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Just to get this on the record ...

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by HejiraHenry, Jan 15, 2008.

  1. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Runaway Jim

    Runaway Jim Member

    Spnited, what's the view like from up there on your high horse?
     
  3. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    a lot better than from the sewer you're in.
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    spnited,

    I am PMing you some frozen shaving cream.
     
  5. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    Sorry, for a moment I thought I has stumbled onto the board where journalists and others -- many, but not all of whom work in sports -- kick around issues of concern both in a personal and a larger sense. And, in doing so, take advantage of the experiences of others and maybe learn something to file away for later.

    Maybe I was mistaken.

    Certainly I am happy to disavow any interest in the various revenge scenarios that have tossed around here. It seems to me they were all in relative good fun, but Spirited is entitled not to see it that way.

    Spirited, like Big Dog before him/her, is also entitled to think I was whining. I think the truth is closer to this: I think I was thinking out loud a bit to (mainly anonymous) people who share many of my concerns and who might serve as a good sounding board as I try to sort out my real feelings about a serious situation.

    But, again, Spirited, like Big Dog before him/her, may prove that not everybody on this board always comes here with charitable intentions. There are days when I don't either, I guess. I'll have to watch that.

    Anyway, to answer the questions:

    Does your wife always cry when she doesn't get her way? No, of course not. But she's my wife and I think I'm entitled to feel a little (or even a lot) more deeply about things that concern her than, say, you might.

    Why is she entitled to rework her schedule solely to make it better for herself? Not her only motive, by any means ... but in a workplace that's owned by a company that gives a great deal of public lip service to being family friendly and sensitive to the needs of its employees, you can see where somebody might actually take them seriously when they talk that sh*t. Even if that effort stopped short of assuming it to be an entitlement. As I think it did in this case.

    Just because one of those above her agreed to it, why does that mean the next management level has to agree to it? That all depends on the quality of the chain of command, doesn't it? If it suggests a situation where not everybody is on the same page ... so be it. I wouldn't be upset to leave that impression.

    What, exactly, did this "evil" person do to make her cry, other than not agree to her plan? In point of fact, I don't think she was surprised to run into some static. But there are two ways to handle these kinds of things and I think he chose the wrong one.

    I'll give you an example: I was involved in a pretty serious career-changing negotiation with a previous employer. To help me clear my head and consider an offer that had been put on the table, I was given a couple of weeks away. That made good sense to me, but upon returning to meet with my senior manager, the first thing he says is. "Welcome back. I would point out before we go any further that you've been gone for two weeks and the paper has come out every day. Interesting, eh?"

    Now, really, where are you supposed to go from there in a serious conversation?

    The attitude with which my wife's proposal was greeted wasn't that ... calculated. But it was cut from the same cloth.

    It really is too bad things didn't work out for your wife. But why does that mean you have to wish ill on the person who nixed her idea? It doesn't mean I have to. In fact, I wish I was Christlike enough to forgive him on the spot and all that.

    But, for at least the minute it took me to start the thread, I wasn't.

    Now, maybe I have. Or maybe I have since been reminded of the old adage that "living well is the best revenge."

    That's the angle we're gonna try, anyway. A very small door closed on us this week. Maybe that means a much larger one will open somewhere else. Personally I detest it when people say that kind of thing to me, but whatever works.
     
  6. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Henry,

    You are entitled to your frickin' feelings and you and your wife are also certainly entitled to see if you can make your work hours fit into your overall lives better.

    Just remember, sometimes when God closes a window, a sparrow flies into it.
     
  7. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

    I heard a similar phrase, but I like that one better.
     
  8. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    There's also one about kittens, but I forget ...
     
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