Story time

I'd say they make up part of the thing in order to get approval, otherwise
they'd have the facts and they speak for themselves.

Either, depends on the person.

The fact that they used the word "story" would make me suspect their method . . .

That's what I first thought.

the dog ate my homework




oh, and the check's in the mail

I've used that while talking about getting grants -- you have to tell a story, pull them in emotionally. Everything in the grant application is factual, nothing's fudged or fabricated, but you tell a story with those facts.

But it could go the other way too.

(Which is to say, I agree with Ceili.)

I'll take your word for it now but next time I want to see your hands before you make those claims!

I got a new puppy late in 1980, and among other things, she chewed up my passport. The boys down at the post office would not believe me, and to get a new one issued, i had to bring in the residue of the old one--which fortunately i had not thrown out.

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I feel validated.

When I think of a story, I first think of a work of fiction, or something embellished. Unless of course it's in the context of "let me tell you the story behind that (event)"

Anyway, here's the rest.....of the story.

In my region of the company I work for, if someone who used to work for us wants to be rehired, the boss's boss must give his ok.
That's totally fair. In the past, people have been hired back after they quit a 3 or 4 years ago over taking the exact same job at another company, for more money. What's to keep them from leaving again when the guy across the street offers more again? Keep in mind that clinically training someone properly for the industry I'm in will costs $10K to $20K or $25K. Not a small investment. There are a number of other reasons why we wouldn't want to rehire someone.
So, seeing as how you need to plead your case to someone, you're only going to go out on that limb for people who left for a good, normal reason that's understandable, and want to come back.

So, "Mary" had worked for us from 1997 to 2004, and left for, at the time, a totally valid reason. The shift she was working closed, as the patients were consolidated into the 2 other shifts during the day. Now, she Could have made the switch to another shift, and/or been willing to travel to other locations to get all her time in, but it would have created a big upheaval in her private life. BTW, I've known Mary for years, and know a lot about her personal life, and there is no way I would have been willing to make all the changes needed. I'm pretty sure everyone, including my (and at the time her) boss wouldn't have been willing to adjust so many things in their personal life either.
So, a 2nd job Mary was working a few hours a week did have an opening for the same shift. Pretty much a no brainer that she took it. She left on good terms, and we'd see her around at various functions.

Maybe a year ago Mary saw we had an opening, and said she wanted to come back. Not only had her situation changed somewhat since 2004, it's just well known that we're a better company to work for.
In the interim while she was gone, we had instituted a more formalized interviewing system, and even though we all knew her well, she needed to go through the entire process. That happened with no problems.

Mary is a more introspective person, and somehow it bothered her, not that she was thoroughly assessed again, but that she felt it was an indication that the company was perhaps going in a direction she didn't know she liked. I could see her thought process, as if I left, then came back after a few years, I'd be thinking "hey guys, what's all this about? You know me, and I know you. What's up with this?" I'd realize though it was just a hoop I'd have to jump through though.
So, Mary stayed where she was for a while, but became more and more dissatisfied. She reconciled herself to jumping through this hoop and not taking it personally.

So, she'd already been through the rigamarole, not gonna make her do it again. We're at the stage where my boss has to give her boss, in her words "A good story that he'll buy"

She's used this same phrase with a couple of other people that ended up getting rehired, and, although it pricked me the wrong way, I didn't bother to say anything.

Today though I said "Why do you feel you have to make up a story to Ed to get Mary rehired? It's perfectly understandable and valid why she left"

She replied, kind of surprised "I'm not going to make anything up, I just need to make sure the story is good"

I said, "but telling a story is telling something that isn't real. Maybe it's just your choice of words. I would think of it as giving an explanation.

I don't know that it is the choice of words so much as the fact she'll obsess over things like this, which is totally not a big deal.

It's like "dude, tell they guy what happened, he'll say sure, and move on"

I have a feeling she picked up that choice of wording from him.