The Water Cooler

If I was to buy a 10 USD game and ship it, shipping would be anything up to 100 USD. All those sites that say free shipping Worldwide... they exclude most of Polynesia.

Belle-Sophie

It's a popular holiday destination, especially the island I work on, so short stays are expensive. But long stays are not bad, as the price evens out over winter.

Twyxz

8:45 AM

@Belle-Sophie Fancy, sounds nice hahah might have a look into it after I visit Hong Kong and Lanzarote again

Belle-Sophie

@Kilisi That's really annoying :\ island-life, huh? At least we have a bridge...

Twyxz

@Kilisi Then its like the lottery whether you receive it or not

Belle-Sophie

Sounds like it may be cheaper to pick up games abroad personally

Can't imagine flights being cheap either

Kilisi

yeah, I get all my stuff, I ship regularly and have a guy at the post office who gets a golden handshake every time just for doing his job properly.

motosubatsu

Nice, now I've got people slurring my company's reputation:

"FWIW unless I literally had nothing else worthwhile for an employee to do I wouldn't have given someone in the OP's situation ..." <--- But you wrote "You've behaved insubordinately, made unreasonable demands and tried to make your sickness/injury their problem" The employee was taken off their normal duties that they would be expected to do in their job and put on more difficult ones. And then hat's your response? I would advise people never to work for your company. — Araucaria 10 hours ago

what a f##king joke this place is becoming

Belle-Sophie

8:51 AM

Don't engage, @motosubatsu. It's not worth it. They're just a 101 rep account coming in from the HNQ.

Kilisi

nothing is cheap, especially when the minimum wage = around $1 USD, so what passes for a senior engineer here would in the top bracket to make 20,000 USD equivalent per year

Belle-Sophie

I flagged it as not nice, because it isn't.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie yeah.. couldn't resist posting a response but I've flagged it also

Kilisi

mind you, if you saw what passes for a senior engineer here, you'd think they're being grossly overpaid... hehe

motosubatsu

it's just one more indicator though that I'm pissing into the wind trying to actually help people here

TolMera

8:53 AM

@Belle-Sophie I found flights.google.com to be awesome. got a flight from London (UK) to Brisbane (AU) for £400GBP.

Twyxz

@motosubatsu Is it gone/

I wanted to look hhhahha

Kilisi

@motosubatsu if it's excersising your mind and making you look at things logically in terms of problem resolution strategies then it's well worth the effort I reckon

Belle-Sophie

@motosubatsu People disagreeing are usually more vocal than those agreeing. I always find your answers refreshing.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie thanks :)

Kilisi

exercising*

Snow

8:55 AM

@motosubatsu Don't let the minority drive-bys grind you down. Don't forget that people often type stuff simply to hear themselves type.

Kilisi

not an exorcism unfortunately

Summer

Yeah i love flights.google

TolMera

@Summer I only found it less than 2 months ago, and it's already my "go to" site.

Belle-Sophie

@TolMera I like that one too. I also like skyscanner and kayak. Kayak.com/explore especially if I just want to "get out of here" for little money.

TolMera

I didn't know Kayak, I'll follow that.

Belle-Sophie

9:04 AM

Kayak has a daughter company HolidayPirates as well. They blog about cheap holidays. Interestingly, they don't get a commission for all content they share, which makes them more "complete" imo. Pick your origin country in the top right corner. holidaypirates.com

TolMera

I do love sites like holidaypirates, where if you open the developer console, they have some awesome message waiting for you.

Twyxz

Perks of being young with a rather wealthy grandma

I don't need these sites

she just does it and I don't have a say I just go (rofl)

Belle-Sophie

@TolMera The ship? :')

Twyxz

0

A: Was my approach to negotiating reasonable?

I sent the letter this Monday. I do want the offer, would be grateful if they can improve the offer the package a lil bit.

This guy just replied to all the answers with an answer, and it completely contradicts his question

TolMera

@Belle-Sophie yep :) ascii art for the win :)

avazula

9:16 AM

Morning everyone :D

Twyxz

Morning @avazula :)

avazula

How's everyone doing?

