My Rant.

So, yesterday it all went a little weird and crazy here.

Background. My co-worker is ex army.

So we are making sure that all the pc's and servers here are patched with the new DST patch as many of our systems are time sensitive. I decided to make myself a little spreadsheet of all the systems that are not on the network, and that WSUS didn't push the patch out to.

Seems pretty simple so far.

In my spreadsheet, every time a pc was patched, I turned the cell to yellow. The reason I choose yellow, is that it was the 1st color i clicked on. No other reason.

Once again, all seems well and good. Right?

Along comes my co-worker/inherited supervisor.

Him: Why are some of those in yellow?"
Me: No reason. That just tells me that those pc's have the DST patch"
Him: They should be in green.
Me: ??? Why?
Him: Red means stop. Yellow, caution. Green, Go.
Me: ???? But this is just a spreadsheet for me. No one else is going to see it.
Him: But they should be in green.
Me: It's no big deal. Yellow is fine.
Him: THEY SHOULD BE IN GREEN. YOU NEED TO CHANGE IT TO GREEN.
Me: But why? It's just a little spreadsheet for me.
Him: In the army we did it in Green, as green means OK. Yellow means Caution. I look at that and think, those pc's have a problem. They should be in Green.

10 min later.

Me: Well I'm not changing it. Yellow is fine.

It's just so crazy that someone would micro-manage something so small and that no-one else is going to see.

Well, thats it. Just had to get it off my chest.

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Comments

Kaminsky

I know this guy. My younger brother just finished 23 years in the british army and he lives in a very strict, black and white world. It's either right or it is wrong. Flexibility we enjoy in our daily lives can be very difficult especially if they ever saw active service.

With my brother you can try to tell him something and he absolutely will not believe you even if you show him proof. Take windsurfing for example. I once told him about this program I was watching with windsurfers in Hawaii where they would go right upside down in the huge waves.
Him: "No they can't!"
Me: "Huh? can't what?"
Him: "Go upside down!"
Me: "I saw it with my own eyes!"
Him: "No you didn't!"
Me: "Err... WFT!"

In his mind, windsurfers cannot go upside down and that was that!

Take it easy on the poor guy. It's not easy in the real world for ex military of any decent length of service. There is precious little structure for these guys to cling to.

imfrom51

Man, this has been a real eye opener for me. It's great to have such a wealth of knowledge and insight. I really and going to start posting more, as I have really benefited from this post.

Thanks a million

elover_jm

Uhmmm.... just wondering if there's any X-military here on this forum.

Kaminsky

/Salute

Well, for a short time until I realised it was all very silly and I would much rather go to University with all the girls with all the lycra (/shudder). Got the crap kicked out of me by a captain when I told him that though. Never learned when to shut up.

Great fun though. Thoroughly recomend it to anyone. Even if you just do basic and leave. Gives you an inner core of confidence that never leaves you.

famosbrown

Hooah!!

Ed Rooney

I am former Army Cav Scout, but of the aero- variety. I did my work in un unarmed, thinly skinned OH-58 helicopter. But you know, a radio is a powerful weapon.

I never reference "the way we did it in the Army" to my team. To be honest, the Army way was generally Effed-up.

I would have changed it to pink.

forbesl

elover_jm wrote:

Uhmmm.... just wondering if there's any X-military here on this forum.

Retired Army.

I still work with the DoD in a civilian capacity. One thing I have noticed, is that some people can't "let it go". This guy sounds like one of them. I work with a couple who are like that. Drives me crazy.

The day after I retired, the beard started....and the hair grew long. The Army was good to me, but I'm done with that. Time to move on and shed that mentality. Does more harm than good in a civilian environment.

mikej412

Ed Rooney wrote:

I am former Army Cav Scout, but of the aero- variety. I did my work in un unarmed, thinly skinned OH-58 helicopter. But you know, a radio is a powerful weapon.

Our Air Cav Troop had more Cobras than the Division's Aviation Battalion -- and the OH-58s also kept some Air Force A-10s on speed-dial. You definitely didn't want to pick a fight with those guys

I still remember the only time we had a Squadron formation and the huge cluster of Warrent Officers behind Delta Troop that never did seem to form any type of formation.

Ed Rooney wrote:

I never reference "the way we did it in the Army" to my team. To be honest, the Army way was generally Effed-up.

But that is great practice for contracting! When I go into a place I'm not surprised by the SNAFU enviroment. When I get a chance to look at it, I usualy find it FUBAR.

The "Hurry Up and Wait" training from the military also comes in handy. One time I got dragged into a problem, told them what they needed to do within the first 15 minutes (and told them it would take about 3 hours).... but it was "sooooooooo critical" that they couldn't take the 3 hours..... 10 days of down time later, they finally agreed to do what I had first suggested, except their guy that should do it was "working from home" without a broadband connection and couldn't do it. Then they complained when it took me five hours -- 2.5 to do it, and 2.5 hours to get the proper access through 3 firewalls.

Ed Rooney wrote:

I would have changed it to pink.

Pink? Must be from mixing the Cav Colors of Red and White!
I've changed my mind -- no green -- now I'd go with Infantry Blue!