More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

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evol262: Nov 30, 2010; #!/usr/bin/perl

EoRaptor posted:

Nah it's fine. A corporation is an unfeeling sociopath (by design!) so you shouldn't care about its needs or wants or future, because it sure doesn't care about yours, and will actively work to destroy you if it could get even the slightest benefit from it.

Good people can work at a company, but the way we setup the laws that govern capitalism mean that companies are most successful when they are unfeeling, uncaring entities.

evol262 posted:

I get that SH/SC broadly thinks that every company is out to screw over their employees and customers for minimal gain, but that's just as untrue as the converse. There's a difference between handling companies (or your employer) adversarially and treating them like the literal incarnation of objectivism.

Companies don't actively work to destroy people. Assholes who work at companies work to destroy people. Don't anthropomorphize companies and blame them for the dickish behavior of the people who work for them. A company can be an unfeeling sociopath when it's acting as a legal entity, but "actively working to destroy" its staff is cutting off its nose to spite its face. This isn't how companies or capitalism work.

You're not gonna work for Boeing for 40 years and retire like other generations, but it's not as bad as the jaded, world-weary, goony desk warriors want you to believe. You pretty much have to company swap to get anywhere because your employer isn't going to give you large raises and promotions internally when they know they can give you a $5k bump. That doesn't mean they're going to cut your throat because some other guy will do your job for :10bux:

less.

Dick Trauma posted:

My brother asked "is there anything you can do to get them to fire you?" and I figured, yes, lots.

I feel a little better now. The CEO's assistant sent me some really nice emails. I'll get started on my LinkedIn/Monster/Dice stuff in the next couple of days. Thank you all for listening to what is now multiple years of work horror.

Sorry to hear about this. The Linkedin group is actually not a bad networking suggestion, nor is the jobs thread here.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 01:17

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# ? May 14, 2024 20:56

Weatherman: Jul 30, 2003; WARBLEKLONK

Comedy "apply for the new position at $40k more" option :v:

# ? Nov 27, 2014 01:27

hihifellow: Jun 17, 2005; seriously where the fuck did this genre come from

Dick Trauma posted:

My brother asked "is there anything you can do to get them to fire you?" and I figured, yes, lots.

I feel a little better now. The CEO's assistant sent me some really nice emails. I'll get started on my LinkedIn/Monster/Dice stuff in the next couple of days. Thank you all for listening to what is now multiple years of work horror.

As someone who quit by post-it-note, I emphasize. In hindsight, I regret quitting the way I did, but do not regret quitting. It sounds like your job was even more toxic than mine, so good on you for putting your health and well-being ahead of being these people's IT scapegoat. Enjoy the feeling of waking up tomorrow knowing you won't have to put up with any more of their BS.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:04

Raerlynn: Oct 28, 2007; Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life.

Over/under on the VP calling him Friday when they realize how hosed they are? Or comedy option, demanding he come back to work?

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:12

Che Delilas: Nov 23, 2009; FREE TIBET WEED

Raerlynn posted:

Over/under on the VP calling him Friday when they realize how hosed they are? Or comedy option, demanding he come back to work?

As nice a fantasy as it is to imagine the place burning down around them without you there, it really doesn't happen that way. Even if their network catastrophically fails and nobody there has the ability to fix it, what's far more likely is that they pay some consulting company through the nose for an emergency fix, while holding up DT as a scapegoat.

What's much more likely than that is that normal problems happen, someone still at the company is tasked with fixing it on top of their other work, and the business rumbles on.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:20

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

They'll be fine. I put good systems in place that are proven reliable. They felt I had no value despite years of hard work and clear results. That won't change.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:23

SubjectVerbObject: Jul 27, 2009

evol262 posted:

Companies don't actively work to destroy people. Assholes who work at companies work to destroy people. Don't anthropomorphize companies and blame them for the dickish behavior of the people who work for them. A company can be an unfeeling sociopath when it's acting as a legal entity, but "actively working to destroy" its staff is cutting off its nose to spite its face. This isn't how companies or capitalism work.

