The history, for those who have not seen...
thread655-1685220: Crazy keyboard pounder
thread655-1739245: Crazy keyboard pounder in next cubicle, part 2

Not to mention...
thread655-1604936: Knuckle cracking..flipflops..etc...

I remember those threads. Just a quick skim I came across this (in part 2)...

Quote (pgmr777 (Programmer) (OP) 17 Mar 15 15:25)

Apparently there is a god...the crazy kb pounder quit. Life is much more peaceful here now, however, I now notice in the new quieter environment another person who types almost as incessantly too, albeit nowhere near at the pace and power as crazy did. Still it makes me wonder...what could the content be, these people who type at high speed non-stop for 8 hours every day..it's not code..emails? No. Obsessive documentation? Perhaps, but it remains an annoying mystery..

So is this KB pounder number 2 now causing grief? Did #2 step up the pace to fill the void left by KB pounder #1?

Could their boss possibly be rating their performance on how many words they pumped out? Reminds me, once we had a call center that the reps were rated on how many calls they took. It was found that a couple people were hanging up on people mid call if it looked like it was going to take a while to solve their problem. Just remember, you get what you measure.

"walk to recycle bin to throw away previous printout" - pick it up and see what it is. Unless by "recycle bin" you mean "paper shredder"

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

As we say in the coding forums... what have you tried and where are you stuck? Because ... six years of posts about the same person doing the same thing... wow. Have you considered a therapist?

We have to start questioning both sides of this problem. Options - briefly.
1. Talk to typist and ask for a change
2. Talk to typist's boss and ask for a change
3. Ask to be moved away from the person
4. Start looking for a new job
5. Seek therapy to be able to cope

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

The thing is, this crazy behavior seems to be just a symptom of a much larger issue, she has this crazy energy level, it's like being in a room with a human tornado. I mean she's over 50 for chrissake and she's been pounding mercilessly on that keyboard for the what, 20 years or so I've known her. She runs to the dam* printer to get that printout of whatever it is. Runs back. Pounds out another novel. Now, on a specific detail level of this whole insane pattern, what is she doing with it from the time she runs back and resumes jackhammering her keyboard again and then runs to the recycle bin with it?? Retyping it into some sort of holding area/app/document until the next round? Of what? THIS GOES ON ALL DAY LONG EVERY DAY. You hear what I'm saying? Programmers don't work like this. I'm not the one who needs therapy. And yes, the previous #1 (mega) pounder (the one who left) was worse, much much worse, but they both display the same crazy pattern, albeit #1 didn't print as much.

Really makes you wish that installing a keylogger was legal and ethical.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

You still did not answer my question: can you pick the printout from the recycle bin and look at it? Or is it locked/shredded?

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

Quote:

I'm not the one who needs therapy.

Not so sure about this. If you looked at it from our perspective, your reaction is a bit over the edge. Save your sanity, find another job!!

Quote:

Really makes you wish that installing a keylogger was legal and ethical.

It is - for the company to do on a company owned computer. Not for the OP that is analyzing the crazy typist.

Reminds me of when I got video of my work area when someone was stacking parts on my desk. It was a prank. But I got him via webcam hidden in a post-it note box. I started the recording every time I left my desk and I nailed him. Put the parts back on his desk early one morning. No more pranks. Probably could have gotten in trouble for recording an employee but it was better than talking to HR (like a whiner).

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

Have you tried asking her what she's doing? Just approach her and say that it sounds like whatever she's doing is extremely urgent. Most people do like to talk about their jobs and if it is something she's under a lot of pressure to pound it out, she'd probably love to talk about it.

Have you tried asking other people around her what she's doing? If it truly is a disruptive amount of noise, others must be noticing it too. Most people like to talk about their jobs, especially if they have a crazy coworker. I find coworkers to be a good source of information about things like this.

Have you tried asking your boss? Just mention that she seems to be pounding out work at a furious pace and you were wondering what she was doing? Most bosses are pretty well in touch with the organization and the work it needs to perform. I find bosses usually like employees to want to know more about the organization and work that's being done.

The thing I don't understand is how you can work in the same office with someone for over 20 years, in close enough proximity to hear them pounding on a keyboard, and not know what they do for the company. I've worked at my place of employ for 24+ years and I know pretty much what every single person on this floor does. I have friends in other groups, so I know what people in other departments do. In the work that I do, I work with dozens, if not hundreds of people in departments across the company nationwide, and I know what they do. If someone really is flailing away at a keyboard like you describe, I guarantee you that you aren't the only one curious, and the odds are pretty good that someone else knows what's going on.

It's some sort of obsessive documentation disorder coupled with a nervous typing compulsion disorder. She literally can't stop typing, even in meetings she's tapping on the table constantly. She's nuts. I have to wear earmuffs to drown it out, not headphones mind you, earmuffs like those leafblower guys or guys who launch jets off of aircraft carriers wear.

Have you ever requested to be moved??? Just say what you just said in a nice way to H.R. Tell them YOUR mental health is suffering.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

It reminds me of a PBS feature about making custom wooden staircases or something.
They had a guy in the office who would use a CAD station to open a customer's file and send it to a plotter, then carry the plot into the next room and laboriously digitize the drawing into a different CAD system, using a magnifier to center a puck's crosshairs over line ends and intersections and cardinal points of curves.
That was his job, and he took it very seriously.
Maybe he knew he could be replaced by a cable and a little software.

