[jiggawatts]

Generally I've found that there is no easy way to call someone's baby ugly. Sometimes it is best to just say it outright, other times you have to skirt around the issue, or just let them come to the conclusion themselves when you demonstrate a fix to an "unrelated" issue that just so happens to be relevant to their problem.

> Oh jeez. The... the pathos here is overwhelming.

A landmine I've stepped on multiple times is that this type of scenario is sometimes not tragic, but actually a form of soft corruption: after hours work gets overtime pay! "Fixing" these issues can cut into people's salaries very significantly, perhaps reducing their pay to less than half. They're obviously going to fight you every step of the way, without ever saying the real reason for why they're really opposed to your helpful suggestions.

[JohnBooty]

Oh geez, that unhappy guy was getting OT pay? yeah that explains a lot!!

Great points all around