You're not gonna work for Boeing for 40 years and retire like other generations, but it's not as bad as the jaded, world-weary, goony desk warriors want you to believe. You pretty much have to company swap to get anywhere because your employer isn't going to give you large raises and promotions internally when they know they can give you a $5k bump. That doesn't mean they're going to cut your throat because some other guy will do your job for less.

I realize that this is a better topic for D&D, and that things are not black and white and you are trying to give a different perspective, but when you are in an industry (telecom) that has had massive outsourcing to save a buck, and you support companies that use their phone systems to outsource whole swaths of their business to save a buck, you become a jaded, world-weary, goony desk warrior.

I get it. There is still opportunity here, especially if you are in an industry that is expanding. It's a game of hot potato though. If you get stuck somewhere that is affected at a macro level, you are looking at a change of career or at least location.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:37

Dick Trauma: Nov 30, 2007; God damn it, you've got to be kind.

I just watched this and much like the subject of the video feel a whole lot better: http://youtu.be/YraqQabax8A

# ? Nov 27, 2014 02:58

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

Dick Trauma posted:

I just watched this and much like the subject of the video feel a whole lot better: http://youtu.be/YraqQabax8A

Biggest fart ever? Please, that wouldn't even make my top ten for the week.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 03:26

myron cope: Apr 21, 2009

I have to work tomorrow night and Friday night, 11p-7a. I don't necessarily have a problem with overnight, just the whole idea is pretty dumb. We're a chain of discount stores. There are no black friday sales. There are no sales of basically any kind. There was minimal advertising that they're even loving open 24 hours. Not only 24 hours but they open tomorrow at 11am.

We don't have families or anything. Nobody who makes the decision to have the store open like this has to actually do anything with it. They get to sit at home.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 04:29

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

hihifellow posted:

As someone who quit by post-it-note, I emphasize. In hindsight, I regret quitting the way I did, but do not regret quitting. It sounds like your job was even more toxic than mine, so good on you for putting your health and well-being ahead of being these people's IT scapegoat. Enjoy the feeling of waking up tomorrow knowing you won't have to put up with any more of their BS.

I had a boss tell me he was grooming me for an even more senior role. Then he started canceling our biweekly meetings. After a few of those I sent him an email stating that if this happened again there would be consequences. Two weeks later he cancels our scheduled meeting with, as usual, no notice. To interview someone for the position he was grooming me for. I went out on the production floor, found him giving my replacement a tour, confirmed the situation, and told him "You have my notice". He asked what I meant. I said I don't work here anymore and went and told the HR manager. I came in the next day to pick up the rest of my stuff (books, action figures, etc.) and get my check. She tried to get me to sign a statement that I quit without notice, I told her I'd told my boss in writing that poo poo was about to go down.

That job went from a bunch of fun, creative people. You know the saying "don't quit your day job ?" We had a bunch of writers, musicians, actors, and whatnot there. Great crew. When someone left we'd throw a going away party at our favorite bar. Then upper management did a heel turn and we started saying congratulations when people left. I got dirty looks from the HR manager a couple of times for doing that in front of her. About six months after I left I turned up at her going away party and she took me aside and apologized for those dirty looks. She said she felt ten years younger after giving her notice.

Some places really are actively evil. Also have six months living expenses in the bank at all times.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 04:50

Weatherman: Jul 30, 2003; WARBLEKLONK

mllaneza posted:

I had a boss tell me he was grooming me for an even more senior role. Then he started canceling our biweekly meetings. After a few of those I sent him an email stating that if this happened again there would be consequences.

I'm not sure I follow here. You told your superior that you would punish him for cancelling meetings? :confused:

And then you quit over it? Is there some backstory that I missed?

# ? Nov 27, 2014 14:04

luminalflux: May 27, 2005

mllaneza posted:

I came in the next day to pick up the rest of my stuff (books, action figures, etc.) and get my check. She tried to get me to sign a statement that I quit without notice, I told her I'd told my boss in writing that poo poo was about to go down.

Things might be different where you are, but in my staff handbook it actually specifies the format of giving notice, which is basically "I, <name> with national ID number <blah>, resign from my position at <company>. Signed, ______ <date> <city>".

