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I was at IBM, fixing a critical mainframe that had brought the entire check clearance system for the country down. An angry customer was breathing down my neck
by abraae 5y ago
I was at IBM, fixing a critical mainframe that had brought the entire check clearance system for the country down.
An angry customer was breathing down my neck, making idiotic suggestions. I was rattled.
He wanted me to try swapping out some component. I said no, I was 100% sure that was not the problem. I was laser focused on fixing this problem.
Turned out I was wrong. Customer complained to my management and I got a sound bollocking and took a couple of steps backwards in my career.
I learned that day to always remember that, no matter how unlikely, you might be wrong.
As a sidenote, this is one of the 25 points of advice in John Perry Barlows "adult principles" which I discovered late in life. It is the only written work I have on my wall, with items 1, 3 and 10 marked with highlight pen by my wife as areas for personal development for me.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago> An angry customer was breathing down my neck, making idiotic suggestions. I was rattled. He wanted me to try swapping out some component. I dunno; I agree you should always remember that you might be wrong, but under those conditions I wouldn't make that change unless they signed something saying that we did it on their say-so over my objections. Way too many red flags.
- zczc 5y agoThank you for pointing to John Perry Barlow's 25 Principles https://www.jambase.com/article/john-perry-barlow-25-principles-of-adult-behavior https://www.jambase.com/article/john-perry-barlow-25-princip...
- emptysongglass 5y ago> As sidenote, this is one of the 25 points of advice in John Perry Barlows "adult principles" which I discovered late in life. It is the only written work I have on my wall, with items 1, 3 and 10 marked with highlight pen by my wife as areas for personal development for me. I want a little more context because if my wife highlighted areas for my personal development that was hanging on our wall, I would feel controlled, diminished, and disrespected. By the same token, I would never force her to eternally view highlighted areas of personal development I had judged she lacked. It privileges your view as holy, when you are in fact just another person with a perspective, not absolute legitimacy.
- abraae 5y agoAdditional context: it was provided to me as suggestions, none of it came as a surprise, and I decided to put on the wall. There was no "forcing" involved. I personally don't have any problem with anyone suggesting areas of improvement for me, and equally would disregard it if it was off base.