i am slightly annoyed this morning, with much of it directed at myself for having agreed to take up a certain translation assignment. not because of the translation itself, but because i have to work with two others on the assignment. did i ever mention this? i abhor group work.
back in school, when we had a choice of doing something in a group or by ourselves, i would always take the lonely way out. it seemed odd to many people that i much preferred working on my own. i disliked the constant (inefficient) group meetings, the arguments, people who didn’t pull their weight, people who thought they were pulling their weight when everyone else knew otherwise, and the less-than-perfect result that culminated from all these factors. i was a snob. i still am.
it is amazing how many people carry that all the way into their working lives. by that, i mean the arrogance and ignorance, the ineffectiveness, and the inability to listen to others. when i started working, i was rather taken aback at all that went on (and on) behind closed doors. intelligent people, so carried away by the very idea of their own intelligence they failed to make any relevant point. they exit, write lengthy papers and meeting minutes with no conclusion whatsoever, and nod sagely at one another. a brotherhood (or sisterhood) of wise stupidity.
perhaps i am getting rather carried away myself. i don’t claim to be clever, certainly not. but at least i do not look at a pile of translations, declare loudly that it was all “very easy” and “not a problem at all,” and spend the next ten days whining to all who would hear that it was “killing me.” translations do kill me, but i hope, at least, that i do not swagger around at the start of it all, and then kill everyone else around me with my whining before it is very much over. or if i do (or did), i repent of any brash arrogance now. most sincerely i do.
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i read the above over again, and am rather proud of how hoity-toity academia it made me sound. perhaps i am on the right track after all! what a cheering thought for a grey morning.
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