Re: Discuss: cookies and recommendations

[Henry Best <jstrauss@gmu.edu>]

On Thu, 13 Jun 1996, Heather Swann wrote:

> > Hmm, everwhere I've lived, anyone and everyone was encouraged to 
> > write recommendation letters.  Is it different in Atlantia? 
> >  
> > 	Tibor 
> 
> I have seen it work out both ways.  When I was a seneschale in Isenfir, it 
> said in the seneschale's handbook that Master Robin gave me that it was my job 
> to recommend people for awards (although anyone could).  Just that seneschales 
> in particular should be aware of what was going on, and make sure folks got 
> recognized.  At the time I had no awards.  I sent in many, many letters only 
> to be told by someone, "What did you expect, you don't have any awards".  I 
> had been under the impression I was just doing my job.  When my shire sent in 
> several petitions to try to get me an AoA (without my knowledge), they were 
> ignored.  Later, someone casually remarked to them, "Oh, petitions are always 
> ignored- after all, someone might feel pressured to sign.  You must send in 
> individual letters." 

Okay, it's obviously time to start trading "When I was seneschal in 
Isenfir" stories:

When I was seneschal of Isenfir, I also started out with no cookies. I 
had no handbook; but decided it was my duty to be proactive about cookies 
for my charges. I don't know how well letters would have worked on their 
own. I rarely used any.

My main tack was to go and meet with the Crown(s) face to face. 
"So-and-so is in need of an AOA and they are here today." was the gist of 
my messages. All the crown had to do was nod their head "yes" and I would 
go visit the court herald and have an AOA added to the business.

I had engineered 5 AOAs, directly or indirectly, before someone leaked 
the info that I was cookie-less. The Crown's response was to give me one 
and to publicly berate me for failing to put the O2 mask over my own face 
before tending to my kids. ;>

My advice to cookie fetchers is just this: make it as simple and easy for 
the Crown as possible. 

In the specific case of AOAs, the Crown wants to hear

	1) The person's name
	2) that the person is here, today, at this event
	3) enough specifics so the Crown has something meaningful to say.

I have begun giving out a 3x5 cheatsheet on the potential recipient, name 
at the top, a pronunciation in parentheses, and bullets for the Crown to 
know.


Ld Henry Best		"People don't quit playing because they grow old.
Chancellor Emeritis	 They grow old because they quit playing." 
						-Oliver Wendell Holmes
jstrauss@gmu.edu

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