Saying "bad things will happen" would be interpreted by me as a threat, not a notice.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 14:36

TehRedWheelbarrow: Mar 16, 2011; Fan of Britches

luminalflux posted:

Saying "bad things will happen" would be interpreted by me as a threat, not a notice.

I completely guarantee that if i said that at my office someone would report it to someone for sure.

it does sound like a threat

:ssh:

# ? Nov 27, 2014 14:54

Exit Strategy: Dec 10, 2010; by sebmojo

I've had to cut off yet another customer from the ability to submit urgent tickets. Overnight, they submitted twenty urgents about their server being down. Statistical analysis of their ticket history shows 174 tickets submitted, 120 of them urgent-level, and all of those are either not our problem or a lack of patience on their part - Mostly "I changed the DNS settings for a domain ten seconds ago WHY ISN'T IT PROPAGATED YET".

Upon investigation, their datacenter had power issues for twenty minutes because of an accident involving their backup generators and a semitrailer. Nothing to do with us.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 17:30

skooma512: Feb 8, 2012; You couldn't grok my race car, but you dug the roadside blur.

myron cope posted:

I have to work tomorrow night and Friday night, 11p-7a. I don't necessarily have a problem with overnight, just the whole idea is pretty dumb. We're a chain of discount stores. There are no black friday sales. There are no sales of basically any kind. There was minimal advertising that they're even loving open 24 hours. Not only 24 hours but they open tomorrow at 11am.

We don't have families or anything. Nobody who makes the decision to have the store open like this has to actually do anything with it. They get to sit at home.

It does make it very hard to enjoy the holiday season when every podunk retailer is clacking their mandibles loudly and excitedly in anticipation of our money. Probably the only reason it's a federal holiday anymore is because it makes people buy their head off.

I guess they think that by simply being open they'll be flooded with shoppers desperate to purchase something, anything.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 18:25

mllaneza: Apr 28, 2007; Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952

Weatherman posted:

I'm not sure I follow here. You told your superior that you would punish him for cancelling meetings? And then you quit over it? Is there some backstory that I missed?

Lots and lots and lots of fuckery from management. I could have handled it better, it was a long time ago and I've grown a lot since. But let's face it, when your boss starts shutting you out, breaking written promises, lying on an annual review, refusing to fix it, and then bringing in someone to replace you, I was on my way out anyway.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 18:28

Farecoal: Oct 15, 2011; There he go

evol262 posted:

Companies don't actively work to destroy people. Assholes who work at companies work to destroy people. Don't anthropomorphize companies and blame them for the dickish behavior of the people who work for them. A company can be an unfeeling sociopath when it's acting as a legal entity, but "actively working to destroy" its staff is cutting off its nose to spite its face. This isn't how companies or capitalism work.

You're not gonna work for Boeing for 40 years and retire like other generations, but it's not as bad as the jaded, world-weary, goony desk warriors want you to believe. You pretty much have to company swap to get anywhere because your employer isn't going to give you large raises and promotions internally when they know they can give you a $5k bump. That doesn't mean they're going to cut your throat because some other guy will do your job for less.

I'm sorry DT, and I sincerely hope you find a job where you actually get respect

Farecoal fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Nov 27, 2014

# ? Nov 27, 2014 20:24

The Electronaut: May 10, 2009

Crowley posted:

Update to my PowerShell rant:

You're a great bunch of people, and with your helpful hints for which commands to use, and how to truncate the fields I wound up with this.
code:
### Define Variables before we start ###
$InputFile="C:\_\Input.xml"
$OutputFile="c:\_\OutPut.csv"

### Open XML Document ###
$xml = New-Object -TypeName XML
$xml.Load($InputFile)

### Get AD User object from contents ###
$ReadDepartment = $xml.ROWSET.ROW.JOB_ROW.JOB_ROW_ROW.BRUGERID -replace "^.*?\\" | Get-ADUser | Select-Object DistinguishedName

### Truncate field to only show department ###
$ReadDepartment = $ReadDepartment -replace "^.*?OU="
$ReadDepartment = $ReadDepartment -replace ",OU=Bleh,OU=Blah,OU=Blurgh,DC=internal,DC=blarg,DC=dk}"

### Write output file ###
$ReadDepartment | Out-File $OutputFile
17 lines to read an XML-file, extract the data field I need, truncate it, match the data against AD and grab the OU I need, then stuff it all into a file again.

