The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

Nagesh · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

olaf:
My links to the next 5 stories got removed :(
This is the real WTF, it is not my fault that your system happily makes unpublished articles readable for the public...

How did you find the links? I am not understanding.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

[image]

We're not gonna tell you.

CAPTCHA: uxor - that's what Akismet is...

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

I am a psychic.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

My thoughts:

Obviously (hopefully?!) the stories are embellished when they are anonymized, and while I'm sure Tye was an @$$, hopefully he/she wasn't truly that verbally abusive.

But if they were, and it wsa me, I'd either quit on the spot, or at the very least start bringing a voice recorder with me and keeping evidence of verbal abuse. Not that I know what I'd do with it, but there's gotta be some kind of labor law being broken.

The people that irritate me the most, by far, are those that are too closed-minded to even discuss the possibility that they could be mistaken. If you're not even willing to talk about the IDEA of me having a solution you haven't considered, then we are dealing with serious ego or self-esteem issues.

That's what always drove me crazy about those stupid kid-centric movies with the plot line where the kid discovers some insidious plot, then has this conversation with the parent/authority:

"I think Joe's the bad guy..." "Bobby, this isn't funny, I don't want to hear this." "But I'm serious, I saw him with-" "NOT ANOTHER WORD! I told you I don't want to hear this!" "But I -" "GO NOW!"

Which of course sets off Act III in which our hero thwarts the bad guys on his own with the help of his friends: the nerd, the girl, and the dog.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Already a major motion picture: Office Space

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Nagesh:
olaf:
My links to the next 5 stories got removed :(
This is the real WTF, it is not my fault that your system happily makes unpublished articles readable for the public...

How did you find the links? I am not understanding.

You clearly have no future as a 1337 h4x0r.

Nagesh · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Anonymous Paranoiac:
Nagesh:
olaf:
My links to the next 5 stories got removed :(
This is the real WTF, it is not my fault that your system happily makes unpublished articles readable for the public...

How did you find the links? I am not understanding.

You clearly have no future as a 1337 h4x0r.

I am planning to be CEO and you're bothering me with silly school boy stuff.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

jaybird:
My thoughts:
Obviously (hopefully?!) the stories are embellished when they are anonymized, and while I'm sure Tye was an @$$, hopefully he/she wasn't truly that verbally abusive.

But if they were, and it wsa me, I'd either quit on the spot, or at the very least start bringing a voice recorder with me and keeping evidence of verbal abuse. Not that I know what I'd do with it, but there's gotta be some kind of labor law being broken.

The people that irritate me the most, by far, are those that are too closed-minded to even discuss the possibility that they could be mistaken. If you're not even willing to talk about the IDEA of me having a solution you haven't considered, then we are dealing with serious ego or self-esteem issues.

That's what always drove me crazy about those stupid kid-centric movies with the plot line where the kid discovers some insidious plot, then has this conversation with the parent/authority:

"I think Joe's the bad guy..." "Bobby, this isn't funny, I don't want to hear this." "But I'm serious, I saw him with-" "NOT ANOTHER WORD! I told you I don't want to hear this!" "But I -" "GO NOW!"

Which of course sets off Act III in which our hero thwarts the bad guys on his own with the help of his friends: the nerd, the girl, and the dog.

Not as bad as the interminable goodbye-at-a-railway-station scenes where they've said "All aboard!" and they're still blethering like girls on the platform "I love you mom" / "I love you too, son" and the stationmaster has blown his whistle and said "All aboard" and the engine's gone "hoot" and is blowing steam and they're still standing on the station, haven't finished their interminable phatic goodbyes yet, and you're saying: "Get on the train already, it's going to go without you!" But of course it won't, the train driver knows that he's the star of the show and would not dare* to take off without him.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Once more, about a stupid manager (happens in any branch). Not. About. Curious. Perversions. In. INFORMATION. TECHNOLOGY. This isn't the best place to vent, you have your friends, or mum.

