Richard
Posted by harlan on 16 Jan 2008 at 05:44 pm | Tagged as: talking to the void
Richard is a nice guy. At times, he seems too nice. Here’s what I don’t like about him:
* Whenever he leaves our office, he asks me if I want anything. Does this mean he wants me to ask him the same thing whenever I leave? Good luck with that!
* He talks non-stop. It’s all nice and pleasant chit-chat, but he seems uncomfortable by silence. I’m wondering how he even gets his job done. He keeps asking questions to draw me into the conversation, and when I don’t say anything, he just keeps babbling about nonsense. Floor plans and the Wizard of Oz and fancy restaurants.
* He acts like he knows me. Right in the middle of one of his stories, he said, “You probably don’t like Emma Franklin, but I think her version of blumblahblum is better than Janis Joplin’s.” Why would he think I don’t like Emma Franklin? I’ve never even heard of her.
* He thinks Frank Herbert is a better writer than Orson Scott Card. That almost sucked me in.
* He’s asked me several times why I have stuff scattered all over my desk. I wanted to tell him that for me, putting something in the file cabinet is just like putting it in the trash can. I keep stuff on my desk because it’s handy, that’s why. But that’s none of his business.
I will say this. I could be a whole lot worse.
Isolation score: 3
You could always tune him out by listening to a mp3 or cd player. But then again those kind of people sometimes don’t get the message.
Frank Herbert or Orson Scott Card. I think I might prefer a fork in my thigh before I read either. Yes Frank Herbert’s Dune was wildly popular but really, can you call it a seminal work? Maybe I just don’t know the definition of the word seminal - that’s always possible.
Seriously - try some Michael Swanwick or Stanislaw Lem or maybe even some Philip K. Dick. Matt Ruff has some very interesting work as well. Or if you just need a good laugh, maybe try some Pythonesque Terry Pratchett.
It seems to me Orson missed his calling as a Scientologist. He and LRon would have made good bedfellows (well not literally since both of them would find that as a major character flaw).
from wikipedia: A seminal work is a work from which other works grow. The term usually refers to an intellectual or artistic achievement whose ideas and techniques have been adopted or responded to in later works by other people, either in the same field or in the general culture.
hmm maybe it was a seminal work.
no, I go back to it not being.
you could ask him favorite kind of internet porn next time he gets to talking too much, tell him your into midgets in leather masks
I assume that you have been a model office-mate and that, therefore, Richard is at ease and his job is more like a vacation right now. Why your joy is not being reflected back from him onto you is inconceivable. Give him time. You’ll bring him around.
tonyc-GOLD Harlan it’s not a bad idea. But he could be into that kind of stuff so maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea.
Frank Herbert, of course. It’s not even a debate. One writes seminal, as this thread seems to like, works of intellectual, stimulating mind-boggling grand master genre-defining science fiction while the other writes simple children’s tales masked as great works of SF/Fanatasy. Hands down, HF is the god of SF.
Try making friends. He’s probably talking a lot because you’re making him nervious. Once he’s comfortable he may quite right down.
Remember, it could be worse: you could have been stuck in an office with a depressed guy who refuses to talk to you.
Now, about the Card vs. Herbert debate, while I appreciate Herbert’s “Its takes 1000 years to tell my story” epic story telling, I find I enjoy reading Card way more- his work may be more “low brow” but its also way more fun.
He may be talking, but are you standing behind him, looking over his shoulder and mumbling to yourself?