Faraday Legal News: Addendum 2

This page was published on the 27th of January, 2006.

Jan Skarbek's claim that he was physically and mentally ill and unable to work is pregnant with irony. However, allowing for some degree of exaggeration, this claim is true.

Jan Skarbek suffers from a severe, uncontrolled, diabetic condition. The severity of the condition most likely arises from poor diet control. For example, snacking on potato crisps.

The very first meeting I had with Jan Skarbek was terminated prematurely because of his condition and several subsequent meetings were cancelled due to the same cause. On one occasion his wife reported that he had had a vision black-out.

There was also one week where he was unavailable due to contracting the flu. He told me that he had passed out. However it has occurred to me that this may have been a cover story for an especially severe diabetic attack.

The contract between Skramsoft and Faraday specified that I was to complete the table software. This was done. In prior-to-contract verbal discussions it was decided that it was Skramsoft's responsibility to integrate my software with his pre-existing software and to complete the application. However after I completed the contracted obligations I was asked to continue working and to combine Skramsoft's software with Faraday's software. I was both glad and uncomfortable with this uncontracted new arrangement. I was simply introduced to his computer in his home office and asked to do the work. No discussions took place.

It was my original expectation that I might help with the integration phase of the project, possibly helping to fix any bugs that were discovered. Instead I was doing the whole task without any significant contribution from Jan Skarbek. At the very least, considering Ashley Revell's imposed deadline, it should have been a team effort, but it was not. It appeared to me that Jan was having a bit of a holiday.

I considered two possible explanations for this. There was diabetic his condition. I also considered the possibility that he had been working on the project for too hard and too long and was suffering from programmer burn-out. Consequently I asked Jan whether the project had got too much for him. He denied this. I was not entirely satisfied with this response.

I am not aware of any mental problems that Jan might have. However after I received Skramsoft's excuse I did a Google on; mental health problems associated with diabetes. As Jan had had a vision blackout, and the eye is anatomically an extension of the brain, this claim seemed plausible. The conclusion was that severe diabetes can lead to neurological problems such as poor memory and learning and also to depression. Obviously, depending on the severity of the condition, this would severely handicap a computer programmer. On the other hand a diabetic I know was outraged that his condition could be used to excuse his behaviour.

I do not know if Ashley Revell is aware of Jan Skarbek's condition.

I suspect that Jan Skarbek's medical condition is an important factor in explaining why Skramsoft did not pay me. However the trail of cause and effect are not clear.

Skramsoft deregistration