Butter is better
Gee, what a load of dubious matter. I just took one of those Myer-Briggs Tests, and came out an INFP — that’s Introverted Intuitive Feeling Perceiving type. I can’t believe people would be so bereft of any sense of their own personality as to give credence to this stuff. Yet it shows up on blogs and elsewhere. Caveat bloggerus: never ever trust suppposedly serious people who can’t even properly spell the name of a person they’re honouring — other INFP types identified via a link are Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis [sic].
Jackie is very pissed off about this. Believe me, I am channeling her. In that vein, remember: The name is Yule. With a Y. The last name is, for better or for worse, Heibel (a vain cause, scroll down; n.b. it means nothing; I have no religion). Spelled with one l, and ei pronounced as in Fleischman’s Margarine. And never ever serve me margarine, that’s the devil’s sperm in a plastic bucket.
Hey, thanks! I’ve always wondered what they put into margarine. Must be popular in satanist cricles…
Comment by Edwinek — November 6, 2003 #
INFP here too. Surprise surprise. I took the test as part of a career conuselling session about a year and a half ago. It was suggested that I might make it as a writer and/or editor. I was kinda trying to get away from that, so they dug a little deeper. Architect. Well, yeah okay, eight years of schooling and out the other end comes a potential business failure. Even when I was twenty I knew that architecture was a business rife with frustration, broken dreams, and worse – stupid clients. The last suggestion was the most bizarre: real estate. I should be a salesman. I don’t even answer the phone now, never mind a 24/7 pager. And I would probably refuse to get my photo taken for the brochure, or the signs, or the ads.
Comment by brian moffatt — November 6, 2003 #
And furthermore…
…did they not see the word Introverted when they came up with Salesman. Hey, I’m all for counterintuition, but pleaaaaase.
Comment by brian moffatt — November 6, 2003 #
The League of INFP is recruiting. Today, Cambridge, tomorrow Hoboken! Bwah-ha-ha-hah!
Comment by jcwinnie — November 6, 2003 #
ISTJ which is just plain weird – this test is flawed by the yes/mo mode of its answers. At a minimum it shoud be yes/no/maybe better yet scaled 1 to 5.
harrumph!
Comment by Doug Alder — November 6, 2003 #
INFP, but I’ve known that for years. Here, Sister Yule. Put on this sackcloth robe and kneel her next to me.
(Smell of copal incense in the air.)
Comment by Joel — November 6, 2003 #
That “her” should be “here”.
Good Lord, the way it typoed sounded vulgar. I hang my monastic head in shame.
Comment by Joel — November 6, 2003 #
Edwin, that’s what makes it so spreadable … 😉
Brian, Joel, it looks like we’ll have to go to JCWinnie’s blog and sign up to take over the world. I’m going to check it out — the idea of taking over the world based on personality type is whacky enough to appeal to me! World domination will save you, Brian, from taking up the career suggestions those counsellors made. Funny, though, that they’d come up with those suggestions — those careers appeal to me, except for salesman/ realtor. I don’t do the phone, either. I will not phone anybody if I can help it, if there’s some way around it (like email or blogging). Phoning people makes me very uncomfortable. Receiving phone calls, too. So sales is out as a career. Doug, what’s ISTJ (is it introverted-sensing-thinking-judgemental?, I’m looking at JCWinnie’s site & see his chart)? Which means you eat babies for breakfast, in a quiet, sensitive sort of way perhaps? What I find so funny are the online character write ups — they’re like astrology write ups. I’m sure the test can be useful when handled by a psychologist in an indepth one-on-one case, but via a self-test online? Nah. And Joel, no kneeling! I don’t see “M” for masochism in the descriptions!
Comment by Yule Heibel — November 7, 2003 #
bmo and Yule: This particular site seems to be geared towards putting people into “practical” fields not what suits them. In the classic “Please Understand Me”, the INFP is called “The Monk” and it is noted that this type loves solitude and reflection.
Salesmen and realtors don’t strike me as reflective types, except when it comes to sitting quietly in a backroom, counting the money. It’s no wonder that you folks are confounded by the results: this person is not telling it like it is, though s/he thinks s/he is.
The creator of the test can only see financially-remumerative occupations as valid. I’d jump this ship and find a captain who actually knew where you wanted to go in life. This one is looking forward to big counseling fees that you can only pay if you make it.
Comment by Joel — November 7, 2003 #
“make it” should be in quotes. It’s her/his idea of “making it”, not reality.
Comment by Joel — November 7, 2003 #
This time I came up as INFJ. A couple of months ago, on a different self-test computer site, I was INFP. And several years ago, taking it from a book, I was half INFP and half INTP.
No way would I want to be any sort of sales person.
Comment by Lynn — November 7, 2003 #
Lynn, having different “diagnoses” like that is like the song, “two heads are better than one!” Think of the options! But I agree, I couldn’t do sales either. Joel, I think Brian was talking about seeing a career counsellor, not a website. And I guess he realised pretty quickly that the counsellor was not coming up with any fitting solutions anyway.
I plodded and coloured and wrote my way through “What Color is Your Parachute?” a couple of decades ago, and it didn’t prepare me for the detours that parenting would involve, but I’m not prepared to plod, colour, & write my way through it a second time, either. It was good for advising the lonely hunter, but not the mother. I’ve got more on my plate than I can stand most of the time, but no tidy little career, alas… Maybe one day…
Comment by Yule Heibel — November 7, 2003 #
Sales is what they suggest to people who they can’t quite figure out what to do with. The irony of career counseling is that they are so extroverted, they don’t see the options for introverts.
Comment by Lynn — November 7, 2003 #
Oh darn. Lynn left me wearing the dress again and suddenly I’m in drag!
That was me.
My personal experience with career counselors is that a good many are more hype than actual substance. I think it is better to find someone who helps you think for yourself. The Myer’s-Brigg can be a helpful tool for seeing what you coalesce around. I certainly recognized myself when I got the results.
Comment by Joel — November 7, 2003 #
Your site is realy very interesting. http://www.bignews.com
Comment by Anonymous — August 24, 2005 #