Am I the only person with this problem or what? The people I work with think I am one brick shy of a load. They all think y2k will bring only minor problems, a 3 on the rectum scale. It's like their going to wait until the roof falls on them and then they will worry. There are times when I just want to say screw em, you'll be counted among the dead and yet these are people I have worked with for years. They have no clue and they don't want to know. (TOAST I TELL YA TOAST) sorry Paul I just had to get that out of my system! Knowledge is grief the more you know about this problem the more you worry. I have done my best but they just don't get it. They have zero understanding of systems, no desire to look into the problem, and no clue as to the global implications in short they just don't give a rats a**. I have done 8 months of gut busting research on this problem, have known about it for 2 years (yes that means I got it 8 months ago). Sorry to ramble but I hate to have to be the one to tell the king he has no clothes! Anyway sometimes it just helps to talk or type as the case may be. As my friends would say whatever. Tman

-- Tman (Tman@IBAgeek.com), February 10, 1999

Answers

Tman,

Most all of us are dealing with similar sorts of things. Just remember that you're responsibility is to warn them and to set an example - beyond that they are adults and responsible to God for their own action or inaction with regard to the issues.

and yeah, I know that doesn't always help the pain, but there it is.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), February 10, 1999.

Tman,

I know what you mean... I work at a small printing business. My boss isn't even interested in giving me the phone number to check if his phone system is complient. There are a number of things that I have found that will DEFINATELY cause problems. He just shruggs his shoulders. I need to get the latest NT service pack (we're at 2) and he isn't taking any action (the system doesn't have online access). The bios isn't complient, the list goes on. Again, not interested enough to respond... I give up.

This is the most frustrating part isn't it? Even if the bright and shiny talkers are right, and it is a bump, my employer is going to be facing fairly serious problems. Most are very easily corrected. What's wrong with these people?

I know it doesn't help much T, but you're definately not alone. Just letting it out does help a little though. It may keep me from yanking out my hair for another day or two.

-- d (d@usedtobedgi.old), February 10, 1999.

Hi Tman,

Seems being a GI has nothing to do with supposedly having brains either.

Attended a meeting with two of my colleagues who DWGI and despite having significant responsibility and instructions to ensure due diligence in their activities. They are still playing down the issues to the extent of opposing what are sensible precautions.

What is worse is that their influence is corrosive of the maybe-gonna-getit-in-times. Lots of careful work went down the gurgler today.

Not just toast, BURNT TOAST! charcoal bits even..

I cannot get people to think beyond their PCs. I have yet to get more than passing buyin to the idea of systemic consequences.

You'd think people in a University would appreciate that minimal hindsight would let them see that learning happens in heads. Places of learning actually existed and thrived before power and computers. No one wants to do the contingency planning required to ensure continuity of our overall systems under changed circumstances. Thats what I call a real DWGI.

Another couple of months of this and thats it, nuff said.. there have to be people with a view beyond the fix-it-if-it-fails. I will take what I know elsewhere.

-- Bob Barbour (r.barbour@waikato.ac.nz), February 10, 1999.

Sitting around a lunchroom table yesterday. The one other GI in the place (my conversion, thank you very much) brought up the issue. One says, nah, won't happen. Another says, You think it can happen? Another says, You can't tell me Bill Gates can't fix this thing. I said, no, he can't. She says, but it's just so simple. I agreed and reminded her, it's just so big. Billions and billions of lines of code. Code stacked one on top of the other. Then she got it. I'm gonna have to start laying in some stuff. One down, too many to count to go.

-- margie mason (mar3mike@aol.com), February 10, 1999.

What do you mean toast??? I want FRIED RICE thank you very much!

-- Johnny (a@a.a), February 10, 1999.

If the manager of a very large local branch of a national supermarket chain and his RN wife don't get it after supply problems were gently touched on, how can you expect most people to Get It? You think, surely they'd encourage people to stock up on dry stuff; it means more sales, bigger bonuses. Then you think, who else would have more intimate knowledge of and sensitivity to the JIT system, how can they NOT get it? Then you realize, hell, if/when TSHTF the husband can just call the wife, go to the store, and load up the truck at the back door--they have a type of insurance not available to us, they don't really care. Then there are the computer pros Sweetie works with. Only one of 'em Gets It, the rest obviously think we're a few coupons short of a toaster. Other people we know have obviously silently hummed the Twilight Zone theme song when we've brought it up. Nowadays, we just say, yeah, interesting, what do you think? And let them tell us it ain't no big deal. Mmm, sure, guess you're right.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 10, 1999.

I FORGOT I WANT BEER TOO.

TOAST TASTES BAD.

-- Johnny (a@a.a), February 10, 1999.

Y2K uncertainties are large. It's not impossible that they are right, but do they want to bet their futures against the possibility that they are wrong?

