"We work hard but also know how to have fun!" Puh-Lease.

Gentle reader,

Why do many corporations make the following claim (or a similar one) on their web site:

"We work hard but also know how to have fun!"

Dear marketing manager who is responsible for the corporate web site,

Come on. Please stop making broad, sweeping and generally inaccurate generalizations.

Unless you are actively involved in brain-washing, many of your employees do not fit that description.

Some of them work hard. Some of them don't. Some of them actively avoid working. Some of them have too much on their minds at the moment to focus on work. Maybe they are going through a divorce. Maybe someone close to them is dying or seriously ill.

Some of them will indeed know how to have fun. Others will be as dull and lifeless as a piece of pasta that has been boiled into submission.

Instead, why not say something like this:
"We have a collection of people who are trying hard to get by in life.
Our employees have their own share of problems, just like anyone else.
Some of them are happy. Some of them are sad.
Some of them work hard and enjoy what they do. Some of them would rather be somewhere else.
Some of them dread the alarm clock on weekdays, and take all of their vacation at the first possible opportunity.
Yes, they are all human, just like you."

Honesty in corporate communications? Heaven Forbid!


And so on to today's quote:

"When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you
believe that you will be able to converse well with
this person into your old age? Everything else in
marriage is transitory."
-Nietzche

Until the next time, gentle reader, I remain,

Your friend,

Buford Twain