When will they get it?

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Our local News station in Wichita has a "funny news" segment. This morning they reported that over 300 police officers in New York had recieved they're W-2's announcing that they were "deceased". The news anchors thought that was just a scream.....obviously made NO---ZIPPO connection to our current crisis at all. I FEEL LIKE I'M STUCK IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE.....WITH NO ESCAPE. The stupidity and the apathy is beginning to burn me out. To me, that has been far more exhausting than the conclusion of all the facts regarding this impending collapse. I don't know how much longer I can continue ringing the bell, only to have it fall upon DEAF ears. I don't have any patience for people who can't add 2+2 and get 4. I guess that's why I let my husband help the kids with thier math homework! Wouldn't want to wound thier "inner child"!

-- another mother (freedom@kanokla.net), February 01, 1999

Answers

It's possible that they'll never get it at all. Ever. Even after it's happened. You'll just have to learn to distance yourself emotionally from that whole branch of insanity. (Yeah, I haven't been able to do that either, but it's really the only solution.)

Some folks will be Darwin-ed out of the gene pool, & there's not a damned thing you & I can do about it. Just try to protect yourself & your family as best you can!

-- Resigned to It (cantbefound@aol.com), February 01, 1999.


Dear Mom,

I know we don't always agree, but please, get a grip. You are reading way too much into this news blurb... If you go back into "Uncategorized" threads you will find a similar report of dead employees from the Carolinas with the title "Am I the Only one that saw this" courtesy of Greg Warner. Here a cut and paste of one reply that seems to make sense.

"From someone who has worked on payroll systems in the past - that one doesn't sound like a Y2K problem - but rather one of the thousands upon thousands of computer errors that occur daily and are normally "fixed" during the daily course of business. I'll even give you an educated guess on how it might have happened. Either info on the form was rearranged this year and the check boxes switched positions or the school district got a different sized form this year. In any event, the check deceased checkbox ended up where pension plan was and no one picked it up in during the test print. (Heck, I made that mistake a few year back, however our payroll staff picked up on it before we printed production run and we all had a good laugh. As I recall, the call went something like "Hi John, I didn't know you were dead...")

The moral of the story - lots of computer errors occur day in and day out and they don't have anything to do with Y2K - lots of geeks spend lots of time fixing thing so you have a marvelous illusion of a well oiled machine. Using the hot dog analogy (if you knew what went in them you wouldn't eat them) if you knew what went on, you wouldn't use them."

-- Vergingon Panic (justthe@facts.please), February 01, 1999.


"Verging on panic" is correct that payroll problems occur all the time. My hubby used to be a payroll supervisor. When the payroll system had problems, he used to have to stay late to assure they were fixed. He would also take calls from unhappy employees whose records were messed up. I CAN say that Y2K increases the likelihood that these problems will occur. However, I would not not assume that every weird computer error is Y2K related. That gives much too little credit to human error and every day computer bugs.

-- jennieo (stuff@happens.com), February 01, 1999.

Dear another mother,

I can relate somewhat.

It seems amazing to me that we have governments and relief agencies worldwide sending out messages loud and clear. They are rolling into high gear making emergency preparedness plans on a scale that is unprecedented. We have armies and police forces being prepared. We have the American Red Cross, FEMA, the US National Guard ringing that bell and sounding the alarm.

Nevertheless, DUH! Go Figure there are still people who just don't get it. I guess they must think that all these governments, etc. are extremists and kooks.

I can relate to what you were getting at. To debate whether the problem is Y2K related or not doesn't negate the Y2K issue. Just to say that we've always had the odd screw up here and there doesn't make the Y2K problem any less serious. It's global impact is very real. It might be the equivalent of collecting all those previous screw ups and unleashing them all at one time within a short period of time as opposed to over the years when they have occurred.

I don't know what to say without sounding too patronizing. Just be thankful that you get it and do what you can for those that will let you - that's the best you can do.

I don't think we'll understand the DGI's and it's obvious the DGI's don't understand us and the governments, etc.

You take care of yourself and yours. That will go a long way in lifting the burden off the relief agencies if the need does arise for all their emergency preparations.

Take care and keep on ringing that bell!! You never know someone might be listening that your not even aware of.

-- Carol (usa-uk@email.msn.com), February 01, 1999.


Dear Another Mother,

Yes, you are in the Twilight Zone Last Days of America, the gay nineties, the roaring times of plenty, the soaring Internet stocks, watching that big bubble about to burst!

Don't give up talking to others about Y2K. Sometimes it's a pain to be ridiculed, but when the panic starts (sooner than we think), you will be considered wise, and former taunters might sincerely ask you for advice. Don't scold 'em, help 'em. Can't hurt.

-dinosaur

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), February 01, 1999.



I disagree. It can hurt you. The people who are going to GI don't take too long to convince. Those who aren't, well, just are not ever going to understand. These are the people who will point unwanted attention in your direction. If TSHTF, the less DGI's who know about you, the better. Sun Tzu had an interesting story that hammers the point home. Unfortunately, I don't remember the whole thing but the point is, "If the person fails to understand once, it is my fault, if they fail a second time to understand it is their own fault." You can hand these people pages of documents from government sources and they will still ignore the facts. Give them two chances and then move on. Trying to hammer on them will only upset everyone involved and it will open you up to many potential problems in the future.

-- d (d@dgi.com), February 01, 1999.

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