Microwaveable Popcorn, Eating at Work

All of those that work in an office environment probably know the smell of microwaveable popcorn. There may be one or two people, that like clockwork, start eating their popcorn at the same time, everyday. For some people it gets to the point where they can’t stand the overpowering smell, and it starts to affect the relationship with the other worker.

Some people would say that there is a hard line and some things should just not be allowed at work. Some would say, making microwaveable popcorn goes over this line. Some would say that the sound of chewing from the next desk is too much and should not be allowed. Others consider the office, the sea of cubicles is a public space and everyone should be allowed to do as they please. Is there a line that should never be crossed.

The answer to this question of office etiquette does not have a standard answer that every office has to follow. There are certainly laws that have to be followed. Laws against such behaviors like sexual harassment or any kind of discrimination are important and should not be crossed anywhere at anytime. Other questions are more situational. In some offices the smell of microwaveable popcorn is tolerable.

The important point to take with you to the office is to communicate with those that you share space with. The cubicle world should be considered shared space, not a separate office in all respects. In order to be considerate and be considerate it is important to talk to you neighbors. Not unlike grade school, we all share the same space. Unless you find yourself in a home office, alone in the house, you are going to have to try to compromise. Popcorn on Fridays? Talk to each other.

Don’t Kiss and Tell at the Office

Office relationships can make a lot of trouble, even those who aren’t involved in the relationship. Romance at the office – or any workplace – can become public knowledge fast and rumors get started. Surprisingly it can make some people jealous and some even give preferential treatment to their lovers, while putting off people who deserve raises and promotions.
Remember this advice:
  • Find out what the company’s policy is on dating in the office. Many firms have a no fraternizing policy and will fire someone who dates within the office.
  • Don’t tell anyone about the relationship unless it’s solid. Telling others about dating someone just to break up in two months will only start rumors and gossip. If more than one person at the office has been dated, this also will start rumors and give the impression that the person is promiscuous.
  • Dating someone in the direct chain of command. This is just asking for favoritism. If someone dates a boss or manager, they should ask to be moved to a different department or manager so there’s no accusations of favoritism or conflict of interest.
  • Don’t hold hands, kiss, flirt, and especially don’t have sex in the office. Displays of affection can make others uncomfortable and even jealous.
  • Avoid posting about the relationship on social networks. We read all the time about people who got fired because of Facebook posts.
  • Send flowers or gifts to the person’s home, not the office.
  • Keep business and work separate. Don’t talk about the relationship at work and don’t give information about the lover or share fights. Few people can really keep a secret.
  • Don’t use company email to communicate love or sexy messages. Company email can be read by higher-ups and reveal things they shouldn’t know.
Just be professional and don’t create gossip about yourself. If the relationship doesn’t last, keep it quiet and don’t kiss and tell.

Puff up Your Self Esteem for the Interview

A person’s image of themselves is a big part of their personality. Having low self esteem shows and can stop someone from getting a badly needed job. Low self esteem is seen in how the person stands, in their facial expressions and in their voice, and maybe their hands get shaky.
A good candidate for a job will demonstrate certain qualities, more than just the right training or schooling, because personality can play a big part in whether someone is chosen from a crowd. No employer wants someone who speaks quietly, keeps a very reserved body language going on, or doesn’t know the job. They’d much rather have someone with personality – a real person that can learn and grow with the company.
Demonstrating personality shouldn’t be a show of the person’s most outrageous behavior; in fact, employers usually won’t choose someone who is boisterous. But having an air of confidence in themselves goes a long way toward being chosen. The attitude about past experience should reveal skills they could bring to the current job.
Be Confident in Skills and Sit up Straight

Some people just aren’t made for some jobs, that’s true. A shy, introverted person barely musters up the volume for the interview, so applying for a job as a tour guide wouldn’t work. But, this shy person can have confidence in their skills and respond in kind to questions in a job they’re well suited for.
Body language can take a shy person to the top by sitting and standing in an attentive, confident manner.  Usually potential employers want to sit while they interview a person, so the applicant should sit straight, look the interviewer in the eye and lean forward just a bit to look more interested. Any speaker will respond to a good listener.
Try to appear confident, even if the insides are shaking.

Should the Boss be Friends With Staff?

