Busy day. A guy I was doing a favor for brought me in towards the end of a project (really light work) and asked me for help in getting this software to communicate with a database. My first reaction is that he shouldn’t have paid 400 bucks for the educational version of shitty software that does the same thing as ASP/PHP/any other web language. I make sure to let him know that for about 3 hours of paid time, I can whip the whole thing up in any language he wants. Since he’s already paying me for a couple hours of support at this point, it kind of makes sense. He says, “I’ve spent all this time/money on this software, I’m sticking with it.” Fair enough. He pays me to whip up a registration form (which this software was supposed to handle originally) and I’m done.
Fast forward a couple of weeks when I finally have the time to talk to him again. He’s now realized that the educational version of the software leaves a little box stating that no content is allowed for commercial use with this software. So let’s weigh the options:
- Buy the full release version ($2000)
- Pay Sharkey for 3 hours of work (considerably less than $2000)
So naturally he goes with option A, because it makes little/no sense. He backs this up with the stance of “The profits from this projects will barely cover it, and I’ll have the software forever and then I can get training on it.” My warning that the software is about $2000 worth of shit goes unheeded.
Fast forward yet again to today, 24 hours before deadline. Emergency mode in place, guy asks for another favor. Take a look at the software, find out why it won’t connect to the database. Fine. After 45 minutes of tinkering, I get the feeling that this piece of shit software, while web accessible, does not have the ability to execute a client-to-server ODBC call. I am immediately proven correct. For some fucking reason, the package can only access ODBC on a local machine, not a server. But it’s being served by a server, right? Anyway, my assessment of the software as “shit” is also proven correct. So after 4 hours of trying to get the thing to post variables to a homegrown ASP script to update the database (seems a bit fucking unneccessary, right?) the guy throws his hands up in disgust. Asks me if the option to redo the project in three hours is still available. Sure, I respond. Luckily, they had the opportunity to return the $2000 pile of shit. But let’s review what happened here. I got called in to do a couple hours of work initially. I got called in for five hours of support. Now I’m doing the whole thing over in three hours. That’s 10 hours of work, when all the guy had to do was say “yes” to the original 3 and save himself three fucking weeks of headache.
I’d say “I told you so”, but that would be perverse, considering all of the money I’m getting for this.
ha!… and thus is the cycle of consulting in the computer industry.
tardsounds like a candidate for the malthion X treatment. did i read right? he’s getting money for this? how the hell did such a novice land a job where he’s getting money to develop a web app?
Mmmm…consulting.Sounds like my office.
Stupid customersStory of my life with my customers.. LOL
Sweet, Sweet SliceBring on the Boobies! And make’m big’uns!
Eh?Did you say \”lol\”?
name names?The best customer is an ignorant customer.Can you name the software for us nerds without getting sued? I’d get a kick out of checking out their web page.
wow…some fuckin peopleman…i can’t believe how retard some fuckin people are…i’ve been there and done all that before sharky…and i thought that i was the only unlucky bastard that got the stupid customers…just goes to show ya that those of us with an IQ below 90 should be gased…
the softwareYou’d be shocked, I guarantee you have at least one program or plugin made by this copany. This particular software package, however, is not up to their usual standard of excellence.
questionhow much money?
New Concept!!!Mr Sharkey Sir, maybe you should look into this new concept called an ***EMPLOYEE***…The way it works is, you pay the employee to do the job your doing now, and pay them 1/100th of what you charge for the job, thereby allowing you to spend your work time running back and forth to the bank, starbucks, dry cleaners, video store, carwash and other crucial tasks that require your time and effort. This will also free up your WEB PAGE time allowing for more PIE to be produced and me to be made happy and content. Im surprised you haven’t thought of this before ** cough ** cheap bastard…..Also remember to tell your employee that these high-paying jobs are hard to come by and they should be thankfull they have one.