I think it ultimately comes down to the signalling value of language. Nobody expects a tradesman to have particularly good writing skills, because it's almost entirely unrelated to their actual work. I'd look for other signs, like their van. If it's a rustbucket, they probably don't give a shit. If it's too flash, there's a good chance they'll rip you off. If it's a rental with magnetic decals over the Hertz logo, you might get burgled.

For office workers, obviously written English is very important. You'd expect decent grammar and an appropriate tone at the least. For professionals, it gets more nuanced. I'd trust a solicitor who writes to me in plain English much more than one who writes in legalese; either they don't know how to communicate in plain English, or they're trying to make themselves look important. Senior executives tend to write in short sentences or even sentence fragments as a sign of how busy they are and how important their time is.

People that focus on bullshit lack a lot of other skills then they get insecure about it and try attacking others for having one bad skill i.e spelling/grammar

I mean gl after your english major maybe you'll get hired as an editor like a little monkey

People that focus on bullshit lack a lot of other skills then they get insecure about it and try attacking others for having one bad skill i.e spelling/grammar

I mean gl after your english major maybe you'll get hired as an editor like a little monkey

I don't trust people who speak proper queen's english.

Although I also have an issue with trusting people with a private education.

>>7128>>7129

What the hell are you talking about? I know you're trying to get me riled, and it's worked, but what a gigantic load of fucking balls. Employers are constantly complaining too many people lack basic English skills, and, wilfully or otherwise, not using commas and full stops should be an embarrassment. Unless you're dyslexic in which case you have my sympathies and my ear should you need a hand spelling owt.

See what I did there, I subverted my own grammatical standards, you can do that when understand basic English writing principles, and I'm thick, you should see what halfway intelligent people can do.

>>7131 You want your plumber or nurse to be able to use a comma? Get your priorities right.

>>7132

Patients die on a daily basis because of documentation and handover errors. For nurses, being able to communicate clearly and accurately is literally a matter of life and death. It might seem trivial, but a stray comma or a poorly chosen word can lead to a catastrophic medical error.

>>7133
>Patients die on a daily basis because of documentation and handover errors.

I'd like to see a few of these 'daily cases' where a comma has killed someone. I don't doubt that you will be able to pull a somewhat dubious story or two but you're painting a crisis when really you just want to climb up your own arse.

Doctors really do have handwriting as awful as their reputations suggest.

I often think, is it really because they are so busy they can only spider-scrawl a vague suggestion of clinical infomation onto their paperwork? Is it so vital that they run down the corridor to their next patient whilst writing out test requests and prescriptions mid-stride?

Or would it be clinically beneficial if other healthcare workers could actually fucking read that shit without passing it around the department twice over and settling on the most popular interpretation?

>>7134

You honestly wouldn't believe the stories anyway m8. Not long ago I was reading reports of so-called "never events" from various NHS trusts. People get the wrong bollock cut off, people have endoscopies conducted in the wrong orifice, people get massive overdoses of the wrong drug. It all happens, wether you'd like to believe so or not.

Communication is fucking vital.

>>7134

>I'd like to see a few of these 'daily cases' where a comma has killed someone.

Fatal incidents involving documentation and handover are a daily occurrence. I didn't say anything about the frequency with which misplaced commas kill people. Nonetheless, incredibly subtle discrepancies in notes can lead to fatalities.

Here's a case where writing ".5mg" instead of "0.5mg" led to the death of a 9-month-old girl. The decimal point was not noticed, resulting in a massive morphine overdose.

https://www.ismp.org/newsletters/acutecare/articles/20010502.asp

Here's a case where a man died because of bad handwriting - a receptionist misread "Same" as "50mg". The patient's dose of warfarin was doubled and he died of a gastrointestinal haemorrhage three weeks later.

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/patients-death-prompts-alert-on-gps-handwriting/10869385.article

There are thousands of medical errors every year simply due to inappropriate use of abbreviations.

http://www.wapatientsafety.org/downloads/Brunetti_JCJQPS_2007.pdf

According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 7,000 patients die every year in the US alone due to prescribing errors. Most of those errors boil down to simple maths and English problems. Someone confuses "brintellix" (an antidepressant) with "brilinta" (a leukemia drug). Someone cocks up the conversion between micrograms and milligrams. Someone misreads the instructions on a syringe driver. It's all subtle, attention-to-detail stuff.

>>7136
I blame all the foreign doctors and nurses ruining our NHS.

>>7136
So no comma deaths. The first case isn't even grammatical, there was just a lack of care on both parties.

Maybe if medical staff spent less time reading books and more time relaxing their neurons in front of the television we wouldn't have this problem.

>>7136 This is now getting off topic. Yes I want a nurse or whatever to document correctly, but as for whether they talk proper or can construct beautiful written pros is entirely redundant as to whether they are trust worthy or good at their job. I know shit doctors who can write a great letter and I know great doctors who write shit letters and I know which ones I prefer to work with.

>>7139
The one that writes great letters?

>>7139

I think we've simply answered the question by now frankly. Depends on the job.

They don't have to be William Shakespeare, but I think the capability of at least a certain level of attention to detail and clarity is absolutely neccesarry in certain jobs.

I wouldn't expect grammatical competence from a bricklayer, unless he somehow misplaces his decimal place and accidently orders half a brick instead of 500.

Neither of these have much bearing specifically on how far I'd trust them or rate their competency; that's boiling it down far too much.

I used to collaborate in several past jobs with teams in Bangalore, the top tier investment bank was fine, they had clear diction. But the other company was just awful, I understood maybe 50% of what was said and had to piece it together. I had to find ways to get everything in emails because otherwise the ambiguity made my job undoable.

>>7142

The number of international video/conference calls I'll been on where I've basically just zoned out and asked everyone to confirm all the action points via circular email is probably very close to 100%.