Small work related rant: Why is it so freaking hard to get people to do something a better (and not significantly harder) way instead of "the way we've always done it"? Why do those people include the very ones who are supposed to be dedicated to continuous improvement?
I think I'm going to change my nameplate to read "Sisyphus". Would that be unprofessional? Would it be more or less so if I told anyone who asked to go look it up for themselves? (Because God forbid anyone hould have an elementary knowledge of mythology in your average office.)
On the plus side, I may have a couple of interesting trips coming up in the next few months. (Not that anyone at those sites will know their myths either, but at least there will be new places to see.)
I do sometimes wish I could have lived in the days when any educated person would have a good grounding in Greek, Latin, the classic authors, and the Bible. Of course, once I'm done pining I remind myself just have low a percentage of the population (especially the female part of it) was in fact "educated", not to mention how many things we have making use of the same brain cells today that Macaulay and Gibbons never dreamt of. I'm always as shocked when I encounter a white-collar professional who can't, say, download and view an image from an e-mail as Lord Peter Wimsey might have been upon meeting someone at his clubs who had no acquaintance with Homer.)
Still, to the original point, grr. Change happens. Suck it up and deal, unless it's change in the negative direction.
I think you should get that nameplate, unprofessional as it may be, for the entertainment of your rare well-read coworkers. Heh.
Posted by: Melissa at March 20, 2006 01:59 PM