Reading is half the battle

[muckefuck]

I'm having a little trouble staying motivated at work. My latest attempt at a solution is "10 before 10": Every day, I'll try to complete ten tasks before 10 a.m. So far, I haven't managed it once, but at least it's helped me refocus. I can already see some of the piles shrinking! Today, I grabbed a sheaf of printouts and went up to a special section of the stacks to track down materials that my students looked for earlier and failed to find. I expected to be alone up there, but there's a crew replacing the doors at one end of the room. When I arrived, they were working out what to write on the signs to let patrons know that they couldn't use the covered walkway on the other side that connects our two buildings.

They wrestled with wording a bit, and I tossed in my two cents. One of them read back his suggestion to me and asked, "You tink everybody'll unnerstan dat?" "There's nothin' you c'n write that everbody'll understan," I told him. Suddenly, his buddy (a glorious goon that I'm sorry to bullneck I couldn't capture on film) piped up with, "Ain't that the truth! We have a hallway closed off on the other side where we're doin' some work. There are signs on the doors saying, 'Hallway closed, hard hat area'. The other day, this guys walks in and I tell 'im, 'You know, you really shouldn't be here; this is a hard hat area.' And he tells me, 'I know, I read the signs.'"

Next time I get busted by an authority figure, I'm totally going to try that. "Sir, you do realise that you were driving the wrong way. This is a one-way street." "I know, I read the signs."

Comments

[lhn.livejournal.com]

That's the difference between an authority figure who can write tickets and those of us who really don't have much to fall back on if moral suasion fails. :-) (As I occasionally discover when trying to enforce our cell phone policy.) There's that gap between "against the rules" and "warrants calling security to eject the perpetrator" that makes things tough if someone's determined on flouting them.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Enforcing the food policy is so much easier. Who needs moral suasion when you have the trashcan?

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

I'm having a little trouble staying motivated at work. My latest attempt at a solution is "10 before 10".

Ten pages of posts before 10, that I can do. My latest attempt at a solution involves telling our IT person to block my computer from accessing LJ and several other sites. But I am scared of telling her because the list is long and she might actually get curious and look at the logs... :(

"There's nothin' you c'n write that everbody'll understan" perfectly sums up the meeting I just had. I think I should make it into a demotivational poster for my boss.

[bullneck.livejournal.com]

Oooh, just a hint more description! :D

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Clean-shaven with a buzzcutt. Double-wide double-chin. Great big belly, but the small of his back curves in a way that makes you really appreciate the roundness of his bum. A real gem among builders!

[bullneck.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Sounds like a total winner with the double-chin, buzzcut, belly and big rump. :D

[keyne.livejournal.com]

10 before 10? I'm lucky if I'm even awake and stumbling around before 10 :)