• IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to Thnurg
    Thnurg:
    Scotland is supposed to be primitive according to some. I used to work for an Edinburgh based software house. On a business trip to Athens I shared a taxi with two American girls. They asked what I did and when I told them I was a computer programmer in Scotland they replied "Y'all have that over there?"

    Sheesh.

    FTFY

  • Jay (unregistered) in reply to Charles Bond
    Charles Bond:
    When I was in my 20s, I had this long list of attributes I was looking for in a woman.

    By the time I was 30, that list was down to one item: sane.

    Now that I am 40, I'm looking for the same thing in a supervisor.

    Hey, that's an idea!

    After two divorces, I'm beginning to think that hospitals for the criminally insane may NOT be the best places to go to meet women.

  • Jay (unregistered)

    I thought Scotland was just a bunch of guys running around in skirts carrying claymores. They have COMPUTERS there now?

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to A Nonny Mouse
    A Nonny Mouse:
    Jaco:
    IT Girl:

    And the only reason I didn't comment on the Cape Town interview is because my jaw hurt from hitting the desk. The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me. I mean, seriously what makes him think there are Cobol programmers in Scotland? Ridiculous...

    This is totally off topic, but have you by any chance ever worked at M-Web?

    Captcha: ingenium

    Jaco - I'm not IT girl, but I worked there :) back in the beginning of 2000...

    Nope

  • Americium (unregistered) in reply to Jaco
    Jaco:
    People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

    I'm more surprised by how many primitive life forms live near Cape Town. The Great Whites are well known. I'm partial to the Coelacanth, our oldest living four-limbed relative.

  • Mogri (unregistered) in reply to C4I_Officer
    C4I_Officer:
    WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...

    You either need to look up "racist" or visit South Africa...

  • Milligan (unregistered) in reply to Charles400
    Charles400:
    Post:
    “Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

    Yes, and the heiroglyphs are all upper-case.

  • CoyneT (unregistered) in reply to Charles400
    Charles400:
    Post:
    “Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

    Not only that, but the original Long Count calendar algorithm was developed in COBOL.

  • (cs) in reply to Americium
    Americium:
    I'm more surprised by how many primitive life forms live near Cape Town. The Great Whites are well known. I'm partial to the Coelacanth, our oldest living four-limbed relative.
    Yes, well, you coe one lacanth, you've coen 'em all.
  • Hans (unregistered) in reply to Jay

    Yep. Instead of throwing rocks at each other, they are now throwing computers.

  • Monday (unregistered) in reply to awfwefewa

    Hours of entertainment: ask "The Best" why they're the best at html/javascript/.net/c/cobol/sql/etc.

    Usually after that we'd offer them a job in marketing

  • (cs) in reply to Jay
    Jay:
    I wonder if there's ANY country in the world today where there aren't at least some computers around.
    Elbonia.

    Oh wait, you meant a real world country?

  • (cs) in reply to Mogri
    Mogri:
    C4I_Officer:
    WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...

    You either need to look up "racist" or visit South Africa...

    Why? Isn't considering an entire continent pretty much stuck in the stone age racist enough? OK, he could have thrown a blatantly racist remark like "Dem niggaz still live in da trees no nuthin' 'bout computers, knowhatumsayin?" but a remark doesn't have to be at the crude level of a Oi! bangin-skinhead to be considered as such.

  • Procedural (unregistered)
    Troy:
    Robajob:
    Alex Papadimoulis:
    Without saying a word, he clicked his pen, shook his head, and dropped my resume down on his disk.

    Please tell me this was supposed to say "on his dick".

    Hey guys, are we modifying quotes today? Yes? No? Cashier?

    yes.

  • Procedural (unregistered) in reply to IT Girl
    IT Girl:
    Jaco:
    I remember that... It's from an episode of My Family, isn't it?

    People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

    It is.

    And the only reason I didn't comment on the Cape Town interview is because my jaw hurt from hitting the desk. The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me. I mean, seriously what makes him think there are Cobol programmers in Scotland? Ridiculous...

    I phoned up one of those companies advertising in Computer Shopper way back in the early nineties. Upon hearing the name of my country the guy said (totally serious):

    • I don't think we can arrange shipping. I don't think Fedex has dog sleds to go up there. I didn't know they even had power in Canada !
    • (equally serious) They installed it last week.

    (That, and we are powering up a good chunk of the North East USA, dumbass)

  • My Name (unregistered) in reply to Milligan
    Milligan:
    Charles400:
    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

    Yes, and the heiroglyphs are all upper-case.

    What a surprise! I would have expected APL to be far more popular than COBOL in ancient Egypt.

  • John (unregistered)

    You interviewed Kyle...cough I mean Lyle... too!

