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29 May 03 - 11:29 AM (#961291) Subject: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: clueless don I labelled this "BS", but I suppose it could also be folklore. Many, many years ago I was watching an episode of a TV Western (very generic - I don't remember the title.) In a scene, a man came into the office of a former employer and said, with cold anger in his voice, "You wrote me a broken crane letter!" A third man was present who said "what's that?", which gave the first man an opportunity to provide exposition for the TV audience. He said that the former employer had written a letter of recommendation that included, somewhere in the margin (or perhaps it was a watermark), a drawing of a broken crane (I don't know if it was a construction crane [how common were they in the days of the old west?] or a bird.) Any prospective employer, seeing this broken crane symbol, would know that it meant "pay no attention to anything I have written in this letter - you don't want to hire this person." Has anybody ever heard of this? I tried a GOOGLE search on "broken crane letter" and got nothing. Is this a reference to something real, and the scriptwriter changed the name of the symbol? Or did the scriptwriter make the concept up out of whole cloth? This sort of thing may still go on today. My wife informs me that if a letter of recommendation describes a person as "a hard worker", employers know not to hire the person. |
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29 May 03 - 12:34 PM (#961324) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: John MacKenzie Go to Google or whatever, and put in "broken crane symbol", it will bring up several references. The crane referred to is a bird, and is a sign of ill omen. Giok |
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29 May 03 - 07:59 PM (#961546) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: Jim Dixon I have several doubts about this story: Could the average businessman even draw a crane well enough to distinguish it from any other bird? If not, wouldn't they call it a "broken bird" letter? Even if it's a construction crane – same problem. If they wanted a universally recognizable symbol, wouldn't they choose something simpler? And how could any employer draw a picture of a crane on a letter of recommendation without causing the employee to ask, "What the hell is this?" And how could a symbol like this spread around so that every employer knew what it meant, but no worker did? I don't think ANY secret code or symbol system could work and remain secret for long. And if an employee asks you to write a letter of recommendation, and you don't want to recommend him, why not just say "no"? OK, I can think of some reasons why, in some unusual situations, an employer might not want to say no, but in order for a special symbolic language to become well known, a LOT of employers would have to want to use it. On the other hand, I can believe that such a thing might exist in folklore. In periods of high unemployment, stories might circulate among workers about a conspiracy among employers. By the way, I tried a Google search, and the only reference I found to "broken crane" as a symbol was in a site about dream interpretation. I think if you describe a person as a "hard worker" it means he's not suitable for a management position. Your chances would be better if you were described as a "good golfer!" |
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29 May 03 - 08:38 PM (#961561) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: GUEST,Q Where is the crane (bird) a bad omen? In a current Children's art contest, it is "the bird of peace." In Japan, the crane is the bird of happiness. |
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29 May 03 - 09:22 PM (#961582) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: mack/misophist It's a true story. We covered it in American history, which is why I can't remember all the details.There was a supposedly successful strike by railroad employees. The settlement required the managers to write a letter of endorsement for any employee that wanted to move to another employer. NOW, Crane was a major paper manufacturer and used a crane watermark. The railroad managed to get some paper with a watermark of a broken necked crane. They used this for strikers' letters, quietly spreading the word to NOT hire these guys. Afraid that's all I remember. |
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29 May 03 - 11:28 PM (#961636) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: GUEST,Q As I remember, American history presented in the lower grades contained a lot of fiction. The tales of Washington and the cherry tree, David Crockett, etc. are among those I remember. This could be another one of them. I remember the fine Crane Bond papers my grandfather used in correspondence. I don't recall a crane watermark in the bond paper (they used several watermarks. A broken-necked crane would have meant a change to very expensive paper beds for an extremely tiny output. |
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30 May 03 - 05:42 AM (#961724) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: John MacKenzie Well as far as employer references are concerned, things have come to a farcical state. I heard a story the other day about a firm refusing to give a written reference, and instead just supplied a letter with her start and finish dates on it. The stated reason was, if we give you a bad reference you can sue, and if we give you a good one, your next employer it dissatisfied with your work could also sue, on the grounds that we misled them into employng you. Me I think the Catch 22 is alive and well......Giok |
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30 May 03 - 08:46 AM (#961810) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: Hrothgar Botkin and Harlow tell the same story that misophist tells about the watermark. See pp 166-169 in "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore," Botkin, Benjamin A., & Harlow, Alvin F., Bonanza Books, New York, 1953. ISBN 0-517-168683 |
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30 May 03 - 10:08 AM (#961864) Subject: RE: BS: 'Broken Crane Letter' From: mack/misophist When I said American History, I was referring to High school where the history in the text books was generally accepted. Get real. Parson Weems hasn't been taught as history for over a century. |