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Sloth nation: America has taken laziness to new lows
NY Post ^ | January 29, 2011 | Leslie Gornstein

Posted on 01/30/2011 6:21:25 AM PST by lowbridge

“I’m ready to offer my services for ur project. Contact me at ur earliest convenience 2 arrange for interview. Thanks in advance for ur consideration.”

That’s a real cover letter from a real person claiming to be a real professional, who thinks she can get a real job. The letter was fielded by publicist and trend-spotter Richard Laermer, who gets so many of these he collects them and, when asked, forwards them to reporters for fun.

The letter “just made me shake my head till it nearly fell off.” But it isn’t rare. In fact, Laermer says, it’s typical.

“Lazy is the new professionalism,” he says.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: america; coverletter; employment; interview; job; lazy; nation; professional; professionalism; project; publicist; reporters; resume; skills; skillset; sloth; vocabulary; work
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

In regards to your point #3. I have young women friends who are just now learning to cook and they are late 20’s-early 30’s. They were never taught to cook. One young woman I’m thinking of, said her mom had her in ballet, gymanastics and other after school stuff so she would be ‘well rounded’ but because home ec wasn’t offered in her high school, she never learned to cook. Some of it is probably lazy, heck most of it might be lazy, but some may be ingnorace of how to do things. Especially if the young one’s mom was out ‘succeeding’ in the ‘real’ world of work.


41 posted on 01/30/2011 7:22:05 AM PST by Vor Lady
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To: Flamenco Lady
I took Gregg Shorthand in high school. My top speed was 160 words per minute with perfect transcription.

It was extremely helpful in college. I wrote draft term papers this way, too.

42 posted on 01/30/2011 7:22:33 AM PST by TheWriterTX (Buy Ammo Often)
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To: lowbridge

LOL her resume has been PWNED!


43 posted on 01/30/2011 7:23:13 AM PST by mylife (Opinions: $1.00 ~ Halfbaked: 50c)
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To: palmer

I have never used V/R in closing any emails. I don’t use emoticons nor shorthand like “LOL,” except with VERY close friends who I would josh with in RL and even then I use them sparingly.

How people can’t discern the difference amazes me.

V/R

FD2003


44 posted on 01/30/2011 7:25:04 AM PST by freedumb2003 (The TOTUS-reader is a Judas Goat, leading the American sheeple to the slaugherhouse /Parmy)
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To: blackdog
How do you handle it when you are interviewed and your cover letter and resume are well written. Your speaking skills and vocabulary are superior. Your test results from the test they gave you indicate perfect scores in math, critical thinking, and language comprehension,

Don't forget, "if your a minority",,, very important in today's world. Skill sets needed to hire them are very different.

45 posted on 01/30/2011 7:26:30 AM PST by MrPiper
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To: bert

73


46 posted on 01/30/2011 7:27:21 AM PST by mylife (Opinions: $1.00 ~ Halfbaked: 50c)
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To: lowbridge
WTF - is this post about revenge of "the English Majors" and "oh so superior' journalists? Gimme a break.
47 posted on 01/30/2011 7:30:54 AM PST by GOPJ (http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php - World Disaster Map)
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To: lowbridge

The “Scooter” phenomenon is particularly galling. I can’t turn on the TV anymore without seeing a commercial for scooters (subsidized by the taxpayer, of course). Do these fat people actually think that riding a scooter will help them? What about walking or (G-d forbid) taking the stairs? Yeah, its effort, but that’s kind of the point.


48 posted on 01/30/2011 7:32:11 AM PST by rbg81
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To: Vor Lady
Dear Vor:

My mother never taught me how to cook, either. I laughingly told my husband that he had to introduce me to the kitchen appliances when we got married.

I'm not a big eater, and have a limited diet for medical reasons. Nevertheless, I learned. Trial, error, cookbooks, and starting simple, I learned.

Dinner last night? Homemade apple bread, roasted chicken with herbs, roasted cauliflower with garlic, and buttered mash potatoes with parsley.

Tomorrow? Chimichangas from scratch and corn bread with green peppers.

When I cook now, I have my daughter join me in the kitchen. She peels vegetables, mixes the batter, tells me where to trim the fat off the chicken. She can identify when something is unedible and how to pick out fresh food. When spent most of our winter break baking cookies, sticky apple cobbler, and banana nut bread. The house smelled great, we worked well together, and every ate like kings!

49 posted on 01/30/2011 7:33:00 AM PST by TheWriterTX (Buy Ammo Often)
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To: TheWriterTX
My top speed was 160 words per minute with perfect transcription.

