I'm at work right now. We have this proprietary program that does everything we have to do. It's great at what it does. It works well.

However

It is ENTIRELY web based. So there is no way to access the program if you don't have an internet connection. This means we can't work on the road. We can't work on the train. We can't work when the internet connection goes down.

Right now, I'm on Plime because there is a problem with loading our login IDs for all of our many web-based programs. I CAN'T work.

I understand the reason for having the programs be web-based. They are constantly backed up to massive redundant servers in other parts of the country - so if my laptop falls into a lake, my career won't follow.

Why though, can't they have a program that backs up automatically over the internet, but can still be accessed offline? It's so stupid.

And before you start thinking logically, I'll let you know that the reason isn't so you can access it from other computers, because you can't. You can only access it from approved computers, and you are unable to get your personal computers approved.
____________________________________

What other completely stupid systems/programs/policies do you all encounter on a daily basis?

Is it possibly because of record locking? If I am working on the account for Plime Industries on my laptop in Hoboken, and I synchronize at 10:30 am, and you are working on the account for Plime Industries in Cleveland (God forbid), and you synchronize at 10:27 am...what if the records contain conflicting information? Which record is correct?

With all traffic going through the interwebs, the program can lock a record if someone is editing it. So as you are working in Cleveland (God forbid), and I try to access the record from Hoboken, it would tell me the record is in use. That way there is another level of data protection.

Not perfect mind you, and there are very good solutions to such issues that do not require everyone to be on the web. But I am just offering a possible explanation.

But yea, a single point failure is a bad thing in a business. Web logins down? You are paying people to Plime. Sounds like they need to upgrade their data model.

Actually, that makes it sound like they should be given a Nobel Prize, and conduct seminars on how to properly run a business.

Stupid systems? Well, how about the medical insurance agencies and their response to transsexuality?

According to them, it is considered 'elective surgery', and many of them actually REFUSE to cover anything related to transitioning. Once you realize that the average cost of transitioning is generally at least $65K-$90K, and that because of their policies this must be paid completely out of pocket, you start to get a little pissed off.

Even more stupid? Many of these same procedures ARE kosher for genetic women.

Also, once you factor in the bit about these surgeries and such being desired as soon as possible, ideally before the effects are minimized (read: 25 or so), the amount proves to be pretty damaging if you don't know what you're doing, savingwise.
[/rant]

OK, now that's off my chest, I can discuss it more rationally. It still doesn't make a whole lot of sense though, to be perfectly honest.

Do insurance companies pay for breast augmentation? Because women being so unhappy with how they look to the point of depression causes psychological problems for them but if they want that type of surgery done then they have to pay for it themselves.

Insurance companies will pay for breast reductions though if there is a medical, physical reason for the surgery and if the surgery is to alleviate a medical condition.

I don't see how the situation you brought up should be paid for by insurance, if I chose to do cosmetic work on my car for instance, I wouldn't expect my insurance company to cough up.

From what I've heard it's sometimes difficult for some people to get the insurance companies to cough up for life-threatening surgery, medication etc, so that should probably be addressed before the issue of gender change surgery.

/2cents

Yeah dude, I hate to say it, but that's pretty elective. There's no real physical danger to someone staying their natural sex when they want to change it.

It's true that a lot of people who need certain procedures just to wake up the next morning have an extremely hard time getting insurance to pay up.

The stupid systems I was talking about was more stuff along the lines of:
"We're forced to take the garbage out the side door and walk around the big oak tree and water fountain when the dumpster is directly outside of the back door..."

I do have sympathy toward the people who want to have the procedure, but can't pay for it, because that sucks, but it really isn't the fault of the insurance company. I do think that it is fortunate that people can have that done at all. How do you think transgendered people felt 100 years ago?

My director insists on his employees filling out 'blue slips' whenever they take time off.

The funny thing is, the blue slips are internal...they don't go anywhere but to him - not to HR not to payroll.

We fill out time sheets and indicate on those time sheets (which go to payroll) the time we take off - vacation, sick, etc.

If we don't do it, he becomes annoyed and mentions it to the supervisors which in turn mention it to us employees. Also, if we neglect to fill out the blue sheets, when evaluation time comes around, he makes sure to mention it under the 'reliability' category.

Apparently, if you can't fill out a blue slip, you can't be relied upon.

Your boss is just a nosy f*ck or a total control d*ck, or both. You should report HIM for inappropriate conduct. If the sheets go nowhere but his desk, it is none of his business, ESPECIALLY if record of it is sent to payroll via another channel. Apparently his job does not entail payroll details, so he should not be sticking his nose into such details.

Sykeo, we really need to know the scale of your company to have an idea of how bad of a system that is. Do they have other offices, or is your one office the only one served by this system? If there is more than one office, there is almost no other way for the offices to share the same database than to use the internet.

