregistered) in reply to Sean
    Sean:
    Not much of a WTF here.

    A development team let a bug slip through (the story even calls it a minor bug). This was not a result of poor management, terrible code, lack of intelligence, or any of the things that make up usual WTFs. It seems that it was a result of a simple mistake, which even the best of us make from time to time. As a result of said bug someone who was have an affair got caught. More of a "got what's coming" than a WTF.

    Add that to the fact that there's parts of the story that don't seem to add up and you have a dull wtf. Specifically 9000 being added to an account of an individual who has over 10 million in manageable assets is very trivial. It's roughly equivalent to me (having manageable assets of less than 10k [yea I know I'm just out of college and poor]) having a "secret" savings account that grew by $9. Hardly a great start to a "new life" fund.

    THIS kind of bugs, in THAT kind of companies, is a GIANT BUG!!! It can't slip out of the test cycle without being noticed. It is not a simple typo or layout mismatch.

  • Dirk Diggler (unregistered) in reply to Sean
    Sean:
    Not much of a WTF here.

    A development team let a bug slip through (the story even calls it a minor bug). This was not a result of poor management, terrible code, lack of intelligence, or any of the things that make up usual WTFs. It seems that it was a result of a simple mistake, which even the best of us make from time to time. As a result of said bug someone who was have an affair got caught. More of a "got what's coming" than a WTF.

    Add that to the fact that there's parts of the story that don't seem to add up and you have a dull wtf. Specifically 9000 being added to an account of an individual who has over 10 million in manageable assets is very trivial. It's roughly equivalent to me (having manageable assets of less than 10k [yea I know I'm just out of college and poor]) having a "secret" savings account that grew by $9. Hardly a great start to a "new life" fund.

    Were you a coder on our ERP project?

  • (cs) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    The Coffey Maker:
    Dumbass should have just spent the nine grand on vaginal rejuvenation surgery for his wife.
    I disagree, typically the other parts wear out and there will still be lots of 'miles' left on the vag. Trading up is the way to go if you can afford it.
    These are tough times, and trading up isn't always an option. DIY improvement is the way to go. On an analogy with muscle cars, I suggest adding the "sports trim:" go-faster stripes are a surprisingly effective way to impress the neighbours. (Though not at 10 Mockingbird Lane.)

    This may not work if you married into the Mob. Paying the vig on the vag can be an almost literally ball-breaking experience.

  • (cs) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    Dirk Diggler:
    Sean:
    Not much of a WTF here.

    A development team let a bug slip through (the story even calls it a minor bug). This was not a result of poor management, terrible code, lack of intelligence, or any of the things that make up usual WTFs. It seems that it was a result of a simple mistake, which even the best of us make from time to time. As a result of said bug someone who was have an affair got caught. More of a "got what's coming" than a WTF.

    Add that to the fact that there's parts of the story that don't seem to add up and you have a dull wtf. Specifically 9000 being added to an account of an individual who has over 10 million in manageable assets is very trivial. It's roughly equivalent to me (having manageable assets of less than 10k [yea I know I'm just out of college and poor]) having a "secret" savings account that grew by $9. Hardly a great start to a "new life" fund.

    Were you a coder on our ERP project?

    No, I simply read the story and made some minor deductions. If the bug was indeed a showstopper then the story should have conveyed that better, instead it said it was "a minor bug" I have a hard time calling "a minor bug" a real WTF given that minor bugs slip through testing all the time.

    Mind you had Derrick and Joe actually been one and the same then it would have been a good WTF as the bug ("minor" as it may have been) that his team let slip through ended up costing him personally. However that isn't the case.

  • return of the spelling nazi (unregistered)

    For those of you who watched this entire story sail over your head:

    Joe's an employee. His part in the story is that he was working on the part of the system that contained the bug, so he heard about what happened to Derrick and now is telling us.

    Derrick is a client. He has lots of money.

    An account that grows $9000 on one month is going to have $4,000,000 in it, give or take a million.

  • (cs) in reply to return of the spelling nazi
    return of the spelling nazi:
    For those of you who watched this entire story sail over your head:

    Joe's an employee. His part in the story is that he was working on the part of the system that contained the bug, so he heard about what happened to Derrick and now is telling us.

    Derrick is a client. He has lots of money.

    An account that grows $9000 on one month is going to have $4,000,000 in it, give or take a million.

    That's assuming the entire 9000 came from interest. That may or may not be true given that the story says "had $9,000 deposited in that month alone"

  • (cs) in reply to TopCod3r

    ok, now THAT's funny!

  • (cs) in reply to TopCod3r
    TopCod3r:
    Dirk Diggler:
    TopCod3r:
    I am rich, since I have been working in the industry for over 11 years, so I can understand what these clients have gone through and why they would leave this crummy bank. To give you an idea, I make over 50% more now than when I first started working, and have never been laid off.

