Reply to: Have you ever had a "telling off" from the client?

[KentPhilip]

the main problems i have had are after I have told them as gently as possible that i was not going to extend.

And the same if they tell you they are not going to extend.
Brings me out with a nasty case of internetitis a-la-deskus

[CoolCat]

the main problems i have had are after I have told them as gently as possible that i was not going to extend. seems no matter how you do it, or how much notice you give them, that simple act transforms their behaviour from praising you to slagging you off at every opportunity. strange set of human behaviour it seems to bring out.

[Doggy Styles]

God yes. I was chucked off the project.

Then I discovered I was the latest of a series of contractors that this had happened to.

The Department Manager was an arse. One thing she complained about was a missing full stop in a first-draft document.

She was a bit surprised to see me a few months later, working happily in the same company for a different department.

[TheFaQQer]

I got told to stop browsing the web, I laughed.

My last permie job, they disabled contractor use of the internet. Permies were fine, so I then ended up with the joy of chasing Oracle support for updates on issues that I knew nothing about.

When I say "disabled", they went to each machine and deleted the proxy settings from IE. Hardly the most high tech solution, it must be said.

[Mich the Tester]

I got told to stop browsing the web, I laughed.

Well what else are you supposed to do with it?

[minestrone]

I got told to stop browsing the web, I laughed.

[Mich the Tester]

I've been 'told off' many, many times in my life. I was probably about an hour old the first time, and the effect on me of admonishments started to wear off immediately. My mother warned the teachers at primary school not to shout me as I would only laugh back at them. In this respect, I have not changed much.

[formant]

Only telling off I've had was as a permie. For using office-inappropriate language.

It was bloody justified though. My language use, I mean.

Funniest thing about it was that this was my boss' boss telling me off. And he looked and sounded so uncomfortable and terrified doing it. I mean, I've been told I can come across as slightly intimidating, but seriously?

[NotAllThere]

I did have a quiet word with a contractor once. He refused to work the one weekend he'd said from the start of the project that he wouldn't be available for. In the course of that, he explained to the project manager that he (the PM) couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag.

I was the domain lead, and away on the week it came to a head. On arrival at the office the PM asked to see me, and told me I needed to give the contractor a bollocking. So I picked up my deputy (who'd already told me the whole story) from his office and we went to the developers room, wearing our most solemn faces.

"Fred... we need to have a word".

Fred went pale.

We found an empty room, and sat him down on one side of the desk, while we sat, confrontationally, on the other side.

"Fred. We heard what happened between you and (the PM), and we have to say...well done! It needed saying and we couldn't agree with you more".

Fred's face was a sight to behold. That evening, by the fifth pint, he'd quite forgiven us. My deputy in this incident is now a CIO in a huge multinational, and still treats his staff with decency. I remain a scumbag contractor.

[doodab]

I've had 'quiet words' about my robust attitude to idiots over the years. In one case I pointed out to the PM having the quiet word that if he had done his job properly my bringing things to a head would have been unnecessary. He didn't like that either

[KentPhilip]

Got a proper a deserved one a few years back that went something like "if you ever do anything like that again I will remove you from site!

What had you done?

[Sysman]

Ftfy

The 7 days a week bit wasn't in the contract.

But at time and a half for weekend work I wasn't objecting

[MyUserName]

Got a telling off when I was a permie for poor problem solving skills, there was a bug in our report which caused a penny to go missing now and then. Eventually figured out that nothing was wrong, numbers were being rounding in two other reports that were being compared to and sometimes it caused a penny's worth of difference. Manager informed me he had fixed it in an hour.

I patiently explained that he had not as the issue was a rounding error which is a problem in the law of maths and not in the code, therefore all he had done is shift the error somewhere else. He simply could not understand, the bug sat in my in box for 4 weeks with no change in status over it. He marked me down a grade on my review and I later found out that it meant I no longer qualified for a bonus so I resigned.

Later he left the company for a career change and got nowhere so came back to software and is now currently unemployed. Cannot say I am suprised.

[jmo21]

I didn't read the contract and it turned out I was on 24 hour call out, 7 days a week.

Ftfy

[Sysman]

Once when I'd gone home for my first weekend on a new contract.

They wanted me to go in at 11 o'clock on the Friday night and I was exhausted after a 3 hour drive.

The agent hadn't told me that I was on 24 hour call out, 7 days a week.

I simply booked myself into the hotel for the duration of the contract after that.