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Post by Gaidin on Sept 5, 2015 13:28:24 GMT -5
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Post by Propmaster on Sept 8, 2015 14:24:00 GMT -5
Agree 100% Tiger, I also do feedback to local writers (I also walk the hall of writers periodically just to sit down and chat to see if everything is good) and especially for those I have never worked with (long distance NCAC) I always give them email feedback.
Mutual communication; basic Business Management 101. You sound excellent, and this may not apply to you, but when you mention sitting down to chat periodically, it raises a flag. Please be aware that the writer has no "downtime" for ALJ discussions, even on specific cases. I will presume you are as efficient in the chat as in your work, but there are ALJs who have been known to kind of mosey along the writers' hallway, going from office to office for 30 minutes each, using up literally hours of productivity. Our office (at least) discourages chatting except at lunch, and if the writer looks antsy, please notice it and come back another time. FYI to newer newbies. Friendly = good. Informative = good. Chatty = not so good. Gabby = bad. Also, basic business management doesn't necessarily apply. We are literally not told who works in our office - when we get a new phone chart, we have to find out why - did someone leave? Who left? I complained it is a security issue not knowing when people stop or start working here, but I got no response, so... that's par for the course.
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Post by prescient on Sept 8, 2015 15:03:55 GMT -5
Agree 100% Tiger, I also do feedback to local writers (I also walk the hall of writers periodically just to sit down and chat to see if everything is good) and especially for those I have never worked with (long distance NCAC) I always give them email feedback.
Mutual communication; basic Business Management 101. You sound excellent, and this may not apply to you, but when you mention sitting down to chat periodically, it raises a flag. Please be aware that the writer has no "downtime" for ALJ discussions, even on specific cases. I will presume you are as efficient in the chat as in your work, but there are ALJs who have been known to kind of mosey along the writers' hallway, going from office to office for 30 minutes each, using up literally hours of productivity. Our office (at least) discourages chatting except at lunch, and if the writer looks antsy, please notice it and come back another time. FYI to newer newbies. Friendly = good. Informative = good. Chatty = not so good. Gabby = bad. . I actually think it's better to encourage more, not less, in person interaction between writers and ALJs. IMO it's more important to form a close bond with as many ALJs as possible, which will not only help with synergizing what the ALJ wants out of his drafts, but also, assuming work quality is good, will result in recommendations to perhaps become an ALJ someday, or when applying to other positions. That "lost" half hour in writing is more than made up for by interacting.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 15:16:23 GMT -5
Yes, we talked about this opinion in the Shapiro thread and I don't have a productivity problem, never had in any of my other jobs and never will! But that is a sad case of an ALJ that needed firing a long, long, time ago. tiger
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 18:30:51 GMT -5
Upcoming Union Election??? How did a thread get locked without me making a comment or two (dozens)? That's it...I'm going to kittylaw!
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Post by gary on Sept 8, 2015 18:35:33 GMT -5
Upcoming Union Election??? How did a thread get locked without me making a comment or two (dozens)? That's it...I'm going to kittylaw! I just noticed the name change. What's Pixie punishing you for this time?
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Post by funkyodar on Sept 8, 2015 18:44:56 GMT -5
Upcoming Union Election??? How did a thread get locked without me making a comment or two (dozens)? That's it...I'm going to kittylaw! Don't worry. I kept the tradition alive. Locked threads simply have to have a bombastic funky or tig...er, kitty post.
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Post by hilltopper on Sept 8, 2015 19:45:01 GMT -5
Upcoming Union Election??? How did a thread get locked without me making a comment or two (dozens)? That's it...I'm going to kittylaw! Alright ... I gave him the name, so I take full credit for the new moniker. But, Pixie and Kittylaw share responsibility for his kinder, gentler nature. Then again, seeing as how we served together, maybe all it took was 9 months in Tupelo with me and my persuasive ability to convince him ... that you catch more mice with cheese than a sledge hammer. Love the new name KL!! ht
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Post by funkyodar on Sept 8, 2015 20:18:16 GMT -5
So, wait. Tiger was with Hilltopper. Then, 9 months later, there's a little kittylaw?
Surely there's a joke here. Just can't quite wrap my brain around it. Hold on. It'll come to me.
