"Don't write that down!" someone joked to me recently. It was a sign of our times, just like the "Don't tell me, so I can say that I don't know" kind of gamesmanship that proliferates nowadays. People are frank and forthright off-the-record, but when the time comes to make an official comment they shut up, for fear of being sued or other lawyerly retribution. Companies delete their email lest it be used as evidence against them in court. Employees' invisible "hall files" — the reputations they have with their managers — follow them around and count for more than personnel folders. People go through the motions of learning just so they can "get their tickets punched". Following rules becomes the focus rather than doing what's right.
Tuesday, December 21, 1999 at 06:37:26 (EST) = 1999-12-21
(correlates: WrongAgain, OnGrace, BetYourLife, ...)