Coffee Table Declarations
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Common sense is apparently not so common.
Example #1: Our company told the nightly cleaners to clean out the fridge and throw everything away except the milk. They accidentally forgot to tell the cleaners not to throw out the expensive, unopened bags of gourmet flavored coffee in the freezer. These bags had only been delivered the day before. Now they are gone and I have to drink French Roast every morning.
Common sense reaction: Let's weigh this shall we? O.K., you've been told to throw out everything but you see 6 or 7 full bags of coffee that look brand new. Yes, perhaps there is something wrong with them and they should be thrown out. On the other hand, maybe they didn't mean you should throw out the coffee. Which is worse - throwing out the coffee when you shouldn't or not throwing it out when you should? Why don't you leave a note saying "did you mean for me to trash the coffee? I left it just in case." Then if it should be thrown out, an employee can do it with little to no trouble and the cleaners will be thought the better of for being concerned about our coffee needs.
Example #2: Yesterday we had an interview candidate who was nonstop trouble from the moment he arrived to the moment he left. (The remaining examples of a lack of common sense will involve him.) He was a candidate for one of our offices in another location so we flew him here for the day. We arranged a very reliable car service to pick him up at the airport and then we emailed him the confirmation detailing where to meet the car, and including the phone number for the car company, just in case. He calls half an hour after he was supposed to be picked up and says "didn't you arrange for a car to pick me up? They never showed up. I'm in a cab and we're lost." He claimed he never got the email. I called the car company who informed me that the car was still there waiting and we would be charged anyway.
Common sense reaction: If you were told that your prospective new employer arranged for a car for you and due to some unforeseen snafu you did not recieve a confirmation email, wouldn't you at least call said prospective new employer BEFORE getting into a cab so that you might find out for sure where to meet the car?
Example #3: In between meetings with different people, he stood here in the lobby and had a highly personal and highly inappropriate conversation on his cell phone. He was obviously trying to get a date and he made some highly suggestive comments which I was embarrassed to have to bear witness to.
Common sense reaction: Do not assume that the receptionist is too stupid or too unimportant to matter. Nine times out of ten I am solicited for input on prospective candidates and nine times out of ten they either listen to me or say "we should've listened to you" when it all goes awry. So if you can't get through the day without making a suggestive phone call, inform the receptionist you are stepping outside to make a call and that way no one has to know if it's business or personal.
Example #4: He proceeds to grill people on subjects that make them uncomfortable, he makes repeated reference to sex during several meetings with different people, and then asks point blank if he's going to get the job.
Common sense reaction: Discretion is paramount.
And finally... Example #5: When left alone in the lobby waiting for a ride back to the airport, he took the liberty of entering an empty HR office, used the computer, and then announced it to the office owner when he returned as if it was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.
Common sense reaction: I don't even think I can justify this ridiculousness with a common sense reaction. Let's just say I don't think we'll be welcoming this guy aboard and this last thing out of everything else is what cinched the deal.
Example #1: Our company told the nightly cleaners to clean out the fridge and throw everything away except the milk. They accidentally forgot to tell the cleaners not to throw out the expensive, unopened bags of gourmet flavored coffee in the freezer. These bags had only been delivered the day before. Now they are gone and I have to drink French Roast every morning.
Common sense reaction: Let's weigh this shall we? O.K., you've been told to throw out everything but you see 6 or 7 full bags of coffee that look brand new. Yes, perhaps there is something wrong with them and they should be thrown out. On the other hand, maybe they didn't mean you should throw out the coffee. Which is worse - throwing out the coffee when you shouldn't or not throwing it out when you should? Why don't you leave a note saying "did you mean for me to trash the coffee? I left it just in case." Then if it should be thrown out, an employee can do it with little to no trouble and the cleaners will be thought the better of for being concerned about our coffee needs.
Example #2: Yesterday we had an interview candidate who was nonstop trouble from the moment he arrived to the moment he left. (The remaining examples of a lack of common sense will involve him.) He was a candidate for one of our offices in another location so we flew him here for the day. We arranged a very reliable car service to pick him up at the airport and then we emailed him the confirmation detailing where to meet the car, and including the phone number for the car company, just in case. He calls half an hour after he was supposed to be picked up and says "didn't you arrange for a car to pick me up? They never showed up. I'm in a cab and we're lost." He claimed he never got the email. I called the car company who informed me that the car was still there waiting and we would be charged anyway.
Common sense reaction: If you were told that your prospective new employer arranged for a car for you and due to some unforeseen snafu you did not recieve a confirmation email, wouldn't you at least call said prospective new employer BEFORE getting into a cab so that you might find out for sure where to meet the car?
Example #3: In between meetings with different people, he stood here in the lobby and had a highly personal and highly inappropriate conversation on his cell phone. He was obviously trying to get a date and he made some highly suggestive comments which I was embarrassed to have to bear witness to.
Common sense reaction: Do not assume that the receptionist is too stupid or too unimportant to matter. Nine times out of ten I am solicited for input on prospective candidates and nine times out of ten they either listen to me or say "we should've listened to you" when it all goes awry. So if you can't get through the day without making a suggestive phone call, inform the receptionist you are stepping outside to make a call and that way no one has to know if it's business or personal.
Example #4: He proceeds to grill people on subjects that make them uncomfortable, he makes repeated reference to sex during several meetings with different people, and then asks point blank if he's going to get the job.
Common sense reaction: Discretion is paramount.
And finally... Example #5: When left alone in the lobby waiting for a ride back to the airport, he took the liberty of entering an empty HR office, used the computer, and then announced it to the office owner when he returned as if it was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.
Common sense reaction: I don't even think I can justify this ridiculousness with a common sense reaction. Let's just say I don't think we'll be welcoming this guy aboard and this last thing out of everything else is what cinched the deal.
