Wednesday, June 15, 2005



I woke up in a rested fairly good mood;
Came to work and was put into a pissed off mood;
But I am all better now as we have this AWSOME new copy machine. OHHHH A TOY!! It is sooooo fast and so much fun. Hehehe. I do like new toys.

So ya I was in a bad mood. And it was work and the total laziness and stupidity of people that put me that way.
We are a multi-national company with subsidiaries and customers ALL over the world. English is the language of business, so use it; but use it well or dont use it at all. That is my theory.
So many of the people that we deal with are speaking English as a second language, so they will not take offense if some sentences are not spoken perfectly. But the written part MUST be right.
It is my belief, and I dont think I am wrong in thinking this, that when you give a presentation, or put something down on paper for a client, it better be PERFECT!! Your speaking may not be totally perfect but that piece of paper had better be.
That piece of paper represents the company and him, and I would personally feel offended as a customer if my supplier didn't spell check or proofread something before giving it to me. That would show where I am on their list of priorities.
In our world where every sale counts it is just plain STUPID to not take that time.
I came to work today and found laying in the colour printer tray, directions for a customer on how to press a product, with blatant and SOOOO OBVIOUS mistakes my face turned purple with rage. The most obvious was writing 'cross' instead of 'cloth'!!!
I was insulted as an English teacher. I am paid to check but if they dont use me what the hell am I doing here?!?!?!?! That and I have been a part of this place for 5 years so actually do want to see improvements and sales going up.
I had to walk around the building and cool off before calmly pointing out the stupid mistakes to this guy. Yes, he is not a student, but I have known him for 5 years and he is TOTALLY NOT a shy person. What he is, is arrogant and believes his English is just fine. He actually laughed when I pointed out the mistakes. I quickly left before I could hit him.
Our big boss is laying on our manager to up sales and here he is sabotaging any potential positive word of mouth advertising. That and if they dont sell, I dont have a job. Neither does he for that matter.
I actually discuss this stuff in class with most of my guys. We have very in-depth talks about sales ethics and different approaches to how different people buy. About what is considered acceptable here in Japan but not back in North America. Most of them really soak it all in and use it in their dealings with their foreign customers. It has made some positive contacts for them. My one guy keeps impressing his customers so much they keep inviting him to their staff dinners as a special guest.

Mind you, I should ask you to ignore my spelling mistakes and silly punctuation mistakes. I do it right when I check their stuff. I really do.
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Posted by (Top)Andrea::6/15/2005 :: 0 Comments:

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