Category Archives: Rants

Denial-of-Service Attacks and You

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So you want to get World Series tickets? You REALLY want to see one of those games up close and personal? If you’re a Rockies fan looking to get tickets, I wish the best of luck to you. Paciolan, the company charged with selling Rockies tickets online (which is also the only method offered this season), claims that an external attack brought down their servers this morning. Wow… so a company that’s supposed to be experienced with high volume ticket sales only sold about 500 of the 54,000 tickets available before the system crashed? Yep, that’s exactly what happened? Paciolan, do yourself a favor and read these handy guides before you decide to try another one of these high volume sales:

To Rockies Fans: I hope that the problems are corrected by noon tomorrow when tickets go back on sale. True fans deserve to get tickets after the hard fought wins in the last month.

Random Rant

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Physics profs…Why is it that physics teachers in college seem to be completely inept? From not posting reading assignments and then giving reading quizzes, to refusing to explain a concept further by stating that it is “self consistent and explained fully on the board”, college physics profs seem to be incapable of putting together a lecture that can reach those of us who are not physics gurus.

Does it say “mind-reading” in my job description?

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This is a letter to all of you who interact with human resources and / or service personnel on a regular basis.

Dear “General Public”,

I know that you look to me to answer all of your questions, no matter how inane they might be. I answer the phone, give you directions, and try to speed you on your way (with or without your assistance). However, one skill I have not yet developed is mind-reading. Therefore, the following statements are inacceptable as forms of communication.

  1. “Is John working tonight?” [Who is John? There are many Johns in the world. Which one do you want?]
  2. “Where is my class?” [Again, there are many classes. Or gas stations. Or books. Are you starting to get the idea?]
  3. “You should be able to do that faster.” [Has it ever occurred to you that you have not supplied me with all the necessary information, and that I am now trying to find said information before I can deal with your request?]
  4. *general grumblings about something outside my control* [I am no longer in tech support, so please do not yell at me and / or chew me out for something I had nothing to do with.]

And in the spirit of listing, here are some things which you, the General Public, could do to make life easier for all involved.

  1. Be nice to us. It’s amazing how being nice makes everything go so much better. We might even apologize for things which aren’t our fault, just because you’re being nice to us.
  2. Give us specific information. We have already seen that requests which are too general not only sound stupid, but will not result in you getting the information you want.
  3. Stop complaining. It doesn’t have any productive results, and is frankly quite annoying and off-putting. If you do need to complain, apologize afterward with an “I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated.” Good, now that we’re both frustrated, we can just move on.
  4. Say “thank you”. We might be more inclined to be pleasant if you grace the conversation with simple courtesies.

Thank you,

All Those Who Work with the “General Public”

Rant Against Programmers

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This is an open letter to all programmers, especially those at Comcast and Qwest:

Dear Cracker-jack box programmers:

Hi. I want to order your products, really, I do. So, like any good consumer, I’m trying to check prices and availability. Here’s where you come in. You write the code which enables me to do what I want to do. My demands are simple. When I clock on “check pricing” for cable tv, I expect to see a page describing the prices and programming – not something talking about cable internet. Also, when I type in my address to see if a service is available, your program should not be searching addresses already in your system. If I was in your system, I would either have the service already, or just upgrade. Also, if I type in my address, and put in an apartment number, I’d really like it if I did not see a message saying that the address of the apartment complex (which has hundreds of units) is already in your system and has some services. This does not help me if I’m trying to find out how much said service is. Lastly, would it be so hard to put a list of prices on your website, instead of making me wait in a queue to chat with (instant message with) a customer service rep?

Thanks,

A “I wish I was an ex-” customer