I just completed some technical docs/design that my boss loved so much that he sent it to *his* boss to brag on me for the quality of my work and willingness to help out other teams. From there it went up to the CEO. I am a very happy nerd today.

Congrats IG. Recognition is sometimes rare so it is awesome when it happens.

Congratulations Ignatius.
This story is so rare that I suspect you are making it up. Too good to be beliveable :)

If you knew the history it would be even more interesting and perhaps unbelievable.
I've been with this company since 2001 when it was a startup. We got acquired in 2012 and I was placed under a really shitty manager for about two years, and was literally two hours away from accepting a job elsewhere when our CTO pulled me out of that space to be one of a few people chosen to be part of a new engineering team. Two years later we got acquired again, and I basically now have my dream job as a data center architect.

Most of the time I get to self-select for the projects I'm interested in working on, I design stuff and other people go and build it, and I almost NEVER EVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH END USERS.

Most of the time I get to self-select for the projects I'm interested

in working on, I design stuff and other people go and build it, and I

almost NEVER EVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH END USERS.

Not having to deal with end users sounds like heaven. The only thing it lacks in order to become real heaven is bourbon, firearms, knives and horses.

Moreover, you don't have to deal with that shitty boss. Heh.

Gratz on the recognition, though. That's very nice!

That particular boss became "not my problem" in 2014, "recognized as unpopular" in 2016, and "no longer with the company" in 2019.

I recognize him as one of the three major bullies I have had in my adult life. The other was Curly, and the third requires a story too long and irrelevant to tell here. In all cases I emerged in a better place in the end, and the bully ended up exited from the scene in one way or another.

Bourbon/firearms/knives/horses sounds like my kind of fun ... but maybe not all at the same time, and not in the workplace.

2019-09-18 13:32 from IGnatius T Foobar
That particular boss became "not my problem" in 2014, "recognized as

unpopular" in 2016, and "no longer with the company" in 2019.

I recognize him as one of the three major bullies I have had in my

adult life. The other was Curly, and the third requires a story too

long and irrelevant to tell here. In all cases I emerged in a better

place in the end, and the bully ended up exited from the scene in one

way or another.

Bourbon/firearms/knives/horses sounds like my kind of fun ... but

maybe not all at the same time, and not in the workplace.

I have noticed that the best way to take revenge on a bully is to be more successful than him. So if you are progressing in your career and your enemies are fading away in the dust you are doing great.

People who holds a position in the middle of the command chain is a pain in the ass because they control the information the upper management gets... they can easily tell them that you are making trouble and the upper management will be more likely to believe them than you. However, my experience is that competent managers (they exist, actually, in some places) will end up realizing what the drill is and get real troublemakers kicked.

I usually have bourbon when I am all alone because I don't want to get drunk in public (and my tolerance to alcohol is so bad that a single glass will kick me down). I always have a knife on me when doing horsework because there is always some idiot that gets a horse entangled by the neck with a rope, and a good knife is a total life saver. Horses, I would have them everywhere, all day, everyhour :P See, if I had horses small enough around I would let them into my house lol. Actually, once tried to enter my house searching for me and it was kindda fun.

From what I've heard, small ponies are now permitted on airplanes as service animals (or "emotional support animals" for the snowflakes). But I'd rather see you try to fit a full size quarter horse into an overhead bin.

2019-09-21 11:44 from IGnatius T Foobar
From what I've heard, small ponies are now permitted on airplanes as

service animals (or "emotional support animals" for the snowflakes).

But I'd rather see you try to fit a full size quarter horse into an

overhead bin.

Hmmm... that is ugly. Closed spaces are no place for a horse.

Full disclosure. It is no secret that I have a bad emotional dependence on my horses. When I am on a job trip (which is quite often) I miss the horses of my native village SO MUCH. I have my workspaces full of horse pictures, horse callendars and figurines. Everytime they ask me to deploy a set of workstations, I set horse backgrounds and horse screensavers (actually a great way for people to know who is the admin who set the computer hahaha).

I am every bit as much a horse freak as you can imagine. Worse than that.

Well, there is no way I would try to load a service horse in an airplane. That is just cruel. I can totally understand having some dependency on your pet but come on, find another way to make the trip if you cannot be a week without it.

Unfortunately it's a real thing.

[ https://www.iheart.com/content/2019-08-12-mini-horses-to-be-allowed-on-planes-as-service-animals/ ]

"Airlines would not be penalized if they denied passengers who wanted to bring other types of animals on board, including "snakes other reptiles, ferrets, rodents, and spiders." However, the document states airlines could be penalized if they "categorically refuse to transport other animals or species of animals. Airline policies that categorically refuse transport to all service animals that are not dogs, cats, or miniature horses violate the current disability regulation."

I love animals. I love animals enough to know when the animal's well-being is potentially harmed by something I want. For example, I don't currently have any dogs because I know we don't have the time to properly care for one, so instead we have cats. Bringing a horse onto an airplane is the same thing -- it could potentially freak out the animal just because its human friend was being selfish.

Well, I can definetively imagine a pet rat being easier to have on an airplane than a horse or dog. The problem with having a pet rat in a close space is that rats get bored easily and will want to run around and bite stuff for fun, so probably not a great fit for a plane anyway.

I should fill for depression disability or something in order to get tax deductions and government fuds on horse food, lol. This is getting out of hand very quickly.

Ugh.

Colleague: "This <product_name> is not what we're used to. It's difficult to work with etc etc."

Me: << looks it up on the net >> "Wow. The only thing it does is buzzword compliance. I say we nuke it from orbit."

Colleague: "Oops. I thought I was being discreet by messaging you from my phone, but your reply went to my screen too. Currently screensharing with the product vendor."


Oh well. Hopefully they'll go out of business before I get in trouble from that. Their product is literally made from unicorn poop. And by "literally" I mean "fuck off if you challenge my use of the word 'literally'"

I feel for you.

Lots of IT products seem so ethereal... you browse their website and you cannot figure what problem they are solving and how they are solving it at times.

Then you get the ones that give you a bombastic hint. "GDPR compliance module!" "Digital Vaccine for 0-days!" but don't mention the details the IT team would need to figure out if the product is worth the fuel necessary to make it burn in Hell.

I had a conversation with our rep and some other folks from one of the major suppliers (I won't mention them by name, but it sounds like the last two syllables of "San Francisco") about a set of technologies they wanted to sell us. They were kind enough to set up a call and some Q&A, and I had to tell them outright that having a call would be "good, because the web site for this product is completely useless. All it says is 'Look! Data centers!'"

(And the product turned out to be a really expensive way to rip-and-replace what we already have, to gain zero new functionality, but if the web site were not complete crap, we could have saved everyone some time.)

Just remember. The liquor stores are considered essential. My company is sort of interesting. All of my support staff has worked remotely and from home for years, so that pretty much made it easy. And considering that our software is used for research oversight, we're sort of a necessary evil at this point.

wizard of aahz, necessary evil.

I have a document that I have been asked to carry with me, stating that my company provides essential infrastructure for hospitals and governments and other important organizations, and law enforcement should assist me in getting where I'm going instead of stopping me.

I don't know how convincing the document by itself is, but it's got the names and phone numbers of two company officers on the bottom who will be, shall we say, very persuasive if someone calls them while I'm trying to get to a work emergency.