TIMES/NEWS

As you can tell from Joy Henley's column in this space last week, her first name fits her perfectly.

Celebrating five years as a Times/News freelancer, Joy revels in her story assignments and the chance to tell people's stories.

As an assignment editor, I instantly know what is a "Joy Henley Story."

To me, they are categorized as features about the "damned, the doomed and the disinherited."

Well, that might be a tad overstated. But, as Joy noted, they are often "stories of courage and unbearable tragedy."

But when Joy writes them up, the articles are invariably upbeat and full of hope.

My first editing task is to go through and remove the double and triple exclamation marks!!!

Upbeat is not the term used for me. "Lacks enthusiasm" is the usual rap. I prefer to call it "quiet competence."

I blame my taciturn nature on my Boeing engineer father, a Norwegian.

But as an adult, I live with a wife who has elevated enthusiasm to the level of performance art.

Think of those radio commercials where the guy who loves his job runs around the office proclaiming, "It's only Monday!"

Marge tells her colleagues, "I'm so lucky to have this job. They're so nice to us."

Her fellow employees just grunt and go back to their online games.

Marge is also extremely hardworking and scary smart but I dismiss those as reasons for her success.

I've gradually become convinced it's not a calculated thing. Marge can't help saying to her boss, "Oh, Ms Smith, you work so hard. I couldn't help but notice the light on in your office at 5 on Sunday morning when I was here."

I needle her, "You may win a lot of "Hero" awards, but you'll never snag an "Unsung Hero" award."

Marge's reputation for possessing a positive mental attitude works to her advantage in job interviews.

Prospective employers don't ask her boring questions about her technical expertise, what kind of tree she would be if she were a tree, or any of those horrible "behavioral" questions that are all the rage in HR circles.

You know, behavioral questions like "Tell me about a time you had to fire a friend" or "Tell me about a time you missed an obvious solution to a problem."

Ugh.

With Marge, they just exclaim, "We sure could use more perkiness in the office."

Marge at the office sounds a lot like Seattle Times humor columnist Steve Johnston's wife at school.

As reported by Johnston, when he and his wife attended an open house at their kid's school, they reverted to their old school roles.

Johnston slouched in a chair at the back of his child's classroom.

His wife, on the other hand, sat in the first row, right in front of the teacher.

"Parents, thank you for coming," the teacher chirped. "I have made copies of the information I will go over tonight. Could somebody help me pass them out?"

According to Johnston, his wife's hand shot up and she began waving it frantically.

"Me, me, Ms. Applegate! Let me do it, let me do it!"

She strikes me as the kind who received a 4.5 grade point average out of a possible 4.0.

Anyway, the point of all this musing is that in the twilight of my working career when it's too late for a do-over, I am in charge of a bunch of freelancers--many fresh-faced college kids just starting out.

Much to my horror, as a boss, I find I value enthusiasm over competence.

As the head honcho, I seem to be a sucker for people like cub photographer Jimmy Olsen from the old Superman TV series:

"Gee Willikers, Mr. Mathison, that's a great assignment."

That's why Daily Planet editor Perry White preferred perky Lois Lane to the bemused and distracted Clark Kent.

And that's why Clark Kent had to find recognition from his night job.