Unfiltered Story #101612

(This happened when I was training a new computer programmer. I’d asked him to make a very easy change to one of our simpler programs.)

Newbie: Where’s the documentation for this program?
Me: Sorry, there isn’t any.
Newbie: What do you mean, ‘there isn’t any’?
Me: There just isn’t. Our documentation is a bit lacking in some areas, and because this is a really simple program, someone must have decided that documentation wasn’t necessary.
Newbie: But – how am I supposed to understand what the program does?
Me: … I suggest reading the code. It’s really not that difficult, and I can answer any questions you might have.
Newbie: We should have documentation, though.
Me: Sure. And in a perfect world, we would. But we don’t.
Newbie: *stands and stares at me*
Me: Did you have anything else to ask me?
Newbie: *doesn’t say anything, keeps staring*
Me: I need to get back to work, so if you don’t have anything else –
Newbie: We should have documentation.
Me: *losing patience* YES. I KNOW. BUT WE DON’T. *goes back to work*

(He wandered off, continuing to mutter about the lack of documentation. I’m not sure if he expected me to pull it out of my a**, or what.)