2008-12-25

Nice mistake

Matching all acceptance criteria does not necessarily equate with desirability.

2008-12-02

Passive-aggressive

This shit’s making me crazy
The way you nullify what’s in my head
You say one thing do another
And argue that’s not what you did
Your way’s making me mental
How you filter as skewed interpret
I swear you won’t be happy til
I am bound in a straight jacket

Sounds familiar?
Trouble with that?
The good news is that you are not alone: I am here to enlighten you.

The key point here is that dealing with people who "say one thing do another"
is too much trouble to be burdened with. Furthermore, this should not be your problem. Except when you have to deal with such a person. Then, to protect your sanity, peace of mind and existential comfort, you may want to take some drastic action to ensure that this situation does not repeat itself. Ever.

Basically, this behaviour provides the perfect case point for vectorial
psychology, the universal theory of everyone, because almost everyone exhibits this trait.

What you are dealing with may be labelled as "passive-aggressive behaviour". Essentially, it may be construed as acute moronism, or the willing or unwilling inability to reconcile act and intent. While not clinically nor politically correct and a tad too broad for some, this definition is fundamentally correct as long as symptoms are taken into account.

How do you deal with it? Simple. You go for the root, the afore mentioned inability to reconcile act and intent. One may have numerous reasons not to act as intended, be it excessive politeness, lack of intent, or just plain old stupidity. In the end these are irrelevant, as they all stem from a common cause: the combined lack of understanding of one's own intents, lack of purpose and confused priorities. Addressing all these points may be tiresome, so my preferred way to achieve unification of act and intent is what is known as "The Sarajevo Experience", or "The Pool Plenty Of Piranhas". These methods both include placing the subject, or target, in an hostile, primitive, environment where there is only one option: getting out, preferably alive and intact. Faced with such a primordial choice, namely living or not, the target's priorities are redefined, and the distinction between principal and accessory is achieved, usually by attrition. What must be done becomes exceedingly clear, and priorities even clearer. There is a poetic justice to it too.
At some point, you get an individual who is both well adjusted to his environment, and whose intents are imperative, and even more importantly, who won't bitch about it.

So now that you have your straight arrow, all you have to do is to find something to point it at and let it loose: it won't miss, or die trying.


2008-12-01

Taking ownership

Today, I have been asked to fill the usual evaluation forms. As usual, my answer is: "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.".