Great Moments in UI - Vol. I

As part of my contracting gig - I'm required to submit a weekly timesheet using a web app.

Rather, I'm required to:

1. Log into a web application
2. Select the current date (because defaulting it would be hard)
3. Select my current client company (because defaulting a field that doesn't change would be hard)
4. Print out a hardcopy
5. Get my manager to sign it
6. Fax it to my staffing company

As procedures go, this is about middle of the road for a large business: it employs multiple and expensive components (human and software), it has a looping workflow, numerous opportunities for failure, and data that passes through four mediums - to be ultimately archived in three.

That's when things go as expected.

This past week, things did not go as expected.
I logged in,

for the 224th time in this system - I told a computer what the current date was.

Then (again, for the 224th time) I told my employer's web app where I am currently working.

And something new happened - a JavaScript Alertbox popped up saying the following:

The page at [your staffing company's website] says:


Current Week Ending Date has passed Actual End Date for this placement.


You cannot enter time and/or expenses for this placement.
Please contact your recruiter for assistance.


Placement: [Where I currently work] [My Start Date] - May 2, 2010

If you're me - you read that a couple times over before anything sinks in.

Actual End Date...?

And then somewhere in your higher logic center - some neurons fire and you're madly emailing your recruiter: Seriously. I call WTF?.

Since I do my timesheet is at the end of the week, I'm sending this email at 4:20pm on a Friday. Amazingly, I don't get a reply for three days.

When I do - it goes like this:

Good morning!
There seems to be a glitch with [our timekeeping system] this week. It is a company-wide problem that we are aware of. I know several of you are receiving an error box that says your project is ending 05/02/10. This is NOT the case! We don’t know why the system is showing that as an end date, but please disregard it. Again, your position is secure and not ending this weekend.

.....*ahem*.....

Fail.