Depressingly superior

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Don't you just hate it when, by ten minutes into a call, you're better at the caller's entire job than they are?

- particularly when they've been doing it for years and are paid five times your salary?


(Mainly occurs with paper pushers, but I've seen it with various middle managers as well. Bonus points if their entire job is something you could automate with a couple hours' scripting and a few macros.)

Comments

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

I think this is where the T-shirt comes in, that says, and I quote:

"Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script."

It's often not an idle threat at all ..

[ximinez]

This one? http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/374d/

Win.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Nice to know I wasn't the only one who thought of that....

[reddragdiva]

Pity you don't have anonymous email inside the office. "Psst - you know that hole in your budget? Here's a puncture repair macro."

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

These days, I'd re-send it from an external site as

"We understand that you are experiencing a $73,000pa overrun in your budget, and have formulated a solution. We can repair this overrun in 24 hours at very reasonable rates. Signed, Mysterious Consultants Who Are Totally Not Your IT Group In Disguise."

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

Well, being totally honest here, to do my boss' job, I'd need a few macros *and* a trained chimp to make phone calls, screech unintelligibly, and throw feces.

[celyste.livejournal.com]

My favourite, is watching my coworker (who has 3 extra years experience over me... so 10 years on the job) get out the MS Calculator to add up a column of numbers... in excel.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Give me a decent computer, and couple of days, and I'm betting any half competent programmer could probably replace most of any given middle management team...

Take a month and a half decent cluster, and that'd include upper management too.

Tell me again, why do we need these parasites?

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Someone's got to talk to the salesdroids.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Nah...do it over chat and use an ELIZA program with a vocab Db full of the latest marketing buzzwords.

It wouldn't make much sense... but no-one would notice the difference.