Any relationship can be a struggle, but having a good rapport with a boss is important. Nobody wants to work for someone that acts like they don’t like them, but can they be friends? The old saying can be true, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
Being friends with a coworker can strain the workplace, but being friends with a boss can be ruinous for the worker. Bosses shouldn’t know everything about their employees personally; it isn’t good practice because they can know too much and take it to work. Even though they can be a friend, bosses are better left out of the party.
A Certain Amount of Dignity is Expected

What if the worker does something the boss is offended by? Like, what if they drink a lot? The boss is going to think every time the person misses work that they’ve drunk too much and are hung-over. And likewise, the worker might expect the boss to cut them extra slack because they are friends. Neither situation works. And if it’s the boss who drinks too much, the employee will lose respect for them and it’ll show on the job. Not to mention others finding out about it and all of them losing respect for the boss, too.
If a boss is too indifferent, the employees will be left to interpret the silence themselves, and they won’t feel liked or appreciated for their work. They may feel disliked and work performance would then suffer from it, and gossip may well be started, too. So a boss shouldn’t be too distant, he should be able to get along with every person there.
The boss can’t get too close, but they shouldn’t stay at a distance, either. The right place is in the middle, where the boss can talk and joke with all the employees, being as human as they are, without overstepping boundaries of either extreme or learning too much about the people that work for them.

Getting Your College Degree With Ease and Convenience

Getting a college degree is such an important step to take in helping you expand your career possibilities, and for getting a good paying job in the future. With the use of technology and the Internet, schools have been able to open up a whole new world to people, no matter where you live.

Online education is growing by leaps and bounds, and it’s estimated that more than a million people will take advantage of going to school virtually (online) to further their education and obtain highly sought after degrees. The convenience and flexibility of online courses really cannot be matched. It allows people to hold full time jobs. Stay at home moms and people living far away from the college they want to attend can get degrees in their spare time without having to sacrifice other things.

One of the greatest things about getting an online degree is that it allows you to become an active learner instead of being a passive student in a classroom. The ball is totally in your court and you can do the coursework anywhere and at a that is most convenient to you. You can even hold a full time job and work towards your college degree during your time off.

Websites such as elearners.com can significantly help you with your search for the online degree program that is right for you. You can research right there on their site to find a great school where you can get an Associates or Bachelors degree, or enroll in a Masters or Doctoral program. There are literally hundreds of colleges for you to check out as well as a free guide to online education, too.

Start down the path today to getting an online degree that can help you in achieving your dreams and giving your the keys to open new doors towards getting the job you have always wanted.

Make Small Changes With Big Impact on Life

Making the smallest change can have a big impact on someone’s life. Think of the ocean liner; a huge ship that’s steered by a rudder; a seemingly small part of the big ship. On that rudder is a tiny part called a trim-tab that steers the rudder that steers the ship. Just the movement of that tiny part on the rudder can change the whole direction in which the ship goes.
When people make their New Year’s Resolutions or decide what to change in life, it’s frequently a big change. Like those who swear off carbs, their entire diet has to differ, and it’s no small change.
Making a big change is hard to keep up and many people fail. However, making small changes can have big impact toward a goal or change.
Changes Don’t Have to be Big to Make a Big Impact

Kate in Portland, Oregon never ate breakfast since she was a child. She just didn’t take time, nor did she miss it, but then she wanted to lose weight and her doctor suggested she eat breakfast. This shocked her because losing weight means giving up foods, or so she thought. He explained that just having a piece of toast in the morning breaks the fasting cycle and the body won’t keep every calorie it gets afterwards. She began eating a piece of toast each morning and was able to drop 20 pounds.
When Jessica in Washington State picked her daughter up from daycare each day, her daughter was so involved in her play that she cried when mom showed up. It made Jessica feel unloved and jealous of the daycare provider. Seeing this, the daycare provider began telling Jessica’s daughter that her mother was coming 15 minutes before the mother got there. It gave the child time to adjust to stopping play in order to get ready to go and she was no longer crying about her mother showing up to get her.
See, it doesn’t have to be a big change, but life-changing results can happen.

Make the One-pn-One Meeting More Bearable

Make those awful one-on-one meetings easier to get through. It can be nerve-wracking for an employee to know there’s a meeting with the boss, but they have no idea what the meeting will be about.  It can also be stressful for the boss, not knowing the employee as a person or how they react in evaluations.
The first thing the employer can do is tell the employee to come up with 5 points to talk about. This lets the employee not only know what the meeting will be about, but it’ll take a lot of the stress out of the meeting. The employee will feel the boss is eager to talk about things of importance to them, personally. If the employee has no idea of what to write down, help them by saying the information needed is about the employee experience at work, suggestions for their job, etc. Having the employee choose the topics makes them feel valued and secure in their job.
Be Head of the Meeting Without Being Bossy

As a boss, be prepared. Know what the person’s exact job description is and have notes all ready to look at. Ask questions that need to be answered, and even plan how to end the meeting and suggest ways for the employee to move forward and improve.
Have the schedule cleared of everything else during the meeting. It doesn’t make anyone feel better when the boss is constantly checking the computer, phone and clock. Sometimes things come up, that’s to be expected occasionally, but clear the agenda for the time of the meeting so it can be over in due time.
If everything’s been discussed in 30 minutes instead of the hour set aside for the meeting, let them go back to work. Let the meeting out when it’s over.
The meeting is really for both the employer and the employee, so try not to take up all the time talking. Some bosses love to talk, but it’s not an enjoyable trait for the workers. Letting the employee talk lets the boss know what working for them is like.

