Sad but true stories. We could sit around and talk for hours about the foolish. I think Sean is right - SQL Server has been advertised as easy and wizard-friendly.

We run into immediate problems where the database-challenged can not find a wizard. We have all run into the database design from hell - created by someone who was either a developer (is that similar to dabbler?) or someone sort of familar with drawing boxes. My favorite was the stakeholder in a project actually drew some random boxes on a paper and expected us to create a system. He had created something in Paradox that didn't work, but he decided it was just a flaw in the application design. Certainly, not his design. I have also been in project development meetings with the client where the client questioned me on why I had so much time devoted to database design. "Bill here," pointing to his overworked network guy who sort of knows Access, "could do that in a couple of hours."

Normalization is just a long word in the dictionary.

I have also worked with a client who promoted one of their folks to the DBA position. He knew nothing, but he was already planning to quit in six months to find one of those high-paying DBA jobs, now that he was a DBA. He was let go after four months because he frustrated his boss because he did not know anything and would not take the time to learn. He asked if he could use me for a reference. I said "No."