Message #810

[countrigal]

I completely understand where you're coming from.  Unfortunately some of us are hindered by upper-level admins who don't know or care about the appropriate formating.  One thing I've noticed a lot of is that where ever you start, and how they tell you to do letters and such, is what you carry with you.  No matter what you learned in class, if the business doesn't do it that way then you have to change - even if it's "wrong" to you.  And when those individuals get in positions of authority over formatting, they tend to keep those bad habits.  For example, I know that the lead secretary in this facility has taken secretarial training, yet when we type letters for signature, the name is not typed in all caps.  Now this even goes against VA-wide policy on how letters or memos are to be typed.  But if I do it the right way, it gets sent back for correction.  Now I look like the idiot when I have no option in it.



I definitely think employers should a) Hire folks who know proper business writing techniques and b) Do not give up on those proper techniques just because someone told them to do it wrong before.