Yes, let's talk database. I dropped report on Charlie's desk late yesterday. Learning the basic programming I would love, but at my age, I need a sincere financial incentive to do so. It answered or over answered the question of where is everybody by stating, where everybody is supposed to be; a superior response to the actual problem.
[Author's note: yeah Frank knows he slow sometimes and refers to it as his “stupidity problem”. Part of Project 21 was to improve this, but the majority of his progress, while immense, has not been material to the business. Frank is never developed a sense of urgency when investing his own time and money.]
Rhonda doesn't care for Charlie, and apparently neither does anyone else in the company. He is a mousy little man who is clearly jealous that he'll always be nothing better than number three. He was an original critic of the database, and understandably so, for it appears to duplicate other records already kept at a cost to his department.
During a two and half hour meeting 12 days ago, I did my best to explain the data is not the same, because his version is not normalized. He asked about my report, to which I can only say it was not a report in itself, only a sample of the type of report I could produce. Subtle.
This must've been a finicky misunderstanding on Charlie's part. I've written that I did a primary sort on employee number, and exported it to XL. Then, I added a column which subtracts the next employee number after a date sort. By deleting all the zeros I found the control breaks. After that it was simple and to get a subtotal.
Shortly after this episode, Charlie and I became unspoken enemies. He correctly surmised that my database revealed his entire career had been built around shuffling papers. But instead of allying himself with me in learning the new system, he began indulging in petty sabotage. He was let go three years later, a very serious situation for a dumb old fart like him.]
[Author's note 2025: For those who just got here, back in 2002, with some help from Frank Bytheway, I counted to a milion. I still have them. They were last on display in San Diego, 2003. The county fair was rocked by a beauty contest scandal involving altered votes.
Due to some grievous oversight on the part of the Fair organizers, I was never provided the opportunity to personally congratulate the young ladies involved. It is one of the few beauty constests of the era where no flattering pictures of the contestants are on-line. Sour grapes anyway, as once the Fair eliminated the talent and swimsuit competitions, non-blondes began winning.]
Totally unconnected at the time, here's a picture of the San Diego County Fair around the same time.
