Living The Dream—2026-07-27 (Patreon)

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MAX LEVEL DUMB by Laci Morehouse

Today, I’m working from home. I’m between client trips, and I don’t have any modeling jobs lined up at the moment.

My job with James, Arnold, Maxwell, and Associates frequently requires me to listen to complaints. My job description says I’m in a hybrid role generally described as Client Solutions and Training Consultant.

Days like today, I call it dealing with the dumb.

It was so bad that, once I got off the Teams call, I put on my shoes, left my apartment, and headed for coffee.

JAMA created this huge application to connect a company’s work systems with—among other things—payroll. When the program specifications were being developed a year ago, the vice president in charge of personnel issued an edict—non-negotiable—that no time card would be accepted unless it included a cost center so the payroll expense would be charged to the correct account.

That constraint was designed into the project from day one.

A week after the project went live? Thirty people were on a Teams call telling him why they should be able to turn in a time card without a cost center—and he was slowly beginning to agree.

Then the chief information officer tried to call it a programming error and argued that JAMA should fix it without billing for the change.

My response: “I’ll locate the design specifications you sent us regarding time cards while we were developing the build strategy. I’ll have Mrs. Maxwell circle back to you on this.”

My follow-up response: coffee at The Peach Cobbler Factory.

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