According
To my friend Ian Cluniess-Ross whose name I rent videos under at the College Ave. Video Store, there are by four types of workers:
1. Dumb and Lazy
Those who lack initiative and well, know how --and lack the capability to achieve either.
2. Dumb and Energetic.
We call these peoples: the German short haired pointers or Springer spaniels of the human
world. Usually cute, always friendly, fun to admire, but they are not someone good to work
for. Who wants to take direction from a creature that gets a kick out incessantly chasing
bouncing balls or putting a dirty stick in their mouth and prancing around?
3. Smart and Energetic.
They went to Harvard or MIT, and invent stuff for the sake of it. These are the people who
read articles about the latest technology while their kids play soccer, so they can be one step
ahead of their coworkers in the lab. The problem is, they for forget everyone doesn't want to
spend every waking moment in competition.
Screw the third. I'm the fourth.
(The screw word will take on a new meaning.)
4. Smart but lazy.
Instead of bothering with MIT, I went to some no name college, learned all that technology stuff and took creative writing. After writer’s workshop on Friday, I drank beer and practiced talking in metaphors. We’ll call that a non-linear approach to learning. Eudora Welty would say something of the experience to this effect : “I was getting along fine in the institution of learning on the hill outside of town. –Until this lab partner of mine, a Cum Laude, changed all the designs we were working on, the night before our project was due. He said, technology had changed since we had started the project the week before. –And we were behind. We needed an all nighter. –An all nighter. There I was, my work stripped to the bare bone, like leftover chicken being made into salad for sandwiches on Tuesday. –And me, not even hav’n a cold beer to wash it down with. “
(That pervious paragraph may make since by the end of this.)
Let’s just say, if the old way works. I might stick to it.
The physics law on the subject of worker types reads something like this:
“Energy on your part, does not necessarily translate to energy on my part.”
Now why do I mention all this? Since February, I've been working for a young, smart, and energetic guy. He grew up in Montana, so you'd think he'd be more into beer and shootin things. But, somewhere in his migrating from the wilds of Kalispell, he decided he was going to redesign the world. –And somebody in the Dumb and Energetic category at our company decided to let him. Well, my world anyway. He seemed to like to do this the moment after I had just finished some document or design, and usually the day before it was due. After four months, I have enough boned chicken to feed the homeless of San Francisco salad sandwiches for a month. Don't get me wrong, I will work hard, especially if I think it’s going to get me to a point where I can be lazy and sit around smoking cigars and drinking beer and showing off how smart I can be. (Which btw, I always think I'm smarter when I'm drinking beer.) Cept, this Rather Overbearing Boy, didn't recognize the importance of lazy time. He would give me logical linear reasons for why I had to work hard, revise things on short schedule, and why his way of working was better. Then he would take me through little linear trains of thought and corner me into all nighters. (A lot of other people too, I might mention.) We put up with this until he nullified all my, and a lot of other peoples, work of three months with one of his linear logical energetic decisions. Now, I can put up with a lot of crap myself, but when other people have to put up with it, and they come complain to me about it, it interferes with my lazy time. I haven’t been getting enough beer lately. This meant war.
I don’t go to war in linear fashion.
Someone complained about Rather Overbearing Boy, and asked me what I was going to do about it. I answered, “If you want to skin a cat, sometimes the best way is to grab a pole and go fishing.” Which, I did. (I won’t explain that too much, it would be one of those metaphors I learnt to talk in during Creative Writing workshops, and it would reveal a bit to much about my political methods at work.) Eudora Welty taught me the direct approach is not always the best to way describe the solution to the problem. Rather Overbearing Boy is about to have his world changed. But when he’s told to change his design, at the last minute, when he comes back to work, he won’t be able to figure out who is behind it. Though he may be a bit suspicious, as I, will now be his boss. One thing though, I’ll leave him enough time to drink beer, and let him think he’s smart.
1. Dumb and Lazy
Those who lack initiative and well, know how --and lack the capability to achieve either.
2. Dumb and Energetic.
We call these peoples: the German short haired pointers or Springer spaniels of the human
world. Usually cute, always friendly, fun to admire, but they are not someone good to work
for. Who wants to take direction from a creature that gets a kick out incessantly chasing
bouncing balls or putting a dirty stick in their mouth and prancing around?
3. Smart and Energetic.
They went to Harvard or MIT, and invent stuff for the sake of it. These are the people who
read articles about the latest technology while their kids play soccer, so they can be one step
ahead of their coworkers in the lab. The problem is, they for forget everyone doesn't want to
spend every waking moment in competition.
Screw the third. I'm the fourth.
(The screw word will take on a new meaning.)
4. Smart but lazy.
Instead of bothering with MIT, I went to some no name college, learned all that technology stuff and took creative writing. After writer’s workshop on Friday, I drank beer and practiced talking in metaphors. We’ll call that a non-linear approach to learning. Eudora Welty would say something of the experience to this effect : “I was getting along fine in the institution of learning on the hill outside of town. –Until this lab partner of mine, a Cum Laude, changed all the designs we were working on, the night before our project was due. He said, technology had changed since we had started the project the week before. –And we were behind. We needed an all nighter. –An all nighter. There I was, my work stripped to the bare bone, like leftover chicken being made into salad for sandwiches on Tuesday. –And me, not even hav’n a cold beer to wash it down with. “
(That pervious paragraph may make since by the end of this.)
Let’s just say, if the old way works. I might stick to it.
The physics law on the subject of worker types reads something like this:
“Energy on your part, does not necessarily translate to energy on my part.”
Now why do I mention all this? Since February, I've been working for a young, smart, and energetic guy. He grew up in Montana, so you'd think he'd be more into beer and shootin things. But, somewhere in his migrating from the wilds of Kalispell, he decided he was going to redesign the world. –And somebody in the Dumb and Energetic category at our company decided to let him. Well, my world anyway. He seemed to like to do this the moment after I had just finished some document or design, and usually the day before it was due. After four months, I have enough boned chicken to feed the homeless of San Francisco salad sandwiches for a month. Don't get me wrong, I will work hard, especially if I think it’s going to get me to a point where I can be lazy and sit around smoking cigars and drinking beer and showing off how smart I can be. (Which btw, I always think I'm smarter when I'm drinking beer.) Cept, this Rather Overbearing Boy, didn't recognize the importance of lazy time. He would give me logical linear reasons for why I had to work hard, revise things on short schedule, and why his way of working was better. Then he would take me through little linear trains of thought and corner me into all nighters. (A lot of other people too, I might mention.) We put up with this until he nullified all my, and a lot of other peoples, work of three months with one of his linear logical energetic decisions. Now, I can put up with a lot of crap myself, but when other people have to put up with it, and they come complain to me about it, it interferes with my lazy time. I haven’t been getting enough beer lately. This meant war.
I don’t go to war in linear fashion.
Someone complained about Rather Overbearing Boy, and asked me what I was going to do about it. I answered, “If you want to skin a cat, sometimes the best way is to grab a pole and go fishing.” Which, I did. (I won’t explain that too much, it would be one of those metaphors I learnt to talk in during Creative Writing workshops, and it would reveal a bit to much about my political methods at work.) Eudora Welty taught me the direct approach is not always the best to way describe the solution to the problem. Rather Overbearing Boy is about to have his world changed. But when he’s told to change his design, at the last minute, when he comes back to work, he won’t be able to figure out who is behind it. Though he may be a bit suspicious, as I, will now be his boss. One thing though, I’ll leave him enough time to drink beer, and let him think he’s smart.
posted by Stan at 12:02 AM
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