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Clinton News-Record, 1972-03-02, Page 11Thursday, March 2, 1972 107 Year - No. 9 Put it in writing Chin ton, Ontario Bill .Smiley tells it like it is FROM THE ROYAL BANK OF CANADA MONTHLY LETTER It would be ridiculous to expect everyone in these days to remember everything he had to do, to recall what was said last week at a conference, to keep in mind his engagements for meetings and parties, and to know by heart the answers to all the questions that conic up in business, the community and the home. "Write it down" is not a drab, irrelevant lesson, but one essential to everyone. It is necessary to both efficient living and peace of mind. There is never an hour in a business office when a worker is not listening to or giving instructions, interviewing or being interviewed, thinking through a problem to solution or digging up information. What a comfort it is to have notes that make recollection sure and finding information easy. Solving a problem is simple when you have all the factors in front of you. People like to have things in written form. Your doctor and your dentist give you chits saying: "Your appointment is for...day, date, time". The newspaper confirms what you heard on radio or television or at a meeting. The written report gives you time to think about the points, consider the worth of what was said, and appraise the speech in terms of your own thinking. Notes written down either as reminders of things to do or to refresh your memory about past things form a sort of chain, every note being a link. In the comprehensive book (600 pages) called Secretarial Efficiency (McGraw-Hill 1939), Faunce and Nichols devote a chapter to "Please Put It in Writing. " They say: "If you look through the active papers, including specific memorandums, and the filing basket and the shorthand notebook on the desk of a secretary today, you will find one link after another, each related to its own special chain." ICE AGE TO NUCLEAR AGE People in olden times had no card indexes, file folders, notebooks or pencils. Nevertheless, they made records of their doings, their contracts, their obligations and. the links in their chain of life. There were 'paintings on the walls and ceilings of caves in the French Pyrenees, done 20 thousand years ago by men and women trying to survive the last Ice Age, Archaeologists found clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform, writing in the Nineveh of 3,000 years ago giving account of commercial transactions and everyday affairs. Carved picture writing on a sandstone cliff in the valley of the Milk River, Alberta, tells about men hunting and fighting, All of these were the notes made by people who observed what was going on around them and put it on record. Our advanced techniques in writing, typewriting, teletyping, printing • and photography encourage us to put into black and white the most intricate thoughts and transactions. We know that what we put on paper can he carefully considered, discussed, and kept for reference. Winston Churchill declared: "I am a strong believer in transacting official business by The Written Word." On July 19, 1940, he issued a minute to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff: "Let it be very clearly understood that all directions emanating from me are made in writing, or should be immediately afterwards confirmed in writing, and that I do not accept any responsibility for matters relating to national defence on which I am alleged to have given decisions, unless they are recorded in writing." Notes from the past provide the guidelines for action today. They are important to ensure accuracy of recall and to help in proper follow- through. Orders and instructions in writing tell how a piece of work should be done; reports in writing tell how it has been done; together they provide guidance for future jobs of the same kind. The habit of making notes contributes to invention and initiative. Says Alex Osborn, whose textbook Applied Imagination is widely used in universities: "Millions of dollars worth of valuable ideas have been lost because of the want of a stub pencil and a scrap of paper." WRITTEN VERSUS SPOKEN Every mode of communication has its place, and worship of one should not he carried to extremes. A face-to-face conference is the most satisfying form of communication in many areas of business and private life. It is quick, pleasant and effective, Oral debate in groups allows the exchange of suggestions, the examination of ideas, and the settling of policies, Conversation gives an opportunity for one person to influence the thinking of another by the force of his personality. These things being admitted, it remains to Consider some of the pitfalls and hindrances encountered when things spoken are not put into writing. Careful as you may he in an oral &inference to make your meaning clear, there is danger of misunderstanding. Your