RE: Re: What to do about a recommendation?

["Sarah Bouchier" <Sarah -dot- Bouchier -at- exony -dot- com>]

>Yes. We have given feedback. One of the problems is that the feedback
isn't
>taken well. A couple of examples:
>* I get a draft. I mark up 30 things that should be fixed. Only 20
actually
>get fixed.

To be fair, I've done that occasionally, when I firmly believe that the
other 10 things were better the original way.  The difference is that
I'll talk to the reviewer about my reasoning, and find out their reasons
for believing different.  Usually I've thought of something they
haven't, but sometimes it's the other way around.  

>* Contractor sends an email that borders on rudeness. I tell the
contractor
>a polite way to convey the same message. Contractor sends another email
>with the same tone as the first.

Some tones/phrasings are seen as rude by everyone.  Some aren't.  This
is especially true when communicating by email, when what was intended
as informal and straightforward can be viewed as rude by one person, and
what was intended as polite can be viewed as passive-aggressive by
another.  I've worked at a company where the 'polite' way to raise +any+
(be they so small as a 'could you stop sending me so many progress
reports') was to go straight to the person's manager.  To me, that
seemed less polite and more spiteful.

I don't know the exact attitude of your contractor, and it does sound as
if they may simply have been totally inept at working with others.  But
it may have been a simple culture clash.

Sarah Bouchier
Technical Author

exony

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