TechnoLust's Journal: "Your stupid software is broken!"

On a conference call this morning, a user reported (in less than flattering terms) that a software glitch (in late 2006) had "created a bunch of room reservations that I didn't want, and then didn't cancel them all when I told it to! I'm not going to go in and cancel them all by hand!" After throwing together a quick update statement to correct the problem, I did a little investigation. There were exactly 600 years too many night reserved. That's right kids, instead of using the handy little calendar widget to pick the date, this advanced user had typed the date in manually... 29-Dec-2600. Yes they reserved the guest a room from 22-Dec-2006 to 29-Dec-2600 instead of 29-Dec-2006. I didn't write the module that handles reservations, but I am going to add a date validation routine SOON! I've met the people that work in hotels. And yes, I did greatly enjoy politely revealing that the loud mouth user screaming that the software is broken made a mistake, not the software.

You might also want to look at the widget init

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I wonder if the user was tempted to type in a date on the 2nd calendar control because it didn't default to what was entered in the first calendar control. It seems to me that in hotel reservations most stays are going to be within days for the start and end dates, and thus to make your software more useable, you could set the end date control upon entry of a valid start date so that when the user pulls it down, it's already at least in the correct month.

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[TechnoLust]

The problem with that is our users are usually on the phone and in a hurry, so they click save without filling everything in, and go back later. When I took over this project I put in place a lot of checks on save to make sure things weren't blank. If I defaulted it, they might put in the arrival date and forget to ask the departure date. Then my validations wouldn't catch it. I'm just going to change the validations to make sure they didn't go over 10 years. (Yes, we do have 10 contracts at some of ou

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[Marxist Hacker 42]

In that case, you might want to store it in a local client-side variable, then on the calendar being pulled down for the first time, fill in the date. Kind of a quasi-default, but one that still leaves your validation routine intact.

Over 10 years would work as well....I'm just for always automating as much as possible, to prevent the users from messing up by giving them a good reason not to. Good ole' About Face style user interfaces.

Apropos of not much at all

[Degrees]

I have a particular user who over the years had gotten a reputation for being a pain. She got a huge comeuppance recently though, so she hasn't been as bad as she used to be. Still, when we hear of a trouble ticket opened in her name, you can expect some eye-rolling. Today, she supplied us with the data to close her latest trouble ticket.

Her complaint was that she wasn't getting email from her husband (home email account). He was getting some sort of non-delivery notice. She complains often that our anti-s

Cost?

[Chemisor]

Why didn't he notice that he was billed for 600 years worth of reservations? It must have been a pretty impressive sum, and I am sure it would have been over his credit card limit :)

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[TechnoLust]

The customer is not billed for the entire length of stay upon making a reservation. Usually a credit card number is all that is required to secure the room. The card is charged upon checkout, when the customer signs the invoice. When he checked out, he was billed for only the days he stayed. That's when they noticed he was still on the reservation page and tried to cancel the rest of them.

if the software allowed...

[huckda]

a user to reserve a room for longer than 1 year I would say the software made a HUGE mistake...
it's a hotel...not an apartment complex...

not that you wrote that portion...but still...it is the job of the software to catch foreseeable mistakes and transposing numbers IS a foreseeable mistake...

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[TechnoLust]

We actually have multi-year contracts. Mostly businesses that have people travelling to a certain place a lot. They get a huge discount and they don't have to make new reservations every week. But some people have stayed in the penthouse suite for years at a time. Think about it: you have maid service, laundry, room service. Hell if I could afford it, I'd consider it too!

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[huckda]

yeah but I'm pretty sure THOSE ($$$$$) people...don't make their reservations for multiple years via the web interface ;)

and nah..if you could afford it you'd just hire a sexy french maid *nods vigorously*

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[TechnoLust]

No they call the Front Desk and talk to someone who then uses the web interface. :-)

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[huckda]

curse those damn rich people who get to use phones instead of computers!!! =)

speaking of phones...I'm juice'n over the iPhone...if you haven't already...woah! take a look at that gadget!

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[TechnoLust]

I have seen the iPhone. I just bought a Samsung phone with a hi-res digial camera and video camera. I don't really use a PDA and I already have an iPod. The big selling point (as with most Apple products) is the UI. The multi-touch interface is going to be the new hotness. But a fancy new interface is not enough to get me to ditch CDMA technology for Cingular's crappy ass service. Not to mention the fact that at my first contract position in ATL, the company gave employees Cingular phones and they w

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[huckda]

haha i have that problem with my motorola...speaker funk
but I disagree with the service....Cingular is by far the best I've used here in the Northwest... vs. Sprint and Verizon...
and honestly I love the rollover minutes...wish the other vendors would go to it...was thinking about get'n the Blackjack..(REALLY wanted the Q but was Verizon only)..until I saw the iPhone..

What I'd REALLY like instead of a MULTI-media phone is a 'Network Admin' phone ;) with ssh/rdesktop and some of that functionality...push mail

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[TechnoLust]

hmm... in ATL I hear frequently, "Hey, I'm on Cingular, so if I lose you, I'll call you back" quite frequently. If I ever can't get a signal with Verizon, I seriously look outside to make sure the skyline is still lit up and there's not a blackout.

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[huckda]

yeah must be a regional thing then...which I don't doubt since Cingular bought up AT&T's wireless...don't remember who Verizon merged with or bought out..

Sprint/Nextel SUCKS btw...coverage is horrendous!

--Huck

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[TechnoLust]

I had CellularOne in HighSchool (with a Motorola 5W bag phone that weighed about 7 pounds.) They were bought out by GTE Wireless, who's customer service was lousy and rates were through the roof. I went to Sprint. PCS works great inside the city limits, but the second I got out out the city... no coverage at all. By this time GTE Wireless was bought out by Verizon and they'd lowered the rates back down to semi-reasonable. I switched back and that's where I've been for like 5 years.