Thursday, December 01, 2005

Some are more equal than others

This is one of the more memorable phrases from my travails with literature in high school. And how true.

So I had another run in with another person at work today - a manager even. I'm summoned to see a bug in some functionality which I've coded. Ok. No problem. I pay attention for a while and look at her with bewilderment. "What do you expect to happen!", I scream, inwardly of course. I try to calm my voice and explain that that's the way Windows works. No, she says. It can't possibly be. I must be lying, trying to cover my ass. I can't possibly know what I'm talking about. There's no way I can be right. I'm a moron. She tries another avenue. "It used to work before". "When?", I ask, confident as you can get. She gives me a not-so-nice look. I stare back. "Try it", I demand. "Show me!", I scream. She finally gets some courage and asks another member of the team to try the contentious issue out in that earlier version in which it supposedly works the way she thinks it should. The disappointment on her face is palpable. It works the way I've been trying to explain to her. Basically she expects a window to remain in the foreground when she clicks on another window. Unless the thing is coded to always stay on top, the other window will come to the foreground. You don't have to be a techie to appreciate that. You just need an open mind and not some crazy fixation or obsession at proving that you are right. "Ok, let's let that alone", she sighs with resignation and goes on to show me other bugs. I'm livid and I'm not hiding it. I leave it at that.

What's worse is that this behaviour and reactions are only for us minions. The way more senior and older programmers are treated is so distinctly different. They get the benefit of doubt. They are approached like one would a lion, with plenty of caution, respect and gentleness.

Apparently a desire for life to be fair is totally irrational, so I won't flog this dead horse any longer.

On another note, that note actually, I've started spamming any and all email addressses I can get my hands on with my cv. Well, I only got 2 tonight, but if you know of any, I have the email ready and just need an address to forward it to.

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