• (disco)

    HR may have been unwilling to discipline an employee for whatever it was that prompted Greg to quit, but I wouldn't bet on them being unwilling to discipline Jim for unauthorized use of Greg's account and tampering with another department's web page, no matter the beneficence of the purpose and effect of the unauthorized access.

  • (disco)

    I thought for sure the problem was going to be that the taking pixel was coming from a web server from Marketing's network which is not visible from outside. So it would always work for them but not for most other people.

  • (disco)

    cannot talk to Marketing

    Lovely. I wish I worked in a place like this. It should make everything so easy and organized and political correct.

  • (disco) in reply to Eldelshell

    I have been to may different companies the last 30 years. Even defense, banking, insurance, health care. you name. Never been to a place where the willingness to solve something had been on such low level. Not even by in-house stubborn developers mostly saying "works for me". I cannot imagine an Initec working like this.

  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek
    HardwareGeek:
    HR may have been unwilling to discipline an employee for whatever it was that prompted Greg to quit, but I wouldn't bet on them being unwilling to discipline Jim for unauthorized use of Greg's account and tampering with another department's web page, no matter the beneficence of the purpose and effect of the unauthorized access.

    In order to figure that out, people from other departments would have to talk to each other. Sounds like Jim is pretty safe.

  • (disco)

    Sounds like a company with very Christian work ethics:

    "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Matthew 6:3

  • (disco)

    I'm pretty sure that this is my submission, spruced up, and I'm Jim :smile:

    I genuinely had a brief conversation with someone in marketing in the kitchen an hour ago, at which the primary topic was not being allowed to talk to them.

  • (disco) in reply to Michael_Mahn
    Michael_Mahn:
    "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Matthew 6:3

    Is that the bit in the Bible about onanism?

  • (disco) in reply to Michael_Mahn
    Michael_Mahn:
    "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Matthew 6:3

    Very fitting to the charitable atmosphere there.

  • (disco) in reply to PJH
    PJH:
    Michael_Mahn:
    "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Matthew 6:3

    Is that the bit in the Bible about onanism?

    Refusing to beget an heir in lieu of your deceased brother isn't mentioned in the Bible in context with hands.
  • (disco) in reply to PWolff

    You're overthinking my question....

  • (disco) in reply to PWolff

    Does anyone else cringe at the tracking pixel being pushed off screen?

    Surely dimensions of 0x0 should be sufficient.

  • (disco) in reply to isthisunique

    Some browsers used to ignore the dimensions set in the tag/CSS if it was broken.

  • (disco) in reply to isthisunique

    Well, only if Internet access isn't censored and you can search for the attributes of the img-tag.

    Edit:

    Zemm:
    Some browsers used to ignore the dimensions set in the tag/CSS if it was broken.
    Makes totally sense. And explains why not all people could reproduce it.
  • (disco)

    I'm still waiting for the part where someone writes an anonymous function that references local variables.

    The image was a nice touch.

  • (disco)

    IMO, TRWTF is that the dev assigned to fix the problem could not talk or coordinate with both the user reporting the issue and the group/team that was the source of the problem. Getting the marketing techie and the reporting user in the same room would have resolved this issue in 2 minutes, not the multiple years that it took for someone to break the AUP and change the marketing team's page.

  • (disco)

    I'd bet that the employee that HR refused to discipline on behalf of Greg was Jim. It sounds like Greg probably considered Jim insubordinate because he failed to follow his stupid decision and instead, you know, tried to fix the problem.

    At which point, HR and Greg found themselves in Greg's boss's office, explaining their sides, and the HR rep said something along the lines of "Sir, Greg wanted his employee disciplined for attempting to do his job to the best of his ability. We're confused as to why this request came in, to say the least." And the big boss had a bit more sense than Greg, and made what was plainly the right decision.

    As in, Jim probably owes somebody in HR lunch.

