Bad memories...



  • Part of my job recently has been designing, developing, and implementing a scheduling application to be used throughout our stores/intranet/etc - dispite the fact that there are several extremely good commercial products out there, but that isn't the issue... nope. This is merely the platform for the issue!

    After having launched the Scheduler in a "beta" test to get feedback from the store managers, I thought things were going rather swimmingly; no major complaints, and any issues were simple and no problem to resolve. After an entire month of Scheduler testing, I got a very urgent email requesting an extremely important "change" to the scheduler:

     (name changed to protect the upset)

      I have a team member, Fannie Mae, that is very upset over the new scheduler and requests a very important change.
       Her given name is Fannie and it is a very bad memory name that she would rather forget and does not want to see it on her schedule every week, the other team members are asking her about it and it is not good.
        Can you please get her name changed on it so it say Jeanie Mae and not Fannie.
        this one is really important.
        thanks

     

    After my initial "WTF?" I stopped and thought about the request for a minute.. Here is someone actually requesting that I change the scheduler to make it show ONE person's name differently.. And well, you might think that would be a simple task, right? Not so much since all employee info gets taken directly from .... Human Resources and their software! I know i know.. its coming.. The REAL WTF here is that EVERYONE gets a chance to specify a nickname, which the HR software fully supports, which our systems read, thus if she had actually bothered to specify this important detail, all of this pain and anguish could have been averted.. I, being the wonderfully nice person that I am, double checked her records and amazingly, no nickname was specified in the system. Imagine that!

     Personally I would figure anyone who's name caused them so much agony would surely change it?? right??  

     This might not be the greatest WTF but it is the sidebar, so WTF ever!



  •  This is why I've always believed that it should be acceptable, according to company policy, for emails replies from IT to contain the words "for fuck's sake".



  • Dear Jeanie Mae,

    Due to the way the scheduler works all employee information comes from the HR Department.  I've noticed that you have not specified a nickname in their system. The simplest way to resolve this situation would be to contact HR and have them add a nickname to your record.  This would resolve the issue with the scheduler, without affecting payroll, etc 



  •  Again, I am not sure this is a WTF moment.  Lots of users have no specific knowledge of where systems get their data.  I often get requests where someone spends 2 paragraphs explaining how they want to do something that they think must be a "big, complicated project", but at the end of the day it involves just changing some data somewhere (as in this case).

    A "WTF" would be if the HR system has a nickname column but it is not used, and instead name exceptions are hard-coded in application code somewhere.  (If userID=1 then name="skippy" else if userID = 3 then name="pudge" ... etc ...)



  • @Jeff S said:

    Again, I am not sure this is a WTF moment
    Did you say that earlier in this thread and delete your own post?



  •  @belgariontheking said:

    @Jeff S said:

    Again, I am not sure this is a WTF moment
    Did you say that earlier in this thread and delete your own post?

    actually, that was a just poor wording on my part, meant to say that I agree with the previous comment that it's not really a big deal.

    EDIT: Also, now that I think about it, it may have been me subconsciously typing the word "again..." because about 5% of the sidebar WTF's are actually WTFs ....



  • @neuralfraud said:

     I have a team member, Fannie Mae, that is very upset over the new scheduler and requests a very important change.
       Her given name is Fannie and it is a very bad memory name that she would rather forget and does not want to see it on her schedule every week, the other team members are asking her about it and it is not good.

    I know it was an annonymized name ... but if I were called "Freddie Mac" I'd also rather forget I got that name. ;)


  • @Jeff S said:

    (If userID=1 then name="skippy" else if userID = 3 then name="pudge" ... etc ...)
     

    Yay me!.... Totally off topic, but the CTO at my last company decided that because everyone called me by my nickname (there were 3 people in my office, out of 20 that shared my name), that he made me my own skippy@yourcompany.com email alias. Half the company didn't even know my real name because of this, and they even referred to me by my nickname to clients.



