Re: Niceness as a career path

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- SIMPLYWRITTEN -dot- COM>]

I've noticed that there are people for whom any sort of mild unpleasantness,
or even the hint of unpleasantness, is cause for lamentation and wailing.

I did a class on ForeHelp and did a teasing bit about how to use ForeHelp's
reporting capabilities to deal with unhelpful developers. We've all had some
experience with developers who were either too harried or too anal retentive
to help us understand their creations. Many such people are wonderful,
caring individuals, of course, and I think most of us take cautions for what
they're worth in the real world, but one woman in the class was absolutely
indignant. She accused me of fostering and abetting class warfare. She
actually took me to task for suggesting that you might want to have your
armor handy whenever you had to go into a meeting where sharp objects
coexisted with close deadlines. "If we all just get along..." I felt like
commiting suicide just so the Mideast would get back to its nonmilitary
placidity.

>Recent posts decry the lack of niceness, presence of flaming, etc.  On
>behalf of rude people everywhere, I write.
>
>1. If you want a career in tech writing, or in animal husbandry for that
>matter, you will, from time to time encounter jerks.  If you want a
>career path without jerks, well...sorry, wrong planet.
>
>2. If you don't tell them where it's tied up, they can't get your goat.
>Taking offense is strictly (100%) up to the offendee.
>
>3. Being "nice" in the sense of being an insipid doormat is absolutely
>detrimental to any career advancement. Many times being "nice" is really
>being a victim, being phony, etc...Be suspicious of niceness! You are
>tech writers, not doormats for hire!
>
>This from a fellow (me) who once sold real estate:
>Suggested strategy for dealing with jerks:  Hold a contest for the
>biggest jerk.  As I would encounter them when cold calling, I'd listen,
>thinking "Okay, you're in the top ten, do you want to go for number
>one?"
>
>BTW, I'm *not* suggesting you confront every jerk.  Ignoring them works
>much better.
>
>Yours, in the quest for better mental health,
>
>
>-- mailto:Mark -dot- Dempsey -at- osi -dot- com
>--
>-- Mark Dempsey
>-- Technical Publications
>-- Objective Systems Integrators
>-- 101 Blue Ravine Rd, Folsom, CA 95630
>-- 916.353.2400 x 4777
>
>
>From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==
>
>


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