McGraw-Hill needs a prize made just for them

Those hallowed textbook publishers that also own Standard and Poor and a couple of other operations (McGraw-Hill Construction, for instance), defnintely came through late in the day yesterday with a pick-me-up that was uncharacteristic of HR. After a small spate of messages left on both ends, their HR rep finally got ahold of me to clarify my job application. She told me that she wasn't sure if I really wanted a part-time job, because she sensed that I was going for a full-time position (probably stemming from the fact that I'm working full-time right now). She was very polite and told me to keep right on applying and checking their resource board now and again.

In the publishing world, which gets swamped by the intelligensia jumping the SS Academia by the droves, there's no real need to be nice: if one is disappointed with the HR attitude and leaves in a huff, ten more appear from nowhere brandishing their unappealing academic credentials.

Then again, there's no reason to be mean, either. What can be handled in a short and gruff manner can also be dealt with civilly and adroitly. There is no excuse for treating applicants like scum, and if I run into an HR group laughing about their evil ways, I may dress them down for all to see. They may crumple up my application and throw it away in the trash, instead of the permanent waste dump that is the file drawer, but at least I'll leave a sting with my mother's glare and acerbic choice of vocab words.