Author Topic: REPORTS: Report/Notes Language  (Read 23542 times)

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RuthNY

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REPORTS: Report/Notes Language
« on: Dec 15, 2015, 09:06 pm »
When you submit your Rehearsal/Performance report, but there is nothing to communicate to a particular department, what phrase or sentence do you use to inform them of this? (Yes, there's a reason for this question, but I'd like to hear  your input, first.)

Edited to add topic tag- Maribeth
« Last Edit: Dec 19, 2015, 12:35 pm by Maribeth »
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babens

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #1 on: Dec 15, 2015, 09:45 pm »
"No notes today, thank you."

leastlikely

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #2 on: Dec 15, 2015, 09:51 pm »
"No notes tonight, thank you."

Aerial

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #3 on: Dec 15, 2015, 10:19 pm »
"Nothing today."

LizzG

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #4 on: Dec 15, 2015, 10:28 pm »
I usually use a simple "-".  In the case that I have no notes for the technical or performance section of the performance report, I'll usually put "Smooth show" in.  I should say that the form my company uses doesn't break the report down into individual sections for each department.

Maribeth

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #5 on: Dec 15, 2015, 10:34 pm »
"None."

Beatr79

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #6 on: Dec 15, 2015, 11:06 pm »
No notes.

Samazon

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #7 on: Dec 15, 2015, 11:50 pm »
None.
“All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now."

RuthNY

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #8 on: Dec 16, 2015, 07:56 am »
Thanks for the answers.  For the record, I use "Nothing to report."

But here's the reason I started the thread.  Some of you, and many young SMs I know use "No notes, thank you."

I fail to understand why a Stage Manager is thanking another department, when there are no notes for that department.  Are you thanking them simply for reading?  It smacks of sheer subservience to me, and makes the writer seem like a underling or sycophant rather than thinking of themselves as a valued member of the team, providing needed, and required, information.  Especially when many departments receive the same "No notes, thank you" in one report. Heck, shouldn't THEY be thanking YOU for not giving them notes, and for sending clear, informative information on a daily basis?

So, those of you who use this phrase, why? Simply because this is how you were trained and you've always done it this way? Were you trained to do this by an educator, who perhaps did not see you as a valued colleague, and couldn't see past the fact that you were their student?

I am NOT attacking anyone who uses this phrase. I truly want to know, as I see it so much, and have come to view it as the writer (stage manager) diminishing themselves, rather than presenting themselves as an equal to the colleagues receiving the notes.

Thanks in advance for your responses!
"Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you."
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kokobear

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #9 on: Dec 16, 2015, 10:41 am »
Probably for the same reason that you thanked us in advance for replies...Common courtesy and respect for the other departments.  I've never felt demeaned by offering an unwarranted "Thank You".  Respect is not a zero-sum game.  I do not lose it by offering it to others.

RuthNY

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #10 on: Dec 16, 2015, 03:03 pm »
I agree, you do not. But excessive "thanks yous," to me at least, read as something other than respect. Maybe it's just me.

Probably for the same reason that you thanked us in advance for replies...Common courtesy and respect for the other departments.  I've never felt demeaned by offering an unwarranted "Thank You".  Respect is not a zero-sum game.  I do not lose it by offering it to others.
"Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they're fair with you."
--Alan Alda

LexieTaylor

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #11 on: Dec 16, 2015, 04:39 pm »
You bring up a good point.
I always say thank you in reports....and in general. I use it as a phrase that means "heard" on headset and I use it to end a conversation when I am walking away. I also usually use it as a closing salutation in e-mails.
I do it to just seem like I am appreciating responses instead of demanding them....but does this devalue the phrase? Interesting..

babens

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #12 on: Dec 16, 2015, 06:39 pm »
I will admit that it's pretty much just force of habit for me. I don't remember when or why I started, just that it was already set in place by the time I finished undergrad and probably picked it up from the SMs I learned under, rather than a mandate from above (though it could very well be why those SMs started it).

VSM

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Re: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #13 on: Dec 19, 2015, 12:25 pm »
In both rehearsal and show reports, if there are no notes for a department on any given day, I use the phrase "No new notes".
When a note is accomplished per the reports, I thank them publicly in the next report. If a note is not attended to, or I receive no acknowledgement or update,  the note stays in the report until I do. It also sometimes gets larger in font or turns a different color...
Ordo ab chao

smejs

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Re: REPORTS: Report/Notes Language
« Reply #14 on: Dec 21, 2015, 01:53 am »
Interesting discussion. I guess I've also thought the same unconsciously. I say, "No notes." Though at the very end of the entire report, I say thanks before "signing" my name. And I don't respond to everything the other departments do in response to previous notes, but things like repairing a thing we didn't think could be fixed get a "thank you" for sure.