One problem I have had in the past is people in an email chain hijacking the chain for some other subject.
So you get something like this:
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Friday lunch plans
…blah blah blah… FYI, here is the new holiday schedule for the coming year
…blah blah blah…
When someone does this there is just no way that anyone will ever find the secret embedded content when they need it. At best, it is read once and lost. At worst, it is never read because the recipient wasn’t going to the Friday lunch anyway, so they just delete the correspondence without opening it.
Well, the rabbit/GP thing can be important for pet owners to identify if their vet knows anything outside of dogs and cats. A friend had a rabbit and was told to fast the rabbit before coming in. Um, no. Not only can they not puke so there’s no need, but that can lead to GI stasis and potentially death if you keep a rabbit from eating. Fortunately he knew this info and found another vet instead.
If you work in fast foods, or something with a bunch of P/T teenagers, DO NOT try to empower them, or give them good feelings about themselves working there. That’s what a paycheck is for.
If you want a letter of reference or suchlike from someone, write it for them, and say, “Here’s something to give you an idea, if you want to draft your own, or you can just sign this one and hand it back.” It’s the difference between getting it instantly and being on someone else’s back burner (understandable, because they have their own crap to get done) for weeks.
It never would have occurred to me, but my husband told me this. Unfortunately, he told me after I had gotten promises from various people to get letters from *other *people (double procrastination potential!), and of course one of them didn’t come in until the very last second.
And more generally: if you want help from people, make it as ridiculously easy as possible for them to help you.
When trying unsuccessfully to balance a string of numbers and the difference is 9 or a number divisible by 9, check for a number transposition error - 98 instead of 89, for instance (98-89=9). Works for any transposed number. This tricked saved lots of time when balancing a teller cash drawers at the end of the day!
I do custom fabrication, repair and restoration work. My prices are subjective, I pull them out of my head on a case by case basis. I have a pretty good internal meter and am fairly consistant. But I will freely add asshole tax on the estimate if you deserve it.
I don’t need my ass kissed, but don’t treat me like an idiot either. Please say I have this and I want X and Y done to it and we are in great shape. When the sweet little old lady comes toddering in and wants me to restore her Grandmothers antique so it can be passed to a granddaughter I think it’s great. Real job satisfaction and validates why I quit my corporate job on the manufacturing floor. When I look at the item and find the auctioneers tag and you are feeding me a line of BS, well sorry the price just went up. Tell me you got it at an auction, want it fixed and hope sell for a profit, I’ll say good for you and the normal rate applies. Don’t treat me like a moron.
…and then follow up with a matter-of-fact, unemotional summary of your conversation with any decisions made, matters tabled, etc. If the situation was charged enough to make you want to send an angry e-mail, there’s every chance in the world that the matter will not be completely resolved by one conversation, and may come back around in the near future.
If you need your superior’s expertise or guidance on some matter, don’t walk into their office and say, “I’ve got this problem; what do I do?” Propose the solution you think is best, and ask if they concur. If you are honestly and truly completely undecided, at least lay out the pros and cons (as you see them) of each option, and explain what you think you’re missing that prevents you from being able to decide. This will establish that you actually have a brain in your head, and you know how to use it. Your boss has their own job, they generally don’t want to do yours in addition to theirs.
If you’re looking for a promotion, you need to be performing at least some of the functions of the job you want before you ask for the promotion. Employees who only “do their job” can only realistically be evaluated on the job they’re doing. Take on a little extra responsibility and show some initiative, and it’ll be much easier to show the decision-maker that you’re capable of the new position.
Admitting you don’t know about a certain subject will NOT make you look like an idiot. Pretending that you know what to do and then trying to fix things yourself WILL generally make you look like an idiot. (We once had a doctor jam a 3.5" disk into a 5.25" drive. Had he just asked for help, he would have saved himself a lot of money and trouble)
When submitting a piece of writing to somebody, ALWAYS read the submission guidelines. If your work is not in the proper format, it will be disposed of unread.
According to George Scithers (pal of Isaac Asimov and editor extraordinaire) Never describe your story in your cover letter. This just gives an editor a chance to read and reject the summary rather than the actual work. The best cover letter provides ONLY the required information (name, address etc) and “Here’s my story. Hope you like it.”
If a job isn’t worth doing well, it might not be worth doing.
If there’s a task that gets ignored or pencil whipped, consider restructuring the task so it means something.
Or assign it to management.
When you go to work, work. Sit down, do the job first, then schmooze, wander, etc. I’m always amazed at people who claim to be slammed with work who spend hours at a time chatting with their neighbor until their deadline is looming and suddenly they feel ultra-pressured. If you do the work first, you’ll still have time to schmooze or surf the web, but you won’t have that pressure and people will always be amazed at how quickly you turn things around. You appear more productive then you really are, and you are more productive then you feel.
If someone shows you a shortcut, try it for a couple weeks before deciding it’s not for you. Just because you’ve always done something one way doesn’t mean that your neighbor hasn’t found an easier way. If you’ve found an easier way to do something, share it. Your boss and co-workers will think you’re smart.
If you need help, ask for it. People are flattered when they feel perceived as an expert.
