Rantings of a Black Polemicist

‘Slumlord’ is such an ugly word

Tuesday, July 27th, 2004 | Personal | 34 Comments

It’s been three years since I’ve done any major repairs or upgrades to the apartment upstairs. That wouldn’t have been so bad if the roof hadn’t expired early this spring. There were some really bad rainstorms over the last few weeks and the ceiling in my tenant’s extra bedroom has suffered some significant water damage.

The roofers will be ready to start September 1. Until then, I’ve decided to make some other improvements to show that in fact I really am a good person. I’m replacing her vanity in the bathroom.

The trip back from Home Depot was a bit of a nightmare. Slowly driving down I-76 with my car’s hazard lights on and a vanity hanging out of the trunk is not an ideal way to spend a Saturday afternoon. One of the Home Depot guys secured it with some kind of plastic wrap. The faster I drove, the louder it vibrated.

My Barber is Cut

Friday, July 23rd, 2004 | Trivialities | 3 Comments

My current barber first cut my hair right before my wedding day. It looked great and made that day even more special. He does a great job generally, but he doesn’t seem to value my time very much.

Way back, I stopped seeing him for nearly a year because of this. Sometimes he left to pick his wife up from her job in the evenings. He never made his schedule clear to me.

On a few occaisions, I got in just as he was wrapping up what he thought was his last haircut. He’d be visibly annoyed, not even responding when I greeted him. I’d get an 8-minute express cut for the same price that looked like poo. He’d get even more annoyed when I pointed out spots that he’d missed. Often, some substitute barber would be waiting for me. Worse still, sometimes the shop would be locked up at 5:30 with no explanation.

I bought a pair of clippers and started cutting my own hair at that point.

Finally, I started going back around last Christmas. I was self-employed, so it worked out better. I came in at 11am early in the week when I knew he’d be there, reading a magazine, waiting for yours truly.

Now that I’ve gone back to work, time is money. Yesterday was the last straw: I rushed out of the office on my lunch break, fed the parking meter and raced to the shop. It was 12:45. The shop’s curtains were drawn and the door was locked. Odd, I thought. My frustrated tugging at the door brought him outside, and he explained to me that he always leaves around this time to pick up his wife at 1:00, and that he woudn’t be able to cut my hair that day. He was apologetic, but I would have to change my schedule to accomodate him… again. Would I have to take early or late lunches to get a cut now? Can’t a brotha keep predictable hours for his customers?

Why not get an appointment with him, you ask? I’ve tried that. I call ahead just to sit and wait as he cuts a few more heads in front of me. Sometimes I get jumped in line. Sometimes I don’t. I’ve absolutely no insight into the logic behind it.

Barbers should be forced to choose between walk-ins or appoinments. If I make an appointment and there’s someone in your chair, what’s the point? I’m still waiting.

I was referred to a guy that cuts heads by appointment only at his “salon”. After describing my relatively simple hairstyle, he quoted me “$35 and up” for a shampoo and cut. Ouch. My current barber charges only $17.

I don’t care anymore. I now have a standing appointment every Wednesday at 12:30pm to see Yazeed. If is able to respect my time and cut hair, he’s a keeper.

Working like a dog.

Tuesday, July 20th, 2004 | Personal | 49 Comments

The new job is challenging, which is rather exciting. It’s an interesting group of developers on the project, some have been employees of the company for more than 15 years.

However, there is no adherence to software development best practices in any way, shape or form. I’ve quickly become aware that nearly everyone is winging it. There’s no time to do design or planning because we’ve blown deadline after deadline and have a list of bugs a mile long. We can’t worry about doing it right, only getting it done. Nevermind that it’s that same poor planning that put us here in the first place, and promises to keep us here.

What a fucking mess. *Sigh*

There’s the lead developer (the guy who interviewed me), competent but spread way too thin. Then we have 2 “sub-leads” who manage the growing list of bugs and schedule software releases to the client for testing. For two clowns that don’t know what they’re doing, why are they all up in my grill?

They’ll assign an issue to me, asking me to do “analysis”. In other words, figure out why the code they wrote doesn’t work. I’ll find the problem, let them know what my approach will be and then start working. Halfway into my work, one of them will start questioning my logic and suggest another approach. Most often I was right from the start, and they’ve only managed to waste even more time. If they’re going to go behind me and work on the very tasks they delegate to me, why even involve me in the first place?

I’m the System Architect. I’m their boss. I’m supposed to be changing the bad practices that got us here to begin with. Has anyone explained this to them yet? I have a meeting with the lead developer on Wednesday. We’re both on the same page regarding what needs to be done and how. I’m going to ask him to communicate to everyone why he hired me, what I’m here to do and why it will benefit us as a team. I’m not here to take anyone’s job, just make everyone’s easier.

I’ve been working long hours, too. You know it’s bad when you’re in a Friday status meeting with a release due on Monday, and the only way to make the deadline is to come in over the weekend.

That reminds me of a scene from Office Space, where Peter’s boss waits until late afternoon on Friday to tell him that his services will be needed over the weekend.

“Yeah, I’m gonna need to to come in tomorrow. Let’s say… around 9:00 AM?” *starts to walk away* “Oh, I almost forgot. I’m gonna need you here Sunday too… yeah, thanks. “

Thankfully, my reply will always be: “No problem. I’m going to need to bill you for Saturday and Sunday.”