TolMera

liking the stared comments list this morning, what one earth have people been talking about?

Twyxz

Well

I was being bullied

basically

Belle-Sophie

Hi @avazula o/

Twyxz

9:20 AM

Apparently 4 people don't want to see me wearing pokemon leggings :(

Belle-Sophie

I like your new avatar :)

avazula

@Twyxz that's a shame! Pokemons are the best, and leggings are sooo comfortable!

@Belle-Sophie Thanks dear :D still in the series universe. Old habits die hard... :p

Haven't seen you in a while. Are you sulking TAS?

Belle-Sophie

TAS?

Snow

The Awkward Silence. IPS chatroom

Belle-Sophie

Ahh. I like that room. It distracts me too much at work though.

The situation at work got much worse. I've dropped my CV at some recruiters but they seem useless.

One proposed introducing me at some company that installs WiFi and printers for companies...

avazula

9:27 AM

:/ I'm sorry for you dear

Belle-Sophie

I found a place that sounds nice more up the country, but 120km each way. That's about an hour and a half drive.

TolMera

To Recruiters we're product, and they have a lot of stock.

And almost zero quality control

avazula

@TolMera erh, not everywhere... I'm getting 6+ job offers per week in France. They lack software engineers so much

TolMera

I've been searching for 4 months in Australia, not having any feedback sucks.

Belle-Sophie

I get quite a few job offers from up north too, but I cba to drive 6 hours every day.

avazula

9:31 AM

@Belle-Sophie :/

Belle-Sophie

Maybe I should just move north. Say goodbye to my seaside penthouse :\

avazula

@Belle-Sophie Home is where your SO and cats are :D

Belle-Sophie

Those jobs do pay more though.

@avazula Exactly!

avazula

Kidding. I get how that's difficult.

TolMera

@avazula haha :) I would rather stay home with cats

avazula

9:32 AM

@TolMera oh yeah, me too!

Belle-Sophie

I would do that too, but I need money bra

I did get some good news yesterday

I found out I can deduct a rather large amount from taxes in 3 years from now. Since it will be more than I pay in taxes at all, I should be able to deduct the leftovers again the year after.

Twyxz

I gotta get myself to France

Belle-Sophie

The amount is equal to half a years wages <3

@Twyxz France is nice. The only problem is the language.

Twyxz

I'm fluent French?

TolMera

@Belle-Sophie that's a lot of tax back! nice going :)

Twyxz

9:37 AM

(I'm not actually)

Belle-Sophie

@Twyxz Okay, not for you then ;) My French is bad.

Twyxz

hahahaha @Belle-Sophie I could go become a developer in Hong Kong and become rich buttttttttt I would never want to work with computers in that heat

Belle-Sophie

Is Hong Kong hot? I am clueless about Hong Kong.

Twyxz

You could say that :)

Belle-Sophie

All I know is from tv, which is probably not representative.

avazula

9:39 AM

@Twyxz I just had a conf call with a French woman who expatriated herself in Taiwan. I got soooo jealous during the call (Of course I didn't let her know :p)

Twyxz

hahahah Hong Kong's great, we should all go at the same time conincidentally

avazula

@Twyxz And I think France is terrible towards strangers. They won't bother trying to speak English and don't dare asking for working remotely

TolMera

Isn't Hong Kong perfectly air-conditioned indoors and out?

Twyxz

@TolMera Well... If you're in the business district, doesn't change the 100% humidity you can still feel sticky within 10 seconds of hitting the heat

Once you get out of air con consider your day over because you can no longer be bothered to move

Belle-Sophie

Pff, I already can't deal with summers in Netherlands.

TolMera

9:41 AM

@Belle-Sophie what? lol

Belle-Sophie

I burned my hand on my gear shift!

The gear shift and seats in my car get crazy hot. Can't even wear a skirt.

...Maybe leather seats and a metal gear shift aren't practical in summer. BUT THEY ARE PRETTY, OKAY. ._.

Twyxz

It's alright because I wouldn't really wear a skirt anyway

tbh, no cars are really designed for the summer. Even things like convertibles are stupidly warm in the summer. They don't trap heat but they let the sun directly contact the surfaces

Belle-Sophie

Lol, I just got a random downvote on a question of mine from 2016 that's closed. Random.