This is a place to provide amusement to IT professionals, not to anger management professionals and psychanalists.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

golddog:
Remember, nobody can take advantage of you without your permission.

Rape?

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

eVil:
So, given that everyone here is somehow involved in the software development game (or, the laughing-at-badly-developed-software game), we can assume the readership has at least some minimum level of intelligence.

You owe me a new keyboard.

chubertdev · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

This, this, and this. I was at a company doing way too much for way too little, and barely any benefits. Now at a huge company doing a lot less for a lot more. Best decision of my life.

WC:
More people should quit their soul-sucking jobs and find better ones. I worked at a stressful company (though not as bad as this) and the difference in quality of life was amazing. And more, they pay me more now! I was letting them abuse me for less money than I was worth. Ridiculous.
If you're in a job where your boss is making your life hell, you owe it to yourself to get the hell out.

Oddly enough, just yesterday my family was commenting that my younger sister has a lot of grey hair, and I've got none. Does stress really cause grey hair? I don't know.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

TRWTF is calling it Counterstrike when it is typed, regardless of version, Counter-Strike.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Matt:
TRWTF is calling it Counterstrike when it is typed, regardless of version, Counter-Strike.

Is it though?

no laughing matter · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Why is the link to tomorrows' article not working?

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

eVil:
Matt:
TRWTF is calling it Counterstrike when it is typed, regardless of version, Counter-Strike.

Is it though?

Yes, yes it is.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/10/

themagni · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

jaybird:
My thoughts:
That's what always drove me crazy about those stupid kid-centric movies with the plot line where the kid discovers some insidious plot, then has this conversation with the parent/authority:

"I think Joe's the bad guy..."

I've watched enough movies / played enough D&D to know that when the kid is telling you something like that, the proper response is:

"Okay, tell me everything you've learned."

and take notes if you have to.

"You've done awesome. Great work."

Then it's time to get weapons / the police / move to [redacted]

Lorne Kates · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

themagni:
move to [redacted]

I hear the weather's very [redacted] there this time of year.

Lorne Kates · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

jaybird:
Obviously (hopefully?!) the stories are embellished when they are anonymized, and while I'm sure Tye was an @$$, hopefully he/she wasn't truly that verbally abusive.

About 75% from the Submitter's fingers to your ears, about 25% filling in the details from my own personal experiences.

=(

Time for scotch.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Almafuerte:
I've been working in IT for 15 years now.
Even when I was a noob, a junior, barely out the oven, I would have never taken that kind of abuse.

I was never afraid to talk to the boss of my boss, and stand my ground if I knew I was right. And if anyone had treated me that way, I would have told that colossal, unprofessional bitch to fuck off.

What the hell is with every story of management abuse in TDWTF?, everyone is so fucking afraid. This stories should be way shorter ... "Management did something stupid, and contradicted the most basic common sense, so I told them this was the right way, and told them to go eat a bowl of dicks, then proved I was right, and they had to STFU and embrace my solution". Or, simply "That place sucked, so when I noticed everyone was insane, I quit and went to work somewhere else". Or maybe: "I told them to go fuck themselves, and they fired me. Good".

Everyone in this stories have water instead of blood in their veins.

I think it must be an American thing. Freest country in the world, the boss is free to fire you any time, which means the lowly employee is not even free to speak up against a disgustingly incompetent manager.

When I went to school, one thing you would be taught is how to stand your ground against any authority. Not how to shut up, but how to speak up. Somehow I managed to always have bosses who would rather have you speak up when something is wrong. Needless to say, none of these jobs were in the USA.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

themagni:
I've watched enough movies / played enough D&D to know that when the kid is telling you something like that, the proper response is:
"Okay, tell me everything you've learned."

and take notes if you have to.

"You've done awesome. Great work."

