Adam, did you talk with the reviewer(s)???
My reviewer is my manager, and conversations about any topic related to negative performance have been counterproductive in the past for me because if I don't just acknowledge that he's right that I suck (at whatever the example is that particular year), then I'm being difficult in his opinion. I would be willing to bet that wanting to discuss my "bad attitude" will be considered an example of my bad attitude.

That, and my perception is that he decides who he likes that year, and then he comes up with justification (and perhaps even convinces himself of it) for giving someone that he didn't like a bad rating. "Attitude" is really convenient because it's not something quantifiable that I can prove him wrong about if I were to try to dispute it.
I will, despite all of that logic, probably talk to him and maybe even his boss (and maybe his boss' boss) about it anyway. He waited until we were out of time in the review, said, "and here's something that I want to spend some time on," dropped the rating bomb on me and then said, "well, someone is waiting, so we need to end here." Umm, okay...
The only thing that keeps me going is the fact I'm always right.
Word.
