Ah, memories.
This afternoon, as I was trying to clear my room a little more, I came across some correspondence from early 2003 that I really want to keep. It is a reminder as to part of the reason why Jamaica will not prosper, and it is a reminder as to why I have written off the existence of a particular individual.
The acting department head at the time, whom I shall call Mr. R. had circulated a copy of the minutes of the latest department meeting, which had been taken by another member of staff, whom I shall call Ms. W. Upon reading through the minutes, I replied to Mr. R. and Ms. W. with ten queries.Three or four of these queries were related to grammar, three were related to the contents of the minutes being at odds with my recollection, two or three were related to general paragraph structure and formatting, and one was related to the specific format of the minutes.
The reply from Ms. W. was as follows, verbatim but for the deletion of my name:
Mr. (my name):
I am not a professional Secretary, but rather an aspiring Engineer therefore it is no coincidence that my secretarial skills are not well developed. You on the other hand seem quite knowledgeable about this area so it might be a good idea for you to assume the duties of the Recording Secretary at subsequent meetings especially since your work load is not sufficient to keep you busy.
So here is this "aspiring Engineer" who has no interest in keeping the record straight, has no interest in proper presentation, and responds to valid, objective correction with insultive insinuations. The ethic of "anything worth doing is worth doing well" is lost on most of Jamaica, and very specifically so on Miss W.
For the record, I "seem quite knowledgeable about this area" because I had been the technical secretary on a committee whose minutes were part of a record reviewed by a government ministry, that had to give precise records, and that, quite often, did not have a recording secretary on hand. It was therefore often put unto me to write the minutes for those meetings in order to keep the record straight. and, as such, I gave it my all. I wonder what Miss W., the "aspiring Engineer" would have done in those circumstances?
With all respect I had for that individual completely evaporated, I replied as follows:
Ms. W:
I take it, therefore, that you do not aspire to know English, as most of the suggestions have to do with the proper use of our official language. Good luck with your continued ignorance.
Ms. W. left the organization within a year, if I remember correctly. Good riddance. I hope she eventually finds herself unemployable and starves to death.
The acting department head at the time, whom I shall call Mr. R. had circulated a copy of the minutes of the latest department meeting, which had been taken by another member of staff, whom I shall call Ms. W. Upon reading through the minutes, I replied to Mr. R. and Ms. W. with ten queries.Three or four of these queries were related to grammar, three were related to the contents of the minutes being at odds with my recollection, two or three were related to general paragraph structure and formatting, and one was related to the specific format of the minutes.
The reply from Ms. W. was as follows, verbatim but for the deletion of my name:
Mr. (my name):
I am not a professional Secretary, but rather an aspiring Engineer therefore it is no coincidence that my secretarial skills are not well developed. You on the other hand seem quite knowledgeable about this area so it might be a good idea for you to assume the duties of the Recording Secretary at subsequent meetings especially since your work load is not sufficient to keep you busy.
So here is this "aspiring Engineer" who has no interest in keeping the record straight, has no interest in proper presentation, and responds to valid, objective correction with insultive insinuations. The ethic of "anything worth doing is worth doing well" is lost on most of Jamaica, and very specifically so on Miss W.
For the record, I "seem quite knowledgeable about this area" because I had been the technical secretary on a committee whose minutes were part of a record reviewed by a government ministry, that had to give precise records, and that, quite often, did not have a recording secretary on hand. It was therefore often put unto me to write the minutes for those meetings in order to keep the record straight. and, as such, I gave it my all. I wonder what Miss W., the "aspiring Engineer" would have done in those circumstances?
With all respect I had for that individual completely evaporated, I replied as follows:
Ms. W:
I take it, therefore, that you do not aspire to know English, as most of the suggestions have to do with the proper use of our official language. Good luck with your continued ignorance.
Ms. W. left the organization within a year, if I remember correctly. Good riddance. I hope she eventually finds herself unemployable and starves to death.