Well I got a temporary reprieve, she worked from home for 4 months. But now she's back, with same pattern as last 25 years: type/pound non-stop crazily at high speed for about half an hour, print, walk to printer, walk back with printout, type crazily another half hour or so, walk to recycle bin to throw away previous printout, walk back...repeat repeat repeat for 8 hours...been doing this for 25 years every day, no exaggeration. She types more in 5 minutes than any of us does all day. Or all week. No one knows what it could be. If you extrapolate this back 25 years..the amount is, well i don't know, staggering is not a big enough word. I don't think there is a word. What is the current size of the visible universe?
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Obsessive typist...part 3 7
- Thread starter pgmr777
- Start date
I remember those threads. Just a quick skim I came across this (in part 2)...
So is this KB pounder number 2 now causing grief? Did #2 step up the pace to fill the void left by KB pounder #1?
Could their boss possibly be rating their performance on how many words they pumped out? Reminds me, once we had a call center that the reps were rated on how many calls they took. It was found that a couple people were hanging up on people mid call if it looked like it was going to take a while to solve their problem. Just remember, you get what you measure.
pgmr777 (Programmer) (OP) 17 Mar 15 15:25 said:
So is this KB pounder number 2 now causing grief? Did #2 step up the pace to fill the void left by KB pounder #1?
Could their boss possibly be rating their performance on how many words they pumped out? Reminds me, once we had a call center that the reps were rated on how many calls they took. It was found that a couple people were hanging up on people mid call if it looked like it was going to take a while to solve their problem. Just remember, you get what you measure.
walk to recycle bin to throw away previous printout" - pick it up and see what it is. Unless by "recycle bin" you mean "paper shredder" ![[pc2]](/data/assets/smilies/pc2.gif "[pc2] [pc2]")
Have fun.
---- Andy
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
Have fun.
---- Andy
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
goombawaho
MIS
We have to start questioning both sides of this problem. Options - briefly.
1. Talk to typist and ask for a change
2. Talk to typist's boss and ask for a change
3. Ask to be moved away from the person
4. Start looking for a new job
5. Seek therapy to be able to cope
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
1. Talk to typist and ask for a change
2. Talk to typist's boss and ask for a change
3. Ask to be moved away from the person
4. Start looking for a new job
5. Seek therapy to be able to cope
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
- Thread starter
- #7
The thing is, this crazy behavior seems to be just a symptom of a much larger issue, she has this crazy energy level, it's like being in a room with a human tornado. I mean she's over 50 for chrissake and she's been pounding mercilessly on that keyboard for the what, 20 years or so I've known her. She runs to the dam* printer to get that printout of whatever it is. Runs back. Pounds out another novel. Now, on a specific detail level of this whole insane pattern, what is she doing with it from the time she runs back and resumes jackhammering her keyboard again and then runs to the recycle bin with it?? Retyping it into some sort of holding area/app/document until the next round? Of what? THIS GOES ON ALL DAY LONG EVERY DAY. You hear what I'm saying? Programmers don't work like this. I'm not the one who needs therapy. And yes, the previous #1 (mega) pounder (the one who left) was worse, much much worse, but they both display the same crazy pattern, albeit #1 didn't print as much.
You still did not answer my question: can you pick the printout from the recycle bin and look at it? Or is it locked/shredded?
Have fun.
---- Andy
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
Have fun.
---- Andy
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
goombawaho
MIS
Not so sure about this. If you looked at it from our perspective, your reaction is a bit over the edge. Save your sanity, find another job!!
It is - for the company to do on a company owned computer. Not for the OP that is analyzing the crazy typist.
Reminds me of when I got video of my work area when someone was stacking parts on my desk. It was a prank. But I got him via webcam hidden in a post-it note box. I started the recording every time I left my desk and I nailed him. Put the parts back on his desk early one morning. No more pranks. Probably could have gotten in trouble for recording an employee but it was better than talking to HR (like a whiner).
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
Have you tried asking her what she's doing? Just approach her and say that it sounds like whatever she's doing is extremely urgent. Most people do like to talk about their jobs and if it is something she's under a lot of pressure to pound it out, she'd probably love to talk about it.
Have you tried asking other people around her what she's doing? If it truly is a disruptive amount of noise, others must be noticing it too. Most people like to talk about their jobs, especially if they have a crazy coworker. I find coworkers to be a good source of information about things like this.
Have you tried asking your boss? Just mention that she seems to be pounding out work at a furious pace and you were wondering what she was doing? Most bosses are pretty well in touch with the organization and the work it needs to perform. I find bosses usually like employees to want to know more about the organization and work that's being done.
The thing I don't understand is how you can work in the same office with someone for over 20 years, in close enough proximity to hear them pounding on a keyboard, and not know what they do for the company. I've worked at my place of employ for 24+ years and I know pretty much what every single person on this floor does. I have friends in other groups, so I know what people in other departments do. In the work that I do, I work with dozens, if not hundreds of people in departments across the company nationwide, and I know what they do. If someone really is flailing away at a keyboard like you describe, I guarantee you that you aren't the only one curious, and the odds are pretty good that someone else knows what's going on.
