http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429151030AA3vN4H

Daniel Brou: The Mommy Incentive?

Financial Incentive:

To go back a few years. The Daniel Brou said he’d write me a letter of recommendation to economics graduate discipline Elation! Joy! Celebration! I said, let’s understand this guy a little better. I offered him a financial incentive: Daniel Brou, want to be my economics tutor? Daniel Brou equivocated, hemmed, hawed, reneged. No, not interested. Okay, maybe the financial incentive wasn’t big enough. Tutoring is a low margin business. A few years pass. Other incentives have failed, so I offer a bigger financial incentive: an expensive $800 watch. Again, the Daniel Brou is silent. Super high profit margin, but again silence. Conclusion: financial incentives don’t matter to my economics professor.

Collegial Incentive:

Whatever! The Daniel Brou is still writing me a letter of recommendation; who cares about tutoring? I dutifully send the Daniel Brou the complete packet to write the letter of rec. The cover letter, thanking the professor for his assistance; the cv, showing my many accomplishments; the statement of purpose, outlining my future plans and sense of commitment; the stamped addressed envelopes, hey dude, the postage is on my dime not yours! SILENCE. Whatever! The Daniel Brou is a busy guy! I wish I could be as busy as the Daniel Brou. Don’t disturb the busy professional! I’m sure he sent the letters of recommendation that he promised to write for me! Send the Daniel Brou a thank you note and thank you gift for his work. A nice Mancur Olsen book. He can always resell the gift if he doesn’t like it.

The Appeal to Duty Incentive:

A year has passed. Still silence.“The Daniel Brou, I write, you really owe me an explanation for your silence. Did I offend you? Did someone tell you something negative about me? You won a teaching award so you must care about your students. I was one of your students, and I would appreciate some answers.” Silence. Silence. Silence. Conclusion: the appeal to a sense of teacher’s duty is ineffective with a guy who won a teaching award.

Power Play Incentive:

Several years have passed. Still don’t know what happened with the letters of recommendation. Contacted Daniel Brou again and again silence. Have I offended the Daniel Brou? Did I overstep some boundary of which I’m unaware? Did one of my detractors contact the Daniel Brou? I email and call the Daniel Brou, but the Daniel Brou’s friend hangs up on me. The emails go unanswered. Several years, yes, YEARS, pass. I’m fired from a couple jobs under suspicious circumstances…. I go to the Daniel Brou’s supervisor at Columbia: Daniel Brou hasn’t returned my messages and got me fired from a couple jobs! Daniel Brou’s supervisor: the Daniel Brou is super busy and can’t talk with you. Unless you give me direct evidence of his involvement in your firing, it’s your problem. Apparently, working within the system isn’t always effective. Conclusion: bosses really don’t care about the Daniel Brou’s performance. They give him money and don’t expect him to perform.

Mommy incentive:

Too late for the letter of recommendation. Too late for the information he might have provided. Still unanswered questions. I call Daniel Brou’s mommy. She finds out my name and hangs up the phone on me. I see a family resemblance here! The next email to Daniel Brou….. GETS A @@!!$%^ RESPONSE! YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! A RESPONSE!!!!!!! HE ANSWERED MY EMAIL!!!!!!

Not politely, obviously. But a response, nevertheless.

“Since you are contacting my family members, I have to respond,” says the Daniel Brou. He provides a superficial explanation for the aforementioned.

Conclusion:

The Daniel Brou, the PhD Columbia trained economist, isn’t motivated by financial incentives, collegial incentives, calls to teaching duty incentives, power play incentives.

But if you call up his mommy, he returns your calls.

With the Daniel Brous, call up their mommies for the best results!!!!!!!!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1941023&forum_id=2.#20620121)

Would have been more than enough. He basically got what he deserved. I'm not CC, but I would have been equally offended if I had asked a prof to give me a letter and he'd simply ignored me instead of being open and honest about it.

Lol at db.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1941023&forum_id=2.#20620399)