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Sloth nation: America has taken laziness to new lows
NY Post ^ | January 29, 2011 | Leslie Gornstein

Posted on 01/30/2011 6:21:25 AM PST by lowbridge

“I’m ready to offer my services for ur project. Contact me at ur earliest convenience 2 arrange for interview. Thanks in advance for ur consideration.”

That’s a real cover letter from a real person claiming to be a real professional, who thinks she can get a real job. The letter was fielded by publicist and trend-spotter Richard Laermer, who gets so many of these he collects them and, when asked, forwards them to reporters for fun.

The letter “just made me shake my head till it nearly fell off.” But it isn’t rare. In fact, Laermer says, it’s typical.

“Lazy is the new professionalism,” he says.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: america; coverletter; employment; interview; job; lazy; nation; professional; professionalism; project; publicist; reporters; resume; skills; skillset; sloth; vocabulary; work
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1 posted on 01/30/2011 6:21:28 AM PST by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

I’m simply stunned to silence. I can’t even laugh it’s so mindblowing.


2 posted on 01/30/2011 6:25:14 AM PST by bronxville
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To: lowbridge

I fear for R future


3 posted on 01/30/2011 6:26:32 AM PST by freedumb2003 (The TOTUS-reader is a Judas Goat, leading the American sheeple to the slaugherhouse /Parmy)
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To: lowbridge

Not in my world. The fastest way to never get a raise again is to type this crap in inter-company email. No one’s tried sending it to a client yet.

I have a QA manager who thinks “thx” is OK.

One of my kids started using “u” and got grounded.

It’s not laziness. It’s stupid.


4 posted on 01/30/2011 6:26:39 AM PST by TheZMan (Just secede and get it over with. No love lost on either side. Cya.)
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To: TheZMan

Where I worked not that long ago, it was somewhat accepted.

It drives me crazy personally.


5 posted on 01/30/2011 6:27:49 AM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: TheZMan

Where I worked not that long ago, it was somewhat accepted.

It drives me crazy personally.


6 posted on 01/30/2011 6:27:55 AM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: lowbridge

“Lazy is the new professionalism,” he says.”

Compared to where? France?

I drive two and a half hours just to reach my job and get home every day. The sorry bunch of thugs I work for monitors every minute, and makes us take vacation for family emergencies and sick time for leaving fifteen minutes early for a doctor visit. We are on salary, not a time clock. Anything that happens pushes one way, towards management. Their refrain is very much like this article, “You are lucky to have a job.” They actually told us that in a recent seminar.


7 posted on 01/30/2011 6:27:59 AM PST by Luke21
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To: lowbridge

At least the writer did not misuse you’re.


8 posted on 01/30/2011 6:28:56 AM PST by monocle
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To: Luke21
Their refrain is very much like this article, “You are lucky to have a job.” They actually told us that in a recent seminar.

Just curious, what's the turnover rate?

9 posted on 01/30/2011 6:32:13 AM PST by bcsco
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To: Luke21
“You are lucky to have a job.”

Or conversely you are not lucky,so far, to have found a different job.

10 posted on 01/30/2011 6:32:35 AM PST by BipolarBob (Even the earth is bipolar.)
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To: lowbridge

ur

you’re

I’m estimating that was .25 extra seconds of work. Definitely worth losing a job over....


11 posted on 01/30/2011 6:35:08 AM PST by Soothesayer (smallpox is not a person)
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To: Luke21

I had a wacko PHB-ette who castigated me over going to a specialist once a month out of town and I needed to leave an hour early. I had the time to use but it didn’t matter to her. One day I had some really bad muscle spasms and I was walking around like Frankenstein and she just looked at me and gave a “so what?” look.


12 posted on 01/30/2011 6:36:20 AM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: lowbridge
Another trend to the direction of ugly, is the outsourcing of recruiting and hiring to outside agencies. Most companies now do this. They contract with an agency, staffed by persons who have scant knowledge of organizational needs, skill-sets needed, or what considerations need to be explored beyond a "list". They use filtering software of resumes to keyword identify potential candidates from pools of resumes. They don't even read them. All they do is keyword filter them.

The days of showing your face and selling yourself are gone. The days of networking with peers and associates to get the first interview are gone. I worked at a company that issued an email telling current employees that any referals had to be direct between the potential candidate and the agency 600 miles away. Failure to do so would result in disciplinary action.

13 posted on 01/30/2011 6:38:18 AM PST by blackdog
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To: Luke21
You are lucky to have a job.”

The company my husband works for told them the same thing when they questioned bennies being cut, pay being cut, etc.

14 posted on 01/30/2011 6:39:43 AM PST by ladyvet ( I would rather have Incitatus then the asses that are in congress today.)
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To: lowbridge

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The practice began with the telegraph when charges were by character and brevity was desirable. It was holy grail by the Navy. Be brief in correspondnece....... not with abbrertiviations necessarily but with succinct writing. That too was the result of Morse encoded communications.

More recently, much business and all international business was conducted by telex. Telex was expensive but the only recourse. I still use the salutation rgds short for Regards or Best Regards in e mail.

The piece noted is the current generation picking up the old ways and even expanding them in text messags. The writer is illustrating a knowledge and mastery of current communications. Texting was hard and reduction of characters speeded the message. The new phones allow much easier typing but the old abbreviated way survives.

Then there were the hams. They communicated by Morse and developed a whole language of short cuts. The Q codes allowed a series of 3 characters to convey a message.


15 posted on 01/30/2011 6:41:37 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 .....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: Luke21

Well, you are lucky to have a job.


16 posted on 01/30/2011 6:43:44 AM PST by ModelBreaker
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To: lowbridge

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The practice began with the telegraph when charges were by character and brevity was desirable. It was holy grail by the Navy. Be brief in correspondence....... not with abbreviations necessarily but with succinct writing. That too was the result of Morse encoded communications.

More recently, much business and all international business was conducted by telex. Telex was expensive but the only recourse. I still use the salutation rgds short for Regards or Best Regards in e mail.

The piece noted is the current generation picking up the old ways and even expanding them in text messags. The writer is illustrating a knowledge and mastery of current communications. Texting was hard and reduction of characters speeded the message. The new phones allow much easier typing but the old abbreviated way survives.

Then there were the hams. They communicated by Morse and developed a whole language of short cuts. The Q codes allowed a series of 3 characters to convey a message.


17 posted on 01/30/2011 6:43:52 AM PST by bert (K.E. N.P. N.C. D.E. +12 .....( History is a process, not an event ))
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To: ModelBreaker

“Well, you are lucky to have a job”

It depends on what skills you have. Their are still some fields where highly skilled employees are in demand.


18 posted on 01/30/2011 6:46:22 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: bronxville
The sad part is that it's only a matter of time before those types of cover letters and resumes will be the norm courtesy of the socialist centrally planned economy.
It will be considered un politically correct to discriminate on the basis of skills, education or ability.
19 posted on 01/30/2011 6:46:51 AM PST by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: ladyvet

The nose to grind stone senario is not new today....it happens whenever there are employment contractions. During my first real job in the early 60’s, when we had a recession, I was late for work one day by about ten minutes. The Ex VP called me in, actually grabbed me as I was heading past his office, and asked me what was the problem? I had none, just said I missed my alarm. He pointed to the outside of his window where people were bustling about and exclaimed: everyone of them is looking for your job, got it? Yes was my answer and I was not late again.


20 posted on 01/30/2011 6:47:58 AM PST by Mouton
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