;--

Maybe the keyboard pounders are copying lengthy legal documents from one server to another across an airgap.

... or just testing keyboards or cables or connectors.


I can't explain the printout.

... Or, maybe I can. Back in my programming days, I would print out an entire project's code on the backside of greenbar, bind it, review it, mark it up, and then revise the code and start over. I used a big box of fanfold pretty much every week, and shredded most of it. It wasn't spaghetti code, but the linkages were distant enough that it was not possible to see its interactions on a 80x24 terminal. I'd have killed for the multi- windowed graphical environments we take for granted today.

I was so hard on printers that I got samples of proposed new ones to try out for use in our products (which printed a page of results, mixed graphics and text, three times a minute 24/7 in a hospital lab). That was long before inkjets or lasers arrived. Three mixed pages a minute is asking a lot of an impact printer.

Maybe they're testing printers.

Right about now, I'd be rooting around in the recycle bin, just out of morbid curiosity.

pgmr777 can't or doesn't want to "root around in the recycle bin"
I asked about it already. Twice.

Have fun.

---- Andy

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

pgmr777 can't or doesn't want to "root around in the recycle bin"

... for 25 years!!!!! I'm not sure what is more fascinating, the crazy keyboard pounder or the OP's complete lack of investigative skills!

Or sure..... blame the victim!!! Kidding.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

She must type..MUST..if she's sitting at her desk she is typing..can't not type..CANNOT NOT TYPE..like breathing..a bodily function..only stops when she runs off to the bathroom or the printer..25 years of non-stop typing..and it's not just regular typing..it's insistent..powerful..FRANTIC typing...high speed..obsessive..something wrong there..crazy..something.

You may have the beginnings of a good horror novel / short story going here... think Poe + Stephen King, plus the girl from The Ring who got a tech job... run with it!

Speaking of "The Ring"... here's a giggle for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9A61L18_Kk

Just my 2ó

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

Strange temporary hiatus the other day...she stopped typing/pounding for approx 2 hours. Just silence, for the first time in 25 years, oh blessed silence. Stroke? Aneurysm? Neurological lockup? Decided to try thinking first? I wanted to go see what was wrong (right) but dared not risk breaking the spell. I sat frozen, motionless for what seemed an eternity. Alas she has since gone back to jackhammering her tortured keyboard frantically non-stop. What could it be? What could it be? WHAT COULD IT BE?? I am more convinced than ever that the universe is a far crueler place than we can imagine.

If you must know, buy a webcam and put in her cubicle. Of course you would be fired if they caught you, most likely. I did that very thing but it was in MY cubicle when someone was playing tricks on me by loading up my cubicle with boxes of prototype parts every few weeks.

The camera was hidden in a post-it note box and it was connected via USB to a laptop. When I was going to leave my cubicle for more than 10 minutes, I would press the record button, CTRL ALT DEL and lock the workstation, then come back and check for any action. Nobody suspected anything because I was the computer guy and there were lots of computers on my desk at all times. I found out who it was. Still have the video on a backup DVD from that job.

BTW - I'm personally starting to believe that you are messing with us regarding this crazy typist.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

Nope, all true. I talk to others regularly about it. "What could it be?" "What is she typing all the time?" "What could the CONTENT possibly be?" The general consensus is that it's some form of abnormal documentation obsession. You'd have to hear it to believe it.

For 25 years she has been doing a job for a company. Is there any job description so they can hire a replacement if she dies?

Does she have a boss? Does the boss know what she does?

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

For 25 years she has been doing a job for a company

I'm really kind of confused about this whole series of threads.

1) I thought she quit? "Apparently there is a god...the crazy kb pounder quit. Life is much more peaceful here now"
2) What kind of work does this person do? After 25 years, you don't know? Or is it a different person?

I'm really thinking that this may be a perception problem... or a great social experiment to see how we'd respond. Unless she has a mechanical keyboard, a pair of ear buds and some music would drown out most keyboards today (membrane style)

Maybe it's not the typist... perhaps you should really talk to a doctor about it... a serotonin or dopamine reuptake inhibitor may be in your future... no shame in that... it takes the edge off.

Just my $.02

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

Have you ever just asked her, basically, what the heck are you doing typing so much???? Direct approach.
Or hang over her shoulder for a minute before greeting her and spy on her.
We need answers.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

No sense ‘asking’ questions here, they hardly ever get answered. If you read thru this thread you will see a LOT of questions, no answers from pgmr777. OP needs the channel to vent, not to find the solution. Just my opinion…

Have fun.

---- Andy

There is a great need for a sarcasm font.

Like when females don't really want you to give them advice on solving a problem (a five step program), just "listen to me"?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

Oh snap.... that was funny though perhaps slightly exaggerated.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares."

It's a typing addiction, that's all I can determine. For example, a normal response email to "did you do x?" would be "yes" or "yes I did x". But from her it will be a hundred (or more) word response typed out at a furious, frantic pace. Lots of complaining. It's not programming, we're object, modular programmers, we rarely type anything from scratch. Why would anybody? Oh, to the person who thought she left, that was a different jackhammer typist, was even worse than this one. THAT one was truly insane.

She's a keyboard virtuoso!