At the end of it, he recalled the interesting ID that she originally queried about, as they conversed, told her, then as she passed on to her next endeavor, her closing comment was, "Now let me try to remember that number all the way back to my desk."
Now granted, this is just an ID — not a bug, an "idea" or something embedded in some complicated (dis)array of logic — but she engaged the person whom she asked, and through human interaction and grace, the two pulled out an answer together. Then she took it in strides that memory is up to her.
I remember when I used to be more like her — and less like this antihuman, perpetually brooding, code-distressed, oh-can-you-leave-me-to-my-precious-mind sob-story archetype that you rage-hackers (again perpetually) perpetuate.
Why do we romanticize this? It's becoming obnoxious — the glorification of obnoxiousness. Your mind is your garden, and no one owes you peace of mind. And if people wish to browse your garden, you should be absolutely fucking thrilled.
Why are you propping up and romanticizing this "do no enter" sign at the entrance of your gardens?
You know — there's a Java dev here that often times will start off an interruption with, "How can I provide you with outstanding customer service today?"
How about this? Forget your "engineer" metaphor. Forget your "prodigious self-torment". If you want to fold to the Machines — that's YOUR M.O. Stop sharing with piss about it. Stop whining. Our job has one distinct role, and that's to protect EACH OTHER from this massively complicated world of machines. Do your goddamn fellow human a favor, and pay more attention to HUMANS than you do machines.
Maybe your life will be filled with more spontaneity, warmth, and gifts — because all a fucking computer is going to give you is rules. One key subcomponent of our job as developers, programmers, etc. is Customer Service and that's because humans first.
Why else is "human-readable" a thing?