Posted on 06/17/2009 5:12:13 PM PDT by Dallas59
If you want to score a meeting with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), know this: His scheduler/office manager, Elizabeth Becton, is to be addressed by her full name — not Liz or any other variant.
An executive assistant at McBee Strategic recently learned this the hard way. A few weeks ago, the assistant e-mailed Becton seeking a meeting with McDermott and a client, JPMorgan Chase. Days later, the assistant checked back in and unfortunately began the e-mail with “Hi Liz.”
Becton curtly replied, “Who is Liz?”
When the assistant wrote back with an apology, Becton turned up the heat. “I do not go by Liz. Where did you get your information?” she asked.
The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had “offended” Becton, while Becton lectured about name-calling.
Becton told the assistant that if someone said using “Liz” was acceptable, then “they are not your friend”, and “If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you.” Plus, it’s “rude when people don’t even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name,” she said, adding: “Please do not ever call me by a nickname again.”
But the tirade didn’t end there. Becton continued her riff — responding that the assistant “got played” by someone who was trying to “tick” Becton off. Becton’s final, searing missive stated: “In the future, you should be VERY careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in D.C. It’s a pastime for some. It’s also dangerous to eavesdrop, as you have just found out. Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it’s a hot button for me. And please don’t call the office and not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away. ... I do sometimes leave my desk.”
McDermott spokesman Mike DeCesare told us Tuesday, “An apology is being issued as we speak,” adding, “This isn’t reflective of the way we do business in this office.”
She is willfully ignorant or disrespectful to the office of the President when she never took a stand against all of those calling President Bush “Mister Bush”.
And the Left was fully aware of what they were doing. Dan Ratherbiased even discussed it with Saddam Hussein when he talked to him on the eve on the invasion when translators were using the term “Mr. Bush” when the President was being discussed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/26/60II/main542152.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Translator For Saddam Hussein: With one exception. Might be important to you and the American people. In 1991 Iraq was not defeated. In fact, our Army withdrew from Kuwait according to a decision taken by us. Yes, it withdrew and -But when we were back within our boundaries, the boundaries of Iraq, the Iraqi Army was not defeated. Nor was the people of Iraq.Iraq was not defeated in 1991. And you will remember that the (UNINTEL) were published, talking about the battles, especially the tank battles that took place in the south, near Basra., and how Bush, the father, came out on a - Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: I actually want to take time to explain to you that we're always gentle, we refer to people as gentle.
Rather: I understand when he calls him Mr. Bush.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: Yes.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: When Khomeini died, bless his soul, and when I heard about his death, the Minister of Information at the time, do not gloat over the death of Khomeini. It is the law of God. That is the law of Allah. Let me tell you, in jest, I didn't used to say Mr. Bush when I addressed him when he was in power. But when — as soon as he left power – I — whenever I have referred to him, I refer to him as Mr. Bush. And in any case - And in any case, the law of faith says even your enemy, you have to respect his humanity. For that reason that I refer to Mr. Bush.
Rather: I understand now.
Translator For Saddam Hussein: So when Mr. Bush came out—
Rather: Senior?
It was quite common for the media to refer to GW Bush as "Mr. Bush" while he was in office (with no lead sentence of "President Bush"). Notice too that Dan Ratherbiased always refers to Saddam as Mr. President. Some title.
I’m not arguing the fact that it is not be proper etiquette, or even that it could be considered rude.
But people make mistakes, and to hound someone for it is even more improper, in my opinion.
It's her beating the dead horse that's got everybody torqued. The poor guy apologized over and over again, and she just kept AT him, and then started adding all sorts of irrelevant stuff like the whole ladies' room riff.
Sorry, that was MUCH ruder than addressing somebody by a name that you THOUGHT was correct.
She's a power hungry, overpaid, obnoxious twit. Just like her boss.
Elizabeth.becton@mail.house.gov.
LOL! She’ll just love that.
“Lizzy Becton took an axe...”
Good One!!
Good point. I guess it depends on the person.
After years of studying, internships, residencies, and fellowships, my wife is now a practicing physician. Some folks call her doctor. Some call her by her first name or nickname. As long as their tone is polite, she doesn't have an issue with how she is addressed.
