Performance Appraisals

[Joel Kolstad]

In fact I spent most of my primary
school career bored silly by the reading lessons, where I was couple of
years ahead of the rest of the class.

I had a teacher that let me work ahead of the class (this was something like
4th grade), and I remember the thrill of being the first to get to read some
BRAND SPANKING NEW "reader" books that hadn't ever been read before. (The
"old" books were these thick paperback jobbies that had deep creases in the
covers from being used over and over again... *I* got to make the first crease
in the new book... )

That was the same school where I was allowed to run the 16mm film projector
until one day I accidentally knocked it off the ~4' tall rolling cart it was
on, sending it tumbling onto a hard floor and mangling the reel support arms,
causing hundreds of dollars in damage.

Oops.

The high point of the four years I spent in that school was the day some kid
threw a plant in a clay-potted plant *through a window*, making the most
wonderful crashing noises and breaking the tempered glass into a bazillion
pieces. I thought for sure that kid would be in prison for the rest of his
life... (This was a relatively conservative school -- I remember more than
once going through the routine of everyone being made to line up against the
wall and wait indefinitely until someone ratted out who had committed some
egregious misdeed, such as stealing an eraser from a classroom...)

 

[Jerry Avins]

Doesn't work for me, but my Dutch grammar isn't quite what it ought to
be - I failed the Dutch as a Second Language exam on my written Dutch
with a score off 499 against a pass mark of 500, after comfortably
passing the tests of mmy capacity to read. hear and speak Dutch.

And I did have one dyslexic symptom when I was learning to read, in
that I'd read "was" as "saw"and vice versa. My parents picked this up
very early and gave me extra training every evening for a bit which
completely sorted the problem. In fact I spent most of my primary
school career bored silly by the reading lessons, where I was couple of
years ahead of the rest of the class.

And I am left-handed, like one of my two brothers. My father would have
written left-handed if he'd had the choice.

I'm left handed too. I was outraged when my first-grade teacher tried to
switch me to righty, and my rage didn't help matters. I started writing
right to left, then with "coaching" left to right but with reversed
letters, then alternating lines or switching to mirrored letters in the
middle of a line or .... I thought I was doing it on purpose, but not
really. When she finally relented and let me use my left hand. I was
still reversing things inadvertently for another two weeks.

I apparently scored a great victory for humanity. I learned years later
that I was the last student she tried to switch. I'm only a bit dyslexic
(which I didn't realize at the time) but too poorly coordinated to be
any good at sports or play a musical instrument with rewarding facility.

Jerry

 

[Charlie Edmondson]

When I came back the next day for some follow up questions (mine, not
theirs) I just wore a tie.

I bet THAT made an impression. Where did you wear it?
ROFLMAO!

[snip]


Also on that first day was the companies annual meeting. Since I was
new, and didn't have any other duties, the boss took me along. As we
walked in, and sat down, several folks were wondering "Who's the new
banker?"

Are you QUITE sure about the 'b' sound? (;-)

Quite sure, in this case. Americans, you know, if they meant that, it
would have been a WHOLE different word!

They didn't say that till later, after they knew me... ;-)

Charlie

 

[Rich Grise]

Anyway ... I hope the side discussion on dyslexia and related "gifts"
will put a slightly different perspective on this point. I don't think
it's correct or fair to assume the same will happen in a design, and
you may well have just dismissed the best canidate.

No.

If they can't even "be arsed" to get their frickin' _RESUME_ right,
they've already shown themselves to be useless.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie]

dated Fri, 1 Sep 2006, [email protected] writes

Anyway ... I hope the side discussion on dyslexia and related "gifts"
will put a slightly different perspective on this point. I don't think
it's correct or fair to assume the same will happen in a design, and
you may well have just dismissed the best canidate.

The point here is epitomized in Kipling's 'If', from which I think I
will be extensively quoting, under a mild affluence of incohol.

Point 1: 'If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, **but make
allowance for their doubting too**

It's that second bit that matters. They WILL doubt you can do
electronics if you can't spell.

As a hiring manager, I've frequently rescued company "stars" from the
discarded screened pile of other managers by looking past the resume,
and focusing on the person behind it by using a much less restrictive
"box" that people had to fit. I tend to inteview for work ethic,
values, demonstrated ability to function well with project failures,
diverse experiences, and a number of other factors which determine the
person can easily learn the job at hand, or any other job I give them.

Point 2: 'If all men count with you, but none too much.'

I tend to write reviews the same way ... less concerned about their
ability to handle 8-5

[What is '8-5'?]

than their ability to deliver on schedule, and/or when things are VERY
difficult.

Point 3: 'If you can fill the unforgiving minute/With sixty seconds'
worth of distance run...'

I also build teams with a diverse mix of personalities and skills, from
those that can ONLY function in a well defined world, to those that CAN
NOT function in a well defined world.

Pint 4: 'If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue..'

It's a managers job to learn their people, and how to best use them.
That includes being adaptive in work schedules and assignments based on
the person, training, and oversight required. Some people need to be in
way over their heads to be productive, others panic as soon as they are
outside their safe zone and require much closer management when things
are poorly defined.

