Re: Tech writers are the new accountants

[Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>]

On the other hand, sadly, I have worked with a couple of people in the 
past that helps me to understand where these weird stereotypes come 
from. When I was first building a team of writers some time ago, a 
technical writing placement company sent me an interesting character. He 
wrote quite well, only two problems, he only wanted to sit in a dark 
room with no lights on (only the computer light), and he preferred 
interviewing in his own office, with all the lights off. All the SME's 
would come to me and say, "what's wrong with the guy?" In the end we had 
to ask for someone else... A small weirdness that no one was able to 
handle well. It turned out he was "allergic" to fluorescent lights. If 
we'd known from the beginning, we might have been able to make 
accommodation.

Ah well... I forgot, I saw that episode of Monk - a hoot!

Have a great week!

Deborah

jlshaeffer -at- aol -dot- com wrote:
> Monk, the television detective show, beat House to it. Adrian Monk (the title character) is OCD, but his brother suffers severe agoraphobia, can't leave the house, has everything delivered and makes a good living writing "award winning instruction manuals." (Of course, he can never travel to meetings to pick up his awards.)
>
>
>
> But what do you have against accountants?
>
> Jim Shaeffer
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au>
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com; austechwriter -at- freelists -dot- org; WAustechwriters -at- yahoogroups -dot- com
> Sent: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 9:45 pm
> Subject: Tech writers are the new accountants
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> This week's episode of TV medical drama House features a recluse who has 
> unexplained seizures. He suffers from crippling agoraphobia and refuses 
> to leave his home to be diagnosed and treated. He believes he's OK the 
> way he is because he can get everything he needs delivered, and you 
> know, *he writes technical manuals for a living*.
>
> Possibly this guy could get some life coaching from the protagonist of 
> 2003 movie The Technical Writer, "... a chain smoking agorophobe who 
> lives in abject squallor," who has "terrible personal hygeine" and who 
> "would be happy to live his life in his basement apartment except for 
> the crazy people who keep forcing him to respond to their own neurotic 
> desires."
>
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328515/usercomments
>
> Sheesh!
>
> Stuart
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