Valid Defect
As I have stated before, I work with a variety of geeks. Everyone on my immediate team is generally well adjusted. The same can't be said for the developers with whom we work. They are nice guys, but not always well adjusted. As we are rapidly approaching our Beta 1 ship date, with slips occurring, but not being welcome, you can imagine the stress level of all involved. The developers are more stressed than my team, which is understandable. It turns out in the world of geeks and nerd, when push comes to shove and something has to go, personal hygiene and civility seem to rank on the same level. Civility, I understand (I hate it, but I understand it), personal hygiene, however, I've had to adjust to. Some of the guys I work with, however, are lacking in both — generally.
One such individual, we shall call him SmellySmurf (I hate this name, if I mention him in future posts I'll have to come up with a better name), is a fellow I tend to avoid simply because his office doesn't smell all that nice, and his communication skills are a little sub-par. In addition to this, he thinks he's a genius. Now, he's smart, for sure. I would even venture to say he's very smart. However, he does not get my top vote for Smartest Guy in the Office. No, that distinction is shared between UberGeek (never before mentioned herein), GermanGuy, and GoteeBoy. Frankly, I cower in the shadow of their brilliance.
Tuesday I found a very interesting bug, which I discussed with Carnivore. He agreed that it was odd, and directed me to talk with SmellySmurf. Joy. I logged the bug, then went and talked to him. Unfortunately, I was having a retarded moment, so I referred to the speed on the network card (which is in GHz) as the memory. Now, as we're all computer dorks here, he should have been able to extrapolate what I meant. Tragically, he is lacking in social skills in general, and when I was chatting with him I said memory (again). To which he replied in a superior I-don't-have-time-to-teach-the-likes-of-you-everything-you-should-already-know-about-computers tone of voice, "There is no such thing as memory on a network card. It's speed." Well, duh. We all know that, thank you for insulting my intelligence. You shall now pay for this.
Later I was working on the machine that was having problems when he came over to me and asked me a question about my machine. I explained it to him, at which point he said, "So, the problem is with the machine? I can't do anything about that." Then he shrugged and said smugly, "So, it's not a valid defect."
Oh, no you didn't! Not only had he insulted my intelligence earlier, but he was now telling me that because he didn't want to fix the problem that it wasn't valid. I have never been emotionally attached to a bug before, but he had raised my ire to the point where I was going to make awfully sure he had to fix this bug as soon as possible. "No." I told him, "It is a valid bug. What if our users have the same problem and solution on their box? We can't just tell them it's not going to work."
He didn't like that answer, which was evidenced when he took the only recourse he could, he reassigned the bug back to me with the request for more info, he needed to see the box (that I had spent - literally - all day fixing) in the exact same state it was when the problem occurred. I got that request at 5:30, and I wasn't staying to do his bidding  though I'm sure he was hoping I would.
This morning I rolled up my sleeves and proceeded to break the box that I had fixed the day before. This time however I was armed with the exact two things one needs to be armed with in this situation: (1) The knowledge of precisely what went wrong, how it was fixed, and how to unfix it; and (2) Someone else who is a guy and therefore must know what they are talking about to explain the problem to SmellySmurf.
I returned my box to the desired broken state, and when SmellySmurf took a look at it all he could do was determine that it was, in fact, a valid bug. Ungh! Take that! He spent the better part of his day today working on it, and at this posting we think he may have it fixed. Wonderful.
Now, I just wish that he would acknowledge that it was a valid bug from the start, and realize that there is no call for being a condescending jerk to yours truly.
The moral of this story? No one, but no one maliciously slanders Granola and gets away with it. There will always be pay back, and when it happens you'll rue the day you messed with me. I was really pleased that he got his comeuppance so quickly, despite the fact that he doesn't think he did a thing wrong. Thankfully, I don't have to go back into his office for the rest of the day. My olfactory glands are singing my praises as I type this.
One such individual, we shall call him SmellySmurf (I hate this name, if I mention him in future posts I'll have to come up with a better name), is a fellow I tend to avoid simply because his office doesn't smell all that nice, and his communication skills are a little sub-par. In addition to this, he thinks he's a genius. Now, he's smart, for sure. I would even venture to say he's very smart. However, he does not get my top vote for Smartest Guy in the Office. No, that distinction is shared between UberGeek (never before mentioned herein), GermanGuy, and GoteeBoy. Frankly, I cower in the shadow of their brilliance.
Tuesday I found a very interesting bug, which I discussed with Carnivore. He agreed that it was odd, and directed me to talk with SmellySmurf. Joy. I logged the bug, then went and talked to him. Unfortunately, I was having a retarded moment, so I referred to the speed on the network card (which is in GHz) as the memory. Now, as we're all computer dorks here, he should have been able to extrapolate what I meant. Tragically, he is lacking in social skills in general, and when I was chatting with him I said memory (again). To which he replied in a superior I-don't-have-time-to-teach-the-likes-of-you-everything-you-should-already-know-about-computers tone of voice, "There is no such thing as memory on a network card. It's speed." Well, duh. We all know that, thank you for insulting my intelligence. You shall now pay for this.
Later I was working on the machine that was having problems when he came over to me and asked me a question about my machine. I explained it to him, at which point he said, "So, the problem is with the machine? I can't do anything about that." Then he shrugged and said smugly, "So, it's not a valid defect."
Oh, no you didn't! Not only had he insulted my intelligence earlier, but he was now telling me that because he didn't want to fix the problem that it wasn't valid. I have never been emotionally attached to a bug before, but he had raised my ire to the point where I was going to make awfully sure he had to fix this bug as soon as possible. "No." I told him, "It is a valid bug. What if our users have the same problem and solution on their box? We can't just tell them it's not going to work."
He didn't like that answer, which was evidenced when he took the only recourse he could, he reassigned the bug back to me with the request for more info, he needed to see the box (that I had spent - literally - all day fixing) in the exact same state it was when the problem occurred. I got that request at 5:30, and I wasn't staying to do his bidding  though I'm sure he was hoping I would.
This morning I rolled up my sleeves and proceeded to break the box that I had fixed the day before. This time however I was armed with the exact two things one needs to be armed with in this situation: (1) The knowledge of precisely what went wrong, how it was fixed, and how to unfix it; and (2) Someone else who is a guy and therefore must know what they are talking about to explain the problem to SmellySmurf.
I returned my box to the desired broken state, and when SmellySmurf took a look at it all he could do was determine that it was, in fact, a valid bug. Ungh! Take that! He spent the better part of his day today working on it, and at this posting we think he may have it fixed. Wonderful.
Now, I just wish that he would acknowledge that it was a valid bug from the start, and realize that there is no call for being a condescending jerk to yours truly.
The moral of this story? No one, but no one maliciously slanders Granola and gets away with it. There will always be pay back, and when it happens you'll rue the day you messed with me. I was really pleased that he got his comeuppance so quickly, despite the fact that he doesn't think he did a thing wrong. Thankfully, I don't have to go back into his office for the rest of the day. My olfactory glands are singing my praises as I type this.
posted by granola girl at 2:30 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home