Have you tried asking other people around her what she's doing? If it truly is a disruptive amount of noise, others must be noticing it too. Most people like to talk about their jobs, especially if they have a crazy coworker. I find coworkers to be a good source of information about things like this.
Have you tried asking your boss? Just mention that she seems to be pounding out work at a furious pace and you were wondering what she was doing? Most bosses are pretty well in touch with the organization and the work it needs to perform. I find bosses usually like employees to want to know more about the organization and work that's being done.
The thing I don't understand is how you can work in the same office with someone for over 20 years, in close enough proximity to hear them pounding on a keyboard, and not know what they do for the company. I've worked at my place of employ for 24+ years and I know pretty much what every single person on this floor does. I have friends in other groups, so I know what people in other departments do. In the work that I do, I work with dozens, if not hundreds of people in departments across the company nationwide, and I know what they do. If someone really is flailing away at a keyboard like you describe, I guarantee you that you aren't the only one curious, and the odds are pretty good that someone else knows what's going on.
- Thread starter
- #12
It's some sort of obsessive documentation disorder coupled with a nervous typing compulsion disorder. She literally can't stop typing, even in meetings she's tapping on the table constantly. She's nuts. I have to wear earmuffs to drown it out, not headphones mind you, earmuffs like those leafblower guys or guys who launch jets off of aircraft carriers wear.
goombawaho
MIS
Have you ever requested to be moved??? Just say what you just said in a nice way to H.R. Tell them YOUR mental health is suffering.
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
MikeHalloran
Technical User
It reminds me of a PBS feature about making custom wooden staircases or something.
They had a guy in the office who would use a CAD station to open a customer's file and send it to a plotter, then carry the plot into the next room and laboriously digitize the drawing into a different CAD system, using a magnifier to center a puck's crosshairs over line ends and intersections and cardinal points of curves.
That was his job, and he took it very seriously.
Maybe he knew he could be replaced by a cable and a little software.
;--
Maybe the keyboard pounders are copying lengthy legal documents from one server to another across an airgap.
... or just testing keyboards or cables or connectors.
I can't explain the printout.
... Or, maybe I can. Back in my programming days, I would print out an entire project's code on the backside of greenbar, bind it, review it, mark it up, and then revise the code and start over. I used a big box of fanfold pretty much every week, and shredded most of it. It wasn't spaghetti code, but the linkages were distant enough that it was not possible to see its interactions on a 80x24 terminal. I'd have killed for the multi- windowed graphical environments we take for granted today.
I was so hard on printers that I got samples of proposed new ones to try out for use in our products (which printed a page of results, mixed graphics and text, three times a minute 24/7 in a hospital lab). That was long before inkjets or lasers arrived. Three mixed pages a minute is asking a lot of an impact printer.
Maybe they're testing printers.
Right about now, I'd be rooting around in the recycle bin, just out of morbid curiosity.
They had a guy in the office who would use a CAD station to open a customer's file and send it to a plotter, then carry the plot into the next room and laboriously digitize the drawing into a different CAD system, using a magnifier to center a puck's crosshairs over line ends and intersections and cardinal points of curves.
That was his job, and he took it very seriously.
Maybe he knew he could be replaced by a cable and a little software.
;--
Maybe the keyboard pounders are copying lengthy legal documents from one server to another across an airgap.
... or just testing keyboards or cables or connectors.
I can't explain the printout.
... Or, maybe I can. Back in my programming days, I would print out an entire project's code on the backside of greenbar, bind it, review it, mark it up, and then revise the code and start over. I used a big box of fanfold pretty much every week, and shredded most of it. It wasn't spaghetti code, but the linkages were distant enough that it was not possible to see its interactions on a 80x24 terminal. I'd have killed for the multi- windowed graphical environments we take for granted today.
I was so hard on printers that I got samples of proposed new ones to try out for use in our products (which printed a page of results, mixed graphics and text, three times a minute 24/7 in a hospital lab). That was long before inkjets or lasers arrived. Three mixed pages a minute is asking a lot of an impact printer.
Maybe they're testing printers.
Right about now, I'd be rooting around in the recycle bin, just out of morbid curiosity.
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- #16
goombawaho
MIS
Or sure..... blame the victim!!! Kidding.
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.
- Thread starter
- #18
She must type..MUST..if she's sitting at her desk she is typing..can't not type..CANNOT NOT TYPE..like breathing..a bodily function..only stops when she runs off to the bathroom or the printer..25 years of non-stop typing..and it's not just regular typing..it's insistent..powerful..FRANTIC typing...high speed..obsessive..something wrong there..crazy..something.
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- #19
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1
- Moderator
- #20
Speaking of "The Ring"... here's a giggle for you.
Just my 2ó
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
Just my 2ó
"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."
--Greg
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