Chapter 19 — The owner of the car shop behind the school gate

Vy and Khoa quarreled over a data sheet.

The department discovered that in the survey appendix there were the initials of three students, including a lower class student who told the story of losing his car's lights. Quynh Chi has replaced the name with a code, but the original is still in the shared folder. If a report is sent to the school board, the person with access rights can open the original.

“I said we must separate the data immediately,” Khoa said.

"I know."

“You know but still leave it there?”

Vy was upset. “I'm fixing it.”

“Correcting after being discovered is not protecting others.”

Quynh Chi asked both of them to stop. She checked the access rights and realized the error was because Huy mistakenly uploaded the entire photo folder to the public link. Huy apologized and immediately revoked the link, but two people had already downloaded it.

The group must notify Ms. Van. No one wants this to become a scandal right when the plan is about to be decided. Ms. Van said privacy is more important than achievements. The school will notify the students involved, explain the data that has been processed and commit to deleting copies outside the system.

Khoa is still angry. He said the nicer the report, the harder it is to spot errors. Vy replied that she didn't mean to hide it, they were just doing too many things at once. The answer made Khoa silent, then he said: "The person who leaked the information doesn't care if you did it intentionally or not."

Vy knows you're right. But she also found herself being put in the position of having to bear all the blame because she was the one who proposed the group. The two walked towards the gate in silence.

The next afternoon, Vy went to Ba Man's shop. Khoa was removing the wheel, not looking at her. Mrs. Man gave Vy a clean towel.

“Do you want to talk to Khoa?”

“I want to correct my mistake.”

“So start by not forcing him to forgive right away.”

Vy sat down and worked with Khoa to clean the wheel shaft. He didn't chase her away, but he also didn't actively speak. After nearly an hour, Vy gave him a data protection plan: separate identifying information from answers; delete the original image after encrypting the report; Each file has a person in charge; Link can only be opened with a school account; Check access permissions before sending.

“I don't need you to rewrite the world,” Khoa said.

"I know. I just want you to have the right to check my work."

Khoa holds the plan. “What if I check and find it wrong?”

“Then stop sending.”

“You won't be selfish?”

“Yes. But self-love should not be more important than the person affected.”

Khoa exhaled. He showed Vy a place in the plan: data on parking hours could help protect pathways, but if combined with classes and schedules, one could predict when a student usually arrived at school. They decided to only use a wide time frame and not publish a separate schedule.

Mrs. Man listened to the two of them talking, then said: "The difficult thing is not knowing everything. The difficult thing is knowing what you don't have the right to know."

That evening, Quynh Chi held a short training session for the group. She asked each person to write three sentences: where does this data come from, who might be affected, when will the data be deleted. Huy admitted that he often takes photos of events because he thinks the photos are not sensitive data.

“A face is also data,” Quynh Chi said. "A car's location is also data. Even the fact that a person does not want to appear is also information that needs to be respected."

Vy asked for permission to post a correction on the school forum. She did not name the student, did not blame Huy, just said the group shared the wrong folder, revoked it, and Please delete the download. There were sarcastic comments, but there were also people who sent messages of thanks for the group's clarification.

The next day, Khoa gave Vy a new card for the spare parts cabinet. The card says: “Second tester”.

“From now on every important file needs a second person to check,” he said.

Vy received the card. “Are you still mad at me?”

“A little.”

“So why still hand over the card?”

"Being angry doesn't mean quitting your job. But don't make me say that yesterday's incident was okay."

Vy nodded. She understands that a good relationship is not without mistakes. It's the ability to put together a process so that a mistake doesn't turn into a habit.

After the data sharing incident, Vy asked for permission to view the folder's access log. She was afraid that people would think she was in control, but Quynh Chi said the right to control was not the same as the right to read content. They only see who opened which file and when, not individual responses.

Huy discovered that an old account of a former student still had rights. He contacted that person, explained and asked for confirmation to delete the file. The other person wasn't upset, but said he didn't know his rights still existed. The team creates a permissions review schedule each month.

