h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

for the Scribes!

Man. I turn my back for less than an hour and there's a new LED in the old thread and the first LED in the new one's almost full!

ooh, very nice scribing indeed!

Okay, for the first dilemma of the new thread (whilst, of course, dealing with the Vikings)...
how would you handle it if you were suddenly asked to work under someone whom you liked well enough, but you knew a) was not able to actually do the job a) as well as you could, b) is a bit of a prima donna and c) expects you to provide your knowledge as a matter of routine?

You see, the professor I was teaching for in the spring has had a family emergency, and they gave the course to a friend of mine (well, okay, friend is stretching it a bit...he's someone I know well, but because of various things, he's not exactly a friend). This man has not a lick of knowledge of the subject matter, and neither do either of the other two teaching assistants (for the record, the course is on the history of witchcraft, and one TA does modernist poetry, another does 18th century British literature, and the 'friend' does poetics).

Is anyone else seeing a train wreck, or am I being overly pessimistic?

How did he get the job??

I'll join Lil in wondering how the heck he got given that post.

Well done to the scribes.

*Faints at the thought she made it to the first LED* I timed my break from cleaning well.

He got the job because...well, let's just say that he's the darling of a couple of very influential people.

Lovely scribing!

*sips fresh *

The older I get, MR, the more I'm willing to let train-wrecks happen. If someone is deluded enough to take on a role they are that unsuited to, then let them cope with the associated wake-up call.

But then, I am no longer a nice person.

B

I know it's some time in the future, but we should plan something big for the 100X conversation.

[BB]

Hands back the set of blue fuzzy trousers, issued at the start of the last thread (freshly washed and pressed), whilst making a determined effort not to be wearing them in the next thread.

MR I'm with Ben on standing back and watching the inevitable meeting of excrement and expelair, provided of course you can do so without being caught in the splattering which follows.

Me... Nice... you must be thinking of someone else.

It is early, Marv, and we've got this viking invasion to deal with, but yeah, we should definitely do something. I'm thinking gold lame dresses.... (not lame. lamay.. but i dont know how to do an accent)

Great scribing

I tend to agree with Ben, ever increasingly finding myself thinking Hell Mend'em.
Though if one ends up having to clean up the mess afterwards, it sometimes pays to get involved.
And very frustrating to watch someone making an a**e of a job that one could do jolly well oneself.

* reaches over and pulls a small bit of the last conversation into this one ...

Hyp, now that I understand your confusion, it would seem that 5/8 of you is, in fact, Scots! Yaay. I'll have you wearing tartan and hooching & skirling.

By way of an explanation
People from England = English
People from Scotland = Scottish
People from Wales = Welsh
People from Ireland = Irish
People from Northern Ireland ... that one's complicated so I'll let Beatrice explain it, if she's so inclined

People from the United Kingdom = British

So - you can be English and British or Scottish and British - but you can't really be Scottish and English.
unless you're my husband, whose parents were English but who thinks of himself as Scottish since that's where he was born and reared.

Ben and BB, that's the problem. I am, unfortunately, ON the train that is heading for the wreck, and unless I resign my assignment (and thus, forfeit not only the paycheck, but the tuition remission), I can't get off it.

So, how *does* one keep from getting slaughtered by the detritus?

I suppose the obvious answer is make sure there's plenty of paperwork documenting everything you've done right, so that later on down the line your rear is covered. That might lessen the impact when the train goes off the rails. If you want the train to actually stay on the track, I don't see how that's possible unless you start doing other people's jobs for them.

*lands with a small squeak*

Portree is FAR away from Dundee. Nine hours to get there, and seven to get back (we took different routes) I did have fun though.

mini

You've been over the sea to Skye?

Evening all

I love the resume of previous conversations.

Opened a large tin of pineapple junks in juice and I am about to delve in it, would anyone like to share it with me.

I will be starting my New Deal Business Administration course in a month's time, in the mean I will a week of talks, filling in forms, mainly about health and safetly. Most of it is about offices and computers.

I have not been over the sea to Skye but I have been over the sea to the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Iona.

*Hands lml an é*

Here you go. I have bunches of them. I've been typing the word 'resumé' a lot, lately. The keyboard code is alt + 0233.

Oh, and about the train wreck... tough one. Maybe a chat with the person in charge delineating exactly what your responsibilities are would be a good thing. Some reference to the amount of time you actually have available for this assignment would be in order. This would give you a way to limit your involvement.

*scitters in and skids to a stop* Drat, I've just got to get some new trainers -- these are worn smooth!

Second LED? Really!?! Yay, me! (Well, I was in the fifth, last time, I think! Matina, may I have some hot chocolate and whatever bun looks got to you?

*settles down for a spell, takes out yarn and starts crocheting*