The Power of Negative Blogging

Once again, it’s time to look at what brings random people to my random blog. I’ll even try to be helpful and try to answer your mind-boggling searches.

negative letters to parents from teacher –Don’t see this too often, seems teachers can’t really get too negative in letters to parents anymore. Long ago, a teacher could write a letter to a parent outlining all the social, mental and emotional problems about a troubled student. The parent often looked at this with compassion and understanding, even taking the time out to thank the teacher for pointing out potential problems. Teachers spend more time with the students than the parents do, so it is vital the teacher contact the family and discuss what needs to be done to help the child. Nowadays, this type of critiquing is considered an affront to the parents. How dare they say there’s a problem with my child! Obviously the teacher doesn’t know how to handle students! In rare instances, this may be the case, but my advice is to listen to the teacher and take this opportunity to HELP your child’s development, not hinder it. I wasn’t the greatest student or best behaved kid myself…and my parents listened to my teachers. What can I say? I went to a great school and had great teachers.

pringles small –Its rude to comment on the size of someone’s Pringles. Not everybody’s Pringles are the same size!

“jellyfish brain” meaning – How ironic that you (whoever you may be) are looking for the meaning of this. It means you’re stupid. No, really! I’m not being a jerk, that’s what it means! Don’t be that way, I didn’t mean it personally! Come back! Ahh…forget it.

the power of idiots – Nothing is more powerful than a group of idiots coming together and deciding things. See: Iraq War. Also see: My Home Owners Association. This Demotivator is right on the money:

what kinds of monkeys will not attack you – When it comes to monkeys, assume all monkeys will attack you. Never turn your back on a monkey, unless, of course, he’s trying to scratch your face off.

can you survive on peanut butter – I understand food prices are sky high, but just eating peanut butter alone won’t work. Even Elvis had to eat more than PB&J. He had a PB&J&B (which was either a Peanut butter, Barbiturate and Jelly sandwich with Bananas or a Peanut Butter sandwich with J&B)

positive and negative of volcanoes -
Volcanoes have positive and negative sides, just like all things. On the one side, volcanoes erupt spewing lava that creates islands or enrich soil on existing land masses, but on the bad side, if you live near the spewing lava, fire insurance is very expensive. When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991 it actually cooled the planet by a degree. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted it killed at least 1150 people. Volcanoes can supply us with geothermal energy. Unfortunately many volcanoes are used as the lairs of many an evil Genius.

how to start bad employee review - This one’s tricky. Are you asking how to start a “bad” employee review or how to start a review of a bad employee?

If you want to write a bad review, starting off with profanity is always a good…or in this case bad way to start a review. Getting personal is also a bad tactic. Being specific about the employee’s looks, eating habits and even their spouse is a perfect way to offend. Be as vague as possible so the employee will have no way to improve since they won’t even know what issues you are addressing.

If you want to write a review for a bad employee…well that’s a bit different. First and foremost, be honest. Sugar coating the issue and hoping it goes away won’t fix anything. Don’t just describe the problem, show clear examples of the problems at hand. Try to show some compassion but also let it be known that these problems need to be effectively handled. Not everyone is great at their jobs; many may not even be good at them. Reviews allow you to openly identify weaknesses and allow opportunities for improvement. They also show justification for letting someone go if the problems do not get resolved.