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Yep!
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. - Mark Twain
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Some voice. And same age as me ...
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 ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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So I'm on this project where I get a CSV file, translate it into some awful pre-XML "standard" file, put it in a SOAP service and give access to customers so they can import the standard file.
About six weeks ago I had a test at a customer and my software seemed to work fine (after some tweaking, because the importing application didn't adhere to the standard, hence "standard").
The problem is the CSV file, just an in-house file, generated in Microsoft Dynamics, that we've been waiting on for months 
So we have this two-weekly meeting where we discuss the project's progress and the past two meetings it's basically been "we fixed another field in the CSV file."
The meeting is at 09:00, it's a good hour drive, 01:30 with traffic jams, so that means I have to set an early alarm (a good two hours earlier than usual).
AND JUST NOW IT WAS CANCELLED BECAUSE THE CSV GUY HAS MADE ZERO PROGRESS! 
He knew this yesterday, because if he didn't get the file at about 17:00, he's not going to have it on 09:00 the next day.
I was supposed to go with a business partner, but he was already on his way.
He decided to go anyway because he had some other meetings, but I don't.
Were this guy five minutes later (or my partner 5 minutes earlier) I'd have wasted an entire day at a customer where I had zero business
So here's what I did in three months: learning a standard, implementing it, reading a file, parsing and transforming it, building a SOAP service, building a management module with UI, setting up a complete Azure and DevOps environment (everything brand new).
Here's what the other guy did in the same time: fix almost an entire CSV file with about 15 fields and cancel a meeting.
       
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Sounds like you got a Slinky* working on the CSV.
* Slinky[^] Some people are just like a Slinky: Completely useless, but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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many years ago I was working on a (UK) govt contract and they wanted to see me to discuss data exchange. The meeting had to be face to face which meant a 9 hour round journey by car for me but they insisted it was too involved to discuss using any of the rather primitive teleconferencing systems at the time and email just wouldn't cut it, apparently. So I drove for hours - met my contact, decided that CSV would suffice (took about 30 seconds to agree but we padded it out to 5 minutes) and then got in my car for the hours of driving to get home.
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Wow
I hope you charged the full nine hours!
I recently had something similar.
One of my team members told me I should work from home, so I did.
I then got a call from another team member asking me to come in, not for any specific reason, but because it boosted team spirit and all that.
He'd let me drive for three hours "just because".
He wasn't my boss or anything, actually he was the latest team member, so I told him I couldn't come in that day.
They had some marketing campaign at the office that day and no one, except me, got any work done and everyone went home early.
Dodged a bullet there 
We still had a discussion about working from home the week after and, ultimately, as a result of being the #1 worker from home, I was laid off.
I have to say I was promised I could work from home when I started, but by the time they let me go almost everyone on the team was new (and old fashioned, I guess).
The guy calling me to come in quit a month later
When they told me I didn't have to come back I had to restrain myself from laughing and singing and dancing of joy
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Sander Rossel wrote: When they told me I didn't have to come back I had to restrain myself from laughing and singing and dancing of joy
"We are sorry, but..."
"No need to apologize. The loss is on your part. Good day."
Actually did that, but not when getting fired. It was after an interview that totally convinced me that I would not want to work there.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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I once went for an interview with a large Japanese company whose name starts with "H" and ends in "i" but I won't mention their actual name.
The interview started with them presenting me with a programming and general IT knowledge test. I completed it quicker than the time allocated so the interviewing guy said he'd take me on a tour of the office as the manager for the next part of the interview wasn't ready yet and someone would have checked my test by the time we got back.
The office was like a scene from a slave galley although without the drummer and guys with whips. Dull, grey, dirty windows, miserable looking staff who looked scared to talk to me.
When I got back the manager was very excited, "no-one ever got 100% on this test before".
He asked me to sit down and asked if I wanted tea or coffee. I said, "No thanks, I won't have time to drink it."
"What's that? no, we'll be a while while we discuss your position and salary here."
"Exactly, I'm leaving now. This place is too depressing to work in."
"But think of what you're missing out on!"
"It's your loss, actually. Where do I pick up my travel expenses? Goodbye."
...aah, the good old days when they would pay you to come to an interview!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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And with the great weather and strike (?) it would have been amazing.
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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From Dirksland to Den Bosch, I think I'd be heading in the right direction (away from The Hague) and to the south 
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Sander Rossel wrote: Den Bosch
Great place; great people. 
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[ ^]
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I heard it's full of immigrants 
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I would call his boss and tell him about this lazy and stupid b*st*rd.
(coz some guys are good in getting away with such behaviour)
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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Almost every supplier there is like that.
That's how I got in, they wanted to get sh*t done for a change 
The meeting was with the manager of IT though, so no reason to tell any boss because the boss already knows 
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so big part of your salary must be "damages for pain and suffering" 
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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I had something even worse happen....
Many years (over 30) ago, I was the software liaison between the company I worked for in New Jersey and a joint marketing partner in Los Angeles. My company's management panicked for some reason and sent me out to visit the partner for an early Friday and a Monday morning meeting. This meant being away over the weekend, much to my new wife's dismay.
When I got to the West Coast, I found out that the Friday meeting was canceled. I returned on Monday to find that the people I was to meet with were unavailable, having "gone on vacation." I returned to the airport and flew home.
I found out later that the real reason for the "vacation" is that the company that owned them was informing them that it was closing them down and planning the shutdown strategy.
The meeting was never rescheduled.
__________________
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept that there are some things I just can’t keep up with, the determination to keep up with the things I must keep up with, and the wisdom to find a good RSS feed from someone who keeps up with what I’d like to, but just don’t have the damn bandwidth to handle right now.
© 2009, Rex Hammock
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Some people really don't care about other people's time 
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Hi All,
Been having difficulties with my email since my Amazon account got compomised (I ended up buying some phone protectors, for phone I don't have!) I have altered the bank and got the card used cancelled. Paypal & eBay changed and my main email has changed. I have kept my mail client downloading from the account that has been compomised but I won't be sending through it. It's just that email is everywhere! and I don't want to cut off access to it. If I avoid downloading anything I should be alright, shouldn't I?
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Oooh I hate Gmail, not getting it, thanks!
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