I spent my summer in a co-op position working for StandardAero as a Technical Writer in the Publications department. I spent the bulk of my time there implementing and editing revisions to the existing online and print documentation for a specific aircraft. During that time, I was told to ignore obvious grammatical and structural errors if they were not included in the revision notes.
I found it odd that the senior editor was okay with this, so I asked him about it. He told me that it irritates him too, but leaving things like that alone means more work (and consequently, more money) for us when they realize the errors for themselves. As he puts it, "They never asked us to fix that error. Why fix what they think isn't broken?"
On top of that, I realized that our company specifications and style guides are not likely to be the same as the customer's, so it's safer to leave it untouched, as long as the error does not impact any technical data (part numbers, tolerances, etc.).
Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to know whether this guy's attitude makes sense or is just passive aggressiveness.
Perhaps both are true.
Being in an actual workplace isn't easy, right? If there are obvious mistakes, why not correct it?... Well there certainly are many factors involved including job culture and bosses.
ReplyDelete