This rings true for me too (Also UK dev). I once worked for half a year at a company that was this bizarre. For example, we had several people come in - and leave - within a day. As soon as they saw how we were working they just left. I kind of found it funny only because the lead developer (now a very close friend) basically onboarded me with the company ethos after I'd been looking through my desk drawer and noticed a brown bag....
'What's in the bag mate?'
'I don't know...?'
'Have a look'
'....er, it seems to be....some receipts....a cafetiere.......and a what looks like a really really old banana'
'Welcome to [name of that company]!'
If he hadn't have been able to make a joke of it too I'd also have walked.
Our managing director was an utter nutjob...
Highlights include:
He once called us from a major UK motorway and asked us where he was meant to be driving (we'd not seen him in days, and said we assumed he must be on a sales visit).
He would almost weekly lose the keycard to our building...which was required to get to the office...to the point where we suspected he'd 'developed a taste for them' and was secretly snacking on these keycards.
He told us once that 'NASA can put people on the moon! We can do this!' After us telling him that what he wanted to do was completely impossible. Like literally not possible. He was getting hassled by a finance company who we'd built an app for, and ironically they were saying that 'the percentages don't all add up to 100% exactly'.
'What's in the bag mate?'
'I don't know...?'
'Have a look'
'....er, it seems to be....some receipts....a cafetiere.......and a what looks like a really really old banana'
'Welcome to [name of that company]!'
If he hadn't have been able to make a joke of it too I'd also have walked.
Our managing director was an utter nutjob...
Highlights include:
He once called us from a major UK motorway and asked us where he was meant to be driving (we'd not seen him in days, and said we assumed he must be on a sales visit).
He would almost weekly lose the keycard to our building...which was required to get to the office...to the point where we suspected he'd 'developed a taste for them' and was secretly snacking on these keycards.
He told us once that 'NASA can put people on the moon! We can do this!' After us telling him that what he wanted to do was completely impossible. Like literally not possible. He was getting hassled by a finance company who we'd built an app for, and ironically they were saying that 'the percentages don't all add up to 100% exactly'.
'They're unlikely to'
'We can make them!'
'We can't...'