  • (disco)
    “Marketing is *never* wrong,”
    Tell that to your customers, too. It will be a bit more efficient if you hint they'll go to a concentration camp or the GULAG if they won't buy your product.

    Wouldn't it be easier if Our Beloved Leader / Big Brother / Democratically People-Elected President /State Council Chairman would declare that there is no bug and that 2+2==5?

  • (disco) in reply to EatenByAGrue
    EatenByAGrue:
    At which point, HR and Greg found themselves in Greg's boss's office, explaining their sides, and the HR rep said something along the lines of "Sir, Greg wanted his employee disciplined for attempting to do his job to the best of his ability. We're confused as to why this request came in, to say the least." And the big boss had a bit more sense than Greg, and made what was plainly the right decision.

    As in, Jim probably owes somebody in HR lunch.

    Or the opposite is true: someone in Marketing noticed the original comments left by Jim (any decent version/issue tracker refuses to write history of tickets) and complained to HR. HR then ordered Greg to give Jim a reprimande, which Greg refused. So Greg was sacked instead.

    That aside, it sounds like an absolutely horrible place to work.

  • (disco) in reply to More_Moschops

    Jim, if Marketing has a test server and source control, your "fix" is merely temporary.

  • (disco) in reply to AlexMedia

    That's not what the article says:

    HR refused to discipline one of his employees, so he quit on the spot. Said something about the company refusing to follow their own policies.

    Greg wanted the employee, whomever it was, disciplined, but HR refused. Greg wasn't sacked; he quit.

  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek

    Yes, the dreaded Lawful Stupid alignment.

  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek
    HardwareGeek:
    That's not what the article says: >HR refused to discipline one of his employees, so he quit on the spot. Said something about the company refusing to follow their own policies.

    Greg wanted the employee, whomever it was, disciplined, but HR refused. Greg wasn't sacked; he quit.

    Oh, whoops, I missed that bit. I got thrown off by Greg's earlier statement about 'not wanting HR to...'

    Good riddance, a lead like that is pretty shitty.

  • (disco) in reply to AlexMedia
    AlexMedia:
    Good riddance, a lead like that is pretty shitty.

    True, although we don't know whether that part of the story actually happened, or it's part of the embellishment.

  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek

    I would not be surprised if it actually happened. I have experienced people like that in my career.

  • (disco) in reply to AlexMedia

    Nor would I. Fortunately, I have no personal experience with such people, at least not anywhere near that extreme.

  • (disco) in reply to AlexMedia
    AlexMedia:
    I have experienced people like that in my career.

    I've not experienced such people directly, but they most certainly exist. I suspect that some of my current problems at work are caused by one such…

  • (disco) in reply to EatenByAGrue

    That sounds unlike any HR department at any company I've ever worked for. HR is not there for the benefit of the employees. Much the opposite.

  • (disco) in reply to BrianB_NY
    BrianB_NY:
    That sounds unlike any HR department at any company I've ever worked for. HR is not there for the benefit of the employees. Much the opposite.

    If they've got a chance to crap on exactly one of two employees, it's pretty random what actually happens. But some mid-level manager is no more insulated from the ravages of HR than any other employee: they're focused on covering the corporate ass when it comes to employment law, not on making managers invulnerable.

  • (disco) in reply to BrianB_NY

    If your company has a good excuse for getting rid of one of the following two employees, which one would you pick:

    • A peon who basically does as he's told, costing you, say, $70K a year
    • A mid-level manager who's being a jerk and stopping people from doing their job, costing you $130K a year

    It's an easy choice for HR, solely because of the numbers at the end of the descriptions above.

  • (disco)

    TRWTF is Jim thinking that a fix on the production server will solve the problem, when really it will regress when the new release is pushed.

    Because they are using source control, right?

  • (disco) in reply to RogerC
    RogerC:
    Jim, if Marketing has a test server and source control, your "fix" is merely temporary.
    Faffe:
    TRWTF is Jim thinking that a fix on the production server will solve the problem, when really it will regress when the new release is pushed.

