It’s a small request really. Really it is, just a trifle thing, but I know you Dopers, you want the story right? Here goes…
I’m in marketing, and I put together packages tailored to specific companies outlining how they be better of doing business with our firm. I’ll do this with exhibits, powerpoint and other tools. So I send off one of these packages today. The shipping clerk comes backs and says you know you missed a number on these exhibits. So I look, and I don’t see it. She helpfully points it out. The exhibits go 1-10 then 12-14, the 11 missing.
Grrr…
So I’m correcting this error when my assistant calls. (she’s on maternity leave) I tell her what I’m doing and she laughs. Here’s the conversation.
Me: What so funny
Her: You missed 11 didn’t you.
Me: How could you possibly know that?
Her: You always skip 11.
Me. No way.
Her: Way
Grrrr…
So, I start think about this and it occurs to me why. It’s my birthday. My birthday is Oct 12. I’m used to thinking 10…12, and it’s the fault of the way we record dates. See everywhere else in the world the date is written DDMMYY, except here where its MMDDYY. So that my problem, it’s not my fault. I just need all of you to start writing the date correctly. Oh and tell your friends.
But, but…you just said your birthday was October 12 (month, day)–not 12 October (day, month). Just add the year on to your sentence and, viola–the right way!
It ain’t our fault if you can’t get your dates in order.
At work our dates are always input as Julian date … 02142 I think today is. This is “great” as they proclaim at work) if you have a Julian calendar handy to figure out the record you are reading & remember to FLIP to the other side of the calendar for the Leap Year. Sigh I have corrected many an entry that was 1 day off from what it should be. Also, we don’t just deal with the current year’s data - we converted a huge amount of “hard copy” records into the database and had to go through the whole Leap Year madness. I vote for the YYYYMMDD format. 20020522
Sure Ferrous make jokes. Don’t you realize how serious this is. I’ve probably been making this mistake for years. Constantly underpaying by a penny, my credit report is probably horrendous. It also probably explains why I didn’t get many dates in school, phone numbers with ‘11’ went completely unrecognized. The possiblities are endless. ARGHH!!!
So are you always thinking of your October birthday, even in May? I’m confused. I don’t even start thinking about my birthday until maybe a week before it happens.
I agree with Slainte, for databases it should be 20020522. For regular dates it should be DD/MM/YYYY, but I’m lazy and into my habit now, so it’s MM/DD/YYYY.
I once had to move out of one dorm and into another . . . on my birthday. Know how many forms you have to sign AND DATE to move into or out of a dormitory? Know how many times I wrote my actual date of birth instead of the current date? Grrrr.
So am I to understand that if, in an emergency, you should be called upon to dial 911, you would be utterly incapable of doing so? Or that any references to the recent 9/11 tragedy leave you saying “huh?”
I don’t know if this makes me self-centered or what, but for me at least, the answer is “yeah.”
When I worked at a bagel store, there was a certain combination of items that would ring up as $5.24 and I’d think “my birthday!” Or if I happen to glance at a clock and see that the time is 5:24.
I even acknowledge my half-birthday in November (not too seriously, more as a joke). But then, birthdays were always special occasions in my family.
Besides he’s lived his life I’m still young, there’s time to nip this thing in the bud.