Grigoire:

One of my projects was cancelled a couple weeks ago. I told the client that I would convert the data over the weekend and they decided to save some money by sending me home from Tuesday to Thursday. Their server crashed Wednesday morning and they felt confident they knew how to repair the database by themselves (their server has crashed at least once a week for the past 6 weeks and they have written instructions on how to repair the database). The crash occured so early in the morning that the programmers decided it was easier to restore the data from the previous evening's backup. They first deleted the whole data folder (without first making a copy) and then called LAN Services to restore the files. LAN Services reminded them that the tape backup has been broken for about a month. The programmers managed to make things much worse (don't ask me how). I showed up as expected on Friday and get screamed at by management and blamed for everything under the sun. They also handed me the contract cancellation notice (and the fee) without ever given me a chance to speak up. They eventually escorted me out of the building and asked me never to return.

The funny thing is that we burned a couple of Data CDs the previous Friday because I wanted to test the data conversion programs over the weekend (I first obtained permission to bring the data home). My attorney convince me to my backup copy of the data to the Client and that I was not legally bound to continue with the contract... Somebody is bound to be upset about all this.

Daniel