Then it's time to get weapons / the police / move to [redacted]

Always make sure you tell at least two people. Otherwise you fall into the OTHER variation:

"I think Joe's the bad guy. Here's why..." "Have you told anyone else about this?" "No, only you and I know." "Good." snaps neck

Not frequently used in Disney movies though.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

eVil:
So, given that everyone here is somehow involved in the software development game (or, the laughing-at-badly-developed-software game), we can assume the readership has at least some minimum level of intelligence.
As a result, one half will have found the hidden link to this half two days ago, and finished this article then. The other half will have read the comments, and will have clicked the link, as posted by the first half.... and will have also finished this two days ago.

Did you read the jon6 story over there? WOW. Great stuff.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

gnasher729:
When I went to school, one thing you would be taught is how to stand your ground against any authority. Not how to shut up, but how to speak up.

Really? Where did you go to school? Where *I* went to school, I learned the lesson that if you stand up to authority, you will lose, big time - that if you really find that you need to stand up to something, the only way to do it without getting squashed, is to find someone with at least as much authority and get them to stand up *for* you. (I find this is a good lesson to have learned for the real world.)

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Was hoping story was ridiculously embellished for the lulz.

Read Lorne's comments above.

Feel even more depressed than when I read this story two days ago.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

By the way, that company wasn't burdened with just one bad manager. Another was a Basic programmer who was trying to deal with the influx of professional C programmers hired by upper management. Besides trying to get the newcomers to use his #define'd IF, ELSE, PRINT, BEGIN, END (etc.) replacements, he also tried to ban the use of the ternary operator on the grounds that he didn't understand it.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Matt:
eVil:
Matt:
TRWTF is calling it Counterstrike when it is typed, regardless of version, Counter-Strike.

Is it though?

Yes, yes it is.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/10/

No... I mean "is that really TRWTF?", not "is it really spelt as two capitalised words with a hyphen?".

I will grant you that the correct spelling is a matter of fact, which you have correctly stated. My contention is that it isn't TRWTF.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

gnasher729:
Geoff:
Depends is a million records a good benchmark? On any relatively modern system a bubble short of a million records probably is not bad.

A bubble sort of a million records is bad. A bubble sort of an array of a million integers in a memory in an array, written in C using an optimising compiler, assuming one nanosecond per comparison + possible exchange, will take about 500 seconds.

Anything in a database, or even larger records in memory, the time will be much higher.

Yup - here's a reasonably optimised bubble sort for a bunch of ints:

void bubbleSort(int *vals, int numVals)
	{
	int needsSort = YES;
	int numToSort = numVals;
	
	while (needsSort)
		{
		needsSort = NO;
		for (int i=1; i<numToSort; i++)
			{
			if (vals[i-1] > vals[i])
				{
				needsSort 	= YES;
				int tmp		= vals[i];
				vals[i]		= vals[i-1];
				vals[i-1]	= tmp;
				}
			}
		numToSort --;
		}
	}

and here's some runs with different sizes of array on a top-of-the-line Macbook Pro, comparing to quicksort and re-sort timings:

simon$ ./bubble 10000 Time taken (Bubble sort ): 0.114540 secs Time taken (Bubble resort): 0.000007 secs Time taken (Quick sort ): 0.001073 secs Time taken (Quick resort ): 0.000063 secs

simon$ ./bubble 100000 Time taken (Bubble sort ): 13.297858 secs Time taken (Bubble resort): 0.000072 secs Time taken (Quick sort ): 0.012660 secs Time taken (Quick resort ): 0.000568 secs

simon$ ./bubble 500000 Time taken (Bubble sort ): 332.080115 secs Time taken (Bubble resort): 0.000358 secs Time taken (Quick sort ): 0.072668 secs Time taken (Quick resort ): 0.002737 secs

simon$ ./bubble 1000000 Time taken (Bubble sort ): 1327.792426 secs Time taken (Bubble resort): 0.000684 secs Time taken (Quick sort ): 0.156274 secs Time taken (Quick resort ): 0.005315 secs

Lorne Kates · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

TRWTF is calling it Counterstrike when it is typed, regardless of version, Counter-Strike.