  • We got so many of these types of requests where I work that we added a new resolution type to our work order software:

    "Work to be done by Requestor."

    We relish using it.



  • @skippy said:

    @Jeff S said:

    (If userID=1 then name="skippy" else if userID = 3 then name="pudge" ... etc ...)

    Yay me!.... Totally off topic, but the CTO at my last company decided that because everyone called me by my nickname (there were 3 people in my office, out of 20 that shared my name), that he made me my own skippy@yourcompany.com email alias. Half the company didn't even know my real name because of this, and they even referred to me by my nickname to clients.


    I used to work in the tourism industry, and only about half our drivers were known by their first names. One nickname I will always remember is Slash, and it was always very disconcerting to answer the phone and hear "Hi, it's Loser here" - lovely guy, but somehow everything that could go wrong for him did...



  • Is it me, or should this person just grow the fuck up? I can understand having been tortured by a dumb name as a kid, but really, by the time you're an adult and working a full-time job, shouldn't you have gotten over it?



  • @dcardani said:

    Is it me, or should this person just grow the fuck up? I can understand having been tortured by a dumb name as a kid, but really, by the time you're an adult and working a full-time job, shouldn't you have gotten over it?
    Sometimes its not that easy. Sometimes parents have really bad ideas when they name their kids, say, naming their son María, or their daughter Johnnie.

    Even uglier cases would be rural people who get ugly names like "Crisoforo", "Secundino" or some weird name from some lame soap-opera. Of course, if you've been saddled with an ugly name, you can actually change it, given evidence that the name's just plain rude (or ugly.)



  • @danixdefcon5 said:

    @dcardani said:

    Is it me, or should this person just grow the fuck up? I can understand having been tortured by a dumb name as a kid, but really, by the time you're an adult and working a full-time job, shouldn't you have gotten over it?
    Sometimes its not that easy. Sometimes parents have really bad ideas when they name their kids, say, naming their son María, or their daughter Johnnie.

    Even uglier cases would be rural people who get ugly names like "Crisoforo", "Secundino" or some weird name from some lame soap-opera. Of course, if you've been saddled with an ugly name, you can actually change it, given evidence that the name's just plain rude (or ugly.)

    And then there are names that are just fine by themselves, but a problem when used in combination. For example, "Mellow" is a perfectly good last name, and "Marsha" is a perfectly good first name.



  • At least no one names their kid anything stupid anymore: Apple, Audio Science, Kal-el, Pilot Inspektor, Brooklyn, Romeo or Cruz.

     

     

    Wow I almost forgot Moon Unit and Dweezil 



  • The name you anonymized - was it by chance Sex Fruit or Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii?



  • @DeLos said:

    At least no one names their kid anything stupid anymore: Apple, Audio Science, Kal-el, Pilot Inspektor, Brooklyn, Romeo or Cruz.

    Ah, but..There was something in the paper the other day about some actor named Morrow, named his daugher "Tu".

    What a twat.

     



  • @upsidedowncreature said:

    There was something in the paper the other day about some actor named Morrow, named his daugher "Tu".
    She's destined to become a baseball pitcher.



  •  Major Major Major Major



  • @Eternal Density said:

    @upsidedowncreature said:
    There was something in the paper the other day about some actor named Morrow, named his daugher "Tu".
    She's destined to become a baseball pitcher.

    You forgot to duck.  *throws food at Eternal Density*


  • Re: Dave Schmucker $$$$$$$$$$$$$ CONTACT ME ASAP $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    @turbo87 said:

    Please contact me, it is very important for u to contact me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Dave Schmucker     941-993-2590      dave_schmucker@yahoo.com

     

    I called the number provided and was at first delighted to hear the soft moaning of Wanda.  I then only realized that your name was Dave and that I must have messed up while pressing the numbers.  After speaking with Wanda again for several hours I gave up trying to contact you.  Dave, if we must speak ASAP you really should provide a better number.


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