Thursday, February 23, 2006

If Ernest Hemingway had worked at a startup

"Ask not for whom the coffee maker tolls, for it tolls for thee." -- Startup Ernie

3 comments:

  1. I could not imagine Hemingway in todays coporate america

    ReplyDelete
  2. He didn't have that "suck up" gene.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually have run into a Hemingway type at a startup before. It's generally hard for startups to find a good technical writer, so anybody who can produce technical documents in clear and simple English, they'll take. This guy even looked like Hemingway. He was bitter as hell, typically staggered in with a hangover, visited the coffee machine and the bathroom regularly, and wrote some of the cleanest technical manuals I've ever encountered.

    Alas, after that startup folded, last I heard he was on disability busy drinking himself to death in his apartment...

    As for where this post came from -- there was a strange dinging coming from the kitchen area. Once per minute, it went "ding!". I finally got irritated and went to see what was causing it. It turned out to be the expresso machine, complaining that it needed its coffee grounds tray cleaned.

    - Badtux the Startup Penguin

    ReplyDelete

Ground rules: Comments that consist solely of insults, fact-free talking points, are off-topic, or simply spam the same argument over and over will be deleted. The penguin is the only one allowed to be an ass here. All viewpoints, however, are welcomed, even if I disagree vehemently with you.

WARNING: You are entitled to create your own arguments, but you are NOT entitled to create your own facts. If you spew scientific denialism, or insist that the sky is purple, or otherwise insist that your made-up universe of pink unicorns and cotton candy trees is "real", well -- expect the banhammer.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.