Khoa still avoids talking to Vy other than when necessary. She did not force. During one shift, two people worked together to fix a car with a broken brake cable. Khoa asked her to cut the rope, but she did it more slowly than usual. He asked her if she was afraid of making a mistake again.

“I'm afraid you'll think I'm not careful enough.”

Khoa put down the rope. "I don't need you to be perfect. I need you to tell me when you're not sure."

Vy said she reported it, but sometimes other people are still angry. The response to anger is an emotion, the process is another matter. The two things can coexist.

Quynh Chi guides the group on minimum data. They realized that some questions did not need a class name, just a time frame. Some photos do not need to be saved as originals. Some responses simply document the problem, without speculating on the cause.

Huy suggested making the form shorter. He saw many people quit halfway because there were too many boxes. Vy agreed, but asked to try with three users first. A teacher said the question "are you satisfied" is too general. They changed it to “which spot is the hardest for you to get to?”

The new version has fewer but clearer answers. Khoa said a decrease in quantity does not mean a decrease in quality, if the other person heard correctly.

An anonymous message came in saying the group was doing coloring. Vy wanted to delete it, but Quynh Chi kept it in the feedback section. They asked if the sender could give an example. There was no reply. Vy sees that not all criticism helps to correct, but there is no need to consider them as enemies.

In the afternoon, Khoa brought the vocational training registration form home for Vy to see. He removed the section that collects unnecessary learner information. Vy teased him for spreading Quynh Chi's disease. Khoa said it was a good disease.

Both people write down the document version, revision date and reviewer. When Vy reached for the pen, their hands touched. They both paused. Quynh Chi coughed from afar and said no one needed to record that moment in the data log.

Vy blushed, Khoa smiled. For the first time after the argument, the atmosphere between them eased. Mistakes haven't disappeared, but they've found a way to work side by side without forcing each other to forget.

Quynh Chi heard it and said it was the most reliable communication protocol the group had ever had. Huy added to the table "don't speculate".

Vy and Khoa checked a data table one last time. Each person reads a line, the other asks for the source. Work is slow, but no one is afraid of being seen as distrustful of each other. They are trusting each other enough to allow testing.

When locking the garage, Khoa gave Vy the new rules. The first line reads: "If you see something wrong, report it before finding someone to blame." Vy signed below.

Before leaving, a new friend asked if he could bring a laptop to do data. Khoa said yes, but did not save photos of the garage on his personal device. You ask what if the machine breaks down. Together they establish the school's backup procedures.

Vy understood that a private mistake forced the group to think about people who had never appeared. That's how an error, if taken seriously, becomes a protective barrier for those who come after.

After the training session, the group tried to recover deleted data. They discovered a copy in the system trash, but didn't know who had the right to permanently delete it. Quynh Chi contacted the school administrator and set up an automatic cleaning schedule after thirty days. She explains to the sender that data deletion should not depend on memory.

Khoa asked if keeping access logs would scare users. Vy said if it is clear who sees what and for how long, they have the right to choose. One person suggested not saving sensitive answers, only saving the problem code. The group tried, the results were still enough to repair the walkway.

Huy suggested making a "data not collected" table. He wrote down: phone number, personal location, face photo, school schedule, family information. Vy finds that table more impressive than the achievement table. Quynh Chi said that privacy sometimes has to be expressed in terms of what you refuse to take.

Khoa and Vy adjusted the table together, but there was still a small gap. He asked her if she wanted to talk about the fight. Vy said she was afraid that telling him would make him more tired. Khoa said silence is also tiring.

Vy apologizes for making you prove yourself. Khoa apologizes for speaking as if she could read everything right from the beginning. The two did not hug, there were no big promises. They only agree that when in doubt, they will ask directly, and when they are not ready to answer, they will say they are not ready.

Quynh Chi heard it and said it was the most reliable communication protocol the group had ever had. Huy added to the table "don't speculate".