rip lonely_but_rich

Dom has become a very, very poor poster on twitter. Not sure how much more 2020 I can take.

The trick is to mute their feed when you can't take any more.

Unmute at your leisure.

The greatest patent page ever created:

I can't imagine what the second page is.

RIP Goat

Someone who was quite bad at her job and who our office recently forced into resigning in lieu of termination has apparently listed me as a professional reference without asking me, because a place just reached out to ask about her.

I find her to be a sympathetic person - she's not the sharpest, but she's very nice - and I would like her to find new employment soon, but I cannot honestly recommend her. I also don't want to put in a brutally honest recommendation that will hurt her ability to find something else. Is the best thing I can do just to ignore this incoming contact?

Answer the call and just keep going "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" then hold the phone away bit like you are looking at it and say things like "god, this ****ing phone", "hello??!!".

eventually they get tired of calling and it's not like you completely ignored them

LKJ,

I think that's about the best you can do, and stay honest to yourself.

If the contact won't quit badgering you, or for some other reason you feel compelled to respond, maybe you can avoid any discussion of her performance, and answer highlighting her personality or something.

Or, maybe her new job will be one which needs her strengths and doesn't need the skills she was weak on, and you can recommend for that.

Was she your direct report? Is giving references part of your job description? What's your organization's policy on recommendations. I know some will only confirm that someone worked there and not open themselves to any liability by offering an assessment of their performance. Can you say, I did not supervise her work so I can't comment on her performance, but I found her to be [very nice]?

She was not a full-time direct report; I'm a supervisor in the section she was in, but only acted as her supervisor in spot situations if my boss was unavailable. I had plenty of exposure to her work, and by all means she should have probably realized that I wouldn't have great things to say, since I would mark her stuff up pretty badly when it fell to me to review it. However, she's been a friendly acquaintance for years pre-dating this term of employment with us due to the fact that I'm good friends with her cousin, so her thinking is likely that I would want to help her. Which I would be willing to, but not by lying for her.

The organization policy on this is a good lead to try to follow. I'll ask HR. They might have a policy that gives me cover to honestly say that I'm just not allowed to give detailed references.

Our company will only provide verification of employment and answer only one question if asked: Are they eligible for rehire?

I once had a guy who I wrote up for lying to me try to use me as a reference years later when he was trying to get a position at a new organization that he probably didn't realize I was also now working for. That didn't work out so well for him.

Blah Blah Blah In usual fashion, first response nailed it.

yeah just say that you confirm that she worked there.

I'm guessing that's what HR is going to advise you with anyway.

lol Garickaments.

I mean, even with the guys who got convinced to resign to avoid being fired, I can usually find something nice to say about them. This guy... Not so much.

Yeah, HR gave me enough of a muzzle to use office policy as an escape hatch.

I thought most companies would only verify the dates of employment but that's probably not universal. I think you can go beyond that but I know my ex was not allowed to tell a potential employer for one her associate how awesome they were. She could only verify the dates of employment.

Yeah, I just told them I could only verify having worked with her and what her position was during that period of time.

I'm sure that probably still gets taken as a ding on some level, because if nothing else it firmly suggests the reality that she didn't actually ask me before naming me (otherwise it would be weird to say, "Yeah, sure, list me so that I can't say anything"), but she did that to herself; it still has to be less of a hit than a full, candid assessment. She wasn't good at our job and I'm really not sure what lawyering job she would be good at.

My tinnitus is infinitely more noticeable when I'm baked.

Didn't consider that I had it until last few years, but I really don't ever recall the ringing not being there.

I remember as a teenager I would describe the basement of the house we just moved into, which was the first place I'd ever lived with a basement, as "so completely silent that its loud". What else could that have been, other than the constant ringing?

I even have a mental depiction of what the sound looks like.

Someday I envision technology where you will be able to digitally record your mental imagery, and I could share, for example, what my ringing ear looks like in my mind! Lol. Most importantly is that anyone could record music in their own head without having to actually be able to transmit their ideas through instruments! And you could direct your own movies without having to film and edit.

Whole thing is a banger, but @ 0:44.

i don't know about others, but i've always associated walking outside after a really heavy snow as being 'so completely silent that it's loud'.

THIS IS LOUD



saw a funny tweet earlier, that the tweeter figured out that every van halen song is like a dog wearing sunglasses.

I heard an interesting one: Eddie put down the Beat It solo in one take for free.