Thursday, January 18, 2007

annals of brute intellect and professionalism

Flew yesterday from Boston to San Francisco for a workshop at Stanford. As I waited for my flight, a young protoexecutive-middle-management-type was talking loudly on his cel phone near me. Overheard:
"I'm going to this meeting with a f*cking baseball bat and I am going to kick ass. I am tired of how this company is getting run by f*cking emotions instead of intelligence. I am sick of this b*llshit and am ready to go to the CEO and tell him this is unprofessional and he can go f*ck himself."
Because nothing conveys that intelligence has taken control back from emotions quite like showing up at a meeting with a baseball bat. Except, maybe, a hockey mask and chainshaw.

I was going to use my usual "[expletive deleted]" for the profanity above, but then this read confusing because of the different words involved, so I just asterisked the u's.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The worst part about going on interviews is waiting in aiports next to people like that.

Anonymous said...

Incompetence sucks.
Let him beat some sense into them.
Not everybody is cool with losing.

Anonymous said...

if bat-boy is so much smarter than his colleagues (and CEO), he's presumably mobile in the job market. nothing speaks louder than leaving for a better job.

Anonymous said...

... sounds more like a wiffle bat in action.

Anonymous said...

nothing speaks louder than leaving for a better job.

Betcha he leaves for a better job once he hands them their asses on a platter.

Sorry, I just understand how the man thinks like an untenured mind might not. He's blowing steam you see, prepping himself for a confrontation. It might work to his advantage too, if enough people are unhappy with the complacency there.

Rude to talk on cell phones in public though.

Anonymous said...

...or an early tenured mind even.

:)

Anonymous said...

Something I've noticed about living in L.A. is that nobody knows how to use an inside voice, especially if they're the "very important man" types, especially of the entertainment industry variety.

So somehow, this conversation feels familiar to me. Homey almost.

Anonymous said...

Jeremy, found your site through your professor's mention on this BW Online post about Pollster.

Wanted to say that I laughed out loud when I read your American Idol "suck" commentary. So much so in fact that I just made your post part of my Snarky Post of the Week. Thanks.