Vincent Cheung

Vincent Cheung's Blog


« Newer Post Home Older Post »

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Inappropriate communication etiquette

Exhibit #1: Martha Fucker

My long time readers know her as my face of evil in this world. I forgot my iPod at home and the bus organizer forget to bring DVDs, so I had no ambient noise to drown out the excessively loud, non-stop talking, annoying voice of Martha. She was sitting at least 5 rows behind me, yet it was if she was screaming right into my ear. Of course, she and her other annoying friends were the only ones talking in the entire bus. Everyone else was trying to sleep.

She was lucky that my board was stored under the bus, otherwise I would've taken it out and slit her throat with it.

I'm grumpy b/c I have low tolerance for annoying, inconsiderate, and incompetent people, especially those that rob me of my sleep.

On an unrelated note, why do bus drivers feel the need to crank up the heat in the bus to literally make it a sauna? The problem is compounded by the fact that we were going to a ski hill, and as such, we were all decked out in WINTER GEAR. Save some energy, save the environment, and turn down the heat!!! This is a problem across seemingly all bus drivers and I always have to ask them to turn down the heat.

Anyways, this was the last trip for the U of T Ski and Snowboard Club, so I won't have to deal with these problems anymore. It was an ok season. I conquered the mountain, gained confidence on the snowboard, learnt how to somewhat ride switch, did some small jumps, and tried out the glades. The snow conditions were pretty good except for today, which was all icy and grainy b/c it was 15 earlier this week. I'm pretty bored with Blue Mountain now and am pretty sure that I won't be joining the club next year.


Exhibit #2: The Eager Biology Post-Doc

I don't remember under what circumstances that I gave him my home and cell number, but it was the worst idea ever. I'm pretty sure that I only supplied it to him so he could contact me for that one time or in an emergency (eg. presentation in a few hours and a figure needs to be changed).

Here are situations when it is inappropriate to call me regarding work. Note that in all of these situations, it was a non-emergency and we did not arrange to have a phone meeting.
  • At 10am. Seriously, I'm not awake. Don't call me.

  • When I'm on the ski slopes and repeatedly send your call to voice mail.

  • At 8pm on a Friday night. Shouldn't you be home taking care of your newborn?

If it's work related, there is no reason you should be calling my cell or home phone every day without first trying to contact me through e-mail. If I'm not responsive via e-mail, then it means I'm not available. Calling me should be reserved for emergencies or set-up ahead of time through e-mail.

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

Pedantic and unimportant: C'mon, you're an engineer, you should know how car/bus/weinermobile heating works. The engine produces plenty of heat during operation, and the bus driver just has the choice of bringing some inside or dumping it into the air outside the bus. Heating the inside of the bus takes no more energy than leaving the inside ice cold. Leave the environment out of this.

You might be able to argue that a hotter interior is a better environment for bacteria growth, leading to an increased chance of spreading disease in the enclosed space, though...

Anyway... maybe you should have given Ms. Fucker's number to the post-doc instead.

Post a Comment