Yeah, I can still remember walking into a large office and hearing the 'click, click, click' of the typewriter keys bashing away like the ocean waves thrashing up against the beach. That wasn't that long ago!

I remember meeting this super geek guy on a plane back from Hawaii once; he was a professor from HI; he told me that the keyboard was designed with a layout that would prevent the typewriter strokes from clashing at the strike point and that they'd tested far superior designs/layouts that would allow a person to type much, much faster. I wonder if they'll ever come into existance; this was 10 years ago. ?

Nope, too much resistance to change with the existing layout. You can certainly obtain alternate layout keyboards, or simply configure your software to read your keyboard as if it was an alternate layout, but most people don't find it worth the time to relearn a new layout. Worse, the QWERTY layout isn't nearly as well designed (for slowing down typing) as was originally thought -- so the gains by shifting to a new layout aren't nearly as much as you might expect.

it's actually a very quick transition to another layout

i started out in Azerty, French layout
when i moved to the Netherlands, i adopted US layout

these days i switch between both languages with no problem, at work i have one machine in qwerty the other in azerty (laptop), and i type blind and fast


i sometimes deal with German customers... and then it's Quertzu, so that's #3

Then i have a curved Natural keyboard @ home.. where my others @ work are regular, straight... another switch...


realistically, it's about 2 days worth of cursing, and in a week you start gaining back the speed in your typing...

fact is , most people couldn't type fast if their life depended on it... and they needed to standardize on something
now the fast folks are stuck with something the slow pokes know and that's the way it is...

I've been typing QWERTY for 25 years. I don't know that I could switch.

The funny thing is, my GPS has letters in alphabetical order, and it takes me a painfully long time to type in addresses...

How do you think the Chinese, Japanese or Arabs enter them funny characters when they type ?

I know this is difficult for you guys in the US, i notice it all the time as i'm in the software business... and i come across localization issues all the time, because many US folks never think beyond what is used outside the US (Metric, language, keyboards,legal,...)

Example, Corporate HR Policy in my previous company, we had to sit through an online course, every year, and sign (electronically) the policy every year, and we'de get crap if we didn't sign it, because Management required 100% compliance...

Despite the fact that A i was hired in the Netherlands, in the EU... and B most crap in that policy, was just not applicable, and a lot of stuff in it , was just plain illegal in the EU (Privacy stuff mostly) and C, some stuff in it , is just borderline laughable

Q "If Alice walks in the office, are you allowed to compliment her , by saying she looks nice today?"
B No. because saying that might imply she looked like a minger the other day

:D

Another vote for the temp. agency. When I had my law office I had the same problem with receptionists that you had Moses. Finally went with a temp agency which did a good job of sending qualified people. Found one that was a good fit and hired her.

I knew a model who worked the front desk at KKR on Park Ave. Made nice money and they were very flexible about days off.. Got the job through an agency that only works with hot looking women.

One day I will start my own company!

I was just informed that I had "volunteered" to travel to La Jolla and interview prospective employees this Friday. They will not be working for me, they will not even be in my department. I have no idea why they are dragging me into the process except that I'm an SME on the job responsibilities of the openings (but so are several others in the company). The good news is that the people I'll be interviewing are ex-military, so that means they'll at least have a clue.

Plus I'm going to expense the living snot out of the trip. Best hotel, best meals, drinks, etc. I'll probably rent a really nice car just for the drive down, no sense putting miles on my personal vehicle.
Not gonna do anything that will break the rules, just maxing out what they allow.
If they want to volunteer me for something completely out of my normal responsibilities, they have to pay ;)

Somehow, I don't think Moses is going to pay KKR money for a receptionist.

A dude named Dvorak made a keyboard that was optimized for greatest typing speed (as opposed to the design intentions of the Qwerty keyboard which we've mentioned). I think you can buy them from somewhere.

Pirate keyboard

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1203971832.jpg

Best to hire a back to work Mom - you don't have to deal with the drama of a post-teen or the dressage of such not to mention that a mid to late thirties women (MILF preferred) would have a better feel for the office.