There are many offices all over the country, but the databases are personal. Maybe .5% of them are shared, and the ones that are shared aren't really looked upon at the same time.

So I sit at my desk and watch movies and plime for about 40% of my day now(used to be around 90%) But what annoys me is that I sit in a cubicle.. the walls are maybe 5'6" high and I'm kind of off to the corner with on persons office out and to my right past an empty cubicle..

There are a few cubicles behind me but I HATE it when people pop their heads up behind me or on the side of me to ask me questions or just see what i'm doing.. b/c most likely I'm not working, lol

I faced my computer away from my little opening for a reason.. it's already bad that I can see the floor above methrough big glass windows(they call my section the fish bowl.. so theres basically no privacy.. can't even get a midget stripper to hide under my desk without being caught

I f**king LOVE midgets!!

/threadjack

Read the PM I sent you for my midget experience story, lol

Yes.

Unfortunately my box epitomizes "the man" so no one can do anything about it.

That was YOU?

On Topic: I should get my old boss on here since every process he put in place was pretty much the definition of the systems in the original post.

Well everyone has a boss. An anonymous note slipped under that person's door would be better than nothing, and it may actually make a difference.

If you can find my "Hotseat" thread you will see the layout for the most awesome idea known to television man....


and uhhh, yeah, the system sucks hairy ones.

Unsubscribing from Phantasy Star Universe for the 360.
You'd expect that there would be a button to let you cancel your subscription, but no, that would be too easy. Or maybe you'd expect it to be like PSO, and require you to confirm the payment each month, and you'd be mistaken. To cancel the game, you have to either give them an invalid credit card number(not recommended), or call a number not provided to you, and hope that they understood and cancel your account.
Is there ANY reason for there not to be a 'cancel account' button?

MS Office 2007.

It really does deserve a seat on the short bus.

What it does when you try and get it to create a table in one file based on data in another is truly staggering.

If I hadn't wasted a day and a half of my life trying to batter it down into something usable it would be funny.

As it is, I need to punch someone.

OK, one comment and I'll leave you guys in peace.

Sure, gender reconfirmation surgery may seem elective to some. To others though, it's anything but.

When you grow up living your entire life as a lie and hating yourself for no good reason that you understand, that's a problem.

When you try to commit suicide at the age of fourteen after sharpening a kitchen knife for ten minutes in the darkest hours of the night because it's a better alternative than living the rest of your life, but can't because your family deserve better? That's a problem. When you try it again six months later? Still a f**king problem.

When you dread every single day for the fresh new hell it contains? That's a problem.

When you realize why you feel the way you feel but know that you can't do anything about it because you fear for your own life from the reactions of others? That's a problem.

When you live in the fear that you can't tell your family - your own goddamned family, for god's sake! about who you are? That's a problem.

When you know that the rest of the world, bar a few individuals, will never accept you as who you are without the matching bits in your pants? That's grounds for some serious f**king depression, and also, coincidentally, a fairly big problem.

When you finally see a solution to these problems which you were born with, much like say dyslexia or ADHD or OCD? You see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And then that light is snatched away because your issues are somehow considered trivial in comparison to other people's problems, and you're effectively told that hating who you are to the extent of wanting to commit suicide almost every f**king day isn't as serious as... say ADHD, for example.

So, when you look at the way these companies treat us? I'd say that's a pretty big problem.

Now do you guys understand why the transgendered have the highest suicide rate of any group, whether it be based on gender, creed, ethnicity, or anything else?

Okay where i work is a court building. There are 8 different floors. only like 3 of these which are open to the public. Even though the court is losing money and layoffs were a concern...instead of dealing with these problems...my State Employer decides that implementing screen savers to everyone's computer as a means of safeguarding information is a priority. Now i have no problem with that in some areas of the court. Seeing as how i work with social security numbers, tax information, and addresses. However, on my floor no one can see my computer. And no one who doesn't work here is ever on my floor. (also it was a court policy to put ur computer so no one walking by or sittin in your office or cubicle could see the screen, which was fine). But they have it set up so that the screen saver automatically comes on EVERY 5Minutes. Literally. and you have to sign back in every time the screen saver comes on. it gets really annoying sometimes... /rant

also we used to be able to wear jeans on Fridays by bringing in a $1 donation to the worthy cause of that week. But they took that away from us b/c the people who are in the courtroom on Fridays...or work in another building where casual dress is not allowed...complained that they couldnt EVER wear jeans. So instead of making it once a week...or upping it up to $5...they took the option of wearing jeans away from everyone else...so since 20people couldnt wear jeans...they took it away from 300+...grrr...lol.