Hard Duty

19^th October 2016

My Dear friends at (Company) Security,

I’m a Security Officer with eighteen years of experience who has seen some of the hardest duty an unarmed person can have in the field. I learned that my big problem is that I express myself in a professional way, and that professionalism is not conducive to success with the companies I worked with.

With my last company I arrived on post to find guards out of uniform and sleeping in their car.  When I reported this I was told “Mind your own business”. Likewise, at the company before that I reported a fire door blocked and they said that it wasn’t an issue because the “Fire Marshal hadn’t been by”.

I take my job seriously as a Security Officer but I’ve worked at companies that feel that any guard is a good guard, but that means that the man who does his job well makes others look bad.

I’m a professional Security Officer and I need to work for a professional company.

I’m hoping this is one,

Richard Leland Neal

Deadlines

7^th December 2016

Mr. (School Official),

If I may express myself neatly, I attended a class entitled “How to Become a Professional Film and TV Writer” and after several hours I felt no closer to that occupation than I was before the class. Further along those lines, the professor of this class was a Hollywood agent and not a writer.  It constitutes a conflict of interest for me as a writer to pay an agent for anything other than selling a script.

I’ll grant you that this was a free class, but before I got in the door I found something was not right with your program. Then I would have to point out that I checked the facts reported in the class and found that some of them were inconsistent with information on IMDB.com. If you want my money I expect the professor to do their homework just like the student. Failing to check facts is like failing to read student work. This would be the very basic requirements for a teacher and your professor came up short.

Then we have your professor telling the class about the most prominent script she had sold. She mentioned that she had been asked for a similar script by other studios and complained to them that they had not wanted that script when she offered it to them. I would expect the professional agent to sell the studios what they want. If you want a car this week and come in next week asking for an SUV the dealer is not going to get huffy and complain about what you asked for last week. They would just be happy to sell you whatever you want.

I could go on about foul language and inappropriate jokes, but let me hit it from another angle. The best advertisement your program can have is success. If I had attended that class and gone on to be a professional writer you would have a clear example of your classes paying off. Further, I would then have the money to invest in more education. In the contrary, if I knew how to look for work as a writer but failed to obtain it, my next question would be ‘why’, leaving the need for more education a possibility.

In short, I wasn’t happy with your program when it was free and now you fail to understand why I’m not paying for your services. If Hollywood were populated with your students and they spoke highly of you things would be different. However, I have no faith in your program as an investment.

I would recommend you contact me when you’ve made major changes to the quality of your education and have another free class for me to examine. In the mean time your extended deadlines only prove to me that classes are going unfilled and that other students have the same skepticism.

Kind regards,

Richard Leland Neal

Out of Steam

11th October 2013

Dear Cassi,

The only way to describe my feelings at the moment is ‘out of steam’. I came home after work and drew another image for a letter but could find in me no further inspiration of energy to work so I lay down in bed accompanied by the two black and white cats Hyde and Sneak. This kicked off my normal dance of sleep and waking that has continued until now at nine at night.

I feel nagging weight in my shoulders dragging me down like anchors, and still I rumble off to work again sifting through the litter of unfinished projects and half formed ideas. Work is slow as the first wonderful chill enters the autumn air.

To be honest I’m frustrated and angry with my life falling back into the rut I suffered in college. I feel like I’ve progressed as a person and that I have become both a stronger and more prolific artist. My latest trick is to draw images and add the lettering in digitally by saving it as a PDF file and then opening the file in Photoshop.

This offers up cleaner text than Photoshop or the printer can furnish in fonts that I proffer. The process can be lengthy and I still haven’t worked out all the kinks, but now I can draw at work with only blank paper. To be honest this is almost nothing of a boon, as I put drawing away at work whenever there is something to do and that happens more and more.

The goal of a professional security officer is to stay sharp during shift and drawing keeps my mind going, but I have always wanted to switch to math. Sounds like a funny thing to do, but you notice everything else in the room when you’re working math equations.



Do what works, little sister,





Richard Leland Neal

More Professional Cover Letter

In dredging up old archives I found this letter which I did not write. Somehow it found its way onto my computer more than ten years ago. At this point it has moved into public domain or at least the writer should have taken it off my system.

This is a more professional cover letter than I would write so I’m posting it for your benefit. Do note that it was no better spelled than any of my old letters from a few years ago and needed some editing so take the professionalism with a grain of salt.

09/15/1997

Dear Ms. (Business Person):

I was very interested to learn about the opening in your company for a product marketing assistant through job search on the World Wide Web. I am currently studying business, specifically marketing and advertising at (a private college). I would like to interview for the position.

           

Although I have not yet worked for a major corporation, I have had work experience that has developed many important skills. In working as a tutor for high school freshmen I learn to improve my communication skills to better express and explain my ideas. I also learned the value of patience, a needed skill to be able to explain difficult or complicated concepts. As a computer lab assistant I have become proficient in my computer skill, including typing and internet use. I have also learned about customer service issues, such as how to deal with a difficult or upset customer. From these jobs I have also learned the value of punctuality, consideration for fellow workers, time management, personal responsibility, and efficiency. I feel that these skills would greatly assist me in future job positions.

           

I would appreciate an opportunity to interview for the position at your convenience. Please let me know at (phone number), as an interview time is available. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

(Unnamed pervasion)