A quick rant...
I've seen some things in my life that are clear proof someone wasn't thinking. Case in point: I just received a signed offer letter from one of our managers with the rest of the paperwork needed to set up a new hire. That's normal. The fun part was, when I opened the offer letter, it was COMPLETELY BLANK. We use a form letter, the manager just has to fill in the relevant parts (name, position, salary, reporting manager, etc). None of that was there. And the candidate signed it. Not only that, they initialed all three pages, too..........
Um........ WTF? Do we really want to hire someone who will sign a completely blank document without questioning it? Honestly? I know details aren't really your forte, but come on!
I sent it back and said, "please fill out the form and send me a signed, completed copy." I resisted the urge to say "because what she signed isn't an offer of employment. It's a blank form that only an idiot would sign."
That is all.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Editing
True confession: I'm a compulsive editor.
As in, I often keep my mouth shut because the words might not come out perfectly. When I do speak, you can be sure I've spent the last 30 seconds (or 5 minutes) wording and re-wording what I'm going to say to be sure it sounds just right. It doesn't matter what the topic is, I could be telling a story about how my dog ate an entire box of graham crackers, box, wrappers, and all (true story, she's really part goat), and I'll still rehearse it first.
As in, my friends know me as the person they can turn to when they just can't quite come up with the right word, when it's on the tip of their tongues but it's just not coming to mind. Because I'm mentally following their conversation and I've usually already got that word in my head. (that, and I'm a word geek, so I know alot of them)
As in, I read other people's work, and mentally rearrange their sentences. Or correct their grammar/spelling/syntax. Or both. I know, I know. It's a sickness, really. I can't help myself. Do you think there's a 12-step program?
I think that's why I prefer to write. When you put it on paper, you have all the freedom in the world to edit, re-edit, and edit again before anyone else sees it. But therein lies the problem... I'm such a compulsive editor, I often don't start writing because I can't figure out how to start. I want it to be good the first time, even though I like the editing part. I don't really understand that about myself, but they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. (See? maybe there is a 12-step program!).
So how do I overcome this compulsive editor inside of me? That remains to be seen, but the good news is, it's only been a week since my last post, which is aheckuvalot better than the month that languished between my last two posts. And apparently, Thursday is the day I get inspired to write. Maybe next week, I'll branch out and post on Tuesday too!
As in, I often keep my mouth shut because the words might not come out perfectly. When I do speak, you can be sure I've spent the last 30 seconds (or 5 minutes) wording and re-wording what I'm going to say to be sure it sounds just right. It doesn't matter what the topic is, I could be telling a story about how my dog ate an entire box of graham crackers, box, wrappers, and all (true story, she's really part goat), and I'll still rehearse it first.
As in, my friends know me as the person they can turn to when they just can't quite come up with the right word, when it's on the tip of their tongues but it's just not coming to mind. Because I'm mentally following their conversation and I've usually already got that word in my head. (that, and I'm a word geek, so I know alot of them)
As in, I read other people's work, and mentally rearrange their sentences. Or correct their grammar/spelling/syntax. Or both. I know, I know. It's a sickness, really. I can't help myself. Do you think there's a 12-step program?
I think that's why I prefer to write. When you put it on paper, you have all the freedom in the world to edit, re-edit, and edit again before anyone else sees it. But therein lies the problem... I'm such a compulsive editor, I often don't start writing because I can't figure out how to start. I want it to be good the first time, even though I like the editing part. I don't really understand that about myself, but they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. (See? maybe there is a 12-step program!).
So how do I overcome this compulsive editor inside of me? That remains to be seen, but the good news is, it's only been a week since my last post, which is aheckuvalot better than the month that languished between my last two posts. And apparently, Thursday is the day I get inspired to write. Maybe next week, I'll branch out and post on Tuesday too!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Slacker Habits
Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post... I'm such a slacker! When I started this blog, I said to myself, "I love to write, I'll be posting all the time!" I can't tell you how many times I've thought about writing in the last month...
I thought about writing about my first few days on the job while stuck in the Atlanta airport for 4 hours on my way back from Dallas.
I thought about writing about my first week working from home.
I thought about writing about the trials of trying to teach my dog not to bark all day long so I could actually have a coherent phone conversation.
I thought about writing about what fun it is to be able to get my hair done on my lunch break or start early and knock off early so I can have extra time at the dog park with the puppies.
But I didn't. Why not? Not really sure. But I've been thinking about that this week, and I've decided that it all boils down to habits. I'm not in the habit of writing my thoughts, I'm just in the habit of thinking them. I've always been more articulate on paper than anywhere else, so I figured writing a blog would be easy for me. Turns out, it's not hard to write the posts, it's just hard to remember to write them. So, that's my new goal. Instead of saying to myself, "I could blog about this," I'm going to actually blog about it. I may have some short and sweet posts at first, and the topics will probably be all over the map. But that's how we grow right? Try some things out and see how they work.
If anyone's out there reading, and you haven't seen a post in a while, feel free to give me a nudge. Check in with me on Twitter or post a comment and ask me what I've been doing with all my thoughts lately!
I thought about writing about my first few days on the job while stuck in the Atlanta airport for 4 hours on my way back from Dallas.
I thought about writing about my first week working from home.
I thought about writing about the trials of trying to teach my dog not to bark all day long so I could actually have a coherent phone conversation.
I thought about writing about what fun it is to be able to get my hair done on my lunch break or start early and knock off early so I can have extra time at the dog park with the puppies.
But I didn't. Why not? Not really sure. But I've been thinking about that this week, and I've decided that it all boils down to habits. I'm not in the habit of writing my thoughts, I'm just in the habit of thinking them. I've always been more articulate on paper than anywhere else, so I figured writing a blog would be easy for me. Turns out, it's not hard to write the posts, it's just hard to remember to write them. So, that's my new goal. Instead of saying to myself, "I could blog about this," I'm going to actually blog about it. I may have some short and sweet posts at first, and the topics will probably be all over the map. But that's how we grow right? Try some things out and see how they work.
If anyone's out there reading, and you haven't seen a post in a while, feel free to give me a nudge. Check in with me on Twitter or post a comment and ask me what I've been doing with all my thoughts lately!
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