  • Some Wonk (unregistered)

    A friend of mine moved to Albuquerque. The worst of it, he always said, was dealing with companies out of state. "Oh, I am sorry, we do not ship outside the United States."

  • (cs)

    McGuire: I just want to say one word to you – just one word. Ben: Yes, sir. McGuire: Are you listening? Ben: Yes, I am. McGuire: “Plastics.” Ben: Exactly how do you mean? McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? Ben: Yes, I will.

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to shadowman
    shadowman:
    McGuire: I just want to say one word to you – just one word. Ben: Yes, sir. McGuire: Are you listening? Ben: Yes, I am. McGuire: “Plastics.” Ben: Exactly how do you mean? McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it? Ben: Yes, I will.

    Oooh.. you're a graduate!

    captcha= consequat: what happened to "the best" when his graduation was questioned.

  • IT Girl (unregistered) in reply to Procedural
    Procedural:

    I phoned up one of those companies advertising in Computer Shopper way back in the early nineties. Upon hearing the name of my country the guy said (totally serious):

    • I don't think we can arrange shipping. I don't think Fedex has dog sleds to go up there. I didn't know they even had power in Canada !
    • (equally serious) They installed it last week.

    (That, and we are powering up a good chunk of the North East USA, dumbass)

    Ah, Canadians vs Americans... you must be on a border town like I am. It's a wonderfully long standing misunderstanding. My favourite is from a border guard:

    Skis attached to roof rack in July, driver: "How far do I have to drive before I hit snow?"

    Considering we're really no where near mountains, pretty darned far.

  • Yohan J (unregistered) in reply to Jaco
    Jaco:
    IT Girl:
    (snip...)

    This is totally off topic, but have you by any chance ever worked at M-Web?

    You're doing it wrong. the first question should've been: a/s/l?

  • D C Ross (unregistered) in reply to Code Dependent
    Code Dependent:
    Google "Robert Crumb's Angelfood McSpade".

    That earned me a link to this page.

    Now I am enlightened.

  • Joon (unregistered) in reply to Jaco
    Jaco:
    I remember that... It's from an episode of My Family, isn't it?

    People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

    Heh, a fellow reader from Cape Town, home of the world's first successful heart transplant

    Lyk my nou is daar ten minste twee van ons...

    Captcha: Enim. Anyone else feel there's a letter missing?

  • (cs) in reply to shadowman
    shadowman:
    McGuire: “Plastics.”
    I always figured it was phrased just that way so that we would look at all the social climbers in the room and recall Frank Zappa's famous song (cf. "Absolutely Free").
  • Herby (unregistered)

    Not an interview, but at a job fair. I handed my nicely printed resume to the HR droid (I don't think they qualified for that, but I digress). It was summarily handed back with the comment "we only take college graduates". I mentioned "HUH?" and she (yes, it was a she) had only looked at the first line which indicated my high school education (I thought it was important, it was a private school), and the NEXT line mentioned my college degree. Evidently they didn't read past the first line.

    Another company I interviewed for was (and still is) attempting to produce CD to IPOD loaders. They are attempting to sell these devices for around $300. It looked like I was going to be one of the first employees, and they were attempting to "offer" me a salary that was about half (yes half!) of what I was expecting (I talked to others and a "fresh out of college" person might have been offered more in other companies). They had grand ideas and while the concept looks good, I talked to my niece, and she has a 5 year old kid that can put music on their IPOD, so a $300 piece isn't something they might buy. I realized that they were attempting to get me "on the cheap" to avoid paying the head hunter's fee, but I had STRONG doubts that their business model would "take off", I declined. Then the offer went up by 25% and I still declined, they then offered me some contract position, and I was very nice in saying "No thanks".

    Of course, if you want a nice little computer to play with, and can be handy with your hands, the $300 box can be yours. Just plop in some more memory, and a disk drive, adding a monitor, and you are set. No need to use it for the original purpose. No, I haven't gone that far!

  • Da' Man (unregistered) in reply to IT Girl
    IT Girl:
    The incredible ignorance of some people astounds me.
    Come on, everybody knows that companies that hire COBOL programmers have hardly ever looked on their calendar, let alone a world map...

    It's the 21st century, guys. Let the sleeping dinosaurs die!

  • (cs) in reply to My Name
    My Name:
    Milligan:
    Charles400:
    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...
    Yes, and the heiroglyphs are all upper-case.
    What a surprise! I would have expected APL to be far more popular than COBOL in ancient Egypt.
    Win.
  • (cs) in reply to Schnapple
    Schnapple:
    C4I_Officer:
    WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...

