The Machine Fired Me • Hacker News Board

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#141

Post by toomanybeersies » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:10 AM UTC

rhacker wrote: post #96

It makes sense that the HR IT industry would have some of the worst software developers. It seems obvious to me at least that you can't rely on first name + last name to make a match, and if you do, you have to write code that fails if there are multiple users with such a combination, as well as falling back on soundex or double or triple metaphone as well as nickname support. Second, the screens involved in terminat…

I think you misread the article.

The author assumed that the recruiter accidentally thought that he had been fired after reading the list of fired employees, as there were other employees with the same name.

In reality, he had been fired as his contract had not been renewed. He wasn't actively fired, but rather his contract expired because someone failed to renew it.

A big part of the problem here seems to be rather that there were no warnings of his impending "departure" to the correct people. There were no emails to his manager reminding them that his contract was ending, or to the author himself. Even if it was intended for his contract to end, it would still be a good idea to have that email sent out, just to remind them. I can totally foresee somebody forgetting that their contract is finished.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#142

Post by jacques_chester » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:12 AM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #126

crooked-v wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He was fired. It doesn't matter that people didn't intend for him to be, he was, it went through the system, it was a done deal. Paying people not in your employ is fraud, even under the best of intentions. Somebody who is in your building, is doing work under your direction, and has not been told they are fired hasn't been fired. A judge in court for the lost wages would laugh you out of the room if you tried a "w…

...you never know these days if you are talking to someone on the Internet who believes "code is law".

Judges, taken as a whole, tend to believe that law is law.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#143

Post by brazzledazzle » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:13 AM UTC

jachee wrote: post #119

jergason wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would HR IT have worse software developers than other industries?

Because HR in general has worse employees than other disciplines? Seriously, in my 20+ year career, I've run across very few legitimately talented people in HR. The department seems to attract the kind of people who have little to offer intrinsically; who happen to be willing to facilitate the necessary protocols, as minimally effective as possible, while claiming "people skills" that end up being little more than of…

It’s true in my experience. HR IT, IAM, etc. are dominated by fakes and low skilled workers. Corporate IT is often the same but for some reason HR IT is distilled mediocrity. Definitely some exceptions and exceptional people but they are used and abused by the frauds and leaned heavily on by the unskilled.

I’ve had the joy of being in meetings with folks from every discipline that don’t know their field but HR IT takes the cake. Somehow they find a way to absolve themselves of responsibility by leaning on more technical teams while simultaneously touting their unique technical expertise and importance they use as a club to ignore those very same teams.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#144

Post by jasonkester » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:16 AM UTC

The Machine can screw up in either direction. I’ve seen it go the other way.

The person in question had a big percentage raise on the way as part of a promotion. It was applied, the promotion went through, then it was applied again.

I’m sure it would have been just as much of an effort to fix, which probably explains why he never tried.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#145

Post by predakanga » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:16 AM UTC

_drimzy wrote: post #129

madeofpalk wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I've never had a bad experience with PayPal. I've heard all the horror stories, but nothing has come close to that. I sold something on Ebay once and the buyer didn't receive the item, and did what he should and reported it to Ebay/PayPal. Paypal started the dispute resolution process, and I uploaded a receipt of me sending it. The dispute was resolved in my favour. I started accepting donations…

> I sold something on Ebay once and the buyer didn't receive the item, and did what he should and reported it to Ebay/PayPal. Paypal started the dispute resolution process, and I uploaded a receipt of me sending it. The dispute was resolved in my favour. How is that not a bad experience for a buyer who never got an item he paid for?

Because the seller fulfilled their part of the sale (I.e. posting the item).

No postal system is without risk; that’s why they offer package insurance, registered post, etc.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#146

Post by toomanybeersies » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:24 AM UTC

g051051 wrote: post #93

Remarkably similar to the 1981 Timothy Zahn story "Job Inaction".

Wow, that is an incredibly obscure reference.

This comment chain on HN was the first thing I found when I googled "Job Inaction Timothy Zahn".

Looks like a good read though, might save it for lunch.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#147

Post by a_t48 » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:25 AM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #127

milesvp wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even simpler explanation is that false positives are real. All sufficiently complex systems have them. I'd imagine that triggering a false positive the first time greatly increases the likelihood that a second false positive is triggered. I'd also further assert, that simply being an HN reader means you are more likely to trigger a false positive than the rest of the population. Blizzard does some very aggressive mem…

As someone who hasn't played computer games much since the 90s, I read comments like this and am just boggled by how seriously everyone takes games these days, the players, and the vendors, and the general public. It's as if you had to get a security clearance to use a wiffle ball and bat.

For Blizzard at least, it translates to bottom line. More cheaters means less happy players.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#148

Post by shitloadofbooks » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:26 AM UTC

terlisimo wrote: post #18

I had a sort-of related experience with PayPal where the machine said "No." I've been using it for at least 10 years at that point. What I did was try to pay for some cheap VPS hosting in Italy. The transaction was denied. I thought there was some problem with my CC, so I immediately tried to do a $1 transaction with some other company and it went without a hitch. So I contacted PayPal support about it and the next d…

I purchased the board game "Cuba" from someone on gumtree (we're both Australian) and paid them with Paypal. For the transaction note I wrote "Cuba" and my (Australian) address.

This is what I received from Paypal:

To ensure that activity and transactions comply with current regulations, PayPal is requesting that you provide the following information via email to ComplianceTransactions@paypal.com

1. Purpose of payment XXXXXXXXXXXX attempted on 29 May 2016 in the amount of 53.00 AUD, including a complete and detailed explanation of the goods or services you intended to purchase. Please also explain the transaction message: "Cuba and postage to 4113. ."

They obviously have a block on the word "Cuba" and there was some back and forth to let the transaction through.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#149

Post by Karunamon » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:27 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #94

pbh101 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US largely migrated to chip and signature in 2015. I think a large majority of credit card uses today are chip in the US because the issuers quickly sent out chip cards, most terminals got updated to use them, and swipe is rejected often if chip is available. To be clear, this is chip (and sometimes signature for large purchases) but not chip-and-pin, so the original statement of no passwords generally holds true…

> swipe is rejected often if chip is available. It's the other way around. If you try the chip 3+ times, and it doesn't work, you can swipe the card, and the swipe transaction will work. When the more secure method fails, it falls back to the less secure one. It's lunacy.

Given how craptacular the terminals are here, not having the fallback would lead to a nontrivial amount of lost sales. (Sooo.. I can’t pay? Guess I have to abandon this cart of groceries and find a bank branch...)

The chips also don’t seem to last as long as the magstripes for some reason (which makes zero sense when you think about it). I’ve had to get my card replaced 3x in the space of two years.

Re: The Machine Fired Me

#150

Post by MBCook » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 2:30 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #98

MBCook wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what I was thinking. If you had a contract and your manager was saying you were supposed to be working… Why not sue for the three weeks of pay that they illegitimately kept you from earning?

Because lawsuits are hard? Seeing a "why not sue" as a response is very "typical American" for outsiders.

Yeah. It’s what I was thinking throughout most of the article, assuming that the end would be “I lost my job and there was nothing I could do about it“. It’s not like it was a three day thing, I could sort of understand that.

Since they are a contractor, it also seems like perhaps the company that they are actually employed with should be paying them for the contract company’s screwup. That would also probably heavily incentivize the company they actually work for to put pressure on the contractee to fix the issue.