words May be the right words and your sentences Crystal clear, but the meaning of what you say May hot communicate itself exactly. A person's notes about a conversation not communicated to another in writing at the time are not of themselves determining legal evidence, but they go a long way toward establishing what the maker understood of the matter at the time. Trusting to memory will result in your mind becoming overloaded with trivialities which smother the important things. Dr. Hans Selye, eminent scientist and author of a revolutionary concept of stress, wrote in The Stress of Life (McGraw-Hill 1956): "There is a limit to how much you can burden your memory; and trying to remember too many things is certainly one of the major sources of psychologic stress. I make a conscious effort to forget immediately all that is unimportant and to jot down data of possible value (even at the price of having to prepare complex files.) Thus I manage to keep my memory free for facts which are truly essential to me." Nowhere is note-making more important than in dealing with buSiness duties and obligations by telephone. The facts touched upon should be written down as the conversation proceeds. CLEAR THINKING Notes help toward precision of thought. Writing things down concentrates your mind and helps toward solving problems. You bring related notes together and brush aside all others. Here, in this collection of notes, is what you need for the job in hand, the facts and your past thinking about the facts. Now you put them together in a way relevant to the present situation. Think of the assurance and poise with which you weigh two competing ideas on two notes compared with the confusion and worry associated with having planets, stars and atoms of ideas circling confusingly in your head. You avoid the panic of making hasty decisions with nebulous data. It goes without saying that when you put instructions to others on paper they are less likely to become garbled in transmission or interpretation. You prevent misunderstanding. LETTERS AND MEMOS When you write or dictate a letter you have the opportunity to read it and to make sure that it conveys your meaning precisely, that it is accurate, and that it is couched in terms likely to attain your objective. Your letter gives the recipient, too, an opportunity to consider, analyse and weigh. When approaching the preparation of an important letter or form--like an application for a job or your income tax report—it is wise to write a rough draft. This gives you a chance to have second thoughts about both your statement of facts and your manner of stating them. A memorandum is an informal note that embodies something the parties desire to fix in memory by the aid of written evidence, or that is to serve as the basis of a future contract or other agreement. That is the law hook definition. Most of us think of a memo as something much less pretentious. There was a newspaper city editor who dictated memos to himself about coming events. His secretary filed these in a date file (a folder for every day) and laid them on his desk at the appropriate time. TO SAVE TIME A memorandum written to another person is a time-saver. In a comAny that does not use the memo system you see line-ups outside the offices of supervisors, managers and executives—line-ups of people waiting in idleness to get in to discuss plans or get rulings or obtain the solutions of problems. Where the memo system is used these people present their cases in concise written form: the boss reads the memos in between other chores, calls in the writer for discussion or for further information, or writes his decision on the memo and returns it. This works smoothly without interrupting a conference or a train of thought or the dictating of a letter. It saves time, because it is speedier to read and assess and answer a mein() than to talk with someone, Memoranda should contain enough information so that they make sense at the time they are re-read, perhaps months after they were written. A memo is not the place for fine writing or jingling phrases or emotional outbursts, It is a really down'to-earth piece of composition in which you say clearly what you have to say and then stop. Some people make it a point to write reports about projects and conferences as if they were giving an account to other people, and then file the reports to keep things straight in their own minds. Others keep a running account of a project from its inception to its completion. THE USE OF WRITTEN RECORDS ' Modern business demands more and more conferences and meetings. A business man may have three or four in a day, The only way he can keep his balance and contribute his share to discussion is by making notes. When a conference is called, whether in a factory, an office or a home, he prepared with notes of the poi tits you wish to discuss and the suggestions yeti wish to contribute. Then keep notes at the Second