Saying NOOOOOOO!

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Have you EVER got into a position that you just simply cannot say NO?  Don't lie if you said that you haven't.

Yup, I have.  To be honest, initially, I had no problem saying Yes.  I actually said yes.  The person asking me for the favor was my old boss's boss.  I thought I was doing them a favor.  Then I was palmed all the work.  The request was whether I can help CHECK (note the word CHECK!) some documentation that was written by a Business Analyst sitting across the room from me.  Sounds harmless I thought.

Then I was sent the document.  WTF!  Not only was it wasn't up to scratch, it was written by someone who might not have finished primary school, and english is my third language!  It showed zero understanding of the technology, and on top of that, most of the content (the ones that was written ok) were copied from a checklist that someone had written 6 years ago. 

Me being me, I slammed whoever wrote the document with comments and sent it back to the person who asked me for the favor, and told him that I won't be rewriting anything, and suggested that the author who wrote that crap spend at least sometime understanding what the processes are before writing anything.

Then I got the email:  "Thanks, that is exactly what I need!  Currently working version 2, do you mind checking it?"  WTF?  Thanks that's what you need?  You need me to tell you that you don't know how to write in English?

I told him to spend time at the department to understand what they actually do first, and I refuse any meetings.

Regardless of how I felt (and I usually overreact anyway) about this, is that I don't mind helping people, but when I asked for help, I would exhaust all revenues first before asking someone.  I have done so much spoon feeding that I have decided to stop doing it.  And yeah, I got the "I am pretty hurt (ego) when you said that you were spoon feeding me ..." too.

What I don't understand is, that why the fuck people think that they can understand someone's job by reading documentations?  A picture means a thousand words, and doing something means a hundred times on top of that.  Why is it so hard?  Why do people don't want to get off their fricken arse and do something?

So yeah, I have to say that I took out my frustrations out of that guy and slammed him against the wall.  It does piss me off when someone screams help when they have shown no attempt to trying first before asking for help.  I wouldn't say it's Gen Y syndrome, as I see it in every generation.  People's attitude is just crap, and there are more of them, because they were able to get away with them.

Anyway, sounds like a rant (It IS a rant!) but remember, if you want to ask for help, put some attempt into trying it first before screaming.  To date, I don't remember getting any rejections when you put forward your question as:

"I've got a problem with this, I've tried X, Y, Z and still stuck, do you have any ideas on how to get around/fix this?"

It shows that you have demonstrated at least reasonable attempt in trying - and 99% of people will help you.  Sometimes they don't even mind doing the work for you, because you have earned their respect.

And lastly - LEARN!  No one wants to keep help you with the same issue.  Be responsible for your own shit.