The exodus has begun

Several people that I used to work with in Bermuda (yes, I lived in Bermuda for five years) are suddenly coming to the U.S., because of an office closure. And, oddly enough, they're all coming to New York or New Jersey. For entirely selfish reasons, I'm completely delighted. I'm not happy that people are having to leave Bermuda, which I'd never wish upon anyone, but I'm glad some of these fine people will be much easier for me to see.

Oh, and to all my former Global Crossing colleagues who thought I was crazy to leave before Deusche Telecom bought us out: I'd STILL be waiting.

I hope none of them are too shocked to find out what a freak I've become since I hit New York. Probably not, since I always was a freak, now I'm just a different freak.

Weakness or strength

I get my paycheck from a fairly large corporation. The corporate email is Outlook/Exchange. Every once in a while, we get a company-wide email about something. It's usually it's something of zero interest to a code-cog like me. But, more often than not, these company-wide emails consist of a vague subject, like "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT" and an attached Word document. If you open the attachment, you find 4 lines describing someone's promotion, or something else equally "important". I'm always left completely boggled why the message is an attachment. Well, frankly, I'm not really boggled, I'm just being kind. I know the reason it's an attachment is because someone, somewhere, is being really, really dense, and is clue-deficent when it comes to email. Every time I get one of these, I have to chew the inside of my mouth not to reply, and ask if there is any reason for this.

I got one the other day, and I decided to do this. I even cut and pasted the original message into my response, and asked "Why can't we just get a message like this? Is there a reason?" It wasn't a wise-ass email, or a nasty email. More like a puzzled suggestion. I suspect that the person sending them out is being told to do it that way, so no point on jumping all over them.

So, I sat there, looking at this message, wondering if I should really send it. I thought the right thing to do is to speak honestly and constructively, and such behavior is always "good for the firm." Then I thought about the possible negative reaction such an email might get. I could just see my boss (and my friend) getting a call. I sat there, and weighed the possible consequences, and decided it wasn't worth it, and I threw it out.

So does this mean I have no integrity, or is it a sign of wisdom? I'm not sure. It certainly a sign that my idealism has been tempered, and again, I'm not sure if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

posted 5:34 PM | link |