Jan Mode

My colleague at work, a smart young woman who is working on a master's degree in technical communication, is passionate about her work. Everything matters to her, from the fonts used in our documents to the number of levels a numbered list is nested. And she will argue vehemently to make her point understood by developers or QA engineers or our manager.

She and I do not share that passion. We shop at the same stores, favor the same designers, and both love Germany. But I'm very easy-going at work. You think your way of doing something is better than mine? Fine, we'll do it your way. I don't care. I'm very adaptable. (By the way, that adaptability is also why I think eHarmony would never accept me as a member, although I applied three times!)

She has tried lately to become less passionate, to let water roll off her back. She refers to this new way of being as "Jan Mode".

Last Friday we had a situation in the office where she and I were moved into cubicles in a large room filled with support engineers. This room roars at a constant din, absolutely not conducive to concentrating on writing and editing. This move prompted in me one of the worst days I've had on this job. My colleague said I was in "Nicole Mode" and needed to get out of it.

As we were discussing "Jan Mode", I shared with her how determined Boston is (we called it "hard-headed" in his father). I told her about the incident where he refused to put the hood on his jacket down at dinner. I told her I was going to try to teach him to "pick his battles", something John taught me at 40. She said I needed to teach Boston about "Jan Mode".

Will this be what I'm famous for, the refusal to get wrapped around the axle about a document that may or may not even be read?