I HaveThisPattern -

People write subpar code then wonder why it doesn't work well.

When I try to fix it by cleaning up the code, you complain that the cleaning is unnecessary.

But had the code been clean in the first place, the problems would probably never have appeared or have been easy to find and fix.

You can't see why cleaning the code is the solution because you couldn't see that the code was dirty when you produced it, or that dirty code causes and hides bugs.

You can't fix your problems with your current level of thinking because you don't know it's a problem in the first place. You can't accept my solution because you can't recognize the root of the problem.

Therefore,

It is broken because you thought it was fine.

--BryanEdds
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This really isn't a pattern - more of an observation, or a predicament.

''Is it a pattern since the predicament keeps recurring?''
* it seems to be more of a situation, since it's a fairly simple thing.  Not pleasant, but neither is living near a railroad, and it's about as likely to change.
''But it keeps happening even after I change my situation, say by changing jobs. People just can't make the connection between unclean code and its ill-effects on development and the end product.''

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I too HaveThisPattern. Some people don't consider the error paths and wonder why the code does crazy things when placed in unstable environments. --JoshuaHudson