Godammed SDN

[The Spartan]

Sorry, I was thinking of Batman.

[Bakustra]

batman's pillow talk probably consists of him pretending he's batman

and doing the alfred thing in bed

pretty much a total buzzkill

[Veef]

does batman argue for himself or does he always appeal to authority

also can he stop the Other Kin roleplay

it's kind of annoying

[Zod]

does batman argue for himself or does he always appeal to authority

also can he stop the Other Kin roleplay

it's kind of annoying creepy

fixed that for you

[Agent Bert Macklin]

He is a very angry man. Which makes me sad.

He's a failed engineer. That's probably why. He's also in the IT field, I believe, and some of the people you talk to are just fucking stupid.

Edit: He couldn't handle engineering courses.

[Aaron]

Yeah, he answers phones

[The Spartan]

If I had to deal with customers on a regular basis (in something as stupifying to customers as IT) I'd probably end up climbing a clock tower.

As it is I find myself contemplating hidden, automated shotguns and flamethrowers to deal with some of the geniuses I encounter on my commute.

Edit: Of course, that's why passed all my engineering classes.

[Zod]

If I had to deal with customers on a regular basis (in something as stupifying to customers as IT) I'd probably end up climbing a clock tower.

As it is I find myself contemplating hidden, automated shotguns and flamethrowers to deal with some of the geniuses I encounter on my commute.

Edit: Of course, that's why passed all my engineering classes.

for about 9 months i used to work in a retail clothing store in one of the busiest areas in denver

i blame it for my cheerful disposition these days

[Veef]

He's a failed engineer

i'm a failed engineer ;-;

[Aaron]

He doesn't build plastic robots, and so no outlet for his frustated mechanical inklings.

[The Spartan]

for about 9 months i used to work in a retail clothing store in one of the busiest areas in denver

i blame it for my cheerful disposition these days

I did that for about 2 years cumulative in college and it left me miserable. If I had to do that professionally now... well, I'd be dead.

As it is I occasionally have to run around like a headless chicken trying to get various people to do something for me so I can get something sent on one of our testing runs and I hate those days. But that's made up for the days when I can sit in my cube and do design work or math and not have to deal with people.

That last little bit, the not deal with people part, can be partially blamed on having to work retail.

[Veef]

i don't really build robots anymore

i mostly buy the ones that are already built

[adr-admin]

does batman argue for himself or does he always appeal to authority

Most folks on sdn, are intellectual followers, not original thinkers.

I don't think guys like Batman can argue for themselves - they just don't understand the thought processes that went into the words they repeat. They can't defend it, and at the same time, don't have the foundation to understand why the arguments are flawed - meaning the debate is destined to go nowhere. They can't defeat you, and they won't know when you are defeating them.


The easiest way to tell a leader from a follower in this context? See if his or her opinions evolve over time. If they are static or go through revolutionary changes, you have a follower. That kind of change comes from following a new preacher, not understanding flaws and correcting/abandoning them.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

I worked with Geek Squad for 5 months and it sucked. The people were fine, except I kept wondering how they got viruses and then feeling like shit when I charged $200 to remove them.

[Aaron]

for about 9 months i used to work in a retail clothing store in one of the busiest areas in denver

i blame it for my cheerful disposition these days

I did that for about 2 years cumulative in college and it left me miserable. If I had to do that professionally now... well, I'd be dead.

As it is I occasionally have to run around like a headless chicken trying to get various people to do something for me so I can get something sent on one of our testing runs and I hate those days. But that's made up for the days when I can sit in my cube and do design work or math and not have to deal with people.

That last little bit, the not deal with people part, can be partially blamed on having to work retail.

OMG its Dilbert.

Also I am sad for veef not building.

[The Spartan]

OMG its Dilbert.

Except for the part where I feel rewarded, overall, by my job, don't have to wear a tie and I actually like my boss...

[Zod]

for about 9 months i used to work in a retail clothing store in one of the busiest areas in denver

i blame it for my cheerful disposition these days

I did that for about 2 years cumulative in college and it left me miserable. If I had to do that professionally now... well, I'd be dead.

As it is I occasionally have to run around like a headless chicken trying to get various people to do something for me so I can get something sent on one of our testing runs and I hate those days. But that's made up for the days when I can sit in my cube and do design work or math and not have to deal with people.

That last little bit, the not deal with people part, can be partially blamed on having to work retail.

the best part about working with retail customers is how everyone tries pulling a fast one on you and then badly pretends it wasn't totally transparent

i mean everyone

and you can't call any of them out on it or you could get fired

good times

[Veef]

Also I am sad for veef not building.

eh it's not biggie

i mean when CDX sends me a model i have fun building it for sure.

i just like toys more. they're more durable and come will all the bits pre-painted

plus a lot have them ratcheted joints

like sometimes just moving the foot on one of my Valkyrie toys feels so great

cause it makes neat, solid clicks

[The Spartan]

the best part about working with retail customers is how everyone tries pulling a fast one on you and then badly pretends it wasn't totally transparent

i mean everyone

and you can't call any of them out on it or you could get fired

good times

No the best part is the ones who don't even try to be transparent and flat out ask what you're going to give them so they'll buy whatever it is.

