The Short Bus

I'm really happy with my team that I'm working with. The Lead Engineer is awesome, and he's obviously a smart guy and a great manager. There's the crazy old dude who's worked at Boeing for 25, the stereotypical, soft-spoken "suburban dad", the smart woman with a bit of an edge to her...

There's also Nathan. Nathan is an electrical engineer. He has a little weasel face and a goatee. He's very nice and intelligent, but Nathan feels like I'm the new puppy on the team, so it's his job to train me. Of course, he's not counting the fact that I have a Masters or worked in the aerospace industry for 2 years, so he's treating me like a mental infant. Today he taught me how to (and I'm serious here)...

...Scan a document properly with your eyes.

Nathan: So you have this table here with all the values.

Me: Yup.

Nathan: And we're only interested in the values in this column that have a "Yes" in them.

Me: Sure.

Nathan: So I don't just read every single line. I just hit the "page down" button and let my eyes kind of glaze over this column for when it changes.

Me: Riiiiight... I know how to sc-

Nathan: Like this! I'm not really reading each line, but I'm just looking for differences in this column. See what I'm doing? SEE?!! (presses page down)

Inner voice: Are you fucking serious?