Tye wouldn't let anyone play Counter-Strike. She didn't trust that the game was written properly. Counterstrike is her own implementation of it.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

bkDJ:
Rewriting this TDWTF, which spans multiple articles and days, seemed like an afternoon job, so I tried it in a comment at the request of a co-commenter:
Tye is a shitty in-your-face manager. Mack does as he is told, except when the boss is out; then he goads coworkers (probably only to throw them under the bus when the boss gets back). Aargyle couldn't follow orders or keep his mouth shut, succumbs to peer pressure, and in trying to be clever, wastes company resources to produce objectively slower code. Aargyle gets fired.

Your mistaken. Mack is technically Aargyle's (crappy) boss who tells his subordinates to do things and then throws them under the bus at the first sign of trouble.

Also, if your ostensibly solving a performance problem why wouldn't you benchmark the new code yourself?

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Mack is quite a fascinating character, seemingly the anti-hero (or even the anti-villain) of this epic. He's been in this toxic situation for quite a while and has even come to accept it, literally shrugging off Tye's abuse of what should be his underling; it makes me wonder if he is a broken man who has surrendered to his lot or if he is complicit in the continuance of such a hostile environment.

Also, considering he was the one who encouraged Aargle to make a branch knowing that it would fly in the face of Tye and ultimately get Aargle in hot water, it seems apparent that Mack set his lackey up for a fall. However, a lesser developer may have followed Mack's lead and kept his/her head down in order to keep collecting a paycheck. Was Mack serving his own self-interest when he set up a hot-shot underling for the fall? Or maybe Mack, recognizing that Aargle's flame would be snuffed out if he continued working in this place, set him up to get fired in order to save him from becoming trapped in such an abusive relationship?

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

So basically... Low-level grunt goes against orders and tries to show up his boss.

TRWTF is why he didn't expect to get fired.

Nagesh · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Overanalizer:
Mack is quite a fascinating character, seemingly the anti-hero (or even the anti-villain) of this epic. He's been in this toxic situation for quite a while and has even come to accept it, literally shrugging off Tye's abuse of what should be his underling; it makes me wonder if he is a broken man who has surrendered to his lot or if he is complicit in the continuance of such a hostile environment.
Also, considering he was the one who encouraged Aargle to make a branch knowing that it would fly in the face of Tye and ultimately get Aargle in hot water, it seems apparent that Mack set his lackey up for a fall. However, a lesser developer may have followed Mack's lead and kept his/her head down in order to keep collecting a paycheck. Was Mack serving his own self-interest when he set up a hot-shot underling for the fall? Or maybe Mack, recognizing that Aargle's flame would be snuffed out if he continued working in this place, set him up to get fired in order to save him from becoming trapped in such an abusive relationship?

Maybe mack is married to Tye?

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

She is definitely the wrong kind of Thai, and she is certainly no Tigh.

Coyne · 2013-03-28 Reply Admin

shd:
People like Tye ought to be taken out and shot. Seriously.

Might be a bit extreme....

But Tye is an abusive, authoritarian, despot.

There is probably nepotism or cronyism to boot: remember that "C. Pirouline" was someone she "brought in"; odds are either a relative, a boyfriend, or a crony. How else to justify $13000 in 1985, to build a $200 sort? Kickbacks perhaps.

Whatever: She has control and intends to keep it, reacting volcanically to even the slightest hint of challenge.