Twyxz

OOooo you got a stalker

Belle-Sophie

May be serial downvoting, the question I just asked got downvoted too. Ah well. Votes are not everything.

Twyxz

9:49 AM

On what?

IPS or

Belle-Sophie

No, TWP.

Twyxz

You just asked a question?

Belle-Sophie

Yep. You even answered it.

Twyxz

Oh right yeah it's because you're connected to this on your IPS username

TolMera

@Twyxz I hear the Tesla cars keep the interior at a 'safe' temperature at all times, so if you lock your dogs in the car or something they will be 'safe'.

Twyxz

9:51 AM

Nobody saw that, right? good anyway yeah that makes sense as you see A LOT of teslas in Hong Kong

Like I'd only seen 2 in my lifetime until I went there recently

Belle-Sophie

@Twyxz Yep. I have a different username on TWP. I'm not too bothered about my colleagues encountering the question, but I don't want to give them too many hints it is me.

TolMera

I'm on the outskirts of the M25, so I see one almost every day. They are really fun to drive behind if the person is running autopilot, you can make their car bunny hop lol, takes practice and stop/start traffic, but it's fun to mess with them.

Twyxz

@Belle-Sophie Is your account hidden from your other accounts or you just hope they don't use them ones hahah

@TolMera Do I even want to know? :P

@Belle-Sophie In terms of Elmy's answer, youre already looking arent u

Belle-Sophie

@Twyxz If someone from work would be able to figure out it is me, I wouldn't mind that person reading the question.

@Twyxz Yep. I've also been asked by another manager to join his team.

This particular colleague's abilities are kind of a public secret. Everyone knows, but he's protected by our manager.

And no one publicly speaks up about it.

Luckily we have three more developer teams and at least 2 of them would love to have me.

TolMera

ehh.. have 2 of those at my workplace. Good luck.

Belle-Sophie

10:01 AM

Maybe part of the problem is that he's the only person who understands his own spaghetti, which is a significant part of our codebase.

The manager demanded someone replace me if I go to a different team. He got someone more experienced and socially much stronger than me. I think the other manager(s) know something is going on.

TolMera

I wonder if anyone has made a career out of being a strawman for these situations,

Manager demands a replacement,
Hire strawman to fill your role so you can move,
Strawman quits

Honestly I would happily be that strawman.

Belle-Sophie

Haha. The replacement is an internal transfer.

I've got some suspicions, I really hope they're true.

We recently got a new CEO. The last one was kind of lax. The new one is changing things actively. All teams are doing agile development, except our team. Our manager refuses to. He focuses on quantity over quality, even though the company values quality over quantity. Our manager also ridicules people behind their backs. Old CEO never cared, because our manager pitched his quantity and never mentioned that we had most bugs, even though we are the smallest team.

I joined this team a few months before we got this new CEO. He was department manager at that time. He put me on this team. I impressed them quite a bit during the first few months, until I started outperforming the other colleague.

Still trying to impress, I did everything asked from me. At some point I got asked to do a rather large task that, I realized in hindsight, was my manager's responsibility. I did a good job at it, but I assume the manager somehow took credit for it. I have no proof though, nor has he proof that he did it, but I don't think I can just go swinging "look, I did my manager's job!" around.

The other colleague seems to be the type of person who believes he is the best and he really can't have this "girl" be better than him, so his lecturing got worse.

TolMera

10:19 AM

Just go find a bug, then report it and say "Hey I was thinking about the code I wrote, and realised I had coded a bug when I did 'this thing', and I want to fix it before it's causes a bigger problem"

Belle-Sophie

Now, what I think is happening: the CEO is realizing what is going on, having put me there as a bit of an expirement originally. Now he's putting someone else there to fix the team.

TolMera

sounds like a good CEO

Belle-Sophie

The person they're putting in my place is manager material. I think they want the manager out.

motosubatsu

@Snow yeah I know they are just blowhards for the most part - but when you share actual facts with people, facts that I've spent significant time to learn and understand and you get random ad hominem attacks because the facts aren't popular or people argue their baseless opinions as being just as valid it just feels a bit pointless.

