On 15 Nov 2009, at 08:26, Alan McKinnon wrote:
...
My typical experience is that the customer will take it completely on
the chin and pay me to fix the problems. That doesn't make foul-ups
due to such unnecessary meddling any less frustrating, though.
My experience has been completely the opposite, same with just about
everyone
else I work with. But, this is a third-world country pretending to
be a first-
world country, and the cowboy attitude is very prevalent here.
I certainly have had some customers like that, but generally they're a
minority here. Definitely preferable is to spot them early and _follow
your instinct_ to ditch them. The longer you entertain this rubbish
the more of a headache it becomes.
One has to hope, really, that the client only wants the root password
as insurance in case you get run over by a bus, and won't use it to
arbitrarily mess about on the system.
I find the root password in a sealed envelope in the safe is the ideal
insurance for that.
Totally agree.
My biggest customer, unfortunately, has taken on a large investment of
capital recently, resulting in a new director who's really pretty
clueless. Basically, his dad bought him a job. He has insisted on
Domain Administrator rights because he "just wants to do the simple
stuff" himself; the first program he wanted to upgrade he needed my
help with because the installer is a piece of junk. I know that he's
going to mess things up and cost himself more money (create more
hassles for me) in the long term, but he won't hear it and I can't
just walk away; this is not only because I have a great relationship
with the other owner and also because they're currently a significant
proportion of my annual income.
He's totally a nice bloke otherwise, he just feels that I shouldn't be
"locking him out" of his own computers, and I can kinda see his point
- as an admin it's easy for me to feel "territorial" because I'm
pretty good at the job, so the chances are that anyone else isn't
going to meet my standard. Obviously it's important for me to put that
to one side.
So when he fucks things up good royal and proper, will he gladly
accept his shafting and pay you more to undo it? Or will he do the
usualcustomer stuntand blame you?
This is actually much easier for those of us who are mere
"consultants" and who charge by the hour - we can simply reply "it was
working when i left, guv". If it's been working fine for months then
there is obviously nothing wrong with our previous work. Clearly there
is room for contention if they muck about with things right after
you've left.
Stroller.
