OT:College Is For Suckers

[Hobie]

Flyer: Right on the mark about connections. And darn nearly every one of your posts.

If I may add, you don’t have to be born into a ‘connected’ family for this to work. Just get out there and meet people. All types. Volunteer, donate your services, seek out the movers and shakers and meet them. Most are receptive and know the game. And if you can make them money, trustworthly, sharp, etc …. doors open. Learn to be friendly and even your geekiest cubical dweller will soon have a network of diverse people who tend to help one another.

[flyer]

Thanks, Hobie, and you are absolutely right about that perspective of the connections thing!!

[davelj]

The companion article to this one is titled “Not Playing the Lottery is for Suckers,” in which lottery winners are interviewed regarding the obviously sound financial strategy of playing the lottery.

One of my pet peeves is when folks try to attain wisdom that they feel should apply to their own lives by listening to folks who have beaten the odds in some endeavor. In fact, it’s probably more valuable to listen to the volumes of folks who applied the same strategy as the “winners” but failed.

I’m no pro-expensive college guy, but Nassim Taleb would have a field day with this article.

[flyer]

You’re probably right, Dave.

Actually, an education and the lottery have a lot more in common than they used to. Either way, you pay your money, and you take your chances.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=flyer]You’re probably right, Dave.

Actually, an education and the lottery have a lot more in common than they used to. Either way, you pay your money, and you take your chances.[/quote]

As the cost of education has increased, the quality has declined. Yes, that’s a broadly sweeping statement, but it’s been largely borne out by experience. I’ve hired college graduates that lack basic written communication skills, not to mention the absence of critical thinking/reasoning capabilities.

I’ve been shocked at times by the awful decline in even remedial communication abilities found in graduates from good schools, including a MasterCard Priceless moment when one of these kids referred to a client as “Dude”. That was awesome.

[spdrun]

How long had he known the client? I wouldn’t get too friendly on the first day, but I’m on friendly terms with quite a few clients. Went to a concert 300 miles away with one, dated two others at various points.

I personally don’t use the term “dude”, but it’s not horribly offensive either — one of the aforementioned people used that term quite a bit. Professional distance is great, but you spend 1/3 of your waking life at work, so you’re bound to meet interesting people.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=spdrun]How long had he known the client? I wouldn’t get too friendly on the first day, but I’m on friendly terms with quite a few clients. Went to a concert 300 miles away with one, dated two others at various points.

I personally don’t use the term “dude”, but it’s not horribly offensive either — one of the aforementioned people used that term quite a bit. Professional distance is great, but you spend 1/3 of your waking life at work, so you’re bound to meet interesting people.[/quote]

I’m in the blast engineering business. I bring that up because we deal with an extremely sensitive part of any client’s business, either for accidental blast (think oil refinery) or Force Protection (think anti-terrorism).

In this case, this was a longtime client and the engineer in question was a freshly minted MS out of a good UC school. He was only there because our senior engineers were tied down on an emergency project. I instructed him to limit his answers and be respectful of the client rep, who was the COO and responsible for their entire risk management portfolio. Guy was in his 50s and fortunately had a good sense of humor. He caught me rolling my eyes heaven ward and told me not to sweat it. It took me a surprising amount of time, post-meeting, to explain that that level of familiarity was completely unacceptable.

There are times when I feel really old (and old-fashioned) and I’m not even 50 yet.

[flyer]

Interesting story, Allan, and don’t feel bad about feeling a bit old-fashioned. I call it class, and, IMO, we could use a lot more of it in this world.

[scaredyclassic]

dude is significanty less inappropriate than calling a woman client dudette, or dude.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=flyer]Interesting story, Allan, and don’t feel bad about feeling a bit old-fashioned. I call it class, and, IMO, we could use a lot more of it in this world.[/quote]

Flyer: Along with common courtesy.

[davelj]

[quote=spdrun]

I personally don’t use the term “dude”,…[/quote]

Personally, I only use the term dude in the context of its full phraseology: Dude von Dudenstein.

Much as I’m not a fan of “bro” but rather like “Broseph.”

[scaredyclassic]

I only use broseph to say who broseph slow down you are blowing my mind”

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=davelj][quote=spdrun]

I personally don’t use the term “dude”,…[/quote]

Personally, I only use the term dude in the context of its full phraseology: Dude von Dudenstein.

Much as I’m not a fan of “bro” but rather like “Broseph.”[/quote]

Dave: I actually think you’ve erred and are not using the full phraseology, as you’ve omitted the honorific “Baron”, as in Baron Dude von Dudenstein.

If you’re going to do it, do it right.

[flyer]

Right, again, Allan. The common courtesy thing seems to have all but disappeared from our society, and, to me, that’s sad. Perhaps people don’t respect others, because they don’t respect themselves??

In addition, I just don’t get where the “attitude thing” comes from in most cases, (if, in fact, people are basing their “attitudes” on finances) when only 5% of the population have over a million in net worth. Very strange.

We’re “old school” and, in most situations, go out of our way to be respectful of others–and it’s a really good feeling. More people should actually give it a try!

[scaredyclassic]

I guess. But haven’t you heard people call others “sir” in the most contemptuous tone imaginable? I’d rather be called dude from a good hearted person than sir from a venomous weasel.

[Author]

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