powered by SignMyGuestbook.com

Recent News... Soft Weather Garibaldi. Michael Xavier Garibalidi. No Green Froggie went a courtin' When a rush isn't

2006-07-21 - 12:46 p.m. Death by papercuts Well, y’all are no fun. No guess at all on which was Roland’s smart-ass remark. I know EMTs call regular transports ‘frequently flyers.’ I wonder what the vet calls them. Maybe I’ll ask this afternoon as our kitty is still sick, so off to the vet for the fourth time in a week. He’s not drinking. We’ve managed to hand feed him a bit, but he’s really not eating on his own. Not drinking means we do some IV fluids as a precaution. Yet, our little puzzle shows no signs of dehydration nor has he lost weight. Antibotics are killing the e tail end of an infection. Also, he has a lump near his spine that wasn’t there two weeks ago, and he’s limping. The vets, being sensible people, want him to be perky and eating before removing what physical exam indicates is probably a benign cyst. Best to be healthy before surgery. Okay, I’m obviously worried about my cat. In other news, I am still trying to catch up from vacation. Leave for a week and 300 emails arrive. For Christ’s sake, I left my left for one hour yesterday and got 35 emails. Yes, all non-spam. So, let’s vent my spleen with Theo’s rules on email etiquette: It is not a sin to take more than 24 hours to respond to email. There’s no circle in hell for that. Don’t assume I’ve read your email the moment you send it. If you’re that excited about the subject, call. I don’t autocheck my email. It’s too disruptive to have alerts flashing at you all day. I check it at breaks in my work when it’s convenient for me. This means (gasp) I will not see your message in < 5 minutes. Don’t presume to send me email that needs an immediate answer. Don’t send me 38 pages of data then call me to an impromptu meeting about it less than 45 minutes after you sent it. I will not give you an answer. I’m sorry if that’s inconvenient for your work flow; sometimes it’s my job to say no. Perhaps if you’d left me alone I would be looking through the information so you could get an answer rather than a cranky Theo and a delay of game penalty. And while we’re on the need for immediate gratification, think about whether you really to send that email. I didn’t need to wade through and delete the 10 email long thread frantically trying to arrange a meeting so you could say ‘we’ve already had that meeting’ by the monthly report deadline. I just had to overrule everyone and insist we do real work rather than wasting time. There are a lot of real emergencies in our business; don’t make them up. Inconveniencing someone when we can extend their deadline is not one of them. Don’t embed information in a subject line that’s 400 characters long and get cranky at me cause the information got truncated by my email. 400 characters means it belongs in the body. Don’t copy me on the end of an email thread that’s already eight replies deep, expect me to wade back through it all and magically infer what information or questions you want me to respond to. It’s presumptious and it won't happen. And while we’re on email threads here’s my 10/10 rule – any discussion that copies 10+ people for more than 10 replies needs to stop. See, this is the time to arrange a meeting. Now Pennsic looms. If I get to go. I have two potential business trips between now and mid August, important ones too dammit. Also, having just taken a vacation, it’s even harder to break loose. Fun to effort ratio is shaky, and I wonder if we can leave the cat. Anyway, I’ve had no time to do anything, not a project, not a thing, except camp steward stuff on our yahoogroup. Which leads me to modify my first rule of email: It is not a sin to take more than 24 hours to respond to email. However, if you’ve asked me to organize your vacation, and agreed that you would get the information through email, I do expect a reply within four to six weeks. Otherwise, you should’ve requested alternate contact. [Nobody get dramatic about this. I’m just venting cause I’ve had a week of ‘death by papercuts.’ Love my camp, and a handful of slow responses is typical, but I’m crazy busy. Don’t make me hunt you down. Six weeks is adequate lead time.] Hmmmm. This may be why my matriarchy nickname has evolved into ‘Theo is Green Leader. We fear Green Leader.’ Nobody likes me when I’m angry. My QoC is so far away. Aaaah. I feel better. Nice to dump it out even if no one will read it. Perhaps I will stop by the liquor store, by random hard alcohol and see what cocktail I can make. This will be less fun without the pillowcases, but I'm sure I can manage.     Scribble to Theo previous - next