Powershell is pretty impressive.

Just heads up, you could truncate the import of the XML to [XML]$xmlvar = gc .\import.xml

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:37

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

mllaneza posted:

I had a boss tell me he was grooming me for an even more senior role. Then he started canceling our biweekly meetings. After a few of those I sent him an email stating that if this happened again there would be consequences. Two weeks later he cancels our scheduled meeting with, as usual, no notice. To interview someone for the position he was grooming me for. I went out on the production floor, found him giving my replacement a tour, confirmed the situation, and told him "You have my notice". He asked what I meant. I said I don't work here anymore and went and told the HR manager. I came in the next day to pick up the rest of my stuff (books, action figures, etc.) and get my check. She tried to get me to sign a statement that I quit without notice, I told her I'd told my boss in writing that poo poo was about to go down.

This might be the most goony quitting fan fic of all time.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:58

Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

This might be the most goony quitting fan fic of all time.

Once again I find that we think alike. What a bizarre post.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 00:00

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

This might be the most goony quitting fan fic of all time.

How's things going at your job now?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 00:36

GOOCHY: Sep 17, 2003; In an interstellar burst I'm back to save the universe!

Collecting action figures from his desk was a nice touch of flair. I like it.

Nobody is taking me seriously.

*grabs Spawn action figures and storms out *

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:29

MC Fruit Stripe: Nov 26, 2002; around and around we go

As Misato said to Shinji in his darkest hour,

Thanks Ants posted:

How's things going at your job now?

I'm as on the fence as anyone can be. I am decently paid, and I get to work on some cool projects, and I have a ton of free time and can do really whatever I want because I work from home*. I will give up that freedom in time, I just don't know when that'll be. * - 2nd edit: I sit on conference calls with my phone muted, either sim racing, watching an IT video, watching TV, etc. These are small things, but you can't do this at a real job. Of course, real jobs don't have as many useless conference calls as I do - I waste half of my day in meetings about projects instead of working on projects. But if I have to spend my day in those meetings, if this is what working up the ladder is, delegating to people instead of working myself, then I might as well be sim racing in the background instead of sitting in a cubicle drawing on a post-it note.

MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Nov 28, 2014

# ? Nov 28, 2014 03:07

evobatman: Jul 30, 2006; it means nothing, but says everything!; Pillbug

GOOCHY posted:

*grabs Spawn action figures and storms out *

How did you know?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 09:56

Westie: May 30, 2013; Baboon Simulator

poo poo that's pissing me off: 3rd party warehouse companies!

I've developed a piece of software that talks to a warehouse to ship things to people. And uh, it hasn't been plain sailing, thanks to the use of a contractor who just upped and left everyone in the poo poo (as you do) at the end of your time.

One of the gems is that the order submission process was half finished near the time the site went live, there was a garguantian effort by ourselves and the warehouse developers to get everything working perfect.

However there were still some weird problems. (went on about in IRC for those who may think this is familiar)

You cannot send more than one order in the same request. The structure (CSV!) allows it, however their engine doesn't. If you send 20 items of order #1 and 15 items of order #2 (etc) then only #1 will be processed.
You cannot send the request in the same second, otherwise the shipment request will be overwritten. The second was my guess, but the overwritten bit was what the 3rd party developer said. The fix (as someone on IRC rightly pointed out) is sleep(1).
I'm not sure if this is still the case, but tracking numbers would be blank for what seems like no reason at all.
Sometimes shipments come back, with information saying that this particular consignment was shipped... in October. Well, not October but another month whose name I've made anonymous to hide the guilty.
CSV information from 3rd party server is not escaped at all - an address contains a comma and this line breaks. woo!

# ? Nov 28, 2014 11:14

Ataraxia: Jun 15, 2001; Champion of nothing.