Point 5: 'If you can dream, and not make dreams your master/If you can
think, and not make thoughts your aim,/ If you can meet with Triumph and
Disaster/ and treat those two impostors just the same.'

As a consultant, most project failures where caused by the manager
being unable to assemble a diverse team, or manage it.

Point six: 'Yours is the Earth, and everything that's in it/And what is
more, you'll be a Man, my son.'

"You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie]

As Mister, he is not of the court. The title would be Lord Wood, of
Gate if he had that power.

I'd have thought that a "WOOD GATE" would be more like a "GATE of WOOD".

;-)

Cheers!
Rich

 

[Jerry Avins]

I bet THAT made an impression. Where did you wear it?

...

Over an intercom at Annapolis: "Now hear this! Now hear this! For this
afternoon's inspection, men will wear dress white hats. That is all!"

Jerry

 

[Homer J Simpson]

It was interesting that most of my friends could struggle thru it with
little trouble. Those of us that are also dyslexic, found it was MUCH
easier.

Actually the brain doesn't so much recognize as eliminate. There are enough
clues in each word so that your brain can eliminate every word except the
correct one.

 

[Tim Williams]

claimed a boot/trunk capacity in cubic litres.

Hmm were string theorists in on that ad, you think? Nine dimensional volume
must be something to behold...

Tim

 

[Homer J Simpson]

That's right; it's how consultants get to work 170 hours a week.

And lawyers get to bill 180!

 

[[email protected]]

Hello Bill,


Did they make you do that test for citizenship or something?

No, I'd been living here for ten years when I got around to taking the
test - at one point it looked as if I might be able to do the computer
science course at the local university for not-unreasonalbe fees if I
demonstrated that I had mastered Dutch, which is what NT2 II (Dutch as
a Second language option 2) is all about, but by the time I'd jumped
through the hoops they'd changed the rules and the fees were back up to
6,000 euros per year.

I lived
there over 6 years and never took any tests. Now about 20 years later
it's mostly gone but my Dutch comes back after 2-3 pintjes of Grolsch.
However, as with you only the read-hear-speak portions of it. Writing is
definitely gone.

It's hard to practice out here in the west. Except for Radio Nederland
Wereldomroep plus one friend who was born in NL there isn't much of a
chance.

Even in the Netherlands it is getting difficult - I've got an obvious
English accent, and many people will reply to my Dutch in English, just
to exercise their English.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

I remember sitting in a British Standards meeting while pairs of pigeons
were busy mating on the window sill of the committee room.

At least SOMETHING productive happened during your meeting. ;-)


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

And lawyers get to bill 180!

I worked seven months of 112 hours per week, and got paid for 148
hours (16 hours/day with time and a half for anything over 40 hours)
except for Christmas Day and New Years Day when I got paid an extra 16
hours per day. On top of that, my boss was bitching that I should be
willing to work even more hours.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[John Woodgate]

That was the same school where I was allowed to run the 16mm film
projector until one day I accidentally knocked it off the ~4' tall
rolling cart it was on, sending it tumbling onto a hard floor and
mangling the reel support arms, causing hundreds of dollars in damage.

..... because someone didn't foresee that happening and fixed the project
down.

 

[John Woodgate]

In message <[email protected]>, dated Sat,
2 Sep 2006, "Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie"

I'd have thought that a "WOOD GATE" would be more like a "GATE of WOOD".

The Inquisition was a church court, so it consisted of one or more
bishops, canons, priests and deacons. I wouldn't want to be any of them.

'Gate of the wood', indicating the place where the original Woodgate
lived, is probably the correct derivation.

 

[John Woodgate]

In message <[email protected]>, dated Sat,
2 Sep 2006, "Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie"

"You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!"

That's another Kipling poem worth reading, indeed.

 

[Frank Bemelman]

Our drill sergeant used to say that the day has 24 hours and when that
ain't sufficient then there is still the night.

Hahaha, that's a good one

 

[Ray Andraka]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

I worked seven months of 112 hours per week, and got paid for 148
hours (16 hours/day with time and a half for anything over 40 hours)
except for Christmas Day and New Years Day when I got paid an extra 16
hours per day. On top of that, my boss was bitching that I should be
willing to work even more hours.

You know it is bad when this is the case and you ARE the boss.

 

[Jerry Avins]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:



You know it is bad when this is the case and you ARE the boss.

Do I hear a suppressed sigh?

Jerry

 

[Joerg]

Hello Bill,

Even in the Netherlands it is getting difficult - I've got an obvious
English accent, and many people will reply to my Dutch in English, just
to exercise their English.

The Dutch typically speak 3-4 languages so I had the same problem. Then
I told all the people I see the most to respond in Dutch and not make it
easy for me. Folks in the pubs, the merchants, the vendors at the
market. That did it.

Problem was, my Dutch wasn't what they speak in the north or in the big
cities. I lived in Zuid Limburg and had been a member of a Belgian
sports club. To make matters worse, some of the folks I learned from
were born in the former Dutch colonies and they had a really thick
accent. In the north they'd barely understand us unless we slowed down.
What really amazed me was when we listened to the Belgian comedian
Urbanus. We rolled on the floor laughing and the northerners wouldn't
have a clue what his jokes were all about.

English was a similar matter, one teacher from Kentucky, the other from
Louisiana.