Nah, not gonna get fired over this. I have done this and much more with impunity. In fact, me and impunity are best buds, we hang out all the time. I've got more seniority than the entire editorial board combined.
Don't do it because it would be petty and reflect badly on you -- no matter how much he deserves it. He's crippled by fear of failure, that he won't do a good enough review job, that others will criticize his work harshly, etc.
Can you tell him that you do not need to see a finished product, but you do need to see an outline of whatever (a review?) by Monday? If he can do the outline, it could focus his mind enough that he can then do the article.
People like him are extremely frustrating to deal with. Can you get rd of him?
I don't need to get rid of him, he got rid of himself, by resigning in recognition of the fact that he's a hopeless failure as an editor. I am just trying to see him through the last of his backlog and get him off the masthead.
Could it rebound on you, or on any of the signatory individuals?
But at the same time, I totally get this guy. I'm the same way, or was until I got hold of some Ritalin. (Legitimately; it's prescribed to me by a real doctor.) You get all verklempt and finally the only thing you can do is something completely irrelevant. Which, actually, is why I asked for Ritalin. I got tired of being all scattered and unable to concentrate until it was almost too late, and then doing an OK job, but knowing that I could have done much better if only I could have concentrated on it without freaking out.
But if you can do it without anyone but him suffering for it, go for it.
No, and you and Elizabeth should look up "rebound" vs "redound."
Oh well, that's the editor in me.
Vicki, this actually helped me a lot. You are right and you made me understand his motivation better. It isn't fear of criticism (he's a freaking tenured professor at U Michigan for crying out loud -- he is safe as houses). But he fears he will miss something important, he is scattered and unable to concentrate like you said. Your post made me realize that I should focus on Jeff and try my best to help him over the hump rather than "expose" him for wasting his time on his blog when he could be composing rejection letters, which he obviously hates to do as much as I hate boarding an airplane. Thank you.
You don't need to expose him, but perhaps mention of the blog would be a small extra fire-under-his-bum if your plan to get him unstuck works but he seems to be getting bogged down again. Not as in your planned "Unhand those articles, you blogging fraud!" but more subtly.
I agree that you shouldn't do it, though I sure do sympathize. Right now I'm seething because I was on the receiving end of a particularly spiteful set of e-mail from a colleague, who was apparently venting some long-held (+/-) resentment against me. (He was wrong, by the way, but I apologized because I'm mature and far-sighted that way. I will kick his ass into next week if he does it again, though
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Can you tell him that you do not need to see a finished product, but you do need to see an outline of whatever (a review?) by Monday? If he can do the outline, it could focus his mind enough that he can then do the article.
People like him are extremely frustrating to deal with. Can you get rd of him?
Reply
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But at the same time, I totally get this guy. I'm the same way, or was until I got hold of some Ritalin. (Legitimately; it's prescribed to me by a real doctor.) You get all verklempt and finally the only thing you can do is something completely irrelevant. Which, actually, is why I asked for Ritalin. I got tired of being all scattered and unable to concentrate until it was almost too late, and then doing an OK job, but knowing that I could have done much better if only I could have concentrated on it without freaking out.
But if you can do it without anyone but him suffering for it, go for it.
Reply
Oh well, that's the editor in me.
Vicki, this actually helped me a lot. You are right and you made me understand his motivation better. It isn't fear of criticism (he's a freaking tenured professor at U Michigan for crying out loud -- he is safe as houses). But he fears he will miss something important, he is scattered and unable to concentrate like you said. Your post made me realize that I should focus on Jeff and try my best to help him over the hump rather than "expose" him for wasting his time on his blog when he could be composing rejection letters, which he obviously hates to do as much as I hate boarding an airplane. Thank you.
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