March 19, 2010

“Her work is always wrong; however, she is prolific in her output.”

A friend of mine struggles to allow certain things to speak for themselves.  This is always true when the message is negative.  He ends his assessments of everything and everybody on the upbeat.  I admire this trait in him.

Sometimes, however, the obvious speaks so loudly and clearly that ending on the upbeat can be awkward…or funny.  Years ago, while working on a large proposal that had a burdensome format requiring volumes of data, one of our colleagues was assigned a specific deliverable as part of our response.  Almost daily, she would print her work and leave it on my friend’s desk for his review.  It was comedic to see her work output deposited on his desk each day with a post-it note affixed that read:  Please review and mark up as usual.  My friend would note his corrections, return it to her desk, and wait for new errors to show up the next day.

Patience waning, he commented in frustration, “Her work is always wrong…”  Hesitation ensued while he figured out a way to compliment her in her incompetence.  He continued, “However, she is prolific in her output.”       

Realizing what he had said before I even started laughing, we chuckled together.  True to form, he had ended on the upbeat.  While the last thing he needed was more of a bad thing, he never stopped looking for the positive.

It was his kindness that was most prolific.    

Craig Halsey

They Said It

March 19, 2010