RoR: Forum

Hitting the hay. I'll be able to read responses, but replying will be difficult until tomorrow night.

Thanks in advance!

Post 1

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 12:28am

Put a knife in her back and tell her to be positive about it. Maybe then she'll learn that she is spouting bullshit.

Positive thinking? The end all, be all of most corporate slogans. Isn't that called irrational optimism. Y'know, when you have no reason to be optimistic?

There's a particular corporate slogan I like: Hang in there baby!

It is often accompanied by a cute picture of a kitten hanging from a tree branch. Good message, cute picture, and it often motivates me to "Hang in there," especially when things are getting tough.

Setting the above digression aside, you may be in a jam, Tres.

Should you set her straight? I don't know...Is it worth it? Perform a costs/benefits analysis. What are the costs/benefits of setting her straight? Is it worth the time it would take to do so? Is it even possible? These slogans are often too ingrained to be ripped out in an hour's time.

If you do attempt to dissuade her from this "be positive" attitude, don't do it in an all out, one-hour, assault. This will likely cause her to dig her heels in. Instead, do it slowly. I'm not exactly certain how you could accomplish a successful dissuasion in this context.

Perhaps you could question what it means to "be positive" and ask why you should "be positive".

Is she even open to questions? Maybe she'll just tell you to "be positive".

Unfortunately, "be positive" is one of those platitudes that is self-protective. Much like the religious motto "It's the devil's work." Anyone who disagrees with her "be positive" attitude is just being negative, just as anyone who disagrees with a religious tenet is secretly in league with the devil. What a cluster-fuck...
(Edited by Kyle Jacob Biodrowski on 6/20, 12:32am)

Post 2

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 3:10am

Time to circulate your resume...

Like much from Ayn Rand's classic "Horror File" clippings, this is not just an isolated example of an egregious idiot. We here would agree that a positive attitude is rational optimism, a reflection of the fact that we do have control over our lives, that our actions matter. That said, though, this woman's pollyanna pronouncements are all-too-common in business.

On LinkedIn, we have a local Austin group called "Door 64" formerly known as "Austin Techies." Door 64 is now a business that hosts conferences and they do a good job. However, their forum is extremely popular with local marketing gurus. Among the recent posts was a recommendation to fire people who are "negative" at work, and another to filter "negative" people out during the hiring process. A few months back, when another of them posted a link to a "be happy" article, I replied that here on this forum for Austin techies, being right and having the facts is more important than making other people feel good. The original poster - an executive recruiter - said that with my attitude, I would be the first one out the door. No surpise there, I assure you. I work as a contractor because no one ever complains about the quality of my work, but they never ask me to join the firm. They can all go hug themselves.

When you look at the history of successful ventures, staying positive is fundamental. I know stories of tough roll-outs where the criticisms were accepted as factual, but at some level, just not helpful. Sooner or later, you have to ship the product, warts and all. Still and all, context is everything; and you seem to be in a "bad place", a phrase with several meanings.

It might be possilbe to put lipstick on the pig. Present your complaints as recommendations for improving the happiness of your customers. ... and get that resume out there...

Post 3

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 6:45pm

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They can all go hug themselves.
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Hah, good one.

Post 4

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 8:23pm

Teresa:

By accusing you of being negative, she shifts both the blame and the responsibility to you, so that she can continue to drift through life like a damp hanky blowing in the wind.

It is how those who can't use their Vulcan Mind Meld Powers to ride those who can. It's like a club, but one you can' join unless you ... can't. But, its' also a club you'd never want to join unless you can't.

I stopped actively supporting tribal committee efforts on Jul 11, 1983. Almost 30 yrs ago. I gladly turned in my vast collection of Hayes Points, 5 Yr Pin, and the insulting employee incentive suggestions reward stamp book that I was supposed to fill up with stamps on my way to a really sweet ball point pen..in a two billion/yr capital equipment manufacturing company, where I was a Sr. development engineer. In fact... their youngest ever, then. I was 30 yrs younger than the other Sr. development engineers. Not any more. Not that I caught up with them, but, well, you know. I blinked.

Never looked back, not for a second. I haven't been 'employed' in 30 yrs.

I'm not kidding about the stamp book. Some asshole in HR dreamed up the whole program. It was called 'We're Turbo: We're Tops!' And we all got these little stamp books, like S&H Green Stamps. Your boss would give you AttaBoy stamps at his pleasure. If you filled out the whole book, you were elegible for the kind of cheap shit they hand out at Chunky CHeese, except it had the company logo on it.

Sweet. Ball point pens. Ash trays. Tie Clasps. Paperweights. Desk thermometers left over from when Carter gave the company an 'Energy Efficiency' Award for turning the office thermostat down 2 degrees. I remember the award ceremony, because we were all commanded on short notice to head out to the front of the engineering building to listen to alot of assholes say nothing, so I had to tell the powerhouse, who had just cranked up a few extra boilers to get me the 30,000HP worth of steam we were requesting, to blow off steam while we paused for the energy efficiency ceremony. I remember the speakers had a hard time being heard, because 30,000HP worth of steam blowing angrily skyward makes a lot of noise. No irony there. I mean, we did turn the thermostats down by 2 degrees. What is 30,000HP worth of steam blowing skyward so that we could stand in a crowd and be told how great we were for saving energy by fat guys in suits?

That, in a nutshell, is life in the Tribe. On average, we're average.

I did look back, once. I remember going to the 'division is blowing away party' a few years later, to 'celebate' with some old friends, and the banner said "We're Turbo; We're Terminated!"

Wonder why?

regards,
Fred

Post 5

Friday, June 21, 2013 - 12:07am

Teresa,

Your take on the Positive Mysticism ideology is dead-on correct. It puts you in an very frustrating position. But, the question is what specifically is in your short-term self-interest.

Where do you want to be, and how do you get there?

In the meantime, to what degree can you minimize the amount of frustration you feel? Too often our very virtues and better qualities end up subjecting us to negative circumstances - that part isn't always avoidable, but what skills we can develop to minimize the negative emotions we experience will give us greater power, more serenity and open up more options. Hope that doesn't sound all positive or something :-)

Post 6

Friday, June 21, 2013 - 6:10pm