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FukuiSanYesOta's avatar

"Here’s one potential script: “Boss Person, I’d like to talk to you about Adorama (I don’t know why she’s named after a Manhattan photo shop, but she is). I’ve noticed some specific behaviors over time that are of concern. I’m wondering if you might be willing to coach me on how best to respond. I understand that she and I may have personality differences, but these things have truly bothered me - and I don’t think I’m the only one.”"

This is excellent advice. Asking for coaching is an excellent rhetorical trick to escalate and not just be Captain Criticism. Also, you might get some really good advice too, so bonus.

Certainly I think more of people who approach it like that - and believe me I've had this.

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R. Riddle's avatar

When I was a wee lad, around third grade in the early 70s, the elementary school in my rural podunk Appalachian town somehow got an actual art teacher to come to our school once a week for a few months to offer us an actual art class. It was something optional you could stay for after school.

My parents were supportive and I loved it - it was one of the most rewarding experiences I ever had in school.

We learned all the basics of drawing and perspective and, by the end of the few months, were learning about mind-blowing things like color wheels.

Looking back on it, it really opened up a part of my brain I wasn't using - I learned how to really look at things and understand how I was seeing them and how they were put together.

I never became an artist, but, gosh darn it, it gave me a better understanding of how to look at the world and use by noggin to interpret what I was seeing. Now, I can look at something created by AI or sloppy special effects teams in Hollywood and tell you why it looks "off". Or I can look at a political ad from some conservative whack-a-doodle and see how they're using graphics and typography to appeal to your lizard brain.

And no freakin' coloring books were involved.

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