Computers are only as good as the person at the keyboard.

[Sibling Chatty]

About a gazillion years ago, right after the tumor was found, I called Records Release at MD Anderson. "Plz send me all RR forms for Operative Reports and Pathology Slides." I patiently spell out city, state and ZIP code. and am promised they're on the way.

PBK spells Somerville with an extra M inna middle of the Somer. The computer doesn't recognize it, kicks it to something that corrects errors and sends my paperwork to PO Box 8482 Somerville, MA. I'm in TX. My ZIP code is in TX. My paperwork went to MA. TWICE, maybe three times.

As Griffin and I have discussed, there needs to be a legal charge available of "death by clerical incompetence" as well as "attempted murder by clerical incompetence".

They called me this afternoon to let me know that I have to get the freakin' Path slides and reports in a DIFFERENT manner than what they'd said. I'm considering driving to Houston and just beating random idiots at MD Anderson, and telling them "It doesn't matter who you are. Your system has NO human oversight and you're ALL guilty."

I won't, I wouldn't waste the gas, but I feel like doin' it...

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Call me if you want some help.


It always amazes me how dumb people are.

[Alpaca]

What's the point of a zip code if they're not going to use it? That seems so incredibly, painfully obvious to me... it almost transcends incompetence.

[Griffin NoName]

Name and address databases are amongst the most complex of all systems. I won't go into why, it merits a whole book. Most are rubbish because most are programmed by the most junior programmers. Then they are used by the most junior staff. That this underpins most of our society and needs just shows the level of insanity we have reached.

I suspect that even if you had supplied your fingerprints, an iris imprint, and some DNA, the records would still have gone to the wrong zip code.

The only consolation is that all the lost computer data records our government is leaving around iin public places is probably totally innacurate.

None of which helps save your life. Perhaps if "death by clerical incompetence" as well as "attempted murder by clerical incompetence" were hanging offences it might ram the point home.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I bet the system has an auto-fill feature on the city, and obviously whomever entered the info was too 'busy' to notice. Perhaps (s)he already filled his/her time per call quota, or is simple incompetence.

[Sibling Chatty]

We're talkin' an employee of the State of Texas...

Quota?? They don't meet no steenkin' quotas, unless it's the requisite number of long breaks and short breaks per day.

Heck, once you're 'in grade' for over 6 months, you're permanent. Furniture. They have to burn down the building to get rid of you... General incompetence it is!

[anthrobabe]

momma did a stint at the Dallas VA hospital as a nurse --she lasted a year.
The VA hospital has their own sort of paperwork system that is undecipherable by any other agency on the planet-- it is a corrupted form of the Federal system-it is therefor some of the biggest mess in the universe.
Evidently in Dallas they had tweaked it a bit and it was pure terror-- everything is bigger in Texas
this includes the mess sometimes.

I happen to like Texas -- all but the paperwork(this goes for many other places as well-not TX bashin y'all).

[Opsa]

A friend of mine was having a housewarming party in Maryland. He went to eVite to create invitations, which included a Map to his party. The invitation's map placed his new home somehwhere in Georgia, quite a drive for most of us. Even with the correct zip code, the map showed us how to get to a similar address in Georgia. He finally had to write addendums to the invitations with express instructions on how to get to his house, with pleas of "Do NOT go by the online map!"

Maybe we should do away with state names on important addresses and just use zip codes.

[Alpaca]

Maybe we should do away with state names on important addresses and just use zip codes.

I'm creating a database of dining establishments so that my friends and I can keep track of what's good, and that's how I'm doing it - just put in the street address and zip code, and we'll take care of the rest.

[beagle]

Aren't you a little young to be turning into Frasier? 

[Alpaca]

In my defense (what little I have), I didn't come up with the idea - some friends were originally doing it with an Excel spreadsheet, and of course, I immediately decided that that was far too clumsy and not always accessible and difficult to keep updated across all copies and...

[Sibling Chatty]

<<everything is bigger in Texas
this includes the mess sometimes.>>

A'Babe, honey, I worked for the UT System Medical School in Houston. I was a purchasing clerk. This was is the late 70's.

I had over 13,500 PAGES of instructions that controlled my purchasing of paper. Blank paper. Another 9,600 or so that concerned LINED AND GRAPHED paper (they were writing new ones for 'tracked' IE original computer paper) and over 23,000 concerning the purchase of books.

However, I could purchase human skulls with 3 forms and a check request.

To be honest, most of the paper-purchasing was easy, as well, controlled by "General Stores" our in-house supply...until Dr. Whoever wanted 25 lb test 100% rag cotton paper to submit an article on, and it had to MATCH his letterhead. OK, I could HAVE it, but ONLY as paper for an IBM Copier 2...

They iz crazy peoplezez...and 99% of it comes from reactions to the carpetbaggers after the damn Post-War To Punish the South.

[anthrobabe]

I agree Opsa-- it's not just Texas!

I also agree with you Chatty-- carpetbaggers---- kill 'em all!

[Griffin NoName]

Over here, skulls aren't included in the stock of HMSO (Her Majesty's Stationery Office). Maybe they should be.

[beagle]

In my defense (what little I have), I didn't come up with the idea - some friends were originally doing it with an Excel spreadsheet, and of course, I immediately decided that that was far too clumsy and not always accessible and difficult to keep updated across all copies and...

I'm wondering what third normal form would look like for a restaurant review schema. Or the queries...

select restaurant_name, postcode from fine_dining_establishments
where
wine_list ='comprensive but accessible' and
amuse_bouches= 'rib-tickling' and
lamb ='locally grazed on the salt marshes' and
reputation ='no flash in the bain-marie' and
puree like 'pleasant sweet mushiness'
order by likelihood_of_their_not_spotting_fake_credit_card desc