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I sold a piece of software to the state of California once. Among the 100+ page contract was a page where we had to agree that if, during the installation of th

I sold a piece of software to the state of California once. Among the 100+ page contract was a page where we had to agree that if, during the installation of this web app, a baby was to be abandoned, that we promise that we would abandon said baby at an approved fire station within 3 days of birth. That was probably 10+ years ago, but it was a real eye opening moment in seeing the mindless wheels of bureaucracy turn. Obviously everyone at every stage of the procurement process knew this page of the contract was insane in the context of installing a simple web app, but no one had the power remove unneeded rules in situations in which they don't apply and no one is going out on an anti-baby-safety ledge. So everyone for the rest of time has to agree on how to properly abandon babies in every contract.

gizmo686 6y ago
Through my employer, I do work on an open source application. At one point a 3 letter agency contracted us to add some functionality that they needed. Of the developers at the company who work on said application, I happened to be the one picked to work on these features. Eventually, someone actually read the contract and noticed that it required anyone working on it to have a security clearance. I ended up working on other parts of the same open source application that were being funded by a contract without such a clause, so we could have someone with a clearance charge the contract.