bad customers and court cases - summary

Fri Jan 31 09:33:07 PST 2003

On Fri, Jan 31, 2003 at 03:37:32AM -0800, alvin at maggie.linux-consulting.com wrote:
> 
> hi all
> 
> thanx to those that replied ...  but...
> 	- question still stands... though i/we know the answer
> 	( how long does it take you to log into a box that you're sitting
> 	( in front of... and have permission to change its root passwd
> 
> 	- the joke/annoyance is it took them 3 days and 3 PhDs and
> 	lots of emails back-n-forth ... xx telling yy what to do whom
>   	in turn tells zzz what to do... and backup that "it didnt work"
> 		( they didnt understand the answers -- oh well ..
> 
> = my stance ( in normal mode of working environment ) ..
> 	- if they/you need to ask me for the root passwd, than i say
> 	you dont need it..  they/you should know how to get root
> 	access properly and do all the proper documentation/followups 
> 	( esp since it's gonna trigger lots of my host/network IDS's )

It sounds like they were paying you to give them (and document) root
access.

[...snip]

> -- one of my points will be..
> 	- bring me any unix box... and i'll be in that box within
> 	a minute ... after its ready for lilo prompting ...
>  	or boot> for sun.. etc.etc..

I think the point here is not that you're capable of doing it, but that
you didn't do it for the client, after not giving them access to their
own systems through your actions.

Forgive me, but your attitude seems to be, "I did all this work for
them, and they're just too stupid to understand what a great job I did."

While that may be true, it's not going to win you any sympathy in a
court of law, and if you displayed any of that attitude while on the
job, you probably don't have a leg to stand on (IANAL).  As a
consultant, you should always be the epitome of professionalism, no
matter what your opinion of the client or their ability.

That they are left in an untenable situation actually says more about
your ability as a consultant, rather than their knowledge of computers.

If you were an employee of mine, you'd be headed quickly for the door
about now.

-- 
Mark C. Langston                                 
mark at bitshift.org                                
Systems & Network Admin                          
http://bitshift.org                              