Do corporate geniuses forget periods at the end of sentences?

Image by Sean MacEntee via Flickr

I belong to this writer’s forum on LinkedIn. Recently there was a thread on marketing. Here is one comment I found interesting:

“I went to a Legal Marketing Assn meeting in XXX and one person, unbelievably, said ‘We had a huge disappointment today. A candidate was perfect for the job, but she forgot to put a period at the end of one of her sentences.’ Those are the kinds of people who do hiring in corporations, etc.”

From my personal life

I can see that. You don’t hire someone in the corporate world, because they forgot to put a period at the end of one of their sentences.

I get that all the time. “You can’t write that because you haven’t written one before for a corporate client. We need someone who specializes in shoe polishes from the 19^th century and can write a white paper on the topic.”

Are they just looking at the missing sentence period?

They end up hiring someone who has done 10 similar reports for corporate clients. It doesn’t matter that I once created a compelling annual report for a non-profit (i.e. my first one ever). The report was praised by both the non-profit corporate types and other marketing folks on the project. But if I forgot a period, I wouldn’t be allowed to finish?

Blockbuster comes out of bankruptcy?

Blockbuster came out of bankruptcy a few months ago. Then then got into the DVD rental business through dispenser machines. Here’s what I recently shared about a recent decision:

“Recently I experienced this with 2 video services. Redbox and Blockbuster Express run movie DVS dispensers. There are many in my area. Both used to have new releases for one dollar.”

“Recently Blockbuster Express raised their prices for new movies to $2.99. Redbox kept their price at one dollar. They only raised the price to 1.20 for next day rentals. Both have similar movies around the same time.”

“Guess which service I’m now using?”

Are they just looking at the missing sentence period?

Atlas sculpture, New York City, by sculptor Le...

Image via Wikipedia

Shell and Jewel gas stations

Jewel/Osco is a grocery chain in the Midwest. The recently sold all their gas stations and Shell brought a few.

This week I walked into the former Jewel gas station. I asked the worker when they would complete the sale. He replied, “it is now a Shell station.”

“But there’s a Shell station right across the street,” I replied.

“It had a different owner,” the worker replied.

“Then it’s just a matter of which Shell has the cheaper price,” I said.

“We have the highest gas price around,” he said.

“Then nobody will buy gas here”, I said. “But they might buy convenience store items.”

His response? “I’ve been trying to tell management that.”

Are they just looking at the missing sentence period?

Two famous women writers of philosophical literature

Ayn Rand and Mary Baker Eddy are two of my favorite women writers of philosophical literature. Both are brilliant and on opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum.

Ayn Rand migrated from Russia to the US. She made a living there writing screen plays. She went on to write 2 interesting philosophical novels: The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote Science and Health With a Key to the Scriptures. It’s a work on healing, which I classify as a hybrid of Christianity and Indian Vedanta. In addition, she went out to set up a wonderful journalism success called The Christian Science Monitor.

Imagine a publisher rejecting Ayn Rand’s novels or people not thinking Mary Baker Eddy could create a successful publishing empire.

Reason given?

“You forgot a period at the end of a sentence.”