More Gossip

[smokingboot]

Bumped into Badger in the supermarket, and had ourselves a nice little chat. Badger is going to Canada this summer, and I think the wilderness is going to fill his heart. But the wonders of travel were not all we discussed.

'Aye,' he said with a chuckle, 'I hear you've had words with [Sensitive/Precious]...'

I sighed. Words? Not quite words. I have not sat down with[Sensitive/Precious] yet, because I can feel his preference against it and because we are always busy. But I guess I should, seeing as this is still doing the rounds.

Ugh. There's nothing wrong with his writing per se, it just didn't meet the brief, didn't match the tone. I have tried to encourage this guy; he created an advert to go in the local magazine, it was perfectly pitched for the readership, all great. When his writing worked, I was there, clapping him on the back, thanking him. In a different document when his writing didn't work, I removed it. It's been weeks since this happened. If it's still doing the rounds now, god knows when it will fade; from him possibly never.

It was all about the foreword which already been written, but he decided to improve it. And he did improve it too. His material was helpful, his style less so, based on his determination not to 'talk the town down' or be 'doom and gloom' about the place. Admirable, and of course constructive balance is a must, but there had to be respect for what our respondents actually said. He was citing the ability to have a 'real pub crawl' through the town as a positive, while people are determined that we must have more police in the town centre. One does not have to be grim, but this isn't a eulogy either. All we are doing, objectively, is reporting what residents want/don't want for their place. The point is to do this clearly and honestly. That's it.

Oh but. He complained to someone that I wasn't listening to him. Gawd! How could he say that, when he would insert his complaints into the body of the text however often I asked him not to, even showing him how to use the comment boxes? He just wouldn't do it, resulting in more time spent scouring the document to get rid of his whinging concerns; all this when we were time poor and energy poorer. Effort was made for this gentleman. He does not see that at all.

Still, there it is, and I have to - no I don't have to, I want to - soothe him because he can write, I don't want to dash his heart. But my suspicion is that I have only bumped into his ego a bit. After all, when he was striking through other people's contributions he seems to have expected them to keep their chins up... if their feelings occurred to him at all. He told me with a kind of defiant huffy smile that he was thinking of writing a new history of the place. I have been very positive in encouraging that project. I must now keep my inner wickedness under lock and key, and on no account offer to write him a foreword.

Comments

[mallorys_camera]

How old is this gentleman?

[smokingboot]

He's hard to place, but I would say he's late 50s, early 60s.

[asakiyume]

Remarkable how many people expect other people to take bracing criticism well but completely fail to do so themselves. Also remarkable how many of those people seem quite comfortable believing that their work is beyond criticism.

[smokingboot]

Indeed, very remarkable!

Lesson for me too though... I need to make sure I always steer around this in my own behaviours.

[asakiyume]

It really is hard. It's hard because it does hurt to get criticism for something we work hard on, no matter how much we understand rationally that something could possibly use improvement. (I speak from experience, obviously--I know I'm guilty of the thing too, even though like you I try to be aware, etc. etc.)

And from what you're saying about this guy, it also sounds like he didn't internalize the brief correctly: boosterism isn't the same as honest reporting. And if he has it in his head (for whatever reason) that he's supposed to be making the town look good, then it's understandable that he wants to tweak or glide over negative things people are saying about the town. And that makes it even harder for him to receive criticism because he thinks what he's written is right on target.

[smokingboot]

You're right about all of it.

From what I see, he did not read any part of the document in front of him before he began. He thinks his work is on target because he wrote it, not because he has considered said target.

I don't think he is going to forgive me in a hurry.

[asakiyume]

ugh, what a headache of a person to have to have around -_-

[smokingboot]

Unfortunately true!