Sectioa meeting so that you come away with an accurate account of what was decided. Notes are splendid things for anticipating needs and projects, They organize foresight, one of the most precious possessions of the ongoing person. They prompt your subconscious mind to work on problems before they become acute. If you have a dozen notes about various facets of a developing situation you have won half the battle. All you need do is spread the notes on your desk, evaluate the relative worth and practicality of the ideas, and select a plan of operation. The making of notes is an activity that helps greatly in laying out plans and organizing Our life. The Secretarial Manual of this bank suggests a "Desk Job Work Plan" as a useful guide. "Catalogue every duty and keep a day- by-day running account for a few eeeks, Then set up captioned sheets: Routine duties, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual duties. Opposite each duty list HOW and WHY and WHEN." This procedure automatizes routine and leaves your mind free to pursue other knowledge and activities. When an idea comes to you for some improvement of workshop, office or home operations you should write it down, together with a note of the purpose. Not only are you reminded of the need, but you give an indication of what improvement may be expected in the way of more efficient work, saved time, and elimination of needless labour. Making notes is a great aid when you are asked for information. Write down what is wanted, making sure that you learn exactly what you are to look for. The people most plagued by vague requests are librarians. Someone writes a note or telephones asking for something about—let us say—insurance. The library has scores of books on dozens of aspects of insurance and the librarian has no crystal ball to reveal exactly what phase of insurance interests the inquirer. Whdn you insist upon particularity when making your note of what is wanted you save time and avoid frustration. The importance of putting agreements into writing cannot be overemphasized. In every deal that is made between people an element of contract is involved. A contract is defined in law: "An agreement upon sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a particular thing," It is quite practical, in most transactions of everyday life, to deal with a person or firm without a formal written document. but the careful person will make sure that important agreements and expensive obligations are put into writing for his protection. When contracting for any service or goods, get the terms clear and write them down. The detail should include quantity. quality, delivery date, total, price and terms of payment. If the agreement is for service spread over a period, differentiate between a calendar month and a four-week month. The snow cleaner may charge $25 a month. meaning a calendar month, while the boy who mows the lawn may charge $25 a month, meaning four weeks. It is getting such details as this accurately in writing that saves headaches and disputes. In every oral deal that is important to you, whether made face to face or by telephone, the safe rule when there is no formal contract is: write immediately to confirm it. When you confirm an agreement, an offer, or an order in writing you leave no room for misunderstanding. MANY USES FOR NOTES Having notes pertaining to things to be done saves you from the self-deceiving device of dawdling over pleasing jobs so as to banish thought of the more important but not so easy jobs. Sorting the slips into order of importance will ensure that first timings come first. Everyone is in a working world, and our' work must get done. This includes not only what a person does at a bench in the factory or' at a desk in the office, or in the kitchen. There are dozens of calls made upon us in social and community life to do things that are outside our work-for-bread, entertaining, for example. Lists of names and addresses of persons most frequently communicated with in these activities may be kept in several forms: on cards filed alphabetically (a recipe box and 5" x 3" cards are ideal for the home or desk); in a notebook with an alphabetical index; or on a sheet of durable paper tacked on a wall or bulletin board. Making notes of purchases and costs is a life-saving practice in making ends meet. It is particularly needed when buying on credit, even monthly credit. A list of proposed purchases makes shopping easier and safer budget-wise, It brings together related objects according to the business of the supplier: groceries, building supplies, furniture, etc. It breaks down the grocery list into departments, thus saving steps and time. It keeps track of financial obligations. COLLECTING IDEAS You ,may have quick thought, but thinking needs facts with which to work, to build ideas, and to meet crises. These facts must he in such a form as to be recallable when wanted, Please turn to Page 4A