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Tongue-in-Cheek: Despair.com
I was browsing through the pile of junk mail delivered to my home last Saturday when one unsolicited catalog caught my eye. The somber gray cover depicted a depressing, long corridor in a warehouse filled with plastic-wrapped pallets of floor-to-ceiling boxed inventory. A large poster, hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the aisle, said, "FIGHT workplace demotivation: FIRE unhappy employees". Intrigued, I opened the cover and discovered the world of Despair, Inc.
Despair, Inc. is a company in the Austin, Texas founded by a 39-year-old PhD who is apparently making a decent living spoofing the ubiquitous motivational posters and plaques that sometimes substitute for effective management in today's business world. The slick paper and colorful illustrations mimic the look and feel of a serious catalog, but with the added bonus that virtually every page is filled with sardonic humor.
My personal favorite is the poster of clasped hands with the caption, "Meetings: None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us". Those sentiments reminded me sitting through interminably long management meetings that ate up days at a time without accomplishing anything tangible. Another that struck a chord was, "Motivation: If a Pretty Poster and a Cute Saying Are All It Takes to Motivate You, You Probably Have a Very Easy Job. The Kind Robots Will Be Doing Soon."
The web site www.despair.com is filled with provocative press releases, ironic news articles, and posters, note cards, sticky pads, and even Valentine's Day candies featuring these slogans and dozens of others. In view of the tremendous changes in health care reimbursement we have all endured over the past decade, I thought their sentiments on "Change" were particularly apropos: "When the Winds of Change Blow Hard Enough, Even the Most Trivial of Things Can Turn Into Dangerous Projectiles". Despair, Inc. also has a selection of decals to place near the feeder slot in the paper-shredding machine, renaming it "Employee Suggestions" or "Enron Document Storage". If you're feeling skeptical about the value of pop psychology in the workplace or just in a dour mood, browsing through the tongue-in-cheek world of Despair.com may be just enough to bring a faint smile to your face!
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Despair.com features posters and other items that spoof the saccharine motivational items found in more traditional business management catalogs.
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Ferulas para Mano, Termoplasticas.
Ciudad de México 27 de Septiembre, 2004.
Estimado John Michael CPO, FAAOP. FISPO:
Varios Terapeutas Ocupacionales desean saber si estan disponibles los Manuales sobre Ferulas Estaticas para Mano (Manual on Static Hand Splinting) (Manual o... read more
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Re: Ferulas para Mano, Termoplasticas.
Thank you, Sr. Castillo, for inquiring about Malick's excellent series of texts on hand splinting. They have been cherished volumes in my professional library for many years. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, they have been out ... read more
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Roll-over shapes
re: "Evidence Based Practice", enhanced by subjective clinical measurement. Yes, it is true that "when measurement replaces estimation, calculation replaces speculation". So it's surely an advancement to be able to make relevant measurem... read more
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Re: Roll-over shapes
Well put, Harold. The more I learn about EBP, the greater my appreciation for the tremendous challenge this will present, which makes me anxious to have the field start working diligently toward this goal now. My best estimate is that it ... read more
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UCLA Text Books
Hi John,
Found recently the download version of the upper limb manual from UCLA on your website and was wondering if you could place also the lower limb manuals for a download there. Might be of some interest for aid agencies, specially ... read more
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Re: UCLA Text Books
Thanks for the words of encouragement, Marcus. Actually, funding is not that big an obstacle. I'm willing to foot the bill for scanning selected key texts into PDF files, as I have with the Spanish language P&O texts. That's a contribut... read more
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Roll over shape and Effective Foot length (EFL)
Hi John, and all...
Andrew's work on this subject is quite interesting and one that we are all having problems getting our heads around NOT because of the science involved, but because of our previously established bias. It intriguing and ... read more
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knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
I just spoke with parents of a 7 year old girl. I am concerned because of when she is older and want a cosmetic leg that isn't longer than her sound side when sitting. Plus all the great knees that she would not be able to use. She is one w... read more
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Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Sorry for being slow to respond, Matt, but I'm been assiting Marlo Ortiz with his MAS socket course at OPGA this week and we're all working from dawn until midnight every day to make it a good experience for the attendees. I just downloade... read more
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Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Matt,
Persons more experienced in pediatric prosthetics might confirm my position that the K.D. level is unquestionably the ideal transfemoral level for a 7 yr old because the amputated femur will not reach the same length as the sound fe... read more
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Re: Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Absolutely correct, Dave. Thanks for responding. --John Michael CPO
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Re: Re: Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Sorry Mike, I'm a bit punchy from lack of sleep...
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Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Ciudad de Mexico 7 de Septiembre, 2004.
Estimado John Michael CPO: de acuerdo a nuestra experiencia el mejor nivel de amputacion en niños es la desarticulacion en cualquier articulacion. El riesgo que se toma en una amputacion transtibial ... read more
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Re: Re: knee disartic on a 7 year old girl
Thanks Sr. Castillo- I agree fully with your assessment. --John Michael CPO
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