    Not to excuse him or imply that it's OK, but the story opens with "Nearly twenty-five years ago...", so hopefully the person in the story isn't indicative of today's society. Or he's become more enlightened since then.

    Or he's dead. That would work, too.

    Generally, once a bigot, always a bigot. Maybe he's improved his stance on race -- maybe it stuck in his mind and he educated himself -- but it's still highly likely he still discriminates against women. Notice that he was just looking for "proof" that the candidate was lying on the basis that she's female and was applying for a programming job. I wonder what his take on gay marriage is? "Frettens my marrij!" Only if your wife is a man and he's seeing someone else.

  • Duke of New York (unregistered) in reply to IT Girl
    IT Girl:
    One of my favourite sitcoms has a scene where the loser son tells his dad that he's finally got a great lead on work. He's going to become a "dot com millionaire".

    His dad responds with "You have to have a great idea first" to which the son says, "That is a great idea... dot come millionaire"

    Fade to the next scene where he's asking his tech saavy younger brother where the "dot" key is on the keyboard. When shown the next question is, of course, "now, where's the com key".

    Must be one of those shows that people assume is funny because it has a laugh track.
  • Buzzard (unregistered) in reply to Schnapple
    Schnapple:
    T-Biscuit:
    Interview WTF's are my favorite, they have so much entertainment value.

    Yeah they're easily my favorites, too. I would love to go on one of these interviews where you walk away thinking the company is a complete disaster. Or in the case of "blog-ging" guy, an abortion aspiring to be a disaster.

    Mine too, I recall one where the interviewers ( . Y . ) popped out.

  • Chris (unregistered)

    The Sout Africa story reminds me something I was told ... I used to leave in South West of France, close to a mountain. When one of a friend's relatives came to visit us from a "very big town", he told us "Believe me, when I first arrived, I was so surprised to see you had electricity! Even toilet in your house, instead of the garden! I really thought you didn't have all that!I mean, you're in the mountains so ..."

  • hey persto! (unregistered) in reply to EatenByAGrue
    EatenByAGrue:
    Apparently CPound has remembered one of the first things they teach you about contracts: a verbal contract is worth the paper it's written on.

    That's strange, when I studied contract law one of the first things that we were taught is that the requirement is 'communication' rather than any specific medium. It is only in few rare cases where written word (in the form of a deed) is required.

    I imagine I am in a different jurisdiction, however I expect that this is the same in most western countries.

  • PseudoBovine (unregistered) in reply to Herby
    Herby:
    my nicely printed resume ... was summarily handed back with the comment "we only take college graduates". I mentioned "HUH?" and she (yes, it was a she) had only looked at the first line which indicated my high school education ... Evidently they didn't read past the first line.

    They probably figured that anyone ignorant enough not to be aware of the standard reverse chronological order used on resumes is not worth hiring. Seriously, it's usually the first thing they tell people about writing resumes, right after "don't spell your name wrong".

  • Atario (unregistered)
    The Best was in the middle of lecture about how completely unnecessary Object Oriented Programming was.
    Well, theoretically, you can write anything you want with bare machine code. So, technically, he was right. Which is, of course, The Best kind of right there is.
  • Lee K-T (unregistered) in reply to Jay
    Jay:
    I thought Scotland was just a bunch of guys running around in skirts carrying claymores. They have COMPUTERS there now?

    Yes, and I think their capital is named Cobol.

  • Mummy (unregistered) in reply to Code Slave
    Code Slave:
    Charles400:
    Post:
    “Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

    We buried them there for good reason! Would you idiots please stop digging them up?

    Yes, please stop it! Isn't it enough that inventors of COBOL are being shown in museums around the world, wrapped with thin, white stripes of COBOL listings!

  • (cs) in reply to C4I_Officer
    C4I_Officer:
    Mogri:
    C4I_Officer:
    WTF @ that racist, ignorant interviewer...

    You either need to look up "racist" or visit South Africa...

    Why? Isn't considering an entire continent pretty much stuck in the stone age racist enough? OK, he could have thrown a blatantly racist remark like "Dem niggaz still live in da trees no nuthin' 'bout computers, knowhatumsayin?" but a remark doesn't have to be at the crude level of a Oi! bangin-skinhead to be considered as such.

    The only racist here is you:

    1. if you're black then for assuming that only a non-black person could be ignorant.
    2. if you're not black then for assuming that a black person couldn't have been a interviewer.
  • Anon (unregistered)

    Another Cape Town based South African here. Regarding South African accents: This is a Souf Effrican English aksent, as spoken by the European Africans here.

  • (cs) in reply to hey persto!
    hey persto!:
    That's strange, when I studied contract law one of the first things that we were taught is that the requirement is 'communication' rather than any specific medium. It is only in few rare cases where written word (in the form of a deed) is required.

