Public Policy and Management vs. ECE and CS

The following is a real exchange of email, initiated as a missend which I received, but which was intended to go to Todd R. Gleason (Masters student, Public Policy and Management) rather than Todd C. Gleason (Math/Computer Science alum):

Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 11:41:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Mark A Di Sabato 
To: Todd C Gleason 
Subject: What's Up?

Todd,

How are you?  I am glad to see that you have gotten that huge job with
Microsoft.  It is hard for me to beleive that you are getting over 6
figures a year out of a Public Policy School, but I guess Bill
recognizes talent when he sees it.  Too bad those douche bags in ECE and
CS don't have the people skills that are necessary to survive in today's
dynamic business world.  Again, congrats.

M 

Mildly put off by the derogatory missend, my response:

Too bad those douche bags in Public Policy and Management don't have the
email skills necessary to communicate in today's hi-tech world.

Well, those management guys have never really been known for their brilliant wit, and this guy's no exception. Playing off my (demonstrably amusing) joke in the lamest way:

Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 18:59:00 -0500
To: Todd C Gleason 
From: "Mark A. DiSabato" 
Subject: Re: What's Up?

Too bad those geeks in CS have no sense of humor and don't realize that
their response is exactly what was being exemplified.  That means
demonstrated.

I wasn't going to dignify this with a response, but people pressured my creative juices, and here's what I squeezed out:

It really IS bad when a CS geek who minored in English and has a firm
grasp of the language is given trite lessons by a presumptious,
subliterate twit.  To be accused in a lamely copycatted fashion of
lacking humor makes me wonder why I bother to reply at all.  When a
half-dozen colleagues found more than adequate cause for laughter from
a succinctly, if too subtly stated point, I'd tend to question your
own sense of humor.  Perhaps feelings of insecurity led you to flame
geeks in the first place, and then to defend your point of view.  I
don't claim to understand.

But for those who thought the scrapped-together nonsense was wanting
of retort (and I can't imagine why), allow me to vivisect your initial
email by pointing out that many CS and ECE folks DO in fact possess
people skills; this is why so many use their free elective to
double-major in IM in their spare time.

And you might also wonder at the propensity for the CS and ECE faculty
to spin off companies from CMU like a cow indiscriminately farting.
Innovative capability, people skills, AND business sense.  But relax,
I'm sure that even if you lack some of these, you'll be able to do
just fine without.  You just might not understand what it is you're
missing, that's all.

;-)  (That's called a "smiley".  It means this is all in good fun.)

In Mark's defense, did he take the bait? No, sorry, an anticlimactic conclusion to the exchange (Perhaps proving that even the manager types at CMU have some clue.):

Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 07:49:11 -0500
To: Todd C Gleason 
From: "Mark A. DiSabato" 
Subject: Re: What's Up?

I realize that this is all in good fun (;-), smiley face, thanks for the
tip).  But I must protest the tag of subliterate being attached in "fun" as
to match your minor in English can be matched by my minor in world
literature.  As to the point of presumptuous, I can say that on occasion I
do presume.  And to some degree it is some small sense of insecurity that
leads me to this flaming of geeks, as to some degree I am pursuing geekdom
by pursuing a degree in MIS.  But then again, maybe it is nothing more than
a Loki-like sense of mischief.  Now in all fairness, it has been said by
others who are not from our fine institution that even the folks from IM
may lack some small grasp of "people skills".  As far as my own lack, I
already have an MBA so the business portion is taken care of to some small
degree, and as far as people skills are concerned I suppose that I will
have to just persevere with the small portion that I have at the moment.
But thank you for the lesson in regard to CS and ECE folks and cow farting.
 Refreshing, to turn a phrase.

Cheers.  ;-)

Mark

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