So I have a meeting with the other counselors in the office every Tuesday morning. We talk aobut anything that the others need to know, or go over what we’re working on, etc. It’s also an opportunity for the assoc. director, who is basically the “campus-at-large liason” for financial aid, to tell us about the goings on in his various meetings and trainings and stuff like that.

So one of the things we looked at today was a list of “core values,” that are apparently “valued by the university community,” and also a list of “personal values” that “ideal candidates” for open positions “will” “have.”

And you “can” quote me “on that.”

Anyway, the point I want to get at is, why do we need a list of things that traits that people need to have in order to hire them? Why do people need to be so happy about going to work? I don’t like the trend at all. So on top of being qualified for a job and knowing how to do it effectively, I need to shoot rainbows out of my ass while I’m doing it (?).

And yes, I mean, looking at this list, there are a lot of good things on it, OK? But I’m looking at this and saying, “these are qualities that good human beings just have by nature…” Why the hell did we have to get a commitee together to write them down, when non-dipshits should just have these things subconsciously within themselves? I’ll go to church to get reminders of how I should be living my life, or what sort of attitude I should take into my daily interactions with others. I don’t need to waste time on it at work.

I’m doing my job, I’m doing it right, and other than that, I just want to be left alone. If there are people that have so much time on their hands, maybe the answer isn’t to make work your religion or therapy group– how ’bout we trim the fat a little bit, save some people a little money, and try to do our work more efficiently?