    I pretty much have the same thing with my 401K, I make sure the statement is not sent to my house. I also tried to see if they could hide that line item from my paycheck, so it would look like I made less money, but they would not do that for me.

    I have a similar problem as, I too, am quite wealthy. I set up my mistress in one of trailers on the far side of the court. Since I get paid in cash, I don't have to worry about my wife seeing my paycheck.

    I hope you are joking, right?

    ok, now THAT's funny!

  • Donald (unregistered)

    TRWTF is mailing statements printed on paper in the first place.

  • someone (unregistered) in reply to Dirk Diggler
    The Coffey Maker: Dumbass should have just spent the nine grand on vaginal rejuvenation surgery for his wife.
    I disagree, typically the other parts wear out and there will still be lots of 'miles' left on the vag. Trading up is the way to go if you can afford it.

    and at 9 inches a stroke, that's a lot of life left.

  • (cs)
    and bankers always want to be certain of their borrowers’ solvency
    Oh, if only that were true...
  • (cs) in reply to pseudonym
    pseudonym :
    Sorry I don't buy the story, guys with names like Derrick, Delbert, or Dilbert don't have that kind of money.

    Oh yeah, the names were changed to protect the guilty.

    I beg to differ: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5775 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3640

  • (cs)

    This kind of thing unfortunately happens a lot. If I remember correctly Tiffany's once had the bright idea to send their best customers appreciation letters.

    Except that their best customers were typically the ones that had bought a lot of expensive jewelry...

  • TFWTF (unregistered) in reply to Steve H.
    Steve H.:
    Shinobu:
    I see no WTF here. The software worked as it should. And the outcome was the best outcome one could think of.
    If losing $450 million dollars of client business is considered the best outcome for you, then I don't want to work where you work.

    Somewhere where people are more important than money?

    But yeah, you won't find places like that on Wall St.

  • Jacob (unregistered) in reply to Steve H.

    The best moral outcome, not the best financial outcome. It al depends on your point of view.

  • more randomer than you (unregistered) in reply to ContraCorners
    ContraCorners:
    DelawarePete:
    20 years ago I was a telephone bill collector. Some guy had a credit account that went 2 months past due and we had to call him and ask him to pay his bill. So my co-worker called Directory Assistance and asked for a number for Joe Smith on Mockingbird Lane. Got the number, called and spoke with Joe's wife. She said it must be some sort of mistake, he didn't have a card with us, etc. My co-worker said OK, let's review all of this info and make sure. Same name, SSN, employer, etc, etc. The only difference between the account info and Joe's info was Joe lived at 4 Mockingbird Lane and the bills went to 10 Mockingbird Lane. Then the light went on in Joe's wife's head. She asked what the card was used for. It was all furniture. Turned out Joe had set up his girlfriend in a house a few doors down. He furnished it for her and had the bills going there. Joe liked to go for runs around the neighborhood. Joe is now divorced.

    And, hopefully, your "co-worker" is out of job! Regardless of what you or your "co-worker" think about the morality of Joe's arrangements, you have no freaking business discussing Joe's credit card accounts or SSN with anyone not specifically named on the account. (You don't say that the wife isn't named on the account, but I strongly suspect that she wasn't.)

    This is a serious violation of confidentiality and I hope the Joe sued your company out-of-business.

    calm down Joe.

  • Flagger (unregistered) in reply to one dude on the interweb
    one dude on the interweb:
    so late last century i wrote a letter to the editor of a gonzo newspaper in moscow complaining about a restaurant review. to fit in i used a word that rhymes with "buck," made crude references to madeleine albright's sexuality, and signed with my real name.

    fast forward a couple years, and my wife decides to google me. she reads my letter and things it's pretty funny. "he usually doesn't use words like 'buck"", she things "i'll add that to my search, and see if i find more!"

    so now she's searching my full name plus "buck." of course, tons of 'dating' sites show up. and of course she clicks on them, and they have dynamic content that create ads based upon the geographical location of the searcher.

    so my wife is freaking out because she's "found me" on adultFriendFinder or something looking for "girls in menlo park, CA who want to buck TONIGHT!"

    it was of course, just at that moment i came down and told my wife i had an unexpected lunch meeting in town. you can imagine the hilarity that ensued. :-)

    Is that word fuck?

  • abcxyzeieio (unregistered) in reply to Steve H.
    Steve H.:
    Shinobu:
    I see no WTF here. The software worked as it should. And the outcome was the best outcome one could think of.
    If losing $450 million dollars of client business is considered the best outcome for you, then I don't want to work where you work.