LOL. My little girl is named Elizabeth and her brother and cousin tease her with the nickname “lizardbreath”.
Ironically, McDermott’s background is as a psychologist. He sure can pick ‘em.
Bitter b*tch.
I grew up in the South too (still live there, though the North is encroaching), and women ARE frequently called by their first names, with "Miss" attached, whether they are married or not. My name to the neighborhood kids is "Miss Nina", my nextdoor neighbor is "Miss Pat", etc.
I actually had never heard of that one - I was thinking it's going to be a replay of the Paul Kelly Tripplehorn DC email fiasco of several years ago. He got run out of DC and expelled from Amherst. The poor guy ended up committing suicide a year or so back, something like ten years after the incident.
Ms. Becton has made a bad, bad mistake. Correcting someone for using the wrong (or any) variant of your name is completely understandable and no problem at all. Beating the poor guy into the ground with a chain of psycho emails is going to end any career she thought of having in DC. It's part of HR's due-diligence to Google potential employees and this will never go away. Hitting the Send button on an email is like hitting Launch on a nuclear missile.
Lizzie Becton took an axe
And gave her caller forty whacks.
And when we saw what she had done
We had a little Email fun . . . .
Yeah. You did but I guess you thought about it.
But people make mistakes, and to hound someone for it is even more improper, in my opinion.
As I said, it was over-reaction. But you didn't comment on who released the private emails and for what purpose.
I've skipped through them again and I don't see the anonymous person being hounded for an apology. I see Becton trying to find out who told the anonymous person to call her "Liz".
The explanation wasn't prompt. And she was trying to find out who told the anonymous person to call her "Liz". She did not ask for an apology, she asked for info.
Who do you suppose released these emails and why? Why is the other persons name redacted but not Becton's? And Becton started out as a Republican Congressional staffer for 8 years of the Bush admin.
There are 5 emails where she asks who put this person up to calling her "Liz". In the last she gives the reason.
So who put Politico up to releasing emails from a former Bush congressional staffer?
One has to wonder why the leftward Politico released the emails, where they got them and why the other correspondents name is redacted but not Bectons. Especially since someone on the thread stated that Becton had been a Bush congressional staffer for 8 years.
Welp, that clinches it. I’ll bet the uptight old bat would eventually come to appreciate subscriptions to conservative snailmail newsletters and catalogs. Sportsmans Guide, New York Post, that sorta thang.
All addressed to Lizzie, Lizbeff, Bethie, Bethles, Battleaxe ...
Not that I’d DO that, mind you. That would be so wrong.
This is a question of informal address. It doesn't MATTER who "put the person up to it". Becton's not trying to get at the facts (the correspondent says s/he's sorry, doesn't remember who said her name was Liz). She's just browbeating the bejazus out of her. And the tone is not that of somebody making a reasonable inquiry of a presumably innocent person. It's accusatory, rude, and completely over the top. If she had simply asked, "By the way, do you have any idea who told you to call me Liz?" that would be one thing. But she's ranting and raving like a complete loon.
This sort of rudeness, even in the pursuit of a supposedly valid inquiry, should not be going on on OUR dime.
You do?
I don't see the ranting and raving. One can read any emotion into printed media.
There's more to this. I'd bet on it.
I also did some snooping and found this:
Bitter Betty: Democrats Need an Etiquette Lesson
Democrat vs. Democrat is, of course, delicious fodder for those of us in the Republican Party. But the reality is that lobbyists in both parties have been frustrated by the unwillingness of some House and Senate Democrats to have meetings or take calls from interest groups and associations.
As one well-connected Democratic lobbyist I know says, "We all say that Hill Democrats might tell you before they screw you, but they will always screw you." I asked how that was different from dealing with Republicans. "Republicans will actually take your calls, have the meeting, listen to your point of view and take it into consideration. Of course, as minority, they can't actually DO anything with the information, but at least they listen."
Truthfully, I think this is a yawner and no one elses business. I'd still love to know why private emails were released and by whom.
That’s Great!! I’ll bet we Freepers (and others) have burned up her server!!
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