Hastening an Inevitable (dailywtf)

[Tom]

Keeping hundreds of millions of sheets of paper on file isn't easy, so the IRS had an application built to computerize their records. It'd scan paper tax returns into a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) drive system and record lookup data in a database. That way they could filter by any fields they recorded in the database and access a scanned image of the tax return for any further information using a simple app, which sure beat the old method of data retrieval — digging through boxes, incurring huge wait times.

The nice thing about the old method, though, was that it generally worked. The new system was full of bugs, in addition to several other irritating issues.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Hastening-an-Inevitable.aspx

[Darren Dirt]

Bobby fired off a few commands to create indexes on fields that he knew were frequently queried. The DBA's stare intensified. Bobby felt more nervous, hoping that it would all work ok. And after verifying that queries were still being profiled, he ran a SELECT query.

It took 0.22 seconds.

LOL.

2008-07-08 10:29 ? by akatherder  204869
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I would be tempted to type "DROP DATABASE database_name" and just leave it in the query window.

I wouldn't execute it, but just to give the DBA sitting there a heart attack. 

A much heartier, richer, fuller, lung-hurting LOL.

[Thorin]

Yeah, I read that one yesterday.  It was hilarious!

[Thorin]

Damnit, Daily WTF is funny!  And head-shakingly saddening.