Ministry being one of the oldest professions, we’ve developed a pretty dusty repertoire of clergy jokes that were probably real side-splitters back when Hillel was arguing with Shammai, and when Paul was traveling around the Mediterranean arguing with everyone. One of these dusty gems runs something like this:
Congregant: Hey, Padre, you’ve got the connections — why don’t you do something about this rain we’e been having?Priest: Don’t complain to me — I’m in sales, not management.
Ho, ho, ho.
I introduce this evidence, your honors, because I was talking to some people about a job recently, and at several points I found myself at a fork in the conversational road: would I say something that was likely to engender a good impression of my capacity to perform well every function for which one might turn to a priest, or would I acknowledge my limitations, at the possible risk of curtailing the whole shebang? That wheeze about “sales, not management” rang in my head as I temporized for a second, and then I realized that I’m not in either of those departments. I am, oddly enough, in R & D — devoting my efforts to getting at the truth as best I can, whether anyone decides to buy it or not.
That being clarified, I explained that several of the committee’s desiderata were not my strong suit; if they were looking for those qualities as a higher priority than the strengths I could demonstrate, then I was a flawed candidate.
We’ll see what happens later on, but for now I’m relieved that I found my corporate home. And it’s a relief that I’m in neither of the alternatives that the old joke would have assigned me.
Posted by AKMA at June 13, 2004 10:29 PM | TrackBackA hospice chaplain of our acquaintence once said she considered herself in customer service...
Posted by: Jane Ellen at June 14, 2004 02:57 PMKnow any good Rapture jokes?
Posted by: Tutor at June 14, 2004 11:10 PMIsn’t the whole Left Behind series an extended grim joke about the Rapture?
Slacktivist certainly makes a convincing case for this. . . .
Posted by: AKMA at June 15, 2004 12:06 PMCome on, Tutor, he just said he was in R & D. How many R & D jokes have you heard lately? Ever? I confess to a similar penchant for lame jokes that often don't quite work until overexplained, at which point, there is no point. Perhaps and example:
First rule of laboratory science:
Plug in the instrament.
Barely even a joke, more of a practical suggestion for debugging.
Posted by: Gerry at June 15, 2004 12:52 PMWhen filling out various online registration forms, which invariably never have "Minister" or "Pastor" on them, I always try to find a category which most carefully matches being a pastor. On bad days I use "Administration"... on many days I use "Education"... this past week I've reinstalled Windows on 3 of the office machines after they were infected with viruses and spyware, so I might put IS/Tech Support. I think the day I put "Sales" down ought to be the day I quit.
I like R&D though... Not as much as R&B, but as close as I'm likely to get.