Your wry sense of humor peeks through many of your columns. Nothing beats Margaret saying your attitude is “a lot” for the community garden committee to handle. So goes retirement for a man who commanded oceangoing vessels for decades. I believe you have a screenplay here.
I would have loved such a career. Imagine having your level of competence, yet working in an industry defined by an insolent workforce. I worked several careers under the umbrella of computer and information technology - an industry chockablock with prima donnas and twelve-year-olds trapped in adult bodies. But they knew how to code and solve complex problems in a world constrained by ones and zeros rather than currents and winds. I got good at, among other things, herding cats and performatively nailing Jell-O to conference room walls.
This: “Not whether command transfers. Whether, after everything, you’d want it to.” Also, asking yourself whether you need it to. That’s another place worthy of some introspection (and possibly self-discovery).
I'm really happy to have found your Substack. Your wit, your anecdotes about a career I know nothing about, and your writing skills--brilliant. If and when I subscribe to a Substack, yours will be the first. Like Gregory (below), I also had a career with a lot of grey areas that I with little real authority had to wrangle into achievable "goals and objectives." After 32 years of that, it was hard to let go of the my assertive and, yes, prickly approach. As my husband reminded me, "You're not my boss!"
Your wry sense of humor peeks through many of your columns. Nothing beats Margaret saying your attitude is “a lot” for the community garden committee to handle. So goes retirement for a man who commanded oceangoing vessels for decades. I believe you have a screenplay here.
I’d go see it.
Hmmm yes, Rooster one day and feather duster the next ….
I would have loved such a career. Imagine having your level of competence, yet working in an industry defined by an insolent workforce. I worked several careers under the umbrella of computer and information technology - an industry chockablock with prima donnas and twelve-year-olds trapped in adult bodies. But they knew how to code and solve complex problems in a world constrained by ones and zeros rather than currents and winds. I got good at, among other things, herding cats and performatively nailing Jell-O to conference room walls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
I confess a small measure of schadenfreude as AI hoists many of the more egregious examples upon their own petard.
Anyway, the people skills - and perhaps more importantly what to expect from people - translated quite nicely into retirement. Patience...not so much.
This: “Not whether command transfers. Whether, after everything, you’d want it to.” Also, asking yourself whether you need it to. That’s another place worthy of some introspection (and possibly self-discovery).
I'm really happy to have found your Substack. Your wit, your anecdotes about a career I know nothing about, and your writing skills--brilliant. If and when I subscribe to a Substack, yours will be the first. Like Gregory (below), I also had a career with a lot of grey areas that I with little real authority had to wrangle into achievable "goals and objectives." After 32 years of that, it was hard to let go of the my assertive and, yes, prickly approach. As my husband reminded me, "You're not my boss!"