UPDATE: I just found out that the extraordinarily talented, dangerously attractive Everyday Goddess tagged this post as part of her Toasting the Posts of the Week. She follows over 250 blogs, so this is no small feat. Many thanks to her.
I can assure you that no money changed hands as a promotional consideration.
Here are a few random bits that are not long enough for a proper post, so I’ve lumped them together. Kind of like the medley at the end of Abbey Road.
An ex-colleague has asked me to recommend her sister for a position at the company where I’m working. I know nothing whatsoever about her sister—I’ve never met her—but my colleague has been a tremendous help to me in the past, so I feel somewhat obligated. Am I obligated? When you recommend someone for a job, you’re putting your own reputation on the line. What if she’s incompetent? The whole thing makes me very uncomfortable.
During Congressional testimony this week, top executives from the four largest privately held oil companies assured everyone that the BP oil spill was “an aberration” that couldn’t happen again.
Whew! That’s a relief! When corporate executives raise their right hand and swear that nothing can go wrong, you can take that to the bank. We should just leave them alone and let them go about their business. They know what’s best. For all of us.
Do they think we’re stupid?
Grim-faced and forbidding
their faces closed tight
an angular mass of New Yorkers.
Pacing in rhythm
race the oncoming night
they chase through the streets of Manhattan.
Headfirst humanity
pause at a light
then flow through the streets of the city.
Isn’t that just beautiful? All those well-placed verbs! I walk east on 42nd Street and turn left on Lexington Avenue with that pounding in my earbuds. The soundtrack of my life. This town is under my skin for good. Have a good weekend.
Exile on Pain Street 
that desk makes my heart skip! too much technology, sugarpie! i read your question to the MITM and his comment was that he’d have to think long and hard about recommending someone he didn’t know and hopefully, she would have either gotten the job or it was filled by someone else before he had to do anything! he’s a hedger, for sure! (we just so helpful this morning, aren’t we?) xoxoxoxo
good collection of thoughts for the day. yes, some setup you have there, I think (and I speak from some experience here) that mission control would be envious. Their technology is considerably older…I’m all for passing along contact names to people seeking jobs, that’s helpful. Making a recommendation is a completely different thing.
We (the band) regularly get asked to recommend other bands if we are not available for a gig. We used to, but it backfired a couple of times so no more! (Everybody’s talkin’ at me….) :¬)
Politely decline the offer to recommend someone you don’t know. Done. Mark that one off your list.Love the visual you gave me on NYC. 42nd & Lex, I know it well. Thanks for living in my dream world and sharing it with me.
Savannah: That desk make my heart skip too, but I need to pay the mortgage every month.Point: You’re down in Texas if I recall, is that correct? It’s it astonishing what they did with the little bit of technology they had back then? My little iTouch probably has more circuitry than was on the lunar landing module. Map: Ding! Give that man a cigar! Are you a Harry Nilsson fan? So tragic. Such a brilliant songwriter but a terrible drunk.Zen: How is it you are so familiar with that corner? If you look up, you’ll see the Chrysler Building gargoyles. It really is a dream, isn’t it?
I’m with Savannah’s husband and your friend is naughty to ask you. You can repay his help in some other way and if he takes umbrage that’s a pity but not your fault.
Ah Harry N., A terrible drunk, as opposed to the ‘wonderful’ drunk wot I is! :¬)(I love that song!) :¬)
only the shadows of their eyes…and”Ground control to Major Tom”.
Congrats on being post-toasted by the Goddess!I never recommend anyone I don’t know personally. I mean, what are you going to say? “Her sister’s a really great gal?”
Perhaps meet the sister first… and then decide about the recomendation… but then again this could open another can of worms!Sx
I am visiting from Everyday Goddess and am happy to read your blog. I would not recommend anyone for a job unless I knew myself what kind of job integrity the person has displayed. In all my years of working I only recommended two people.
Skip the recomendation thing, you can tell her your “just contracting” it would be different if you were established there. I never recommend anyone even being at my job for 9 years..don’t want one responsibility of how someone else is performing. MY
I can’t believe how tidy your desk is! I bet I’ve got just as much technology as you (albeit of a lesser quality than yours – desktop that doesn’t work mobile phone from 1998 laptop with a crack in the screen, etc.) but in my case it’s hard to find the keyboards between all the scrap papers, notebooks, pens and wires.
Thanks a bunch! I used to enjoy putting raisins on my breakfast cereal.
Yes, they clearly think we’re stupid. And in part because so many of us ARE. Take for instance the boobs at Mineral Mgmt Service – playing wild and free with the regs they are paid to enforce. GAH! As for your mission control, I feel your pain, just a little. Not so many gadgets, but almost. I used to only have a phone on my desk to worry about. Now I need to lug in my laptop, make sure my cell is charged. More hassle and guess what? They can contact me anywhere, anytime.
Pat: She’s not malicious at all! She meant well. A true kind heart.Daisy: Now that I think about it, you performed that song!Jeanne: It’s a big shock to my system! It’s nice to know someone is out there paying attention.SB: An easier route: Tell her the position was filled. A lie, to be sure, but it’s an out.TB: Welcome aboard! Plenty more where this came from. MT: That seems to be the popular opinion. Will follow everyone’s advice and steer clear.Borah: I can assure you that it’s tidy because I am consulting. If I were on staff there, it would be a catastrophe.Kykn: Do you know what’s good on cereal? Nuts AND raisins!Yogurt: Don’t get me started on Mineral Management. This isn’t a political blog but it could easily descend into one.
You are not obligated, and saying you don’t feel comfortable recommending someone you don’t even know is perfectly reasonable. That said, you CAN recommend your friend’s sister by saying, “I don’t know her and can’t attest to her fitness as an employee, but if she’s anything like her brother, she has the potential to be great.” Or whatever. But phrasing it in that way might make you feel better about putting in a word for her. And then you’re paid in full with your friend. ;-)Congrats on the POTW.
Nothing to do with anything, but that medley at the end of Abbey Road – “Golden Slumbers” is my new favourite lullabye for my younger son.