Study after study proclaims baby boomers make for smarter workers, nicer colleagues, kinder bosses, and, heck, just all-around better people than the rest of us. Maybe it’s all true; far be it for me to knock the collective talents of 78 million people. But it occurs to me: could it be that all this affirmation is lulling boomers into the …
Personal Finance
Google’s Cafeteria Is Better Than Ours
I thought our cafeteria was nice.
I’m a big fan of our company caf, the second-floor canteen in the Time-Life building where we stock up on oatmeal and chicken curry and a salad bar I like to believe is unfailingly sanitary. There are stations for freshly made sandwiches and grilled dead meat and “Oriental” noodle specials (cooked in a …
Of Ramen, Fat Bastards and Professional Organizers
Today’s posting is a compilation of news from the world of work.
* NOODLE MAN DIES
Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant ramen, has died. He was 96. “The company sold 46.3 billion packs and cups around the world last year,” according to the obit in the New York Times, “earning $131 million in profits.”
WHY THIS IS A WORKPLACE STORY: …
“MySpace for Professionals”: A Social Networking Site Geared for Careerists
I’m kind of dense. Despite my 15 years in the journalism biz, I sometimes don’t recognize a news story until it hits me over the head–a few times. Typically, the magic number is three. So when I realized today that I had heard about this new workplace tool three times in as many days, I thought I should check it out.
The tool is called …
This Year, I Resolve to Hide and/or Remove My Tattoo
Career advisers love to prognosticate about the coming year: the number of layoffs, the size of your bonus, what kind of shrimp they’ll serve at the holiday party. Equally popular among HR professionals are career-related New Year’s resolutions. Along with turning flab to fab and memorizing your kids’ teachers’ names, it seems office …
I Have a Crystal Ball in My Office
Actually, it’s a paper weight. That may be why–though I stared at it very hard for at least a minute–I was utterly unable to make any credible-sounding workplace predictions for 2007.
In this I feel lacking. It’s fashionable for those in the workplace arena to make forecasts for the coming year, judging by the newpaper articles and …
Vying for a Dream Job on TV, Part II
A little while ago I wrote about an upcoming show on MTV called I’m From Rolling Stone, in which I said some interns would battle it out for jobs at the music magazine. I expressed skepticism that they could turn out a whole season of episodes about pimply college kids hunched in dark cubicles opening letters from kooky readers. My own …
Your Next Boss Will Be an Immigrant
With all the fuss about immigrants taking jobs from Americans, could it be that immigrants are in fact creating jobs?
An interesting new report by a team of scholars from the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information seems to suggest so. They took a unique approach: …
Five Things I Don’t Love About Working From Home
Don’t get me wrong, friend. I know I’m insanely lucky. Working from home is the Holy Grail of the office drone, and I know I’m inviting your enmity by knocking it. It’s like if Paris Hilton listed her top complaints about being Paris Hilton: it’s her prerogative, but you still wouldn’t mind trading places for a day.
I am working from …
“I Decided to Put My Family First”: One Dad’s Story
Akemashite omedeto to you. Let’s start the year off right with a rousing discussion of the work-family tug-o’-war.
In an ongoing debate following my earlier posting about the wage gap between genders, my friend Gerry writes in about his own situation. After they had their first child over four years ago, he and his wife both decided to …
Vacation-Deprived? Maybe It’s Your Fault
If you’re like many Americans, you’re back at your desk this week after a totally relaxing long weekend of last-minute gift-buying and spastic present-wrapping and uncontrolled gingerbread-gorging. You’re as glazed as a 10 lb. ham. It’s all you can do to get through a few days of paper-pushing until–hallelujah!–the compulsory …
How Do You Regift a Fighting Fish?
On Dec. 15, I wrote about a marketing exec who had received donations to charity in her name from vendors in lieu of the traditional holiday popcorn bucket. One brand new company in Phoenix called David and Sam PR had even decided to make it their thing, offering to stuff clients’ stockings with either a) fruitcake or b) charitable …