Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?

Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by pmiller2 on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @06:19AM (#22043754)

The bit about math homework reminds me of how I started getting better grades in grad school as immediately after I started doing homework in LaTeX. It’s not that I got any smarter, and I don’t think my work improved significantly as a result of using LaTeX. IMO, it was just that my papers literally looked more convincing when they were typeset like preprints rather than handwritten.

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by pgt on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @06:37AM (#22043843)

I spend a lot of time making my consulting invoices look good, because it seems to justify my rates and impresses the payroll department, who then pays me sooner.

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by eyegor on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @07:36AM (#22044201)

How do you make an invoice look good? Fancy letter head?

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by Psyladine on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @09:57AM (#22045243)

Same way legal departments dress up what are more or less informal requests in high language and good production values.

Old manager coined it "the power is in the template", big difference in response rate between an informal handwritten request & a proper looking 'official' request to comply.

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by vorpalhex on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @10:34AM (#22045677)

My go to as a freelancer was to buy a nice template (spend $50, it's worth it..) and customize it appropriately. You want something approaching "savvy yet professional" most of the time.

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by majewsky on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @08:17AM (#22044447)

I like to think that companies respond to my inquiries much quicker and more diligently since I started sending them out as LaTeX-formatted letters.

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by pmiller2 on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @08:37AM (#22044566)

Interesting. What do you mean by "companies" and "inquiries," and what documentclass do you use?

Edit: Or, were you joking? ;)

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Re:Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people d... by majewsky on Tuesday January 14, 2020 @12:54PM (#22047275)

> were you joking

Nope. This is real.

> what documentclass do you use

dinbrief.cls (the most fitting one IMO since I'm German)

> what do you mean by "companies" and "inquiries"

Mostly subscription cancellations and asking for refunds.

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