What ever happened to penmanship?

[sestree]

No really this isn't a pun - why can't people write where an an average person can read it?  I know they beat penmanship into our heads in school.  If it couldn't be read, it couldn't be graded.

Now?  I have people filling out job applications and I can't read the addresses.  Looking on the Driver's License is no help because 90% of the time that address is incorrect (or they don't have a DL they have a resident alien card).  

No this isn't about the Hispanics - I can at least READ their phoenetic spellings and can usually figure out where they mean (Birgena has to be the funniest though.  btw that translated into Virginia).  If I literally cannot read the writing HTF am I supposed to mail a check?

I know that is my biggest concern upon starting a new job - well not offending the boss by flipping him off in traffic is another concern (a story for another time folks) but making certain they know where to mail my freakin $$$$$.  C'mon folks.  Yes my son is one of the worst.

What is this world coming to when materialism isn't enough of a motivator to make sure it's correct and legible?

Comments

[majorchaos.livejournal.com]

email.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

They can't do it by email.

Trust me - I WISH !

[majorchaos.livejournal.com]

No... that's what happened to penmanship... the invent of email and Instant messaging... no one really writes anymore. Of course this doesn't help the folks who can't speak and write in english.

[julia0925.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Ooh! I have a payroll story! A guy came to work for us at AlliedSignal (company no longer exists due to buy out). He was hired, given a stack of manuals to read, and on the third day indicated he would like to start some practical work on the computer the next day. We never saw him again. They tried to mail his paycheck (for the three days he worked) to him--certified mail--and it came back. He disappeared off the face of the earth. Now, he did look Arabic, and this was right around the time Sadaam Hussein was making noises about conquest again, so maybe he had to return to Iraq to fight the good fight? Just speculation...

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Yeah but at least their penmanship is nice.

Seriously, I'd rather read phoenetically (Bladensburg Road is another one that gets phoenetically goofy) but where I can read it than chicken scratch where I can't.

I guess that is what happened to penmanship ::sigh::

[dorei.livejournal.com]

I'm going through this with my daughter and her job applications. Her handwriting is TERRIBLE. I tell her to take her time, write neatly. I find it sloppy, and filled with spelling errors. Including her home address. ~blink~

I cry.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

OMG Julia - how creepy.

What most people don't realize is if we cannot find someone (to mail their final check or one who worked one day and quit etc) and owe them payroll funds, we have to put it in as unclaimed property: we can't just 'keep' it.

I actually convert it into a payables issue check so we can track it better. We don't have a separate payroll checking account.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Yes been there done that with the oldest son. He didn't spell our address wrong but it wouldn't have mattered - you couldn't read it anyway.

One of the companies that spoke to us (back in the high school days) was Conoco. The HR person stressed the importance of penmanship and actually told us that she had made hiring decisions based on legibility and accuracy because if you aren't showing care of your job application it's like showing up for an interview in jeans and a dirty t-shirt.

That thought has stayed with me throughout my work experience.

[mistressfetch.livejournal.com]

When I was a wee lass I was a terror. Yes, I know you are surprised. *act surprised* :-) Now, when I was bad, instead of punishing me and sending me on my way my mother, oh my mother, would sit me in my room, take away all my toys and books and make me write thousands of sentences. It would take me a good 2 to 5 days to finish this assignment. Not only was it torture for a hyper kid like myself but alas, my penmanship is divine...so I have to thank her for that one..Oh, I wasn't allowed to print, I had to write cursive. (It's more difficult to "cheat" while writing sentences)

Now, as AGM of the Hound Guildes I was in charge at one of the practices and wrote some information in one of the young 12 or 14 year olds book. Well I wrote it in cursive and you could of blown me over when she walked up to me and ask me to print it as SHE COULDN'T READ CURSIVE!!!! WTF? I guess they don't teach it in school anymore...yikes!!!!

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Now days that would probably be classed as child abuse (I know don't get me started).

I cannot believe someone past 3rd grade could not read cursive. geesh. I know they made Montana use cursive in elementary school but I also know in high school, the teachers weren't as particular with Robert.

[dv8dragonfly.livejournal.com]

When I got those, they pretty much got no attention at all. I'd keep them on file, because I had to, but they never got interviewed.

[sestree.livejournal.com]

Heck we're so desperate for workers (legal ones at that) that illegible handwriting isn't an automatic disqualification.

I wonder how many paychecks I"ll get to reissue THIS week.