The Bartleby Response
An answer that is still as powerful as ever
In Melville’s ‘Bartleby, The Scrivener’, the eponymous protagonist has a standard response to all requests from his boss : "I would prefer not to."
As uncooperative responses go, this is hard to beat. It's not exactly an out and out refusal, but an expression of preference. Had Bartleby been subjected to a disciplin…