I didn't learn all this stuff for SE but foolishly I thought people might actually appreciate the opportunity to save themselves the tedious hours of research but apparently not. The comment earlier was bad enough in of itself but in reality it seems to be a symptom of a much larger problem.

Belle-Sophie

@TolMera He is :)

It's because of him that I haven't quit yet

Twyxz

10:22 AM

@Belle-Sophie Lucky for you then

Belle-Sophie

He's very careful though, there's a reason he became CEO. He's setting things up very carefully.

Snow

@motosubatsu I learnt a long time ago that the internet isn't important enough a thing to get upset about. There's a lot more in real life that's more important than random complainers on the internet.

Belle-Sophie

@motosubatsu I like to think that it's a good thing if they attack you rather than your argument. It means your argument is strong.

I'm going to enjoy my break. Cya o/

motosubatsu

@Snow oh I wouldn't say I'm upset or anything that strong - but I am definitely less inclined to spend my time and effort on contributing, and while I'm sure that in the grand scheme of things the site wouldn't miss me in the slightest if I got hit by a bus tomorrow (not even my ego is that big!) but I'd lay good money on me not being the only person to feel that way and the last thing the internet needs is yet another site filled with uninformed dross

TolMera

o/

motosubatsu

10:32 AM

@Belle-Sophie you're correct of course.. if you can't attack the argument attack the person making it seems to be the philosophy behind them, the sad fact is that ad hominem attacks work

Twyxz

10:51 AM

especially if they drive slow cars

Some random guy just called me and says he's seen my CV online

On Cv Library but I haven't used that in literally 2-3 years and how come when I'm looking for a job I get my first call from an employer from that website in 2 years

How strange

TolMera

Just how many of use are looking for new jobs? Just curious

Obviously I am so o/ Me

Twyxz

Me \o

Belle-Sophie

11:11 AM

Me, kinda o/

Twyxz

Welcome back :)

I have just absolutely nuked my dinner

the box is not even square anymore its contracted from the sides

Belle-Sophie

Hahaha

Twyxz

it's like it was a can and I just crushed it, that's what my lunch box looks like

Belle-Sophie

I spent my lunch break helping a colleague with the paper he's writing to be able to graduate from uni. Someone actually appreciating help feels good.

motosubatsu

@Twyxz it's more likely that the box has deformed by contraction - so it's actually been pulled in rather than compressed </pedant>

Twyxz

11:22 AM

Thats what I said

Kilisi

I'm with @Snow on that, don't get upset at a screen and keyboard

motosubatsu

@Twyxz apologies.. I misinterpreted your comment as implying it had been pushed in from the sides :)

Twyxz

It did originally say compressed but I changed it (rofl)

motosubatsu

@Kilisi yeah don't worry not upset.. more of an observation

Kilisi

@motosubatsu I'm a bit upset that my screen isn't bigger and my keyboard isn't backlit, not sure if that counts :-)

motosubatsu

11:29 AM

@Kilisi of course it does.. that's outrageous, I'm here for you during this difficult time :D

Kilisi

on the bright side my kids saved up to buy me this laptop for fathers day :-).... although their $27 wasn't quite enough and I made up the $900+ difference quietly.

3

Belle-Sophie

@Kilisi That's so sweet :')

Kilisi

yeah, so long as they don't take me to a car sales next fathers day and tell me to have whichever I want

3

Twyxz

hahahaha

best start saving

Feeds

12:07 PM

0

Q: What part of this question is unclear?

This question Is an experience certificate from an unregistered company valid? was closed as "unclear". Other than a bit of language (which I cleaned up), I'm having a hard time imagining what isn't clear. It seems like an extremely straightforward question to me, and likely has a definitive ans...

discussion

Twyxz

1:10 PM

Is there such thing as interview overload?

I have 4 on the same day and I'm 100% going to confuse the companies that I'm researching

TolMera

Happens to me every time.