SHIRLEY WHITTINGTON OF THE ELMVALE, LANCE Once a week, an. Ontario high school teacher hunches over his typewriter and stabs out a salty little column aboqt things like mortgages, kids, taxes and the cruel Canadian winter. Bill Smiley, who seasons 150 weekly newspapers across Canada with his personal blend of sugar and spice, tells it like it is, He comments on home life, "It is something to he borne, like varicose veins or ingrown toenails." lie talks about family hang-ups. "Momma's tolerance thins with the same rapidity as Dad's hair," About his job, he says, "Show me a teacher in June and I'll show you a character with a crumpled shirt, a wrinkled brow and a desperate look in his eye." He has this to say about the puzzling business of living: "The Sixties produced the millions of kids who are now a mystery and terror and bewilderment to the relics of the Frightful Forties." To readers of his column, Bill comes across as a wise, irreverent and witty man. It's an honest projection, He writes the way he talks, Sitting in his favourite chair an uncomfortable straight backed job—he'll curl one hand around a drink and run the other through his thinning white hair. He listens, while conversation flows around him, then delivers a wry and usually definite comment, in a voice as comfortable as a rusty porch swing. This wiry unsentimental wisdom is the reason acquaintances from eight to 80 ask him for advice, This is why ex-students invite him to their weddings, and why every female he meets falls a little bit in love with him, And this is why a clipping from a Saskatchewan newspaper describes him as "by far our most popular syndicated columnist." Bill was born in Perth, Ont., and was studyingat Victoria College when World War Two began. Ile joined the RCAF, became a Typhoon pilot and took part in many dangerous missions, like hitch hiking 380 miles on a 40 hour pass to see a girl. He regards this escapade with the same puckish spirit as the time he had to circle an airfield for a couple of hours with a live bomb hanging from his wingtip. The chaps down below wouldn't let him land until they had cleared away all the men and machines. "I landed" , he says, "like a mouse in kid gloves walking on eggs, Then I ran like a hat out of hell, in flying hoots, with a parachute bumping on my bum." The high times were abruptly interrupted in 1944 when he was shot down over Holland and imprisoned by the Germans. He came home with a knee disabled by an S.S. boot, and with plans to complete his Honour English course at U. of T. There he met his dark-eyed wife, and he's been announcing ever' since that she is the root of all his troubles. They had only been married a few months, subsisting on love and very little money, when biology threw a spanner into the works. Ivy (Susie to her friends) became pregnant and 13111 developed T.B. After' a year of separation—he in a saiaitorium, she at home in Wiarton—they both resumed their college careers, burning the midnight oil with a baby son as well as a stack of text books. Bill had his eye on post-graduate studieS in. English with a view to teaching, Out tragedy intervened. Ivy's brother le law, the editor of the Wiarton Echo was drowned and there was nobody to take over the paper. Bill stepped into thebreach and for years he lived "the happy harried life of a small town newspaper editor, rushing to get ads out, covering council meetings and Women's Institute meetings," In addition, he wrote a personal column, free from editorial and reporting restrictions. The tittle column caught on. Soon other editors were picking it up and some of them paid him as much as 50 cents a week for it, Before long over eighty weeklies were reprinting Smiley's Sugar and Spice, and the proofreading, mailing and billing became a family industry for Bill, Ivy and the youngsters, Hugh and Kim, When the Telegram Syndicate offered to market Bill's column, everybody was delighted. No more sticky tongues from licking envelopes and stamps! Although he was established as an editor and columnist, the urge to teach lingered in Bill. Off he went to O.C.E. Ivy managed the paper, juggling interviews, news reports and the management of a home and family with cheerful efficiency. He began his teaching career in Midland, where he is now head of the English Departthent of MSS. Lately he has joined the Argyle syndicate. The Telegram tried to retaliate by featuring another well known columnist in Smiley's format, but his loyal readers weren't fooled. As far as they're concerned, Bill Smiley is irreplaceable. Proof of his readers' affection and involvement arrives in his mailbox almost every day. When he mentioned a few years ago that his daughter Kim was dangerously ill with hepatitis, a flood of letters arrived, with prayers for her recovery. When he said that, in hiS opinion cable TV was exploitation, he was visited by two officials from a large cable network, who suggested that perhaps he was