Why users Why?
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Why oh why can my users not get through their heads that lying to me only makes it harder to figure out the problem. You know the usual.. "I didn't go there, I didn't do anything blah blah" Had one today.. a program was not pulling proper updated pricing info from the database. First thing I asked was " did that just start today or has it been like that all week?(the pricing info is updated on Monday mornings only.) His answer was " just started today". So I spent a few minutews looking at the program to try and figure it out. Finally, after sticking my nose into the database it quickly became obvious that this past Monday's upload somehow was corrupted. No biggie really and easy to fix. BUT, it was painfully obvious that there was ZERO chance it has been working all week.. Zero, nada, zip, none.(the actual prices were MISSING from the Monday upload. all null values) no way in heck that it worked yesterday.. liar liar.. Which tells me that he wasn't doing squat all week...(home office salesman).. If he had just told me that he hadn't used it all week I would have looked there first as it happens occasionally on this patchwork home-built system. AAARRRGGGGG ! !
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
Hypothesis: He didn't "lie". You asked if it just started today, or if it's been like this all week. He didn't touch it until today. Therefore, it just started today because today was the first time he had reason to run the app. Next time, use this question: When was the last time you saw this work properly ?
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Hypothesis: He didn't "lie". You asked if it just started today, or if it's been like this all week. He didn't touch it until today. Therefore, it just started today because today was the first time he had reason to run the app. Next time, use this question: When was the last time you saw this work properly ?
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I am properly chastised
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
No chastisement intended. Hope I didn't come across that way. Just semantics and logistics and so on. People (i.e., the users) don't think of a database as having a human component; despite the fact that a human probably does something to your database every single day (if not every single hour). Nerds, on the other hand think of it as a living organism.
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No chastisement intended. Hope I didn't come across that way. Just semantics and logistics and so on. People (i.e., the users) don't think of a database as having a human component; despite the fact that a human probably does something to your database every single day (if not every single hour). Nerds, on the other hand think of it as a living organism.
C-P-User-3 wrote:
No chastisement intended.
I was more being a smarta** :-D as for the rest, Actually while I take your point, in this particular case the only live human that EVER touches the databases here is me. However, the corruption occasionally comes from the hack job previous people did on their so called software. I haven't had the time to be arsed with redoing it as it is getting replaced soon with some sure enough professional stuff.
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
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C-P-User-3 wrote:
No chastisement intended.
I was more being a smarta** :-D as for the rest, Actually while I take your point, in this particular case the only live human that EVER touches the databases here is me. However, the corruption occasionally comes from the hack job previous people did on their so called software. I haven't had the time to be arsed with redoing it as it is getting replaced soon with some sure enough professional stuff.
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
A database not touched by a human is probably pointless!!! To be clear the database is only touched by human in roundabout indirect ways, through layer of programs! ;)
My programming get away... The Blog... DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
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Why oh why can my users not get through their heads that lying to me only makes it harder to figure out the problem. You know the usual.. "I didn't go there, I didn't do anything blah blah" Had one today.. a program was not pulling proper updated pricing info from the database. First thing I asked was " did that just start today or has it been like that all week?(the pricing info is updated on Monday mornings only.) His answer was " just started today". So I spent a few minutews looking at the program to try and figure it out. Finally, after sticking my nose into the database it quickly became obvious that this past Monday's upload somehow was corrupted. No biggie really and easy to fix. BUT, it was painfully obvious that there was ZERO chance it has been working all week.. Zero, nada, zip, none.(the actual prices were MISSING from the Monday upload. all null values) no way in heck that it worked yesterday.. liar liar.. Which tells me that he wasn't doing squat all week...(home office salesman).. If he had just told me that he hadn't used it all week I would have looked there first as it happens occasionally on this patchwork home-built system. AAARRRGGGGG ! !
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
Always allow them to save face Don't expect perfect memory about unimportant things Discreetly double-check all user information before relying on it Learn to ask the right questions
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Hypothesis: He didn't "lie". You asked if it just started today, or if it's been like this all week. He didn't touch it until today. Therefore, it just started today because today was the first time he had reason to run the app. Next time, use this question: When was the last time you saw this work properly ?
Perzakerly. That user is, even as we speak, writing a message to the HOS message board, entitled "Why, support staff, Why?"
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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C-P-User-3 wrote:
No chastisement intended.
I was more being a smarta** :-D as for the rest, Actually while I take your point, in this particular case the only live human that EVER touches the databases here is me. However, the corruption occasionally comes from the hack job previous people did on their so called software. I haven't had the time to be arsed with redoing it as it is getting replaced soon with some sure enough professional stuff.
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
gavindon wrote:
it is getting replaced soon
How many times have I heard those words...?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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gavindon wrote:
it is getting replaced soon
How many times have I heard those words...?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
nope, paperwork has been signed, money has changed hands, and their techs are scheduled to be onsite soon. this one is real(for once, because I too have heard those words..)
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
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A database not touched by a human is probably pointless!!! To be clear the database is only touched by human in roundabout indirect ways, through layer of programs! ;)
My programming get away... The Blog... DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
ok, the database is only touched DIRECTLY by me... :-D
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away. Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.