Twyxz

as you favourite Kilisi's posts

I'm going to go ahead and say that, I think I'm going to explode

Feeds

1:41 PM

-2

Q: Suggestion for new 'hold' reason

We seem to close/hold an awful lot of questions that would be easily answered if the OP were to provide or clarify one or two minor details. However the VTC's don't indicate that, so I propose we add a new one that says something like: More information required Yes there is often a comment ...

discussion close-reasons

motosubatsu

@Twyxz it happens.. it's a better problem to have then not having zero interviews though

something that I've used in the past is to create almost a "briefing packet" for myself for each interview

then just label them by company and interview time and stack them in the order you're going to need them

that way you can just arrive a few mins early to each interview, pick the top one off the pile and refresh your memory on who you're about to see

Twyxz

Hmm, to complete that I should probably start writing down the information

motosubatsu

@Twyxz or printing it (emails, interview confirmations, company web pages if pertinent)

Twyxz

Everyone who's called me so far and has asked "Do you drive?" then go oh no you don't

then I say yes and they're like OH YOU DO? REALLY?!

yes I drive? Why is that so strange

motosubatsu

@Twyxz astronomical insurance costs mean that more and more commonly now you'll find 19 year olds haven't bothered to even get their license - and those that do often can't afford to actually run a car

Twyxz

1:57 PM

yeah that's my next point. Do you have your own car?... Yes

WOWWWWWW

Magical

Top of the list just because I can drive and have a car

Belle-Sophie

So relateable! Even as a 25-year-old car-owner I'm an oddity. "Is that your car?" ... Yes.

motosubatsu

@Twyxz well top of the list might be a stretch - but for many roles it will give you an advantage over others of a similar age

Twyxz

@motosubatsu It might come as more of a shock when I turn up in my slow car right?

Belle-Sophie

@Twyxz As long as it goes?

Twyxz

@Belle-Sophie I have a relatively fast car but according to Moto and his superior engine and badge mine is classsed as slow in his books :)

Belle-Sophie

2:04 PM

Oh haha. I wonder if Moto thinks mine is slow too then.

motosubatsu

@Twyxz well they might be surprised that it got you there in the same calendar year I suppose :D More seriously though be prepared for endless jokes about how you are a "boy racer" and "we must be paying you too much", apparently the notion that someone might genuinely be into cars and choose to spend money on that rather than absurdly tight jeans is lost on the general populace these days

Belle-Sophie

@motosubatsu I know right!

motosubatsu

@Twyxz haha.. you know I'm just yanking your chain :) it's certainly far faster then what I had at your age

Belle-Sophie

I had to outdo my brother when buying a car. My little brother couldn't have a faster car than me, right?

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie yeah, people also seem to assume that a sporty or fast car is automatically very expensive. I used to get the "we're paying you too much" comments all the time from people who drove around in 30k cars when mine was worth all of about 6k

@Belle-Sophie sounds like a very sensible justification to me ;)

Twyxz

2:07 PM

It’s the driver not the car moto but you’re too scared to come up

What do u drive @Belle-Sophie

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie you've reminded me of the look on my (older) brother's face when I turned up in my first quick car, he did seem to take it rather personally

Belle-Sophie

Exactly. I bought my car at 5 years old. It was 30k new, but dropped in price a lot due to its age, I paid 12k for it.

@Twyxz Peugeot 208 GTi, 2013 version.

Twyxz

Nippy

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie I've never paid more than £21k for a car, my previous car cost me £2.5k but was upwards of fifty grand new

Twyxz

I thought you meant you bought the car when you were five years old I was worried

Belle-Sophie

2:10 PM

One of my colleagues was like "how can you afford that car!" Answer: don't buy new.

I rather buy a 5 year old car every 5 years than a new car every 15-20 years.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie Nice :) The 208 GTi was a welcome return to form for Peugeot - it's like they collectively woke up with a pounding hangover, looked at the 207 and went "aww crap.. what did we do last night"

@Belle-Sophie so very much this

my current car is the youngest I've ever owned - and that's 7 years old

Belle-Sophie

@motosubatsu Yeah, I love it! I wouldn't have bought the 207. I was in doubt between a Fiesta ST and this one.

