I have now done the (almost) impossible!
I broke my office software today...again.

As some of you may know, I collect fines upon conviction from criminals. For felonies there is a $2 transaction fee for each payment made. Today I managed to accidentally (hit a key too fast) set a payment plan for $1 per month. This created an infinite loop in my system wherein the balance due would increase every month forever.

Oops!

The programmers weren't pleased and said they had made this impossible to do when they created the system. Thankfully they were able to fix the problem quickly by logging me out from their end.

Oh, and they have offered me a job. Apparently they think that if I can manage to break their system as often as I do, I might be useful to them. For now though, they just call me "FWB from that damn County".
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Wed 20 Aug 2008, 22:49, 4 replies, latest was 17 years ago)

Yeah
That's either lazy coding or insufficient testing. They hadn't made it impossible to do as you did it with apparently one keystroke.

/boring techie blog
( Kroney, Wed 20 Aug 2008, 23:26, Reply)

Speaking as a programmer...
It's hard to make software foolproof because fools are so damn ingenious!
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 0:39, Reply)

I have talked to them a bit about this
From what I understand from talking to several different programmers for different companies, it is hard for them to test their system so thoroughly that nothing can go wrong simply because they know how it is supposed to work and have a hard time thinking of things they can do that a random user might try.

Frankly, I love the software I have. Any time I think of a new feature I want or see something they've added that I don't like, I just email or call them and it gets changed that day and for free. Of course, I really like the people that work for that company too. If anyone out there is looking for a good collections software that can handle adjudicated and non-adjudicated cases, I've got a great one to recommend. I think they are working on programming for private (non-criminal) collections too.
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Thu 21 Aug 2008, 2:22, Reply)

Tea all over the screen
Again!

"logging me out from their end"


Fnaarr.

On another note, I blew up an RB211 many years ago.


It's OK, I was supposed to.


Best quote "Every time I design something idiot-proof, some bugger designs a better idiot!"
(Captain Placid 24/7 ball gags, brownie mix and clown porn, Thu 21 Aug 2008, 10:01, Reply)