Talk to them about insurance. I insure my house against being burnt down not because I think it will happen, but because that unlikely event would be a disaster for me whereas the small predictable cost of the insurance isn't much pain. What would they call people who don't insure? Fools?

A moderate level of Y2K insurance in the form of stockpiles won't cost any more than house insurance, so why not?

-- Nigel Arnot (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), February 10, 1999.

There have been a series of y2k awareness meetings in my area, mostly treated by the local press as halfway between a guffaw and a kook convention. But -- a coworker attended one last weekend and suddenly GI. He has shifted into serious panic mode, came to me (known as the in-house y2k go-to guy) for web sites and more info. Two points: a DWGI here tried to dismiss the GI's concern as crazy to a group of coworkers and all of a sudden they slapped him down, figuratively. That had NEVER happened before. Second, in just the past week a bunch of y2k literature has been circulating through my workplace on e-mail and off the copy machines, and not happy face stuff either. I sense the herd is stirring. don't expect a serious stampededs before September/October, but awareness is growing.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 10, 1999.

Friends, remember you do not have to preach the wole year about y2k. I know its hard not to do it to be quiet when someone else is bringing it up. Try to stay calm. Should someone bring it up around the companie lunch table bar or any other place participate but only MODERATE. Try NOT to preach and to set an example. I know it is hard and for some impossible to do so after all this IS an very emotional subject. But here are the dangers. A friend of mine who is also a GI was the first one to get layed of he was very strong in preaching Y2k at work and considered a trouble maker for this. Also if it gets bad in your area those people that you tried so hard to convince will be the people to remember that is was you who stored the food, have the gas for the generator and the water they need. So, be carefull. It is too late to preach to the masses you do not want to literately ligt an beacon an d proclaim 'here I am with all my emergency preparedness come and get me'. You do not know to whom the other people talk to. Just think about it. You are emotionately fighting for other people at work or someplace else to do like you do prepare and be ready. Someone in your audience a few days later talks causualy to a buddy that mentions Y2k and how he heard about those right wing nuts that are storing all kinds of stuff. Your friend WILL respond " oh yeah there is a guy at work..(name the place) and he is one of those wacos. You will have a great chance that your name will be mentioned. And here you have it friends. You don't KNOW how fahr it will be spread and what criminal elements ( or for that reason once Y2k hits desperate elements will know where to find you. Call me parranoid but at my work I only apear to be mildly interested in Y2k I ask questions but I do not even remotly lead on that I am preparing. I work for one of the big Colleges and friends we are not Y2k ready nor will we be. So be carefull and chose wisly what you say. Take a Valium if you have to :-)

rickjohn

-- rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), February 10, 1999.

Why do you want people to get it? If it happens as you say (10 on the scale), then we are all doomed. No amount of food or water will last. Getting it or not getting it won't matter. Your few supplies will run out faster than a blink of an eye. If the government isn't around, then were back to the wild, wild west. Go hide yourselves now.

-- Lucy (nowhere@anywhere.com), February 10, 1999.

Alright, alright, I'll confess to it.

I actually have begun to lie to some people about what I'm doing for Y2K:

Coworker: "I suppose your one of those people hoarding toilet paper....Ha ...ha.

Me: " ha ...ha...ha.. No i haevn't gone crazy yet....Ha hha."

(actually I did get two cases last week)

I feel only a little guilty because :

I am not going to waste all my time arguing with people who've already decided its all a big joke.

I don't REALLY know its going to happen (i've only been on board one or two months) and its none of their business.

I'm paranoid enough not to announce my plans to everyone, especially those who appear antagonistic.

Meanwhile - I do share mild or moderate information with those who are interested.

-- Bob Rohland (narnia4@usa.net), February 10, 1999.

Lucy - a 10 scale hit is not the same thing as "we are all doomed". Not by a country mile.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), February 10, 1999.

I've shared my plans with a very few people. The only one who knows the exact contents and location of my cache is Mother, and she will be with me when TSHTF. I've shared the extent of my PLANNING, lists and such, with exactly 2 close friends and 1 relative, all of whom are also planning. Some of my co-workers have asked me about Y2K, I tell them to treat it like an earthquake, which leads to the Red Cross recomendations. Comming from such a well-known group, it seems to be easier to digest.

-- Annie O'Dea (tarotmaid@yahoo.com), February 10, 1999.

I guess it's like trying to save a person that is drowning, they can put up enough of a fight to drown you as well! These people don't want to get it but (their going to get it) and at what cost? TmanPS At my work we are already having y2k problems with credit cards. A bank told one of my co-workers that "because of a y2k problem the customer just couldn't use the card" and would have to use a card from some other bank. The (bad card)exp. date 01/01/00

-- Tman (Tman@IBAgeek.com), February 10, 1999.