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> writer since Shakespeare! The other day, he reviewed
> a white paper that I wrote. He came in to my office, plopped it
> on my desk and said, "This is AWWWWful."
You have an office?! I'm luck to have a cell. Seriously, I've been
stuck in situations like this before. My condolences.
> Thus the reason for the post... Do you agree that they want
> me to quit?
No, that may be *a* reason, or maybe not. It could be any number of
things. Has your manager always been tough on you? I mean, is there
a sudden change in the manager's behavior? It could be that the
manager is afraid of losing his/her own job and wants someone to
blame it on.
It could be that the manager is just frustrated. Maybe you should
ask him/her to help you rewrite that first sentence so that you know
what he/she is looking for. Even if you don't give a fig for what
gets written, you'll understand the manager better, and the manager
may feel more included in what's going on... which is important to
some managers.
Another idea: the manager (if smart enough) may be setting you up to
take less at review time.
There could be many reasons why the manager is doing this. It could
even be something personal that has your manager off balance.
Are you the only writer, or can you ask for a peer review?
> Sorry, for the vent, but I've never been told that my writing was "AWWWful".
> Needs editing, yes, but not that.
No one wants to hear that their writing is awful. Any manager who
tells you this is not a good manager (even if you really *are*
awful!). Maybe what you are seeing is signs of the manager's own
insecurity?
But as for wanting to make you quit, Hanlon's Razor comes to mind:
never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by
stupidity.
We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come
true; they ruin our dreams. - Hoffer
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