D3m0n__89 wrote:Frustrated at work!
How hard is it to follow simple guideline with images... With step by step instruction on how to complete a process.. And you mess up!??!?!
NEED A PUNCHING BAG!!!!!
When I write instructions like this I put in periodic progress checks. For instance:
17e. Now do a directory search for thye file. It should be at the end of the list. Write the filename here. _______
If the file doesn't exist, this means you didn't complete step 4c like you were supposed to. Go back to step 4c and repeat the last 3 hours of work. But this time do what the instructions say, rather than what you think the neighbor's invisible dog told you.
Then when they call in for help, ask them if they performed step 17c. You will most likely hear "airy" silence because you can't actually hear them nodding their heads on the phone. This means yes, but their nods are lying to you. Have them read back to you the filename they wrote in at step 17c.
"Uh..."
Translation: Oh crap he can detet our lies over the phone!
Also if you have control of the source code, make sure to add a few ID-10T errors. (spells IDIOT). Reserve these for the most brainless of all user inputs. Not the usual error checking like someone entering an X into a numeric field. That could be a simple case of fat-fingering. No, you need to get really creative and try to come up with the most galactically stupid thing a human being could possibly do, as if on a dare, or intentionally trying to crash the system. Then put error trapping in and produce the appropriate message.
I've got a perfect example of this too. One of my friends was writing a program for the disk managers. He had an option where he could put in wildcard characters to mean "anything" and you could delete all the files that matched the mask. For instance, if you put ELE********* it would delete elephant, elevator, elocution, etc. You get the idea. So I asked him what would happen if some fool entered all wildcards. Before I could react, he said, "Let's see!" He quickly entered the wildcards and mashed return, before I could say, "Nooooooooo!"
It came back with an error message saying, "Anyone stupid enough to put all wildcards in a deletion mask has no business at all working in disk management. You are a complete moron. Please report to the nearest disintegration chamber immediately."
My friend was on the ball. He had coded against the possibility of a complete idiot.
What's funnier is how a few months later he got a call from some disk manager. The guy said, "We don't have any disintegration chambers here. What should I do?"
True story. And the rest was facepalm.
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