Bad Job Experiences, Number 3 in a Series

After I left the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, I moved to Ottawa to work for GeoVision, which was a small company that had recently been spun off of SHL (SystemHouse). I was hired as part of a big expansion as they went from 25 people to 50. GeoVision made a Geographic Information System (GIS), and it was probably the most capable one out there, although it was a bit slow.
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Quick quiz time

Ok, it’s time for one of my world-famous quick quizes.

Suppose you are in the business of selling computers with Linux and other free operating systems on them, and you just posted an announcement to comp.os.linux.announce about your latest deal. Somebody emails you to tell you that you spelt the URL wrong in the announcement, and not only that on the very front page of your site you’ve used the word “suit” several times when referring to OpenOffice.org when you really meant “suite”. Do you:

  • Thank him for helping you project a more professional image, and fix the front page of your site and look for other typos and grammatical mistakes before resubmitting an announcement to comp.os.linux.announce or
  • Send him what is probably a very witty retort in your native language, even if you’re not 100% sure how to translate it into English.

If you chose the latter, then there might be a (very short) future for you in retail sales.

To quote in full the response I got: “I don’t mind your criticizing that way. It shows you are only just THOSE kind person!”

I think “I am only just THOSE kind person” will become my new catchphrase.