Re: Estimating Projects (Dealing with Support Staff)

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Chantel Brathwaite wrote:
 
> I was a secretary for a few years.  Although at the time it was hard on my ego,
> I am eternally grateful because it helped me to not place too much stock in
> "position" or to be puffed up about my job or my accomplishments.  Being a tech
> writer has helped with that too :).    One of the greatest lessons I learned is
> that many people are caught up in position -- who is the boss, who has the most
> education, who is the most technical, who has the best job title, who works for
> the largest company, who is the smartest (whatever that means).  When I was a
> secretary -- I was at the bottom of the corporate ladder. 

Anybody who treats support staff deserves everything they get -
and that's probably delays in bills being paid, slow mail
delivery, and worse :- )

I've been a minimum wage store clerk, and a gopher in an
industrial shop, so I agree with you fully. Being at the bottom
of the ladder does give you a unique (if sometimes
disillusioning) view of what people are really like. In fact,
I've found that when I'm being interviewed for a job, one of the
most reliable ways to form an impression of a company is to
observe the support staff. And, if you see an apparently pleasant
person lording it over support staff, you can be sure that they
can't be trusted and will be hard to work with.

Personally, I'm always bemused by all the scrambling after job
titles and petty perks that some people make the focus of their
days. Personally, I'd rather focus on doing the best work I can
in the circumstances than waste energy on adolescent primate
behavior. 

-- 
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
Contributing Editor, Maximum Linux
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com | Tel: 604.421.7189

"Soon you'll achieve the stability you strive for,
In the only way that it's granted:
In a place among the fossils of our time."
-Jefferson Airplane (after John Wyndham)