TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> And people who drank coffee usually
> made more coffee if the pot was empty. They never did this because I told
> them to. They did it because it is polite. I NEVER asked people to do
> janitorial or clerical tasks unless I was paying them to be a janitor or a
> clerk. It was not a big company, but if menial tasks needed to be done, my
> partner and I did them, not our staff. I hire a writer to write, not make
> coffee or empty the garbage. I hire other people to do that.
>
> I think it is an insult to professionals to order them to do menial chores
> around the office.
Alright, I've been watching this thread carry on and on. Look folks, if you
drink coffee, there's nothing demeaning in taking you turn to make a new pot
once in awhile. It's common courtesy. If someone in your office is acting
like a jerk and refuses to make coffee because they feel it's below them,
then that attitude reflects poorly on them.
However, if someone asks you to run and fetch them a cup of coffee because
they look at you as an underling that should serve them, then that's a
problem, unless you knew it was in your job description when you accepted
the position. Of course, friends might offer to get each other a cup if
they're getting one for themselves, but that's a different situation.
This thread is not about lowly tasks. I'll be glad to help empty my garbage
can if there isn't someone around that's specifically assigned that task,
and I wouldn't mind helping even then if they were absent or swamped with
other urgent work. There's nothing that is not honorable about taking out
the garbage or making coffee unless you consider it to be honorable to live
in a growing pile of garbage with an empty coffee cup. This thread is about
people looking down on others and assigning "lowly" tasks in an attempt to
build themselves up by attempting to demean someone else.
One story as an aside. I have a friend here in town who started attending a
nice private university in the early '70s. he didn't get quite straight A's
but fairly close. He was scrubbing tables and mopping floors in the
cafeteria as a contractor to the school to pay his way through college. They
asked him to take on more work, so he hired a friend or two to help him out.
One semester he became angry at a professor and decided drop out of college
to give more attention to his tiny janitorial business.
A couple of years ago we shared a ride to a meeting, and he had a huge smile
on his face. He had just sold his company for a nice 8 figure sum, with over
600 employees working in four states. All because he was bright enough to
drop out of college to become a janitor.
I honestly hope this thread is over, but I was surprised that I hadn't
noticed anyone clearly point out the difference between someone expecting
you to do your share vs. someone trying to lord their superiority over you
by demanding menial tasks.
David Berg
Who in 40 years of living, has never made or drunk a cup of coffee, and
honestly wouldn't know what to do with a coffee maker other than use it as
an over-sized paper-weight.
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available 4/30/01 at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Sponsored by DigiPub Solutions Corp, producers of PDF 2001 Conference East,
June 4-6, Baltimore, MD. Now covering Acrobat 5. Early registration deadline
April 27. http://www.pdfconference.com.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
