Another Reason I Don't "Like" Facebook

My lack of enthusiasm for Facebook is something that is no secret among those who know me well. There are several reasons, but last week I added yet another.

We had an incident involving Associate X. Later in the week, one of my neighbors asked me "What happened to Associate X?" Now, my neighbor knows X and I had the same employer and that I work in HR. I told my neighbor I couldn't go into it. He pressed, I repeated my answer.

The rest of the conversation went like this:

Me: "Why don't you ask X?"
Neighbor: "Because then I'd have to talk to him"
Me: "Then how did you find out"
(Me thinking it at the same time as he said it) Neighbor: "Facebook"

It seems X's wife had posted enough about the situation to make people ask questions.

Really? Who would do this? I asked a couple of people, and they told me they could totally see this happening, if for nothing else than to generate sympathy.

Yet another reason I don't like Facebook: it puts information in the hands of people who otherwise wouldn't have it and makes my life more difficult.

Stress can make you a mess

I mentioned how glad I was when my "sort of boss" got canned a couple weeks ago. This week it dawned on me how good it's been for my health. My stress level had been quite high having to put up with him and some other work situations. I had frequent headaches at work, my face was starting to break out, and even my hair didn't look as good as it normally does.

After over a week off for vacation and two weeks of him being gone, let me tell you how much better I feel. Headaches? Gone. Face? Skin is soft and smooth. Hair? Back to its nice normal self.

I know I had a mild case of stress effects. I can see how stress could really make a person a mess.

Choice Wins Again

I've written previously about how giving people choices can often lead to your getting your desired outcome with less headaches. I saw this in action again this week.

We celebrated my sister's birthday on Tuesday. I asked my 3 year old niece if she wanted to be in a picture I was taking of her uncles (my brother & brother-in-law). She said "No". I said "ok" and let it go. When I went to take the picture, guess whose smiling little self was standing right next to my brother-in-law?

I could have insisted she be in the picture to start. However, that would have probably led to lots of screaming from her and no fun for anyone involved. It was her choice though, so she decided to do it. Like her aunt, I can tell she much prefers to choose to do things than have others tell her what to do.

The XYZ 20

New hires at my company (XYZ) tend to gain weight. We even have a name for it- the XYZ 20, sort of like the freshman 15. We warn people about it. It's not inevitable, but they will have to make a concerted effort not to become more girthy (one of my coworker's words. I love it.)

Two recent examples of the XYZ 20 in action:

Example #1
Associate A was hired in early September. At the beginning of last month he stated he's gained 10 pounds. I helpfully informed him he was halfway there.

Example #2
Associate B started in mid-June. Two weeks ago a coworker came to my desk and said "I think B's already gained the ILA 20". Now mind you, B's desk is less than 20 feet from mine, he was there at the time, and the person didn't exactly whisper it to me.

The XYZ 20: it's real, and we notice when you find it.

I told you so

Remember when we hired the guy who brought his girlfriend to the interview? What I didn't say then is that this person was going to be my new sort-of boss. My boss is theoretically nearing retirement (he keeps saying "in a couple of years"), and so this person was to train with him to be ready when the day finally did come. In the interim the newbie would be the day-to-day supervisor of my coworker and I in theory. Let's just say my initial judgement of him was not far off. I can get along with most people, but I've never meshed with him. In fact, having to see him was the thing I most dreaded about going back to work today after my over week of vacation.

Well, it turned out to be a great day back today because HE RESIGNED last week.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so happy I actually came home and danced.

I thought I'd hidden my dislike of him, but obviously not as several people commented about how happy they knew I'd be. My coworker said someone had mentioned to her how happy I seemed to be and she said "there is no love lost". A huge understatement to say the least. I asked my coworker "Is it wrong if I want to sing the Hallelujah chorus?"

Now, yes, I do have to take my tiara back temporarily. However, I've made it very clear that this is interim only until we get someone hired, and I've already told my boss I need a raise to even to do that. I'd rather have this than have to deal with the now ex-supervisor.

And best of all, I get to say "I told you so!"

What a Cartoon Character Can Teach You About Work

If you've ever watched the cartoon "DuckTales", you know one of Scrooge McDuck's favorite sayings was "work smarter, not harder". Though he's a cartoon duck, he's still wise. There are times when only more time and/or effort will get something done, but there are very often things we can do to improve the situation so it can be achieved in an easier way.

An example from my company: When I started there 12 years ago, the presentations for our monthly management review meetings were done on transparencies. Yes, you read that right. This meeting routinely had over 100 pages of presentations. No only was this expensive (we went thought boxes of transparencies like crazy!), it was incredibly wasteful. The charts all had to be redone every month, so each transparency was used once and thrown away. If there was a typo on a transparency, it was trashed and a new one made. I and others actively campaigned for a digital projector. Once it was purchased, guess which was the first team to use PowerPoint for their presentation? Oh my goodness, so much less wasteful and faster.

This is a small example, but things like this are common in both our personal and professional lives. We'd all be well advised to be like Scrooge McDuck and stay on the lookout for ways to "work smarter, not harder".

What Your Choices Say About Your Priorities

We make lots of choices every day. Some are big, and some are small. These choices can often reveal much about our priorities. I'd like to illustrate this with two stories.

Story #1
My brother works at an auto parts store. He said that people will take the absolute cheapest route to fix their daily drivers, i.e. the cars that get them to their jobs so they can make money. When it comes to their weekend cars, though, they'll spend all kinds of money. It drives my brother crazy.

Story #2
A lady got a job for a company that makes home deliveries. For this job, she needs to use her own car. When she was hired, they told her she'd have to repair the crack in her windshield. They were generous and gave her some time to get this done. A few days later she comes in wearing flip flops, a dress code no no. Why? Because she got a new tattoo on her foot and couldn't wear other shoes. That's right, she didn't have the money to spend on getting her windshield fixed, but she did have the money to spend on a tattoo and to cover not getting paid since she wasn't allowed to work in flip flops.

As you can see, our actions can prove insightful about the value we place on certain things in our lives.