@motosubatsu That's a fine age. I drove a Ford Ka from 2001 before this. That was a little too old to my liking. Well, not too old, but too unsafe.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie ooh..tough call, the Fiesta ST is a very nice bit of kit, the Fiesta is probably the better handling car but it feels a little under-powered next to the 208 IMO

@Belle-Sophie yeah my current (2011) car replaced one from 2000 - the 2000 car was certainly a fine car but the never ending conveyor belt of bills was getting silly

Belle-Sophie

@motosubatsu My brother, being the Ford lover that he is, would have murdered me to claim my car if I got home with a Fiesta. I guessed that I could manage the 208 without getting murdered.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie That age of Ka was an amusing little go-kart to drive..but I really wouldn't have wanted a crash in one!

@Belle-Sophie lol

It's been years since I've owned a Ford.. my last one was a Sierra XR4x4 that I owned for track use

Belle-Sophie

2:19 PM

I also considered a Volvo for a little while. My mum's quality assurance at Volvo. The car loving runs in the family.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie Volvos are great cars actually.. the C30 T5 is great fun - same underpinnings as the Focus IIRC so it handles very, very well and looks great. Just a little less practical than the ST. I very nearly bought an S80 as a commuter hack a few years back, the seats were amazing

Belle-Sophie

Seats are very important to me. My butt sits on them 10 hours a week, they better be comfy.

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie couldn't agree more! my last contract had me spending 4+ hours a day in the car on my commute, if I hadn't had the lovely electric leather seats in the S6 I might have gone postal

As someone with spinal issues comfy seats are serious business

Belle-Sophie

Oh, home time

TolMera

@motosubatsu I agree, my KA i had when I arrived in the UK, it was a Tin can Rocket! - A crash would have been bad in that thing.

Belle-Sophie

2:28 PM

I accidentally crashed my parents Citroen Saxo. The 2000ish kind. That HURT.

TolMera

@Belle-Sophie I had a Volvo 850 and it was straight up the best car I've had. comfortable drive and you feel like a tank.

Belle-Sophie

I'm gonna go home and take a nice relaxing bath. Cya o/

TolMera

o/

motosubatsu

@Belle-Sophie yep.. as much fun as the Saxo/106 could be - it had all the crash protection of a paper bag

@TolMera they were great.. especially in R form! and yeah you felt invincible driving one of those - like motoring around in a luxury mobile bunker

TolMera

heh! yep :) I used to love the centre support pillars, they are like medium size trees of steel.

motosubatsu

2:33 PM

@TolMera I've never owned one but driven one a few times - I never ceased to be amazed at how something with that much solid-looking steel around you actually managed to go around corners quite well. I suspect witchcraft :D

TolMera

lol - They also brought out traction control pretty early I think. With active suspension they probably dynamically adjust the driving

motosubatsu

@TolMera see.. witchcraft! :D

TolMera

:)

Twyxz

2:55 PM

Ford

Yes

Dukeling

5:08 PM

I really don't think mods should go around deleting comments explaining close votes (which has happened to probably at least a few dozen of my comments by now).

Unless they're just trying to get people to stop contributing to any sort of moderation on the site, in which case I guess that's working.

DarkCygnus

5:54 PM

Hello guys

Been a while since I came to the watercooler :)

I want to ask your attention for something. Please don't VTC hastily...

-1

I'm pretty bad at interviews and was wondering what was the "best" first job. I would prefer to stay within Canada. And through internships and side projects am quite comfortable with front-end, back-end and blockchain (solidity and truffle), but wondering what I should aim for? Is it better to...

job-search canada first-job

this post had all vote baits (should's) removed

and even though it is answerable some users can't see a "should" word appear that they instantly vote

Changing topic, how are things going?

I just reached the 30k milestone

aand, am 10 reps from 3k in SO

Dukeling

6:34 PM

@DarkCygnus That seems highly (entirely) dependent on how easy it would be for OP to find a job.

... and also how desperate they are for a job.

DarkCygnus

6:53 PM

@Dukeling OP said it's their first job out of college.

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