His proper solution was to resign summarily about 2/3rds of the way through the first article; citing emotional and intellectual abuse.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

Nagesh:
Overanalizer:
Mack is quite a fascinating character, seemingly the anti-hero (or even the anti-villain) of this epic. He's been in this toxic situation for quite a while and has even come to accept it, literally shrugging off Tye's abuse of what should be his underling; it makes me wonder if he is a broken man who has surrendered to his lot or if he is complicit in the continuance of such a hostile environment.
Also, considering he was the one who encouraged Aargle to make a branch knowing that it would fly in the face of Tye and ultimately get Aargle in hot water, it seems apparent that Mack set his lackey up for a fall. However, a lesser developer may have followed Mack's lead and kept his/her head down in order to keep collecting a paycheck. Was Mack serving his own self-interest when he set up a hot-shot underling for the fall? Or maybe Mack, recognizing that Aargle's flame would be snuffed out if he continued working in this place, set him up to get fired in order to save him from becoming trapped in such an abusive relationship?
Maybe mack is married to Tye?

You're right. She's as hot as her temper. They serve each other's fantasies. He doesn't even have to take the handcuffs off to go to work.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

moz:
Brent:
"Objectively"? I don't think Tye's results can be said to be objective at all...
They can't, but at least she has some. Aargle didn't have anything to show that his efforts were worth the storage space.

When it comes to results, no results are still better than bad results.

Aargle did his job, he produced the proof of concept and tested it enough to pass it to QA. Aargle producing his own results would be similarly questionable here, he can't be said to be unbiased either. Not producing any is the correct thing to do.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

:) Reminds me pretty much the way I was kicked out from Google. :) Felt so good; thank you, Google's Tyes (there were two of them). But, unlike Aargle, I spent over a week trying to get my cardboard box with personal stuff... only worked after I said I'd go to the police and report a theft.

2013-03-28 Reply Admin

One of the best I've read on WTF! Thanks!

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

I know that there is overengineered code in the world, but I also know that there are a lot of conceited novice programmers who, not wishing to understand code, declare it overengineered instead, seize any excuse to rewrite it, and get upset when the management reins them in. Which one was Aargle? It's hard to say.

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

GCoder:
Also, letting someone go like that, the company's best to get a second opinion on that or risk a lawsuit on the grounds of workplace harassment, hostile work environment, and being fired over following an engineer's code of ethics. Especially if you know there's a problem, know how to fix it, being told to keep your thoughts to yourself or do something that is dangerous or can have severe consequences if you follow through.

That's what doesn't ring true. At least at most largish companies. HR and Legal isn't going to let a manager fire anyone in less than six months, unless it's some sort of emergency. Also it's often common that abusive managers of that sort are already being prep'd for jettisoning.

If this story were true, I'd bet more that Tye lied to him about him being fired and he's a big enough sap to believe her. Meaning she told him he's fired, and then told HR he up and quit.

alo · 2013-03-29 Reply Admin

olaf:
My links to the next 5 stories got removed :(
This is the real WTF, it is not my fault that your system happily makes unpublished articles readable for the public...

There are 6 (six) unpublished stories. No, I am not putting them up anywhere, not even in reddit!

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

So basically... Low-level grunt goes against orders and tries to show up his boss.
TRWTF is why he didn't expect to get fired.

Because in any country with halfway-decent labour laws, it is illegal to fire an employee simply because the employee has tried to do the job correctly. If you do so, there is a hearing by an independent court and then the employer gets to reinstate the employee and censure the manager. This means that employees and managers can concentrate on doing the job together instead of having an adversarial relationship.

Presumably, things work differently in your country. I'm glad I don't live there!

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

Well, I don't know, maybe they added an additional one? ;)

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

The real WTF is that they deleted all the comments to this article.

ObiWayneKenobi · 2013-03-29 Reply Admin

GCoder:
Also, letting someone go like that, the company's best to get a second opinion on that or risk a lawsuit on the grounds of workplace harassment, hostile work environment, and being fired over following an engineer's code of ethics. Especially if you know there's a problem, know how to fix it, being told to keep your thoughts to yourself or do something that is dangerous or can have severe consequences if you follow through.