Some Things Should Never be Talked About at Work

At work everyone is expected to be professional, whether it’s for Goldman Sachs or Taco Bell. Certain things are not welcome in the workplace no matter how innocent the conversation might be. Sharing with a boss or coworkers can get someone into trouble, and possibly fired.
Here are a few things that never should be mentioned at work:
  • “Check out this rash.” Employees should never discuss personal medical maladies while at work. It could offend someone or frighten them into thinking everyone can catch it.
  • “If a woman calls, tell her I’ve left for the day.” Telling others to help avoid someone is offensive on two levels. They may wonder if it’s ever been done to them when they’ve called, and it alerts others to the fact of lying.
  • “Have you talked to the new guy? He’s a freekin moron!” Even if the others in the workplace feel the say way about the new guy, don’t let it be you who gets caught talking about him. And refrain from swearing or using words like “freekin;” maintain an air of professionalism.
  • “I have such a bad hangover…” People at work don’t need to know all the bad habits someone may have. Drinking to the point of being ill the next day is irresponsible. Plus, if it happens very often coworkers will think the person is possibly an alcoholic.
  • Don’t discuss pay! Work is no place to let people in on your financial fiascos. It looks bad on the person and most places have policies against this behavior. Nobody else needs to know what others make or how high their bills are. Divulging such information can lower a coworker’s opinion of the person doing the telling.
  • “Hey, I sent you a friend request on Facebook.” Unless the person leads a pristine life, having coworkers or bosses as friends on Facebook can be fatal for the job. We hear about it all the time; someone loses a job because of a Facebook post. People at work just might be getting too much information.

Promoting Workplace Diversity

For many employers workplace diversity can be a challenge. According to Ethnic Majority a company can have a diverse workplace but still have a glass ceiling that prevents minorities from being able to achieve their goals for promotions. A truly diverse workplace is diverse on all levels. It does not mean that there are individuals of many different backgrounds on the lower levels while the upper level management are all one race or gender. Diversity can bring many wonderful aspects to the workplace. Everyone has different experiences and people with different backgrounds often can bring many bonuses to the company.  Especially if a company is wanting to expand in new markets it is necessary for a company to understand the markets. Also if a company is going to reach out to global markets it is beneficial to have employees familiar with the cultures of the countries in which business dealings will be made.

Affirmative action is a tool that has been used to try to prevent discrimination in the workplace, but many feel that because of affirmative action the best candidate is not always chosen.  This may not be the case but for the individual who does not get hired or promoted it is an easy target for anger.  Therefore it is important that an employer screen all applicants equally and ensure that reverse discrimination is not occurring in order to meet the need for diversity. Diversity should benefit the company by allowing talent from all walks of life to share their abilities without being discriminated against or made to feel different. In today’s society it is hoped that we have evolved to a point where individuals are being hired by ability not on looks. Although there will always be incidents where discrimination will occur an employer needs to promote policies to prevent such actions.

How to Help Working Parents

Women with children often find themselves caught in situations where they are torn between work and family.  Especially single mothers or single fathers who do not have other individuals who can take care of their children should anything happen. Companies can institute programs that will help their working parents. Some companies offer benefits to assist with daycare or even have daycare centers in their places of work. Flexible schedules are also very beneficial to parents who may have to drop children off at school and pick them up after school is over.

The Encyclopedia of Children’s Healthstates that a majority of women who live with their husbands also work but there is not a typical type of woman who fits the working mother role. It is a very diverse group and all have a variety of reasons for why they have to work and balance their family life. This balancing act can be a tight rope to walk for the mom or dad who is trying to be the so-called supermom or superdad.  The parent who balances work, school, family, soccer games for Timmy and ballet lessons for Susie. These individuals often face burnout and in some cases may turn to ways of escape that are not so beneficial to the person or their family. At the same time these individuals are also at an age where many are also dealing with aging parents.  Being caught in this situation can be overwhelming. It is important for an employer to offer support services for employees.  Support can be in the form of counseling or even just establishing an open door policy in which employees feel more comfortable in coming to their managers to discuss any problems they may be having. If an employer notices that problems with work are occurring an effort to reach out to the employee should be made to determine the source of the problems.

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