Letters to the Editor
Gwool
Published Letters: 366 Editor's Choice: 40
-
That Young Bull Needs To Be Gored
[Read the article: I've got three months to go in this job -- will I survive?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The letter writer claims it's a great job with all sorts of opportunities but he is bored with being handed mundane tasks. He went away on vacation; came back with his tail up; and was handed menial work. He's 23 and ambitious! He wants more to do!
Ah, the hubris of youth. He has little to no experience and is ready to tackle the world. That's great, but first you need to learn a little bit. You get that several ways. One of the ways is to show a natural inquisitiveness about the process and to ask your boss a lot of questions. Another is to burn through the rote tasks and appear at the door asking if there is anything else you can do.
I know. I did it; and I appreciate it in my junior employees now that I am a wizened old goat whose job these kids want to have someday.
Through it all, however, you have to show an ability to admit what you don't know so as to not get yourself into a jam that will take countless labor hours to correct. If you come off as one who won't ask for help and who thinks they know it all, you will be handed safe tasks as you cannot be trusted to work independently given the inability to ask for help.
The LW comes off sounding like the prototypical young turk who wants to take on the world and thinks he has nothing more to learn before heading off to do it. He derided the older people on the job for being dull and content with the mundacity of it all while he aspires for bigger and better things. Nowhere did we get a sense that he respected or appreciated the more senior workers from whom he might have actually learned something if he deigned to talk with him.
I know the type all too well. My solution to handling them was to provide them with a new task that was not in the critical path of the overall operation and let them fuck it up to a fare thee well and twist in the wind for a while. With the humility restored, then perhaps we could find a way to work together whereby the young turk could take on more responsibility.
But first the turk has to display some recognition of knowing what he doesn't know.
The letter writer has a terribly long way to go on that score.
-
Trench Warfare
[Read the article: Pigskin philosophy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I look forward to reading the book. I am a long time NFL season ticket holder and a former high school lineman of limited talents. I have raised three boys to appreciate the beauty of a well placed block freeing up the marquee player to make a great run or complete a flashy pass. Indeed my favorite player of all time, John Hannah, was but a mere pulling guard who could absolutely crush defensive ends when leading sweeps.
I am eager to read the book.
-
I'd turn back if I were you ....
[Read the article: How to care for my aging mother?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Let's see if we have this one right ...
1. Mom has always lived with someone, moving from her parents' home to one with her husband.
2. Husband takes the eternal dirt nap.
3. Mom starts to slide.
4. The dutiful daughter 1,500 miles away signs up for uprooting the woman and for putting her into a duplex to live alone in a community where she will, well, be all alone.
What are you, fucking stupid?
The physical and mental deterioration you see is not temporary, sweetheart. This is the beginning of the end, and is only going to get worse. You uproot her from the area where she has friends and other relatives and you are guaranteeing yourself a life of hell and added misery for your mother as she gets worse.
There's all sorts of social services available, as I learned when parking my mother in nursing homes about a decade ago. Sadly it is the kind of information you learn too late, and never get to use a second time save for simply shooting your mouth off anonymously about it.
You have senior center communities with adult day care. You have meals on wheels. You have visiting nurse associations. There are also very creative assisted living facilities that move from independent apartments down through to level 1 (out of 4) nursing home assistance.
You uproot her to a duplex near you, you will be then turning around and parking her ass in a nursing home. If you do not have the heart to park her in a nursing home, you might toss her into a "rest home." (Level 4 care, not ability to handle needles, but tend to their needs.) You do the rest home, then in a two years or less time, you will be moving her agin to a nursing home.
Leave the old girl where she is. Look at the available services. If you have colleges nearby, look for an affable co-ed to whom you can rent a room cheap to then look after mom, make some meals and do some light cleaning. If that doesn't fly, go with the assisted living facility. You can start out in an apartment with small stove and slowly move to more acute care as the wheels come all the way off the wagon.
But, dear God, do not, do not, do not, uproot your mother and park her on your abutting doorstep. That will be the equivalent for you of pulling an Ernest Hemingway and sticking the shotgun barrel in your mouth while trying to find the trigger with your big toe. You won't find it right away, but Mom will be there to help you locate it in the long run.
Remember that there's a reason why your father died first. He was living with your mother, right?