My family had its own weird vernacular for a lot of things. That’s probably why I made the written word my absolute passion, as I had to unlearn a whole lot of incorrect stuff. Although, I have to give them credit for teaching me about the Wreck of the Hesperus. I think I won a Trivial Pursuit game with that one. 😉
Anyway, we have a syndrome in the family whereby someone is what we call, not so affectionately, “Helpful Horvath.” That’s the person who seeks to point out something either obvious or useless or a combination thereof.
If you’re in any kind of environment that involves other people trying to show how much smarter they are than you, you’ve encountered this character. My favorite is when they catch something and put it in an e-mail that’s cc’d to exactly the people you DON’T want to know either that there’s a mistake or room for improvement.
Most times, they are just a waste of oxygen. Other times, they create an uproar where none should have even existed. Because, you know, that thing you did right that you were told to do is now up for scrutiny and discussion.
Helpful Horvath often escapes looking dumb in these scenarios. After all, THEY are looking out for the company’s best interests, yes? And you’re just the jagoff who “missed” a detail. Guess who always gets the gold star? (Hint: It ain’t you!)
I have a problem with authority in general, unless there is some amount of kindness and mentoring involved. But HH is always No. 2 on my poop list.
Of course, you can sit back and wait for the day that their act gets annoying to people other than you. That’s always fun. At some point, the people who are SO glad for those extra eyes and ears realize that the rest of us who just quietly work and fix our errors without fanfare are the good children … the ones who are seen and not heard.
Don’t get me wrong — everybody needs an independent pair of eyes. But if you’re not ASKED to lend them, prepared to have them poked out, Stooges-style!