My Job

My job just gets better every day. A few months ago we got an order for a system that included a PC and some radios. The radios had to be configured, and the program running on the PC need to be modified to talk to these radios. Nothing very complicated, but tedious, a lot of trial and error. The problem was made a little more difficult by the fact that portions of the system were scattered around the building and all the equipment needed for testing was likewise scattered. But that's okay, once we get this system sorted out, we will know what needs to be done and the next one will be a snap. About a month ago I get called on to help with the configuration. They want to ship the system by the end of the month. I make some progress, but things are not going well. The documentation is not clear, the radio guy is on vacation. I can see that I am not going to get this done by the end of the year, so I take a couple of days off to be home with my kids on Christmas vacation. I come back after the new year expecting to pick up where I left off and find that these systems have been stripped of an essential component. Rumor has it that this was done so another order could be completed, shipped and billed before the end of the year. I almost blew a fuse right then, but I figure, fine. This is just typical of the way things are run. I will let this one pass.

I come into work today and notice that the replacements for the purloined equipment have arrived. No, not quite, I am told. These are the originals that were stripped from the systems I was working on. The other order could not be shipped for some reason, so the these units are being repatriated to their original systems. Is this a great country or what? I mean, I am really, really motivated to get cracking on this project now.

This is the project that they could not wait a month for software configuration to be done. This is the project that is being delayed because we do not have a crucial piece of equipment that will take a month to get.