WARNING! May contain nuts
 | | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 28, 2012 by Baron Grim
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
2
  | | I'm in a state of severe anxiety this week. Next month we have our employee performance evaluations and they've demanded that we fill out "skills profile/performance appraisals". For many in other parts of this company, this is fairly painless and includes pull down menus from which to select various certifications and other accomplishments. Well, I work in a bit more esoteric area where there are no standard classes and certification programs. Even my supervisor commented on how few skills he appeared to have on the form. So, this means I should "use this chance to brag" about myself in the "other qualifications" field.
THAT'S NOT SOMETHING I'M COMFORTABLE WITH.
I don't "brag". I'm self effacing. And on top of that, I'm rather depressed lately so I've got more than my normal share of self loathing at the moment so seeing a rather empty form listing my "accomplishments and assets" isn't likely to help that situation very much.
|
| | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 28, 2012 by Otto Fisch (VSC 14 shirt) "Rock and Roll is full of bad wools"
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
3
| |
Well.... I think the way to approach that kind of exercise is to forget about 'bragging' and just stick to the facts. For self-publicist narcissistic types it keeps their worst excess under control, and for those prone to modesty and understatement who struggle with self promotion, it's a way of being fair to yourself.
For example:
"My personal sales figures have been consistently above the company average for nine of the last ten months, and I was involved (with X and Y) with attracting major client A and retaining major client B after responding to their concerns about factor F."
None of that is bragging, if it's delivered in response to a question that's asked about track record and achievements, if it's true, and if there are no significant misrepresentations or omissions.
Bragging and exaggeration and bluster are a disservice to the truth and are vices, but so is false or excessive modesty.
Hope it goes well....
|
|  |
| |
| | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 29, 2012 by Baron Grim
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
10
| | "Too many of the same personality types working together is usually a bad plan."
You should see what it's like where I work. Having a preponderance of introverts might be bad enough, but we also have more than our share of Asperger's syndrome types walking around the JSC campus.
One woman who worked here made it her mission to stop our IT guy if she passed him in the hall and force him to say hi. She would often have to physically block him from his determined path as he looked at the floor directly in front of his feet as he strode down the halls. She'd just stand in his path, he'd stop and try to side step her and she'd match him in a brief dance until he'd look up at her face. Then she would wear a huge grin, wave frantically and say, "HI GARY!"
She wouldn't let him pass until he mumbled, "h'lo".
|
| | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 29, 2012 by broelan
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
11
| | I've had to deal with people like that. I guess that when you work at an entry point you're expected to drop whatever you might be in the middle of to greet everyone who comes through the door. Unfortunately my title didn't specify that I would be a "greeter"; my job was to maintain security: making sure people who belonged there got in, and detaining others for proper escort. I had a few people over the years that would stand at my window and say 'hi' over and over again until I acknowledged them, and then complain about how antisocial I was.
And I've also discovered that those "self-evaluation" things rarely result in any difference in your review whatsoever. Complete excercise in futility.
|
| | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 29, 2012 by Baron Grim
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
12
| | This wasn't the same thing. I think if I had been in your position, with people demanding a greeting they felt as being obligatory, I'd snap back with some rather withering observations about their personality defect(s) that makes them feel such a need for acknowledgement.
The girl at work was just being ornery. She knew that Gary was seriously concentrating on some arcane quandary in his head and she just wanted to snap him back into our world for just a second.
This could be risky thing though. About once every two weeks or so, Gary would come out his social solitude and would catch some one at their desk or in the hall, or maybe he'd tag along for lunch. He would blather on for well over an hour about anything from why flamingos are pink to how many feet of Fast-Wide SCSI cable you could run in one stretch and why. He would be rather tenacious which would be very frustrating if he caught you near the end of your shift.
We referred to it as Gary needing a data dump, his buffer was full.
|
| |
| |
| | | Subject: Do we really give introverts a hard time?
Posted Mar 30, 2012 by  Bagpuss
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
16
| | "I don't think it's unfair. Unwise maybe, but not unfair. For instance, to be an accountant you generally need to be boring (ISTJ).
"I just can't believe that this organisation - oh sod it, Capital One - needs *everyone* to exhibit the same personality traits. Do they want people who can actually do the job? Or do they want people who think that they're on the sodding Apprentice, 24/7?"
My point exactly. I accept that your personality will render you more or less suitable for some jobs, but this seems to be in the same category as asuming someone can't do a job because they're a woman.
And I don't entirely agree with you about accountants. Okay, perhaps most good accountants are boring, but it would be foolish to hire somebody on that basis, rather than, say, qualifications or experience.
|
|