Assuming this story is in the US, 99% of employment is "at will" which means you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all barring obvious (i.e. proven) discrimination. If you reported something illegal (think Enron) and were fired for it, you could sue for wrongful dismissal but in these circumstances it's just insubordination (i.e. he did something his boss didn't tell him to do) and there's no legal recourse.

Given this story takes place a number of years in the past, things might have been different then but in the current day and age Aargle wouldn't have a leg to stand on; in some states (especially Florida) a hostile and abusive environment isn't even a justified reason to quit (i.e. if you quit, you are denied unemployment).

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

Anon:
The Old Gizzard:
Anonymous Penguin:
Hypothetically, given a sufficiently professional organisation, a better course would have been to schedule a meeting with someone high up in HR and politely but firmly explain that ~.

Woah, hold it right there, cowboy. You seem to be suffering from the misconception of HR's function and purpose....

Absolutely. HR are not on your side. There job is the same as yours, to make money for the company. They do it by keeping your salary as low as tolerable and making sure the company doesn't get sued.

Some of you have worked with some really crappy HR departments. Yes, their job is to make money for the company. They do it by making sure the company doesn't get sued, yes, which means that they are the ones to go to if you have a terrible work environment/there is any discrimination. One of the ways they make sure the company doesn't get sued is by not allowing that to happen, when they are made aware of it. Taking care of bad situations is also a way to keep higher quality employees around (those are the ones most likely to be able to get a job somewhere else), which means better work, which means more money for the company.

Also, they shouldn't try to keep you salary as low as tolerable, that's not how to make the company money. That leads to only being able to keep bad employees. They should be trying to keep your salary at whatever your market value is, so you don't leave for another company that will pay you more. That's another way to keep high quality employees, which leads to more money for the company.

I'm not an HR person, but I've worked IT for them before and seen a lot of their processes close at hand (and had discussions with plenty on what they are trying to do). Of course, I understand not everyone in HR is good, but you should understand not everyone in HR is trying to screw you. HR can definitely do some good for you, if you've got a decent HR department at your company.

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

no good deed goes unpunished.

Tye sounds like a manager we called the hawk. Would swoop down in a huff and haul you off to her office.

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

Find a cooler kitchen.

chubertdev · 2013-03-29 Reply Admin

thrasher:
Also, they shouldn't try to keep you salary as low as tolerable, that's not how to make the company money. That leads to only being able to keep bad employees. They should be trying to keep your salary at whatever your market value is, so you don't leave for another company that will pay you more. That's another way to keep high quality employees, which leads to more money for the company.

That is very, very optimistic, but not very realistic.

2013-03-29 Reply Admin

ObiWayneKenobi:
GCoder:
Also, letting someone go like that, the company's best to get a second opinion on that or risk a lawsuit on the grounds of workplace harassment, hostile work environment, and being fired over following an engineer's code of ethics. Especially if you know there's a problem, know how to fix it, being told to keep your thoughts to yourself or do something that is dangerous or can have severe consequences if you follow through.

Assuming this story is in the US, 99% of employment is "at will" which means you can be fired for any reason or no reason at all barring obvious (i.e. proven) discrimination. If you reported something illegal (think Enron) and were fired for it, you could sue for wrongful dismissal but in these circumstances it's just insubordination (i.e. he did something his boss didn't tell him to do) and there's no legal recourse.

Given this story takes place a number of years in the past, things might have been different then but in the current day and age Aargle wouldn't have a leg to stand on; in some states (especially Florida) a hostile and abusive environment isn't even a justified reason to quit (i.e. if you quit, you are denied unemployment).

Since you mention that, things DID get ugly afterwards. While I never got any form of formal reprimand for anything, when I applied for unemployment compensation, they filed a counter-claim saying that they gave me numerous "written reprimands" which they never did. I considered taking some action against them for the lie, but let it go after I landed a job with a company I liked a lot. (Though, I did have a big WTF with a company that contracted with my new job. Story was submitted a bit ago. Maybe it'll turn up.)

The Tye That Binds ...(part 2 Real Escape String)

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