Eric F. Savage

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Archive for the ‘Advice’ Category

How not to boycott

Saturday, June 16th, 2007



Ineffective Campaign

Originally uploaded by Eric Kilby

So you may have heard of this guy Barry. Barry plays baseball for a living. Barry is really, really good at his job, and has been for a long time. At a certain point, Barry noticed most people his age weren’t doing so well, so he tried this and that to keep his job. Some of this was good old fashioned exercise. Some of that was kinda-sorta-not-so-legal-even-less-ethical-but-not-illegal (in an unofficial, nobody’s-telling way, of course). We don’t know exactly what happened, but alot of people made up their mind regardless.

Many of these people were at the Red Sox vs. Giants game Friday night. They were easy to spot, they chanted “ster-oids” whenever Barry showed up at the plate, maple in hand. These people also stood on their feet to watch a hall-of-famer bat for the first time in Fenway Park.

Advice: If you want to boycott someone, you don’t spend 30, 50, 100+ dollars to buy a ticket to a game, and you don’t stand up on tiptoes to see every pitch thrown to him.

Professional Advice: Speakerphones

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

Speakerphones seem to be increasing in popularity in the workplace, and in case it’s not obvious, this is a bad thing. For the sake of sanity, let’s review the narrow set of conditions under which speakerphones are allowed. Note that both conditions must be met.

  • You are in a fully-enclosed office or conference room.
  • Two or more people need to speak on your end.

There are some rogue conditions floating around that are invalid. These include.

  • I’m typing. – Stop and listen, or hang up.
  • I’m very busy and/or important. – No, you’re not.

Simple huh? There is a small set of exceptions. (This list is exhaustive)

  • You are juggling and on the verge of breaking a personal/world record.
  • You are performing surgery.
  • Your handset is broken and you are ordering a new one.
  • Your ears are under some sort of medical duress and you are calling the doctor.

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