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Post by hilltopper on Sept 8, 2015 20:30:59 GMT -5
Now, as for the general subject of the thread ... [Disclaimer - I admit that I am not an AALJ member.] I went to the "meeting" at the Residence Inn during new ALJ training, prepared to join if the Union Leaders present impressed me with their sense of direction and purpose and their ability to deal with Management in a constructive way that would help me. I walked away disappointed in having spent a little over an hour sitting through the absolute worst sales presentation I have ever attended. AALJ management, you need a better, more succinct message. We are required to watch VODs on the job. Don't create another VOD with an equally dry presentation, make me sit through a video presentation, and expect me to be "sold" on how well you are going to help me or my colleagues. You want full participation? Get your act together and do a better job of selling us on the fact that you know what you are doing. Yes, you have to be a member to make a difference, (I have heard that from many of my colleagues who joined). But, to be effective, a Union requires solid "Top-down" leadership who demonstrate the ability to understand their audience, its needs and desires, and craft the message and their approach accordingly, (whether it is a group of new judges, negotiating with ODAR management, or litigating on workplace issues), yet the most succinct arguments and best efforts I have seen so far look more like a "bottom-up" uprising from the disgruntled masses who are quite frankly disappointed. Letters like the one forwarded to our new DC continue to solidify my view that in addition to being terrible salesmen, AALJ leadership is short on foresight, and lacking in their ability to craft a persuasive argument that solves the needs of all involved. [i.e., don't continue to push a lawsuit spending hundreds of thousands of dollars based on the wrong statute]. The irony is that AALJ Leadership makes me cringe about as much as Congress does. Oh for term limits for both. ... Meh! ht P.S. By the way ... it is ironic that my last post and the allusion of catching more mice with cheese than a sledge hammer is followed by ... the hammer. So, call me hill-smasher.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 20:33:18 GMT -5
See, change your name to a kinder and gentler name and even your friends turn on you. kitty
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Post by hilltopper on Sept 8, 2015 20:35:57 GMT -5
See, change your name to a kinder and gentler name and even your friends turn on you. kitty It's a sad day indeed. And you even gave him your old office when you left. Go figure.
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Post by gary on Sept 8, 2015 20:36:55 GMT -5
See, change your name to a kinder and gentler name and even your friends turn on you. kitty Which ones are your friends? I can't tell.
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Post by hilltopper on Sept 8, 2015 20:38:49 GMT -5
So, wait. Tiger was with Hilltopper. Then, 9 months later, there's a little kittylaw? Surely there's a joke here. Just can't quite wrap my brain around it. Hold on. It'll come to me. I'm sure there is. He left you his litter box/office. And it's even more funky than before.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2015 23:54:22 GMT -5
See, change your name to a kinder and gentler name and even your friends turn on you. kitty Which ones are your friends? I can't tell. Sometimes it can be hard to tell, but Funky, HT and I had a blast for a few months together in Tupelo. As everybody who knows Funky personally, you can't go more than a few minutes with Funky without having a good laugh and HT and I have the darkest of military humor to get us through each day. I can't count the number of times that I was crying while laughing with both of them, but move a couple of thousand miles away and it's all over! I can't wait until November in Baltimore to hang out with them and get insulted all over again.
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Post by gary on Sept 8, 2015 23:56:52 GMT -5
Which ones are your friends? I can't tell. Sometimes it can be hard to tell, but Funky, HT and I had a blast for a few months together in Tupelo. As everybody who knows Funky personally, you can't go more than a few minutes with Funky without having a good laugh and HT and I have the darkest of military humor to get us through each day. I can't count the number of times that I was crying while laughing with both of them, but move a couple of thousand miles away and it's all over! I can't wait until November in Baltimore to hang out with them and get insulted all over again. I assume for the reunion you'll all break out the matching Hawaiian shirts?
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Post by hilltopper on Sept 9, 2015 5:32:10 GMT -5
Sometimes it can be hard to tell, but Funky, HT and I had a blast for a few months together in Tupelo. As everybody who knows Funky personally, you can't go more than a few minutes with Funky without having a good laugh and HT and I have the darkest of military humor to get us through each day. I can't count the number of times that I was crying while laughing with both of them, but move a couple of thousand miles away and it's all over! I can't wait until November in Baltimore to hang out with them and get insulted all over again. I assume for the reunion you'll all break out the matching Hawaiian shirts? No, that would be too prosaic. [Look that one up Tiger] We'll all be wearing matching camouflage shemaghs. Covers the face. Makes one more anonymous. As for Tiger aka Kitty himself, apparently the name change was temporary. And he now shows the true ideation of his name. He's a Tiger High Law Grad! But the question is ... was it circa Memphis State ... or the newer U of M? Therein lies the true answer to whether he is an old cat or a newer kitty. ht
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2015 13:46:38 GMT -5
I was in Kenya, Africa (Rowanda Relief Effort) when Memphis State changed to the University of Memphis (June 1994)and still had three years left of Army fun before I started Tiger High. So that would make me a newer "tiger"!
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Post by willsdad on Sept 9, 2015 14:36:23 GMT -5
As a former Memphian, I enjoy the above!
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