only kidding and would like to retract or modify his statement in a later column. He wasn't. He didn't. Last year he wistfully remarked that he'd like to get away from it all and enjoy a summer vacation with his wife— perhaps in the form of an auto trip across Canada. Invitations flowed in, offering everything from deep sea fishing in the Maritrnes to dancing under the stars in British Columbia. A column commenting on the BAHAI religion inspired a spirited if ungrammatical, reply from an irate Westerner. For a writer like Bill, a colourful family is a definite asset. His wife, to whom he has referred variously as "the Old Lady," "the Battle Axe," or "the Boss," is in reality an intelligent and attractive lady who gets fan mail of her own. She's as interested in writing and reacting as he is, and plays a mean game of chess. If occasionally she does something wacky, like setting the mantle piece afire at Christmas, it's all grist for Bill's mill. Daughter Kim, a beautiful redhead, with a blinding smile, is currently a student at Erindale College, where she is earning professional ra.veS for her writing ability. Smiley's readers know all about her. They have been following her exploits through 13111'S column, from her first music festival to her summer hitch-hiking adventures, Hugh, Bill's handsome son, was also at university, and Smiley afficianados remember columns about his piano recital, his summer working on the boats and the time he broke a finger Indian wrestling in Mexico. Bill's attitude to his kids is a typical blend of sugar and spice. "Those selfish brats? Let them look after themselves, I'm going to enjoy life without worrying about a pair of rotten ingrates," As he says this, he writes out a healthy cheque to help with college expenses, Is writing the column ever a chore? Yes, says Bill, "It has to be in the mail every Tuesday night, and every minute writing it is hard work. I hate it except when it's finished. Then I either feel the glow of knowing it came off, or a small work of misery starts eating away at me and I can't eradicate it until the next column." Will he ever write the Great Canadian Novel? "There are quite a few of them around already," he says, "by fellows like Callaghan, Richter, Hugh Garner and Jack Ludwig. As long as I'm teaching, I won't have time to start anything so ambitious," Because there are never enough hours in the day, Bill often has to turn down invitations to speak, or to conduct writing seminars. The few speaking engagements he has undertaken have proven to be memorable occasions for . _ his listeners, To a high school graduating class he said, "Tonight I'm supposed to speak to you about good reading habits...The choice of speaker was a hilarious piece of miscasting," In 1971, he opened a speech to the top officials of the Royal Canadian Legion this way: "You must wonder what a...piddling little one-time flight-loot is doing addressing such an august body, And I wondered the same," He has served on the panel of judges for the Stephen Leacock Award for several years, a role enjoyed because it kept him abreast of developments in Canadian writing, a subject in which he is intensely interested. His ambitions are stated in this snippet from an old column: "When I'm 85, I want to be known in the Nursing Home as 'that old devil Smiley, who pinches your bottom every time you pass his wheel chair." In the meantime, every Tuesday night Bill returns to his century-old brick house and dumps the day's crop' of unmarked essays or exams on the kitchen table. He settles himself at his typewriter with a drink, (anything wet— Coke, coffee, beer, tea,) and a smoke (I'll smoke till I croak!") and percolates his weekly ration of wry comment. Then he starts rapping with the folks in Collingwood and Seaforth and. High River and about a hundred other very important places in Canada. Peter Clements, the composer of "Suite Grotesque" which will have its world premiere in Goderich this Sunday as part of the London Symphony Orchestra's Pops Concert is seen at work on the Moog Synthesizer which will be used to perform part of Mr. Clements' new work. London Symphon y Orchestra's Pop Concert This Sunday in the Goderich District Collegiate Auditorium the Rotary Club of Goderich will present the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Clifford Evens in the !locus Poems Pops Concert. As part of a varied program the Goderich audience will have the opportunity to hear two outstanding performers work. Peter Clements' latest work, entitled "Suite Grotesque" will have its world premiere in Goderich. Mr. Clements was Ciifnmissioned by the Canada Council through the London Symphony to write this piece, Based on themes from the horror pictures of the 1930's the composition is partially performed on the Moog Synthesizer, Also appearing on Sunday will be concert Saxophonist Paul Brodie who had drawn top reviews all ove.r North America. Please tura to Page GA