Should have told the boss to switch to decaf.

50 posted on 01/30/2011 7:34:28 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Jubtabulously We Thrive!)
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To: lowbridge

“Mr. Watsn, cum here — I want 2 c u.”


51 posted on 01/30/2011 7:34:38 AM PST by mrsmith
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To: Vor Lady

My mother was an insurance executive and we had a housekeeper. I did not learn the art s of housekeeping at home. As a newlywed, I taught myself to cook with the aid of The Joy of Cooking. I am an excellent cook! At one time, I was a partner in a catering company. However I am NOT good at mopping floors and will never be. That is not a skill I am interested in learning. I would rather cook for others to be able to pay someone to mop for me.


52 posted on 01/30/2011 7:36:00 AM PST by kalee (The offences we give, we write in the dust; Those we take, we engrave in marble. J Huett 1658)
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To: lowbridge

Why is this considered Sloth? Perhaps Latin is a dead language but English is changing and will continue to change. Think of texting language as shorthand in English.


53 posted on 01/30/2011 7:36:04 AM PST by Sawdring
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To: lowbridge

Thx// fr t lau//


54 posted on 01/30/2011 7:36:27 AM PST by org.whodat
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To: Vor Lady
Your post is spot on. My parents both worked and I never learned to cook until I was 30. Married my husband and he came with three teens and we had two more in two years. I had to take a crash coarse in Mess-hall cooking from scratch due to our limited budget. Many a dinner time surrounded by cookbooks and the smell of burnt “whatever” I broke down kicking myself for not learning. There was a happy ending, I learned, excelled and my kids still rave about home cooking.
55 posted on 01/30/2011 7:37:19 AM PST by ladyvet ( I would rather have Incitatus then the asses that are in congress today.)
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To: lowbridge

This is because far too many people believe that the job exists to give them money. They don’t realize that the job exists because a company needs someone to deliver a product or service, and if they aren’t doing it well - they are easily replaced.


56 posted on 01/30/2011 7:37:38 AM PST by TheWriterTX (Buy Ammo Often)
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To: blackdog

Your observation about whom is late is on the money for most places I have worked too.

While I did not like the gestapo tactics of my first real boss, I look back at that time fondly because it reinforced in me a sense of responsibility and duty sadly missing today. I recall during my interview my only asking what the job entailed. Later, in other places, when I began doing applicant interviews, usually the only questions asked were what were the benefits, pay, etc. I have few recollections of any questions in the area of what was expected...and those were the people who usually got the jobs.


57 posted on 01/30/2011 7:40:10 AM PST by Mouton
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To: Luke21

My husband kind of got that attitude from his last employer...they were down to half the engineers they needed and of course everything fell onto the ones that remained—the company refused to hire more. My husband was working pretty much 7 days a week and the requests for pay raises (which they hadn’t received in 3 years) were met with silence. Not to mention just the attitude they received for trying to do their job.

Someone told my husband ‘you should be thankful to have that job right now.’ My husband disagreed and through some twist of fate received a phone call from the plant manager of the place he worked at before we moved to Arkansas. He told my husband about a manufacturing engineering position that had just opened up at the plant he managed (same industry even). It was in OH, which was about a 2/3 reduction in the drive time to see family and it was a pay raise with good upward opportunity.

You can imagine how p.o.’d the (now former) employer was when he submitted his 2 week notice—of course they thought they had him over a barrel with the state of the economy. He’s been at the new job for going on 3 months and although we’re in two separate states for the time being, he is pretty happy with the job. He gets to work pretty much 8-9 hour days, 5 days a week, with an occasional Saturday morning. Now there’s a job he’s thankful for! :)


58 posted on 01/30/2011 7:41:18 AM PST by Hoosier Catholic Momma (Arkansas resident of Hoosier upbringing--Yankee with a southern twang)
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To: TheWriterTX
I agree, one does not necessarily need to be taught to cook (well maybe baking aside) it's really a matter of observation and common sense. That said it seems many woman I know (wife included) don't think much about food or have so many eating hangups/issues that they just don't cook. My wife has not cooked a single meal in our 24 years together.

Lucky for me after my first marriage broke up and I had two signs 3-5 to take care of I learned fast and am now considered quite a good cook.

59 posted on 01/30/2011 7:42:25 AM PST by marlon ("They talk about me like a dog" Barack Obama)
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To: marlon

That would be sons, not signs. :-)


60 posted on 01/30/2011 7:44:39 AM PST by marlon ("They talk about me like a dog" Barack Obama)
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