Tales from the Night Shift QA - Hey Jude and Wasted at Work

Working at the QA lab wasn’t all sexual harassment, verbal intimidation, soiled underwear and skin diseases; there was also a lot of fun to be had. Here are two short stories that I’ve put together to show the lighter side of things.?

Stories From the Nightshift QA: Hey Jude

I’ve posted this video before, but since I’m writing my QA memoirs, I feel that this event should be written down for historical purposes.

This story takes place when we were working regular Night shifts, instead of the insane twelve hour night shifts. There were two projects being tested at the same time; one in the easternmost part of the floor, and us working in the far west. I was assistant lead at the time. Our official class clown, Xavier, was working on my project. Xavier was into improv, and had now fear whatsoever of acting in front of a crowd. He loved it.

Another tester on my project who I really liked, but unfortunately, I can’t remember his name, mostly because I thought he looked Spanish, and I constantly called him Alleandro. He was a gorgeous man who would expertly pick at his guitar on every break. If anyone recognises him from the video, please tell me what his name is. For now, I’ll keep referring to him as Alleandro.

This one day, I had an idea on how to combine Xavier’s fearlessness of performing in public with Alleandro’s awesome musical talent. At the start of the shift, after dispatching work to the rest of the team, I summon Xavier and Alleandro over to give them their new objective.

I tell them that during the second break of the shift, I want them to go over to the other team’s working area, and I want them to play the Beatles - Hey Jude, but in Spanish. “Ummm, sir, where are we going to get the Spanish lyrics to the song. “Super easy: Google Translate!”

I copied the lyrics from the internet, pasted into Translate and printed a copy on the office printer. I gave the sheet to the boys, and they gave me this look. “Dude, do you know what you're asking of us? This is impossible!” they said. I remember saying: “If any two people can pull this off, it’s the both of you!”

They practiced during the first break and lunch break; Alleandro self-teaching himself the song on the guitar, Xavier trying his hardest to get the translated lyrics to fit with the tempo of the song. They had managed to get something together that, in my opinion, was perfect for the mission ahead.

Second break rolls around. I ask the boys if they are ready. They both reply no in unison. “Too bad, we’re doing this. Follow me!” I grab a camera (there were always a bunch of crappy digital cameras in the office to take screen captures when testing older consoles), and we start our march towards the other group of testers. Xavier and Alleandro are following me, talking to each other nervously.?

The other team’s breaks were offset with ours, so they were busy testing their game when we walked in. I was leading while holding my camera, Xavier holding his lyric sheet and Alleandro his guitar.?

I attract the attention of the QAs on the other team: “Everyone! May I have your attention please! We have prepared a little something for you! Introducing the musical stylings of Xavier and Alleandro” I pressed the record button on the camera and the boys did their magic.?

Hey Jude xQAQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BemQ869_7gg

The cringe on Anne's (foreground) and Sam’s (walking in background) faces was shared by the rest of the team, but people still got into it: singing along and applauding at the end. It was a really cool moment.

Stories From the Nightshift QA: Wasted at work

I have gone into work sober and have left work inebriated on a few rare occasions. Every time this has happened, except once, has gone along this pattern: last day of work on the milestone / major epic or feature, submission of said milestone or feature, the boss pulls out cases of beer and tells us it’s time to celebrate, drink with colleagues until marinated, stagger back home and attempt to explain to wife the reason for my current state. However, this is not one of those times.

At this point in my career, I strongly disagreed with the inhuman practices of the QA Lab’s management team.?

In my province of Québec, when working a contract for a company for two consecutive years, by law, the employee is automatically considered as a permanent part of the staff, with all the privileges that go with a permanency. To prevent this, the management team would let go anyone who was nearing their two consecutive years of work. I called this the “two years less a day” policy, which to me is funny since two years less a day is the maximum sentence that someone can serve in a provincial penitentiary (any more and the person has to serve his time in a federal penitentiary). I was the penultimate employee that received a permanent position.

Later, the management team came up with another soulless practice. After a year of consecutive work, the contract employee would receive his insurance package. To cut costs, management would always let people go one year less a day. This was regardless of the ongoing projects and work needed on the floor.

I’ll start the story here: we were three teams working on the same cross-platform project: console, handheld console (Nintendo 3DS) and mobile. We were submitting the release candidates in that order. I was on the handheld console team. We were all doing the 12 hour days 6 days a week work shift to push this through, but at the same time, a whole bunch of the testers were approaching their one year milestone.?

We were looking forward to the end of the project, hoping to go from a 72 hour work week, to a more manageable 60 hour work week. Wishful thinking.

One Friday, management came in and gave the axe to all the testers nearing their one year anniversary at the QA lab; some of these people getting the axe were awesome QA, who loved their job and who were excellent at it. It was beer Friday. One Friday of every month, the management team would treat us to one beer per tester (how generous of them). The dozens of testers, who were just told that their contracts were suspended, were visibly angry, and left without drinking their beer.

I was personally angry with the situation: not only did some of my friends get suspended (for having their contract renewed too many times), my team, looking forward to getting a whole week-end off after months of 6 work days a week, was asked (demanded) to cover the empty seats on the mobile team. We need you on Saturday, they said. I was beyond angry; I was livid.?

I came into work to start on my 21st hour of overtime that week. I put my lunch in the fridge and pulled out a 12 pack of beer and walked to my desk. I opened a beer before opening my emails. I took a sip, read my mails, took a sip, installed the build on my device, took a sip, booted the device...??

Jason (another Jason), the floor lead on the mobile (which was the same title I held the day before while working on 3DS) walks up to me demanding what I’m doing with beer at the start of the shift. “Getting shitfaced on company beer!” was my reply. Jason replied to my very honest answer: “If you get too drunk to work, I’m sending you home!” I answered back: “Challenge Accepted!” I had already worked 60 hours that week, so I really didn’t care.

Patrick, the project lead, came in a little later that day. He walked up to me and asked politely what I’m doing with beer at the start of the shift. “Getting shitfaced on company beer!” I smiled. He grabbed a beer from my case, opened it, and said “Cheers to that!” as he walked to his desk.?

I gave Jason a look like: “Haha! I’m getting away with this!”

I finished the shift (and the case of beer, and a few more), and staggered back home, to explain to the wife why I was drunk. The cycle of life.

???