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The absolute worst scenario happened

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Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#291

Post by m463 »

joezydeco wrote: post #235
tw04 wrote: post #88

I actually don't see any issue that isn't simply a matter of money. Everything they list that's an issue seems to revolve around the fact that the employees with domain knowledge for the system have left the company. Reach out to them and hire them on as contractors. If they left under bad terms because the business was a bunch of dicks, expect to pay 10x market rate. If this is truly "fix this or the business is out…

then it shouldn't be a tough decision to make You'll continually be amazed at the human tendency to double down instead of admitting a mistake.

They could also hire expensive consultants (who will just call up the ex-employee, and listen. maybe to laughter.)

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#292

Post by joncrane »

airhead969 wrote: post #138

50% of companies who lose all of their data go out of business within 6 months. They clearly failed to test their backups with regularly-tested restores. And, a separate alternative system should've had multiple revisions of critical pieces of information like customers, assets, inventory, bank accounts, debts, and employees. A data recovery shop could attempt to forensically-reconstruct SMS numbers. Look for logs an…

Only 50%?!?

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#293

Post by kbelder »

raffraffraff wrote: post #224
kolbe wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Farming is low margin. Farmers don’t get to set the price of their products, and they aren’t handed billions in capital to burn through or 1000x multiples on their profit in the public markets. When most businesses say they can’t hire someone and the reason is because they don’t pay enough, the underlying cause of their low pay is usually because that’s what the company can afford. Sure, farmers could pay $10/hr, but…

The reason I buy expensive eggs, milk and cheese is that I know that the supermarkets fuck over the farmers. I never buy the supermarket brand, unless it's the last one on the shelf. The price difference is sometimes 1.5x but unless you're really "broke" broke, you don't notice the difference. It's a few cents a week.

I always buy the supermarket brand, even though I can easily afford more. It's not because I want to save a few pennies on each purchase; it's helping to drive prices down on all overpriced goods, helping out those really in need.

Same reason I avoid organic whenever possible. We don't need boutique food.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#294

Post by m463 »

paulz_ wrote: post #86
4e530344963049 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have been that person before, it can be fun and exciting to think up solutions and implement them under pressure. Definitely a real test in your ability to concentrate. But don't expect the credit you deserve for it, and don't even expect others to even bother to put in any effort towards fixing things. Also, make sure everyone knows you are going on vacation once you resolve things.

These types of situations always wind up being the most fun I have at work and leave me feeling most fulfilled. I wish I could do that all day instead of going to standups.

It would be fun just to be able to talk to management with the same sort of candor the "cleaner" in pulp fiction did. (harvey keitel)

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#295

Post by cortesoft »

phkahler wrote: post #254
asdfman123 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the problem is this: it might not make economic sense for those specific companies to hire people at a higher rate. Companies aren't going to say "I guess we're inefficient and should just die." They're going to fight to survive and thrive, which is what you're seeing. Then again, some companies ARE just cheap. You never know.

I was at a hotel with crappy service and asked about the problems with house keeping. The manager told me everyone in town (Traverse City MI) was trying to bring in foreigners to do housekeeping because they couldn't get local labor. They said the standard is 30 minutes per room per day. I figure at a very generous $50 per hour (100k / year) it should run $25 to have my room taken care of. Now that doesnt cover the s…

If they weren't leveraged that much, some other company would pay more for the property by being leveraged that much.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#296

Post by sodality2 »

fsflover wrote: post #201
tsomctl wrote: post #15

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Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#297

Post by mattlondon »

paulz_ wrote: post #86
4e530344963049 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have been that person before, it can be fun and exciting to think up solutions and implement them under pressure. Definitely a real test in your ability to concentrate. But don't expect the credit you deserve for it, and don't even expect others to even bother to put in any effort towards fixing things. Also, make sure everyone knows you are going on vacation once you resolve things.

These types of situations always wind up being the most fun I have at work and leave me feeling most fulfilled. I wish I could do that all day instead of going to standups.

Constant "emergencies" soon wear you down.

Sure it is fun, but the stakes can be high and the stress gets piled on.

It starts with congratulations all-round. You are a hero! Good job! Nice save! Your boss's boss's boss's boss comes over and thanks you personally. Take the rest of the week off!

Later, its people asking when will you fix it? Why haven't you got this back working yet? Didn'y you fix the same thing last month? (no) We really need you to fix this before 5pm or the TPS reports wont go out, and the management will be pissed.

Failures become normalised. They get reliant on people doing heroics. People forget that the systems are crap and need investment, and start to rely on you being there to fix it, and if things don't get fixed then it is your fault the TPS reports didn't go out, not tech-debt/lack-of-investment/bad-design/whatever.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#298

Post by relaxing »

WJW wrote: post #194
kolbe wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Farming is low margin. Farmers don’t get to set the price of their products, and they aren’t handed billions in capital to burn through or 1000x multiples on their profit in the public markets. When most businesses say they can’t hire someone and the reason is because they don’t pay enough, the underlying cause of their low pay is usually because that’s what the company can afford. Sure, farmers could pay $10/hr, but…

...yes? The alternative to farmers is not harvesting their crops at all, since with the borders closed foreign labor is not available. If nobody wants to buy $10 doritos, that means the product can't exist in a market without cheap labor.

True! Except it's not just doritos, it's everything you eat.

And it's not just cheap labor, it's labor exploited under pain of deportation.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#299

Post by hinkley »

Accujack wrote: post #256
tw04 wrote: post #88

I actually don't see any issue that isn't simply a matter of money. Everything they list that's an issue seems to revolve around the fact that the employees with domain knowledge for the system have left the company. Reach out to them and hire them on as contractors. If they left under bad terms because the business was a bunch of dicks, expect to pay 10x market rate. If this is truly "fix this or the business is out…

It's slightly more complicated than that, depending on how much time has passed since the creators of the system left, but you're correct in general. Usually, since admitting that they were stupid to let all the knowledge of the system walk out the door requires more emotional and intellectual flexibility than managers who let this sort of thing happen possess, the biggest obstacle isn't even the money... it's gettin…

Coworker used to have a boss who literally said where she could hear: "Lose a monkey, get a new monkey."

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#300

Post by kipchak »

antihero wrote: post #208
WJW wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...yes? The alternative to farmers is not harvesting their crops at all, since with the borders closed foreign labor is not available. If nobody wants to buy $10 doritos, that means the product can't exist in a market without cheap labor.

Well perhaps that's the problem of the market. That it can't particularly function to enrich some people without gross levels of exploitation.

To me it always seemed a bit similar to justifications used for the "peculiar institution" - the system can't exist without slavery, therefore slavery must exist. The benefits of cheaper labor was well appreciated; Carnegie called immigration "the golden stream which flows into the country every year."[1]

[1]https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/andrew-carnegie/trium...

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