How does a boss manage a worker who believes their feelings trump reality, right down to the way she “feels” about her misspelled words?
Gently. And probably badly, even though that’s no fault of the boss in question.
Carol Blymire — a “communications and public policy executive, branding consultant, professor, writer” — took to Twitter on Friday to tell the story she overheard of a young writer, probably “in her late 20s,” going over edits with her boss.
What issue caused mentor and student such agitation and aggravation? Had the boss been needlessly cruel? Had the young writer pushed some radical agenda, and was refusing to tamp it down a bit? Hardly. They were arguing over how to spell “hamster.” You know, the little furry rodents some people keep in one of those winding Habitrail cages.
Can you guess what happened next? The young woman, according to Blymire, “insists she doesn’t need to look it up because it’s FINE to spell it with a P because that’s HOW SHE WANTED TO SPELL IT.”