Re: Attitude Adj...not so UNimportant

[Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM>]

I liked Jane Bergen's take on the attitudes we form about one another from
cursory evidence, such as postings to this list. She wrote in part:

> This kind of info is not what I'm addressing. It's the comments that (as
> someone has indeed made) "all candidates with English (or Tech Writing,
> or Computer Science, or basketweaving) degrees would be immediately
> disqualified if I were hiring." That, to me (and if I'm doing the
> hiring, my opinion counts) says a lot about a person's attitude, level
> of professionalism, and more. If someone was generally known to flame
> viciously every newbie-obvious post, that would say something about team
> spirit or the ability to lead new writers.

Jane's right -- actions and REactions speak very loudly in certain
circumstances. As for me, if someone rejected me out of hand for a job
simply because I have a Fine Arts degree (okay, the secret's out!) then
that's someone I do NOT want to work with anyway.

Tackling the larger issue, over the past couple of days there's been some
list behavior that is more the kind of thing you'd expect around a
waterhole in the Serengeti. Someone attacks us (the Washington Post, albeit
obliquely) and we snap and snarl, rather impotently because we cannot
directly affect the aggressor. So we are reduced to quarreling amongst
ourselves. Let's give each other a break! Life can be hard enough without
aggravating the annoyance factor. Adjective or noun, prospective or
perspective, Clinton passed or Congress passed -- what a waste of time! The
effort we spend submitting to this list takes time away from our real work,
and many of us do it on the fly. Mistakes happen. There's a lot of good
done on this list, let's concentrate on that.

And because I just love metaphors -- Let's be buffalo instead of hyenas,

'cause anyway, I'm a gnu.

--Beth Agnu

Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc.
65 Allstate Parkway, Suite 100  Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 9X1        Fax: (905) 513-1419
mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com    Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com

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