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Elliot Derhay
Elliot Derhay

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The Facepalming Dev 🤦‍♂️ #1

Preface

I'm intending to turn this into a series of short, humorous posts others can get a chuckle out of.

This first one isn't really software/web development related. But it's the inspiration for this series, so I think I definitely should post it.

Story

So this morning, 1/1/2019, I go through my normal routine to get ready for work. Once I have everything together, I leave my neighborhood and drive down the highway. As usual, it took roughly 35 minutes for me to get to the city I work in.

The only thing that seemed different was that there was almost no traffic. I guessed that most companies let their employees off for the day, or that maybe I left before most of the traffic would flood the road. No big deal though.

I get to the parking garage and notice the emptiness resembles that of the road I drove to work. Oh well. That just means I get a better parking space. 😊

I walk to the office and lock the door behind me. It was dark, but that was alright. I was early and wasn't expecting anyone else for about another 30 minutes.

I do some normal morning stuff -- make tea, set up my laptop, go through emails and start gathering my thoughts on today's tasks.

Roughly 20 minutes later, I start to get a little concerned. I had messaged my manager a couple of times with no response, and I didn't see any other early birds. But I brushed that off, figuring they were coming in later.

Another 15 minutes passes. The office should be open at this point, but I keep holding onto this thought that everyone was allowed to come in late due to being out for New Year's Eve.

Finally, after 45 minutes of sitting by myself, I decide to call a coworker. My coworker then tells me that the office is closed for New Year's Day. While on the phone, I also get a response from my manager, telling me that we always close for New Year's Day, and that it's in the employee manual.

And that's why this is a derpy moment for me, because my manager was correct. We do always close for New Year's Day. I guess it slipped my mind. In fact, I even forgot to ask anyone the evening before if we were closed the next day. I just assumed we were open.

After I'm done shaking my head, I pack up and drive home for the rest of the day.


Anyway, that was The Facepalming Dev #1. I hope you enjoyed reading. 😊

Feel free to share a story of your own below and maybe we can all share a good laugh to start off 2019.

Happy New Year! 🎉 🎆


P.S.

It was brought to my attention that the slang "derpy" could be taken as a reference to people suffering from mental disorders. To avoid unnecessary confusion and/or offense, this series, which was previously called "Derpy Dev Moments", will now be called "The Facepalming Dev". Enjoy!

Oldest comments (12)

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ondrejs profile image
Ondrej

Haha, it happens, man :) Especially if you don't have habit to drink on New Year's Eve, the day after could look like a normal working day. I also do not drink, so I was normally working today, but only on my open-source project.

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay

Sharp observation. Yeah, I don't drink either. I just prefer to think clearly and don't like the idea of being addicted to stuff.

I'm also going to be working on my own project today for a bit.

What're you working on btw? Is it this one?

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ondrejs profile image
Ondrej

No, ironically now it's in my private repo (it will be definitely made public in the future!), but for now I have to complete as soon as possible it in order to send it to my future employer as proof that I'm a suitable person for the position he offers me.

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay

Ah ok. Good luck then! Interested to see what it is you were working on.

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ondrejs profile image
Ondrej

Thanks :) Will publish it when the job will be finished.

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moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

[subscribe] Please continue this by screwing up a further 364 times in 2019.

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay • Edited

lol I actually avoided naming this "Daily Derps" or something like that on purpose. Time is pretty short for me during the week usually.

I do intend to do more of these though. It's fun to write short stories like these.

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mariocd10 profile image
Mario DeLaPaz

It's happened to me a few times but luckily I ask a coworker a day before just to make sure. lol. At my previous employer I wasn't used to getting some days off.

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serhuz profile image
Sergei Munovarov • Edited

Did you enjoy the tea?

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay • Edited

Not really. I kind of put that part out of order. I made it about 30 minutes into being there and drank it all just before leaving.

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david_j_eddy profile image
David J Eddy

Following you just to see what other funnies happen. :D

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jsn1nj4 profile image
Elliot Derhay

That explains all of the recent follows. Will have to build a list now. 😆