Really bad memos!

[mumma to KMC]

The following are for your viewing pleasure. They are two memos sent out from the new head person at my old job (officially done as of yesterday!!).

This lady, "B" was hired to do one job and within 2 weeks was promoted to do another job and not because she was qualified. She is a major brown noser and laughs at all the boss' jokes (for real, I am not making this up, if you laugh at the boss' jokes, you will get promoted, I received a promotion and pay raise last year, before I went on maternity leave w/ds, because I "decided" to play to game to see what would happen). She also thinks that the bosses "pet" is a royal treasure and laughs at all his jokes (always about "making babies"). At the office Christmas Party he made Jr. High jokes about biological functions and life saving procedures.

So here are the memos:

First one:

December 18, 2006



Hello Everyone,

Just a Friendly Reminder:
The new year is almost here and We have to keep a close eye on all of our
XZYInsurance patients charts, A lot of effective dates End 12/31/06

Thank you

Support Staff

(She signed her name above support staff)


The second:

December 20, 2006

I was informed last night that at one point in time if a (Child Protective Services) pt No Showed

Their Case Manager was called in and informed of this, So, we are going to be

Doing this once again. Please remind me of a No Show (CPS) pt until I  get

Used to doing it.

Thank you,

Airhead


The clinical manager (in charge of all the therapists and drs) asked me what the first memo was. I looked at it and really couldn't help myself. I said "A really badly formatted memo with lots of grammatical errors?"

Ah, freedom, freedom, to be away from that place. I have to say it was a humbling experience to be there. I saw the people who had the qualifications and the ability to do a great job pushed aside for people who knew how to kiss up the right way.

[ehellion]

Wow, are these the ACTUAL memos she sent? Capital letters and all? Sheesh!

[mumma to KMC]

All I did was change the information that could point to the actual clinic. As I was typing them out for you all, I realized just how awful they are. I mean, I don't have the best grammar in the world, but my goodness!

[IndianInlaw]

Is "no showed" a verb?

[Fluffy_Brit_Bunny]

Someone should tell her that a word processor isn't like a typewriter - she doesn't need to hit return when she reaches the edge of the page. Much less hit it twice!

Sheesh, it maddens me to see people without these skills doing jobs where they're essential. Can someone politely she go on a computing skills course? Suggested it skill development, of course, rather than remedial.

[magicdomino]

 "A really badly formatted memo with lots of grammatical errors?"

Yep, I'd say that sums it up.   

[Clara Bow]

You should see the emails my dad's students send him. And yes, dad is a college prof. The word illiterate comes to mind...

[wetblanket]

Hehehe.

This woman HAS to kiss up to get ahead.  She doesn't have the skills to get ahead any other way.

It reminds me of Ms. PITA (co-worker I whinge about on other threads).  Her emails are shocking - no punctuation, no capital letters anywhere.   They are more like stream-of-consciousness exercises that are tangentially related to work matters. 

[Shoo]

My dh had an intern at his place of employment who got hired on permanently because she was a very good engineer.  In her first year, he would come home complaining about her emails, because they were often written using "text speak" and other informal ways.  No capitalization, punctuation, etc.

One day he took her aside and told her that she is a good employee, a fine engineer, etc., but unless and until she learns to write properly in her emails, she is not going to be taken seriously and her career will be damaged.  Needless to say, coming from her mentor, this was quite a blow.  A necessary blow, but humbling nonetheless.

These days she is a well-respected engineer in the company, given many prestigious assignments and is doing very well.  Sometimes it takes a little "tough love" to get the point across, but it can work.

[FoxPaws]

I blame text messaging, the internet, and the idea that e-mail is the electronic equivalant of scribbling something on the back of a used envelope.

This really should be covered in business courses, or at least in employee orientation.

It used to be my job at a copy center to check the incoming e-mails for production orders. I'd open up something that read like it was written by a sixth grader with learning issues and the attachment to be printed would be a proposal for a multi million dollar deal. It just doesn't seem to occur to people that when they cannot be seen or heard, the only thing making an impression is what they write and how they write it.

[stanthedevil]

I blame text messaging, the internet, and the idea that e-mail is the electronic equivalant of scribbling something on the back of a used envelope.

This really should be covered in business courses, or at least in employee orientation.

Ah, but it is covered in business courses.  I took a marketing class, an intro to business class, and a "career development" class and all three of them emphasized over and over the importance of professional e-mails.  It's easy to blame the internet, but I really think it is because people are lazy rather than the new technology.

Look at this board for an example.  We don't even type out mother-in-law, dear son, etc.  I've even seen people using abbreviations like "pg" for pregnant.  Even this message uses "pt" for parent (although it is in the memo, not from the original post).  The complete sentence is a dying art.  I hope that some day it will be revived.

[wetblanket]

I figure you can't go wrong with properly constructed sentences in your emails, but you can go VERY wrong with informal language, especially in business.  It's worth it to take your time and compose a coherent message.

[Sirius]

I once worked for a physical therapist who was absolutely brilliant, but had the writing skills of a 3 year-old.  I used to have to rewrite his letters and memos to make them both legible and understandable.  However, to his credit, he knew he couldn't write worth beans and thanked me all the time for making him sound like a professional.  This was years before e-mails. 

[EvilAlice]

One day he took her aside and told her that she is a good employee, a fine engineer, etc., but unless and until she learns to write properly in her emails, she is not going to be taken seriously and her career will be damaged.  Needless to say, coming from her mentor, this was quite a blow.  A necessary blow, but humbling nonetheless.

These days she is a well-respected engineer in the company, given many prestigious assignments and is doing very well.  Sometimes it takes a little "tough love" to get the point across, but it can work.

Good for him.  It amazes me too that people can not know this, but it happens.  When I hire a new employee, I've learned not to let them send out e-mails at first- they have to sent them to me first, then we review them and edit them together as I explain why we don't use all caps, or why we use spell check, or what the purpose of a paragraph is.  It's a little insulting and micro-managing to the few who already know how to write a business communication, but that's the breaks.  I used to assume someone who could speak well in person and on the phone could surely write a professional e-mail, but I learned the hard way that I was sadly mistaken.  And once a shoddy e-mail like that goes out to a customer, it's too late to repair the damage to the company's professional image.  I don't care if 90% of the population won't catch the bad grammar or punctuation- the ones who do notice it are sticklers like me, and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth as to the level of competence of our employees.