Matt Smith,
I apologize for not giving you fair warning that I'd be ignoring you in my last post. Michael seems to be my... what number do I have now?... my third Constant Reader? I think it's three now. There's you, there's Anne, and there's Michael. Oh sure, there's a Now-and-Then Reader, but ah. My Constants. I have to give credit where it's due, Constants.
Consistency is something I've been giving a lot of thought lately. A co-worker and I were having a chat a few weeks back about some silly award-typey cards that keep being thrown about the coffee shop. They've got titles: Knowledgeable, Genuine, something else, another thing (you can plainly see how many I've gotten). People are supposed to pinpoint qualities that their co-workers exhibit on any given day, write them down on a corresponding award-typey card, and give it to them as a way of saying "thanks" for things that they do.
Well, frankly, I've got it all figured out. My minor complaint a few weeks back was that the Award-typey Cards (I think I've typed it enough for it to warrant capitalization now, don't you think?) continue to be handed out to employees who aren't always up to snuff. (What the hell does that even mean? Up to snuff?) So, really, we're just using these cards to train people that they get rewarded when they actually do what they're supposed to be doing. Like, "Hey Bob, Thanks for going that extra mile and showing up on time for work today." Or, "Thank you, Patty, for making coffee today. That really shows how much you care."
Um. No.
It doesn't.
Where's the reward for consistency? Where's the reward for doing the right thing, pretty much all the time? Frankly, it's just not something our society seems to think is very important.
Well, Matt Smith. Here I am to give out the 2007 Consistency Awards. I know it's a little early (or a little late, depending on how you look at it) for an awards show, but there aren't any awards programs during the month of July. And my July has pretty much bit the big one, so it'd be great to have something to spruce it up.
The awards go to:
* Google, for consistently searching for (and finding) all manner of goofy things that I always desperately need to find out. Right. Now.
* The fans of the Boston Red Sox, for being simultaneously consistent in both stupidity and dedication. For crying out loud though, buy yourselves a good map of the MBTA light rail system and let the rest of us go home easy.
* Books, for always being consistently commerical-free and with no rental fees.
and finally,
* you, Matt Smith. Along with Emily, Bailey, Matt, Drew, Tina, my sister, and my mother (and possibly a handful of others that I've missed), you deserve a reward for consistent... something. Consistent okay-ness? Consistent general behavior? Consistent checking-in-to-make-sure-that-people-are-doing-alright? Consistent friendship seems to fit, but it's more than that really. It's more like "consistent humanity." Yes. Thank you, Matt Smith, for consistently knowing what it's like to be a human, and treating people accordingly.
(It's a brief awards program, and the music's not great, but at least the acceptance speeches are short... what with two of the recipients being inanimate objects.)
Levicorpus and all that,
Meredith
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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5 comments:
yaaaaay.... I got an award for consistent okay-ness... that's going on my resume
(oh, and I read this thing too... when I remember to check it)
-Drew
Dear Constance,
YOU, dear, get an award for always making me giggle. And MeToo mentioned something the other day about how you always come home eventually and feed him (although he was sneaking consistent looks at the blue bowl at the time, so that may have been along the lines of a Light Hint).
Sue
FI decided to look up the meaning behind the phrase "up to snuff", and found it on www.worldwidewords.com (a site I'm SURE I'll be visiting lots now that I've found it):
"The snuff here is tobacco: nothing to do with the verb meaning to extinguish. Several colloquial phrases are recorded that used the word snuff, most of which date from the early part of the nineteenth century in Britain, when snuff-taking was still common, but less fashionable than it had been fifty years before.
"The first meaning of up to snuff was somebody who was sharp, not easily fooled. This may have come from the idea of snuff being itself a sharp preparation, but perhaps because it was mainly taken by men of adult years and some affluence (it was expensive) who would be able to appreciate the quality of snuff and distinguish between examples of different value. The evidence isn’t there to be sure about its exact origin, though an early form of the phrase was up to snuff and a pinch above it, which at least confirms it did indeed relate to tobacco.
"Whatever its origin, the meaning of the phrase shifted slightly after a while to imply somebody who was efficient and capable; later still it often meant that something was up to standard, or of the required quality. It was in this sense very similar to another expression of the time, 'up to scratch'. This comes from prize-fighting, in which the scratch was the line across the floor that a contestant had to touch with his toe to indicate he was ready to fight."
So... there you are. I do so love entymology and origins of phrases.
I'm only here for the coffee.
I never did acknowledge how touching (this sounds like such a vague word, but it's the only one I've got) it was to be mentioned here. also, I don't know if you get notified of comments, but if you do, then today I say: I hope things are going smoothly. bye bye.
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