In one of my first jobs, I had to work in a customer service department with a system called JBA, which we all joked stood for "Joke Bass Ackwards" as it really was one of the most agent-user unfriendly systems. It had a help system that was comprised of multiple levels, each getting more specific when you hit the F11 key. One boring day, I decided to see how deep the help level system actually went. So, I hit the F11 key three times, each getting more granular.
I got a rather interesting message when I hit the key the 4th and final time: "You are beyond help." From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Rick Cook Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 9:06 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: OT - All time great error messages - Just for fun! ** My favorite is from the old DEC mainframes from the 1970s. It was simply "?" Rick On Oct 18, 2013 6:50 AM, "Jonas Stumph Stevnsvig" <arsl...@stevnsvig.com<mailto:arsl...@stevnsvig.com>> wrote: ** My favourite error message: "Bad user. Replace and strike any key." (From a dos program with a list of entries, navigated with up and down arrow keys, selection with enter key - you got the error message if you pressed left or right key) Den 18-10-2013 15:06, laurent matheo skrev: ** I'm coding a program that checks BMC foundation data and I enforced a unicity on « first name + middle name + last name » and a customer told that « BMC Doesn't do that », here was my reply: Yeah but it's so dirty to have that... And then later customers complain people of service desk have a lot of problems identifying people... The check is done with middle name, so the point would be to have "John Henry Smith ». If there are two John Smith with the same middle name, I would consider suing my dad for cheating on my mom and having a queer sense of humour :) No answer yet... De : Gordon Frank <gjj...@comcast.net<mailto:gjj...@comcast.net>> Répondre à : <arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG>> Date : vendredi 18 octobre 2013 15:00 À : <arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG>> Objet : OT - All time great error messages - Just for fun! ** This might be fun on a Friday! The best\non-useful error message I have ever seen was on an old Data General RDOS Mini-Computer (remember those?) A "system level" violation came back and said: >Error: You Can't Do That BMC Remedy is full of these and they need to at least point you to an object or a line in the object. But, it's cheaper to just say, "You can't do that." (Unrecognized server information) Gordon ________________________________ From: "LJ LongWing" <lj.longw...@gmail.com<mailto:lj.longw...@gmail.com>> To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG> Sent: Friday, October 18, 2013 8:14:41 AM Subject: Re: A bit of Friday humour in BMC's Error messages ** What code is giving this? On Oct 18, 2013 12:40 AM, "Ben Chernys" <ben.cher...@softwaretoolhouse.com<mailto:ben.cher...@softwaretoolhouse.com>> wrote: ** I just got the following errors with the 8.1 API against an 8.1 server (VERSION = 8.1.00 201301251157) ARGetServerInfo ==> 2, 123, Unrecognized server information tag 358 ARGetServerInfo ==> 2, 123, Unrecognized server information tag 357 ARGetServerInfo ==> 2, 123, Unrecognized server information tag 356 ARGetServerInfo ==> 2, 123, Unrecognized server information tag 355 ARGetServerInfo ==> 2, 123, Unrecognized server information tag 354 These are the new ones for 8.1. The humour comes from the 7.6.04 Error Messages Guide: 123 Unrecognized server information tag. Error You specified a code for server information that was not recognized. Verify that the #define statements in the include file ar.h have a list of all valid codes that can be specified. Yup. Verified. The 8.1 ar.h does not have a list of valid codes :) Ben Chernys Senior Software Architect Canada / Deutschland Mobile: +49 171 380 2329<tel:%2B49%20171%20380%202329> GMT + 1 + [ DST ] Email: ben.cher...@softwaretoolhouse.com<mailto:ben.cher...@softwaretoolhouse.com> Web: www.softwaretoolhouse.com<http://www.softwaretoolhouse.com/> We are a BMC Technology Alliance Partner. Check out Software Tool House's free Diary Editor and out Freebies Section for ITSM 7.6.04, 8.0, and 8.1 Fields spreadsheets. Meta-Update, our premium ARS Data tool, lets you automate your imports, migrations, in no time at all, without programming, without staging forms, without merge workflow. http://www.softwaretoolhouse.com/ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