    Obviously this is some moral judgement of 'best'ness, and not a practical one.

  • wesley0042 (unregistered) in reply to someone
    someone:
    The Coffey Maker: Dumbass should have just spent the nine grand on vaginal rejuvenation surgery for his wife.
    I disagree, typically the other parts wear out and there will still be lots of 'miles' left on the vag. Trading up is the way to go if you can afford it.

    and at 9 inches a stroke, that's a lot of life left.

    For you that would be 4.5 inches in, 4.5 inches out? ;-)

  • thinice (unregistered) in reply to DelawarePete
    DelawarePete:
    20 years ago I was a telephone bill collector. Some guy had a credit account that went 2 months past due and we had to call him and ask him to pay his bill. So my co-worker called Directory Assistance and asked for a number for Joe Smith on Mockingbird Lane. Got the number, called and spoke with Joe's wife. She said it must be some sort of mistake, he didn't have a card with us, etc. My co-worker said OK, let's review all of this info and make sure. Same name, SSN, employer, etc, etc. The only difference between the account info and Joe's info was Joe lived at 4 Mockingbird Lane and the bills went to 10 Mockingbird Lane. Then the light went on in Joe's wife's head. She asked what the card was used for. It was all furniture. Turned out Joe had set up his girlfriend in a house a few doors down. He furnished it for her and had the bills going there. Joe liked to go for runs around the neighborhood. Joe is now divorced.

    TRWTF here is how he could afford two women ;)

  • (cs) in reply to RememberToBreathe
    RememberToBreathe:
    SkittlesAreYum:
    No, the real WTF is that apparently whiteout is sufficient to redact sensitive information. I'm pretty sure I could remove whiteout from paper if I wanted.

    Curious, did you also create this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8 (Safe for work)

    Says the date and time at the start of the video, films perfectly ordinary things with a shaky camera, rants about these incredible bizarre things... haven't we seen this before?

    At least she isn't smoking pot through holey Flatten'em stones...

  • Loveknuckle (unregistered)

    That chick in the pic would be a mean fuck.

  • csrster (unregistered) in reply to The Coffey Maker
    The Coffey Maker:
    Dumbass should have just spent the nine grand on vaginal rejuvenation surgery for his wife.

    "Hi honey, here's your birthday present." "What's this?" "It's a certificate good for one anal bleaching treatment, pinky-darling."

  • (cs)

    Firstly, I can't believe some of you are blowing this off as some boring minor bug story; banks like this are employed purely because they are supposed to treat extremely rich customers with extreme discretion, and this is a major failure.

    Anyway, it reminds me of a time back when I was single, and took a girl on a date to a local restaurant. No problem, nice evening (thanks). However, I happened to go back there about a week later with an older, less glamorous girl, who was an actually old friend of mine. As we came in, the waiter asked me if I'd like "The same table, Sir?". Now, as it happens, no harm done, but girl 2 could well have been my wife (or rapidly ex-wife) in different circumstances, and I was not impressed. But I guess in that circumstance, I would have deserved it...?

  • Won't tell (unregistered)

    Working in a bank, I've heard of such stories. A lot. For example, the wife that asks the clerk to withdraw money from an account. Doesn't remember the account number so she gives his husband's ID number, since they are co-owners of said account. Clerk asks "which account? There are two here". Hilarity ensues.

    Also, brothels here have grown wiser in order not to lose clients. The credit card invoices reflect spendings on diverse, politically correct businesses. Like computer stores ("that was a new computer, honey").

    The women instead just need a weekend alone in a disco and they get free, unattached sex as long as they aren't picky as hell.

    I'm not the most trusting person nowadays.

  • (cs) in reply to csrster
    The Coffey Maker:
    Dumbass should have just spent the nine grand on vaginal rejuvenation surgery for his wife.

    What if she just doesn't do BJs?

    TRWTF is that some people still associate loads of cash with smartness. The latter is no requirement nor guarantee for the former.

  • Aran (unregistered)
    the hoi polloi

    As The Dead Poets' Society taught me, you're duplicating the article when you say "the hoi". :P

  • csrster (unregistered) in reply to Won't tell
    Won't tell:
    Working in a bank, I've heard of such stories. A lot. For example, the wife that asks the clerk to withdraw money from an account. Doesn't remember the account number so she gives his husband's ID number, since they are co-owners of said account. Clerk asks "which account? There are two here". Hilarity ensues.

    Also, brothels here have grown wiser in order not to lose clients. The credit card invoices reflect spendings on diverse, politically correct businesses. Like computer stores ("that was a new computer, honey").

    Presumably they got the idea from hotel invoices for in-house porn.