I can understand wanting systems locked down, but this is a new one

quote:

boss: [client] still dont understand it
boss: i think the fact it is called Open VPN concerns them a bit

We can call it Closed VPN if that helps?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 13:51

MrMoo: Sep 14, 2000

We have that too in finance land, solution present the product as "Secure VPN".

# ? Nov 28, 2014 16:01

ookiimarukochan: Apr 4, 2011

If they've been reading the news this year, it's the fact that it's an SSL based VPN solution that should be worrying them.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 16:05

Zamujasa: Oct 27, 2010; Bread Liar

Dick Trauma posted:

This morning I have to work on my new boss's PC. There's a spreadsheet on the keyboard of open positions. At the top "VP, IT" with a salary more than twice mine and a $30k signing bonus.

Nice. My friend ended up finding out similar information. Her position has a massive backlog of work because sales adds new tasks faster than they can be completed. Company finally hires on a new guy to help catch up.

Turns out the new guy is from the CFO's other company, and is getting paid over twice what my friend makes. And they want my friend to train him. :cripes:

# ? Nov 28, 2014 17:38

Scaramouche: Mar 26, 2001; SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

aaaaaaaahhhhh black friday aahhhhhhhhhhhhh

# ? Nov 28, 2014 21:29

KozmoNaut: Apr 23, 2008; Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle

Scaramouche posted:

aaaaaaaahhhhh black friday aahhhhhhhhhhhhh

I bought a Chromebook and LEGO Batman 3, each for 30% off online. Ain't no way I'm venturing into an actual store today.

And I'm in Denmark, for crying out loud, this shouldn't even be happening.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 21:46

Scaramouche: Mar 26, 2001; SPACE FACE! SPACE FACE!

It's more that one of our projects is a website that sells jewelry and for some reason there's more shopper activity on it today than other ays.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 22:10

KozmoNaut: Apr 23, 2008; Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle

Oh yeah, two of the small-fry, but relatively popular hardware/software web stores went down right after midnight and they still weren't up at noon. I can imagine how the admins must feel right now.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 22:17

Roargasm: Oct 21, 2010; Hate to sound sleazy
But tease me
I don't want it if it's that easy

Doing a little but of work from home on the VPN, messing with a switch and I disabled ports 6-10, 20-24, 4[4...]-46

I am no longer working from home :eng99:

# ? Nov 30, 2014 19:05

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

I have done the "saw off the branch you're sitting on" thing so many times with network equipment.

# ? Nov 30, 2014 19:22

DrAlexanderTobacco: Jun 11, 2012; Help me find my true dharma

I was uninstalling shitloads of stuff from a client's machine, as they were moving to a hosted environment.

First thing I uninstalled was Teamviewer :negative:

# ? Nov 30, 2014 19:35

Super Slash: Feb 20, 2006; You rang ?

Scaramouche posted:

aaaaaaaahhhhh black friday aahhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm surprised it came over here in England, and being an employment law company meant that retailers are too busy selling to call up about issues and be bothered about sales calls. This meant that one of the younger marketing/sales dudes was at a loose end with nothing to do, so I sent him around finishing off my side jobs with peoples machines since he's a bit of a techie. :getin:

# ? Nov 30, 2014 19:56

xiw: Sep 25, 2011; i wake up at night
night action madness nightmares
maybe i am scum
Cpig Haiku contest 2020 winner

We have 20 people in a meeting about sales people tracking estimates in our time tool. 6 people care about it. Devs are sneaking out to get their phones - I dunno why they are coming back. Perhaps the apocalypse is happening and it's better in here. Send help.

# ? Nov 30, 2014 22:53

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# ? May 14, 2024 20:56

Dave_Indeed: Feb 22, 2004; by FactsAreUseless

Stepping into someone elses project after they hosed up and pissed everyone off over the last 6 months. Ask what the expected behavior is and what is happening and receive a 3rd grade interpretation. Ask the developer what the expected behavior is and get the real answer. Take findings to the state of Utah and they ask what IP address I want to white list...

...tell original engineer they are a loving idiot.

# ? Dec 1, 2014 04:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > More shit that pisses you off: What does that say about the quality of your emails?

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