This is based on a real event, although nothing nearly as an antagonistic! It's also an experiment in really short fiction. I set myself a maximum of 500 words here.
He insisted on re-boiling the kettle.
“It’s only just boiled”, I said.
“I know”, he said, yet he continued to hold down the button, forcing the overworked element to reignite within the already bubbling water. I wondered what it was he was trying to achieve. I mean, how much more boiled can water be? It obviously believed it was hot enough for his waiting tea bag. I stood and looked at my brewing coffee. It was all I could do not to point out his obvious lack of confidence in the kettle.
“You’re in the IT department, aren’t you?” he asked. He continued to hold the button down as the water raised its voice.
“Yeah. I’m working on a new version of the Package Manager.”
“Oh great. It’s not doing what it should be doing. The calculations are broken. I can’t get it to agree with my numbers.”
“Oh, I see. Well, can you send me through an example? I’ll have a look at it, but I can’t guarantee anything. Everything gets checked before it goes out, you know.”
“Yeah sure, but I hope you find the bug soon – I can’t really trust it, you know?”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know if I find anything.” I left. I couldn’t wait for this guy to re-boil his water.
The coffee renewed my brain cells. Ah, sweet ambiance of caffeine, what would I do without you? Moments later an email came through from Mr Faithless Technology:
Just met you in the kitchen. Can’t find figures at the mo, but please check car
insurance calculations. They don’t add up.
And that was it. No name, no details, no examples. Just, “It’s wrong.” Thanks very much.
Nevertheless I looked at the program, running a few of my own tests as well as the official testing script. No problems. It made me wonder what was going on. Was there a special case we might have missed? How was he calculating the figures? The method wasn’t simple, but it was well known. I decided to let it go; discretion is the better part of valour, and all that.
A couple of days later we crossed again in the kitchen. He was still holding down the kettle’s button.
“Hi. Did you find that problem?”
“No, nothing yet. I’ve run all the usual checks. I was wondering if you had a chance to find your calculations.”
“Oh, no. I’ve moved on from that to the health insurance group. I think there might be some problems there, too.” He finally relieved the kettle of its boiling.
“Ok. Well, same deal: send through an example and we’ll have a look at it.” I decided my coffee could wait.
“We really need to get a new kettle, you know”, he called out as I opened the door.
