In IT, the quickest solution often gets stuck behind the slowest approval chain.

When one contractor floated the right fix on Friday, management didn’t listen until Monday night — after dragging everyone through a long weekend of chaos and writing an enormous check for the contractor’s time.

Read on for the full story!

Biggest Payday of My Life for 2 Minutes of Work

I’m a contractor at a big bank in New York City. No benefits, but I’m paid by the hour.

I like the people I work for, and while I realize I get paid well, I try to make sure they get their money’s worth.

But soon came a wave of technical issues.

On the Friday before last (start to the three-day weekend), I was told by one of the managers (mine was out on vacation) that one of “my” applications was malfunctioning in production and that it absolutely needed to be fixed pronto.

This application was tested to a crazy degree, so the first thing I did was call up the server admin and ask what was different between our test and production systems.

It didn’t take the contractor long to diagnose the problem.

After some prodding, I figured out that the production system consists of two clustered servers, whereas the test server is all on its own.

On the theory that the data isn’t transferring between the paired servers fast enough for the next web page to be rendered (it’s a survey application where the answer to one question determines the next question to be asked), I suggested checking the “sticky bit” (which would ensure that when a person uses the application, they will “stick” to one server, to eliminate the data transfer problem).

But solutions were tied up in a web of bureaucracy.

The admin (who’s a friend of mine) told me she couldn’t make that change without her department’s manager’s approval — a kind of know-it-all guy.

Fine. I told my substitute manager what I thought the problem was (thinking he’d go to bat for me), and instead, he told me to “stay as long as it takes, including giving up my weekend to ensure it’s working,” and that I’d have to work it out with the department manager for the server group.

This led to a long and miserable weekend for everyone working on the project.

Long story only slightly shorter, that guy proceeded to make my and his two employees’ lives miserable all weekend.

I kept suggesting the sticky bit; he kept telling me “there’s no way that’s it” and suggested dumb strategy after dumb strategy.

I kept telling my substitute manager what was happening. He kept telling me to work it out… and stay as long as I needed to.

Desperate, they finally try the idea the contractor suggested days prior. And it worked like a charm.

Finally, late on Columbus Day, my admin friend said, “I’m just going to try your idea without telling him.”

She fixed the problem. Less than two minutes of effort.

Wait ’til management hears about this.

When my manager got back from vacation last week, he called me over to his desk. He had just gotten the bill from the contracting firm. He seemed ticked.

I had billed for three extra 8-hour days.

Him: “I just have one question: where did you sleep?”

Me: “On the couch in the waiting room.”

Him: “OK. Thanks.”

Then came the enormous check that would make anyone’s eyes bulge out of their head.

Earlier today, my manager came over with an envelope, and when he handed it to me he said, “I’d tell you to thank [substitute manager] and [server group manager] for this, but since it came out of their budgets, maybe best not to. Don’t spend it all in one place.”

The check was for my regular pay plus, um, almost $18,000. My manager socked their budgets for time and a half from the end of business on Friday to the open of business on Tuesday.

At least a lesson was learned in all  of this.

When I told him later that I felt bad, he said: “You shouldn’t. You taught them a very valuable lesson in server technology and business management that they obviously missed.”

Did I mention my boss used to be a programmer himself?

Management not listening: An age-old tale!

What did Reddit have to say?

This contractor may have had to work overtime, but at least they were paid well for it.

Maybe the boss’ experience helped him treat his contractors more humanely.

In a way, this company set themselves up to fail.

This commenter already starts brainstorming what the contractor can do with that $18k.

Turns out, the only thing more stubborn than bad code is a manager with something to prove.

Apparently common sense comes at a premium.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.