  • Survey User 2338 (unregistered) in reply to biziclop
    biziclop:
    The correct process is as follows: you have to apply whiteout first, then place the statement on a wooden table...

    Wouldn't it be better to put the wooden table on top of the statement?

  • darkmage0707077 (unregistered) in reply to Survey User 2338
    Survey User 2338:
    biziclop:
    The correct process is as follows: you have to apply whiteout first, then place the statement on a wooden table...

    Wouldn't it be better to put the wooden table on top of the statement?

    No, no, that's just begging for a hardware error...

  • dignissim (unregistered) in reply to TopCod3r
    TopCod3r:
    I am rich, since I have been working in the industry for over 11 years, so I can understand what these clients have gone through and why they would leave this crummy bank. To give you an idea, I make over 50% more now than when I first started working, and have never been laid off.

    I pretty much have the same thing with my 401K, I make sure the statement is not sent to my house. I also tried to see if they could hide that line item from my paycheck, so it would look like I made less money, but they would not do that for me.

    s/ off//
  • Dave (unregistered) in reply to Steve H.

    I think Shinobu may have been looking at this more from a moral, spiritual point of view. Many women whose husbands were lying to them got their day in court, and many lying, cheating men got their comeuppance.

    Of course, technically the software did break.

  • (cs)

    The best money are always with shady people with things to hide.

    End of lesson in IT.

  • James (unregistered) in reply to snoofle
    snoofle:
    Edward Royce:
    D. T. North:
    Bean:
    > I'm pretty sure I could remove whiteout from paper if I > wanted.

    I'm guessing the applied white-out and then either faxed the document, or then made xerox copies to send off to all the accounts, both of which would be sufficient in my mind.

    That's why I white-out, copy then place the copy on a wooden table, snap a picture and e-mail THAT.

    Hah! Insufficient security sir!

    Whereas I translate said statement into Sumerian cuniform, apply to clay tablets, bake said tablets and then fed ex them to the relevant people.

    Translation is their problem.

    Your oven is broken and you can not bake your clay. Now what do you do?

    Turn into a vampire?

  • (cs) in reply to Won't tell
    Won't tell:
    Working in a bank, I've heard of such stories. A lot. For example, the wife that asks the clerk to withdraw money from an account. Doesn't remember the account number so she gives his husband's ID number, since they are co-owners of said account. Clerk asks "which account? There are two here". Hilarity ensues.

    Similar story: http://notalwaysright.com/hopefully-she-got-the-house/768

  • Worf (unregistered) in reply to Tom_fan_63
    Tom_fan_63:
    THIS kind of bugs, in THAT kind of companies, is a GIANT BUG!!! It can't slip out of the test cycle without being noticed. It is not a simple typo or layout mismatch.

    Yeah, but would anyone have noticed it during testing? It's the kind of bug that slips through because no one thought of testing it, and even if they had, would someone have noticed if they ran it on production data?

    Remember, the main statement was sent to the account holder's main address, to which they could change it to another address, and send a sub-account statement back to the main address instead. I'm sure whoever ran the update didn't verify all the bank's accounts (thousands? hundreds of thousands?) to verify that the addresses didn't suddenly revert.

    It happened on a small part of the user data, and unless people were aware that the main address wasn't where the complete statement was sent, probably went unnoticed. It's something the hoi polloi coders wouldn't probably have encountered or expected, and thus, not test for.

    I'm sure most of us wouldn't have tested for that sort of thing at all, since most of the account addresses were unchanged. It's a big deal for those affected, but such schemes in the end result in issues in the end, especially as they get more devious and complex, and sooner or later it was going to be discovered.

  • OBloodyhell (unregistered)

    There was a tale I encountered some 15-odd years back:

    =============== From "New Scientist":

    It seems an unnamed financial institution decided to target 2000 of its richest clients with a direct-mail campaign to persuade them to purchase additional services. Standard stuff, but a programmer on the project tested the mail-merge with a fictional character he whimsically named 'Rich Bastard'. Through some kind of screw-up, (you guessed it) all 2000 letters went out with the correct address, but with the fictional name.

    Yes, Virginia, the programmer was sacked.

    I can just see the face of the clients getting a letter address to "Dear Rich Bastard"... LOL.

  • b0red (unregistered) in reply to Aran
    Aran:
    the hoi polloi

    As The Dead Poets' Society taught me, you're duplicating the article when you say "the hoi". :P

    Phrases borrowed from other languages are often reanalyzed in English as single words. For example, a number of Arabic noun phrases were borrowed into English as simple nouns. The Arabic element al– means “the,” and appears in English nouns such as alcohol and alchemy. Thus, since no one would consider a phrase such as “the alcohol” to be redundant, criticizing the hoi polloi on similar grounds seems pedantic.

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