Had a customer that wanted sale price, plus another 10% off, plus a senior citizen discount of 10% on a treadmill. Then threw a hissy fit because I wouldn't give them all that. My manager was quite understanding. Of me, that is.

Then I had the ones like you describe to whom I couldn't give what they wanted... until they demanded to see a manager and got exactly what they wanted... :evil: On the other hand, at least I still got the commission from the sale.

[Zod]

the best part about working with retail customers is how everyone tries pulling a fast one on you and then badly pretends it wasn't totally transparent

i mean everyone

and you can't call any of them out on it or you could get fired

good times

No the best part is the ones who don't even try to be transparent and flat out ask what you're going to give them so they'll buy whatever it is.

Had a customer that wanted sale price, plus another 10% off, plus a senior citizen discount of 10% on a treadmill. Then threw a hissy fit because I wouldn't give them all that. My manager was quite understanding. Of me, that is.

Then I had the ones like you describe to whom I couldn't give what they wanted... until they demanded to see a manager and got exactly what they wanted... :evil: On the other hand, at least I still got the commission from the sale.

i had some guy demand that i write him up a receipt for some filthy coat so he could return it for cash like i supposedly did for my friends

and then there was the guy that accused me of being racist because i was required to count his clothing items to use the fitting rooms

or the lady that said i agreed to watch her things for her even though it never really happened

you really couldn't pay me to do customer service again

[zhaktronz]

PS America sucks.

Retail is balls here too, but turns out cant be instantly fired means sensible HR practices have come into use.

[The Spartan]

i had some guy demand that i write him up a receipt for some filthy coat so he could return it for cash like i supposedly did for my friends

and then there was the guy that accused me of being racist because i was required to count his clothing items to use the fitting rooms

or the lady that said i agreed to watch her things for her even though it never really happened

you really couldn't pay me to do customer service again

Fortunately, I never ran into anyone quite that crazy. Just the usual stupid, I'm-a-customer-and-always-right demands.

[adr-admin]

I get a lot of ridiculous stuff through my programming job too.

The hardest parts of this job is figuring out what the fuck people want. I get emails like

"the header is gorillaxors now just grill that link and yeah baby!"

so i ask "which link?"

and my favorite kind of reply "per my earlier email, i just want that link cooler"

oh my god.



Then, there's the contradictory requests:

"remove the confirmation screen"

later that day

"where did the confirmation screen go???"

later that day

"ugh i hate this confirmation screen. kill it."


Eventually, I often just ignore these requests. I could work for an hour, then work the next hour undoing it, or I could just not work the next two hours. Same difference. (unless I'm paid by the hour, but I usually prefer paid by the job).

Or, if that doesn't work, ditch the initial designs, discard their emails and do my own thing. When they switch back and forth like this, what they are really saying is "I want a good confirmation screen"

OHES NOES GOLDEN MEAN




Aaaand now the app is written, so the next source of pain comes up: bug reports! I hate the ones from the testers especially, because you'd expect the testers to be trained in making a decent bug report. Nope.

One from a company tester yesterday: "submit button is broken"

ok, there's like 50 submit buttons in the app. Which one? What did it do? What did you expect?



Then it turns out he hit submit, and it said "the name field is required" and sent him to enter a name instead of saving. In other words, it worked exactly like it should.

Often, I see the user's failing as my failing - if they can't figure it out, it's not because they are stupid. It's because I didn't do a very good job designing the interface, or one of the requirements defies logic; maybe a blank name should be acceptable.


But sometimes... man, users can be really stupid.


"I clicked the download to iCal link and it tried to download something to my iCal."

Actually reported as a bug.

[Zod]

i had some guy demand that i write him up a receipt for some filthy coat so he could return it for cash like i supposedly did for my friends

and then there was the guy that accused me of being racist because i was required to count his clothing items to use the fitting rooms

or the lady that said i agreed to watch her things for her even though it never really happened

you really couldn't pay me to do customer service again

Fortunately, I never ran into anyone quite that crazy. Just the usual stupid, I'm-a-customer-and-always-right demands.

the best part was the shoplifters

like the guys who tried claiming the underwear they stuffed down their pants wasn't theirs and they didn't know where it came from

or the girls that would throw themselves onto the ground when they got nabbed by security screaming they were pregnant

[Losonti Tokash]

why the hell is your store searching through people's pants or grabbing people