    Because they are using source control, right?

    I'm just trying to imagine a marketing department that understands the concept of working with anything other than the live site…

  • (disco) in reply to EatenByAGrue
    EatenByAGrue:
    I'd bet that the employee that HR refused to discipline on behalf of Greg was Jim.

    You're so sharp I just cut myself on you!

  • (disco)

    I sense some confusion so I thought why not give closure in a language best equipped for it?

    <?php
$iniTech = function() {
    $jim = "minding business";
    $greg = "reading Business Week";
    $marketing = "clueless";
    $ticket8271 = "pending";
    $hr = "clueless";

    $story = [
        function() {
            return "Peaceful afternoon at IniTech";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$ticket) {
            $jim = "annoyed";
            $ticket = "still pending";
            return "Jim gets Ticket assigned";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$greg) {
            $jim = "determined";
            $greg = "annoyed";
            return "Jim wants Greg to tell marketing how to fix Ticket #8271";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$greg) {
            $jim = "dejected";
            $greg = "flexible";
            return "Greg tells Jim that marketing is always right";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$ticket8271, &$greg) {
            $jim = "being clever";
            $ticket8271 = "assigned to Greg with suggested solution";
            $greg = "not having it";
            return "Jim assigns the ticket to Greg along with a suggested solution";
        },
        function() use (&$ticket8271, &$greg) {
            $ticket8271 = "assigned to marketing with no solution";
            $greg = "indignant";
            return "Greg removes the solution and assigns the ticket to marketing";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$greg) {
            $jim = "outmaneuvered";
            $greg = "pissed";
            return "Greg tells Jim that telling marketing how to do stuff is not allowed";
        },
        function() {
            return "A new day at IniTech";
        },
        function() use (&$greg, &$hr) {
            $greg = "spiteful";
            $hr = "not having it";
            return "Greg wants to formally reprimand Jim but HR refuses";
        },
        function() use (&$greg, &$hr) {
            $greg = "gone";
            $hr = "clueless";
            return "Greg ragequits";
        },
        function() use (&$marketing, &$jim, &$ticket8271) {
            $jim = "unwitting";
            $marketing = "clueless like before";
            $ticket8271 = "back at Greg's";
            return "Marketing returns the ticket to Jim";
        },
        function() use (&$jim) {
            $jim = "hanzo";
            return "Jim uses Greg's credentials to fix the Pixel";
        },
        function() use (&$jim, &$ticket8271) {
            $jim = "relieved";
            $ticket8271 = "closed";
            return "Jim closes the ticket";
        }
    ];
    return function() use (&$jim, &$greg, &$marketing, &$ticket8271, &$hr, &$story) {
        $action = array_shift($story);
        if (!$action) return; // Fin

        $event = $action();
        return compact('jim', 'greg', 'marketing', 'marketing', 'ticket8271', 'hr', 'event');
    };
};

$tehStory = $iniTech();
while($scene = $tehStory()) {
    echo "
$scene[event]
Jim is $scene[jim]
Greg is $scene[greg]
Marketing is $scene[marketing]
HR is $scene[hr]
Ticket #8271 is $scene[ticket8271]

";
}

echo "End of story.";
  • (disco) in reply to gleemonk

    This superior effort deserves some reward, but all I have is a like button...

  • (disco)

    10,000 pixels off the screen, huh? Now that's really throwing the problem into someone else's ballpark.

  • (disco)

    What's wrong with

    <img src="original.png" onerror="this.src='data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACwAAAAAAQABAAA='" />
  • (disco) in reply to gleemonk

    Lots and lots of applause!

  • (disco) in reply to Michael_Mahn
    Michael_Mahn:
    "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" Matthew 6:3

    This shows how one can support almost anything with a (out-of-context) quote from the Bible.

  • (nodebb)

    Am I the only one thinking that Greg was responsible for that bug in the first place? And that policy as well - this way they'd be reliant on him alone to fix anything at all.

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