Is President Monson a Cranky Bastard?
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:32 pm
In thinking about Ray's suggestion that I think President Monson is a cranky old bastard, I have been thinking about what I know about the man.
I've never met him personally, and those who have tell me that he is very businesslike and unlikely to get into small talk. My friend who used to record church magazines for the blind said that President Monson would come in, ask what he was supposed to do, do it, and leave.
My only personal experience with him was, as I said, at the All-Church Coordinating Council meeting sometime in 1993. He raked our department over the coals (and he was exactly right to do it). He had none of the grandfatherly persona of conference, and no sing-song delivery. He was blunt and forceful and right.
Another time I was working on an instructional manual and was forced to produce a subpar end product. After the first run was printed (50,000 copies), I guess the powers that be found out that our department (meaning me) wasn't happy with what was going out. President Monson requested a copy, read it over a weekend, and said it wasn't great but that it wasn't worth redoing. However, he did say that the covers had to go. So, they hired some temp workers to cut the covers off all the copiesl, and then they rebound them.
We were told that he had seen "Legacy" over 50 times and got misty-eyed each time.
So I suppose my impression is that he's an effective and businesslike administrator who has a soft spot for schmaltzy stories, pigeons, and bad poetry. An angry bastard? Not in my book.
I've never met him personally, and those who have tell me that he is very businesslike and unlikely to get into small talk. My friend who used to record church magazines for the blind said that President Monson would come in, ask what he was supposed to do, do it, and leave.
My only personal experience with him was, as I said, at the All-Church Coordinating Council meeting sometime in 1993. He raked our department over the coals (and he was exactly right to do it). He had none of the grandfatherly persona of conference, and no sing-song delivery. He was blunt and forceful and right.
Another time I was working on an instructional manual and was forced to produce a subpar end product. After the first run was printed (50,000 copies), I guess the powers that be found out that our department (meaning me) wasn't happy with what was going out. President Monson requested a copy, read it over a weekend, and said it wasn't great but that it wasn't worth redoing. However, he did say that the covers had to go. So, they hired some temp workers to cut the covers off all the copiesl, and then they rebound them.
We were told that he had seen "Legacy" over 50 times and got misty-eyed each time.
So I suppose my impression is that he's an effective and businesslike administrator who has a soft spot for schmaltzy stories, pigeons, and bad poetry. An angry bastard? Not in my book.