    I imagine I am in a different jurisdiction, however I expect that this is the same in most western countries.

    It's more complex than that, especially if you're dealing with countries that don't use Common Law (assuming that's where you're based, of course), such as most of the EU. There are really significant differences, and lawyers who specialize in this sort of thing do earn their (very significant) crusts.

    OTOH, it's a really good idea to have a permanently recorded version of the contract anyway, whatever the jurisdiction, since that makes life much easier when it comes to enforcement.

  • (cs) in reply to Charles400
    Charles400:
    Post:
    “Okay,” he said in disappointed tone, “well now I know you’re lying. I mean really, everybody knows that Africa hardly even has electricity, let alone computers, let alone COBOL programmers! You could have at least picked a place like Scotland!”

    Idiot! Archeologists frequently unearth COBOL listings in the pyramids...

    No, those hieroglyphs are obviously an early form of APL!

  • burp (unregistered) in reply to dkf
    dkf:
    hey persto!:
    That's strange, when I studied contract law one of the first things that we were taught is that the requirement is 'communication' rather than any specific medium. It is only in few rare cases where written word (in the form of a deed) is required.

    I imagine I am in a different jurisdiction, however I expect that this is the same in most western countries.

    It's more complex than that, especially if you're dealing with countries that don't use Common Law (assuming that's where you're based, of course), such as most of the EU. There are really significant differences, and lawyers who specialize in this sort of thing do earn their (very significant) crusts.

    OTOH, it's a really good idea to have a permanently recorded version of the contract anyway, whatever the jurisdiction, since that makes life much easier when it comes to enforcement.

    It's more complex than that, especially if you're dealing with countries that don't use Common Law (assuming that's where you're based, of course), such as the rest of the world...

  • Nome (unregistered)

    Nothing beats the ignorance in southern Ohio. My wife, an Italian, was once telling her coworkers that she was going to call her mom in Italy later. The response was "They have phones in Italy?"

  • (cs)
    illtiz:
    Eh, no. An ignorant racist is an ignorant racist. His or her heritage is not of consequence.

    To clarify: Even if an African American who was actually born in South Africa makes that statement, it's ignorant and dare I say even racist.

    Is this when I don my asbestos suit?

    Clearly, you are unaware of the corollary - only a white male can be racist. Everyone else is just spiteful.

  • J (unregistered) in reply to Thnurg
    Thnurg:
    Scotland is supposed to be primitive according to some. I used to work for an Edinburgh based software house. On a business trip to Athens I shared a taxi with two American girls. They asked what I did and when I told them I was a computer programmer in Scotland they replied "You have all that over there?"

    Sheesh.

    I think that's more to do with American girls being thick rather than anyone thinking Scotland is primitive. Did they manage to open the taxi door by themselves when they were getting out?

  • ClaudeSuck.de (unregistered) in reply to Zapp Brannigan
    Zapp Brannigan:
    Charles Bond:
    When I was in my 20s, I had this long list of attributes I was looking for in a woman.

    By the time I was 30, that list was down to one item: sane.

    Now that I am 40, I'm looking for the same thing in a supervisor.

    I'm 48 your standards are too high.

    Confirmed. I am happy when they are healthy, physically.

  • ClaudeSuck.de (unregistered) in reply to J
    J:
    Thnurg:
    Scotland is supposed to be primitive according to some. I used to work for an Edinburgh based software house. On a business trip to Athens I shared a taxi with two American girls. They asked what I did and when I told them I was a computer programmer in Scotland they replied "You have all that over there?"

    Sheesh.

    I think that's more to do with American girls being thick rather than anyone thinking Scotland is primitive. Did they manage to open the taxi door by themselves when they were getting out?

    Hair color? Blonde?

  • South Africa (unregistered)

    A few years ago I was in Atlanta visiting family who'd emigrated there. My sister was house-hunting and I rememebr one eldely estate agent earnestly explaining to me how a microwave-oven works, after I told her I'm from South Africa.

  • Thnurg (unregistered) in reply to ClaudeSuck.de

    I don't know if they could open the door. The doorman at the hotel opened it to let them get in, and I got out first.

    However, they were definately blonde.

  • (cs) in reply to Joon
    Joon:
    Jaco:
    I remember that... It's from an episode of My Family, isn't it?

    People really find it hard to believe, sometimes, just how much technological advances are made in South Africa. (and yes, I am a programmer in Cape Town :-P)

    Heh, a fellow reader from Cape Town, home of the world's first successful heart transplant

    Lyk my nou is daar ten minste twee van ons...

    Captcha: Enim. Anyone else feel there's a letter missing?

    Ek is seker daar is heelwat meer van ons hier...

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