somewhat OT but too awesome not to share with someone

[celyste.livejournal.com]

Today I was absolutely blown away.

I've worked billing for the company before, so I know how much fuss customers can make about properly verifying the account: don't know the number, won't give it over the phone, used it to set their computer on fire. So I always cringe in tech support when I need to verify the account for passwords or whatever.

But this lady was awesome! She couldn't get me the first verifier without opening a bill she'd already stamped to be mailed to pay with. And instead of a complaint or a request to verify something else, I heard "I'm sorry... I need something sharp to open this with... it won't take me a minute to find some scissors, do you mind waiting? I'm so glad that you make sure that I should be getting the information about the account and that you won't give it out to just anyone!"

I fell off my chair. I wanted to hug her. I couldn't over the phone, so I think she'll see a 5$ credit on her next bill. We really don't reward nice honest people often enough.

the "do or die" deadline

[http://users.livejournal.com/shiara_/]

Anyone out there have to deal with this?

You have a manager who has told you that they want a project/cleanup 'completed by XX date, whatever it takes.' You know that you can achieve this deadline by doing manual work (and subsequent OT), BUT you also know that if you were to wait, the system would eventually be fixed, thus saving you all this manual work.

Do you:
a) say "fuck it" and do it manually, then correct the manual work when the system is finally doing what it should be (this option means that you do the work 3 times - once now, once to check the test region to make sure system is ok, and once to check production environment to make sure production is ok)
b) question the manager by outlining why it might be better to wait

I'm of half a mind to let my manager's ass hang in the wind for making a decision without getting all of the facts and dropping a 'do-or-die' deadline, but I also am smart enough to know that my ass will be tarred and feathered for letting this happen.

Thoughts?