Things I learned at work

[Sunday21]

Have you ever had a tip from an employee that was helpful? For example, in the Canadian postal service, they would offer 'fragile' stickers for parcels but no appropriate handling was available. In fact workers sorted parcels by throwing them into bins. Sometimes you learn things at work that you wish the public knew. For example, my sister worked in a restaurant where they did not wash the vegetables used in the salad. What I learned while teaching. Some people need to study many more hours than others to get the same grades. Highlighting and reading are often ineffective. It is a good idea to look at job listings years before you want a job. You might need something that takes time to acquire or may not be possible to get in order to meet your career goals, eg certain courses, high grades in certain courses, certain types of job experience that you can only get by knowing someone in the field. Sometimes, the job has some drawbacks you do not know about. My massage therapist tells me that few people work full time in the field for more than a decade because those who work full time get Heath problems.

Do you have any tips to share?

 

[Guest]

I learned that being a manager of employees is a lot like being a father.  Or vice-versa.  If you love your employees as you do your children, things work out a lot better.

I learned that most people who think they know a lot don't.  And those who really know a lot often don't advertise it.  They don't need to.

I learned that most people are motivated to do the least possible work for the most possible money.  And honestly, this is part of what makes competition so important.

Sales are the lifeblood of any business.

I learned that there are a LOT of incompetent people out there.

 

Edited May 30, 2016 by Guest

[mirkwood]

Yea but it is all cop related.

[Daybreak79-1]

I've learned that those who say "trust me" or like to talk about how religious they are, are usually the ones to run away from.

[Guest MormonGator]

I had a co-worker say "It's simple. Just do your job." 

For some reason that cut through everything and still makes sense to me. 

[NeedleinA]

1. I've learned that the Home Inspections you order when purchasing a home are superficial at best. The specialized issues/problems that you "hope" they will find and save you from, they don't. They aren't trained well enough. Before buying a home, get a quote from an actual contractor and ask them what is wrong with something. Night and day difference in what they will find vs. a generic Home Inspection service.

2. Customers will take every minute of everyday IF you allow them to... set boundaries and limit your availability. By being less available, you can appear busier than you might be and in turn create greater demand for yourself because you "appear" to be in great demand already.

On 5/30/2016 at 9:26 PM, Carborendum said:

Sales are the lifeblood of any business.

3. Yes Sir, no sales = no jobs for anyone. Doesn't matter if you have the world's best/talented staff if no one is buying your goods/services, you are done for.

4. Hire the more expensive competent  person. Become the more expensive person. People with actual money want quality not bargains. 

Edited June 1, 2016 by NeedleinA

[Backroads]

Beware of the children of parents who over talk gentle discipline.

 

[Vort]

Alfred Hitchcock is said to have given the following acting advice to actors who couldn't seem to find their characters within them: "Fake it."

[Vort]

• It's hard to imagine, but writing is a skill unto itself and not directly related to intelligence. Lots of very smart people can't write their way out of a wet paper bag.
• Politics are important. It is worth your while to learn how to say things such that others don't get offended. If you don't develop this gift and instead choose to focus on being honest and very precise, prepare yourself for a lifetime of being viciously misinterpreted. (Feel free to complain about it, if you like, but it won't do you any good.)
• Many people are wonderful under the right conditions. Seriously, it's like being in the presence of God.
• Under the wrong conditions, everyone is a jerk. No exceptions. The only question is how big a jerk they are. Sometimes, you should be grateful that someone is only being a little bit of a jerk.
• No job is often preferable to a miserable job, but nothing beats a good job.

[Guest]

*Kids who don't contribute are miserable, even into adulthood. Kids who are expected to contribute are sometimes miserable for a short time every day, but so much happier in the long run.

*A lovely yard/garden is evidence of a lot of hard work and often money. I haven't spent enough of either.

*Not everyone has natural rhythm, and it's a hard thing to teach.

*Not everyone appreciates dissonance and the color it lends to music. That one is almost impossible to teach. You're born with a good ear, or you're not. 

*Parents will respect my skill as much as I do.

*It's okay to dismiss families who don't respect me or my time, or make me dread their lessons.

*There are always more students, but hold on to the good ones!

*It's so important to be on top of bookkeeping, with a system that works for you.

 

 

[NeedleinA]

4 hours ago, Eowyn said:

*Kids who don't contribute are miserable, even into adulthood. Kids who are expected to contribute are sometimes miserable for a short time every day, but so much happier in the long run.

Wonderful!

[Sunday21]

19 hours ago, Vort said:

•  
• Under the wrong conditions, everyone is a jerk. No exceptions. The only question is how big a jerk they are. Sometimes, you should be grateful that someone is only being a little bit of a jerk.
•  

Thanks. I needed to hear this!

[Jamie123]

One thing I've learned in teaching is that you very often meet students who seem to be totally "on the ball". They are always reading and quoting the latest articles - are very lively in class - ask lots of questions - seem totally up everything. You think "This guy/girl is going to get an A+ for sure!"

And some of them do. But others do miserably badly in their exams. When you look at their scripts you ask "is this the same person?"

People like this will naturally ace job interviews, but may not be offered many interviews on account of their low grades. When you are asked for references on them what do you go by? Neither dazzling charisma nor the ability to do exams are necessarily good indicators of a person's worth as an employee.

I personally tend to go by my subjective feelings: a potential employer can look at the grades him/herself and balance them against my glowing comments.

[Jamie123]

On ‎31‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 10:17 PM, Daybreak79-1 said:

I've learned that those who say "trust me" or like to talk about how religious they are, are usually the ones to run away from.

I've known people who seem super-spiritual, go on about how close they are to God (though oddly they eschew words like "spiritual" and "religious") and are constantly ready to point out the faults in your life, and how if only you did as they did you would be so much better, happier, closer to God, just like they are etc...etc...etc. And yet when you point out faults in their lives immediately go on the defensive and claim you are not qualified to criticize them, you don't know what it's like to be them, you are not taking them seriously, etc...etc.

If (like me) you are spiritually and emotionally immature and pathologically unsure of yourself, then they'll lead you a merry dance, building you up with assurances and knocking you down the moment you start to see through their disguise. It is definitely a form of bullying. But after a while you start to see these people for what they are, and how you own attempts to follow them have actually been a form of idolatry. It's like I said before about "heroes": remember from the start that they have feet of clay, and if they get angry or start "boo-hooing" when you point this out, either stand your ground or walk away.

[anatess2]

People remember the bad things you've done when you're alive.  People remember the good things you've done when you're dead.

[Jamie123]

1 hour ago, anatess2 said:

People remember the bad things you've done when you're alive.  People remember the good things you've done when you're dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17VzztS60M

RIP Mel Smith - a very, very funny man. (He was wonderful as the torturer in The Princess Bride!)

[Vort]

On 6/2/2016 at 7:04 AM, anatess2 said:

People remember the bad things you've done when you're alive.  People remember the good things you've done when you're dead.

Shakespeare didn't think so:

The evil that men do lives after them;  the good is oft interred with their bones (Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II, lines 1619-20).

[David13]

Now I love to hear and think about Shakespeare.  One of my favorites in the original form.

Not the revised form.

I think both the ideas are true.

I certainly know of enough dead people who are only spoken of with great reverence.  But not so in life.

And vice versa.

dc

[anatess2]

4 hours ago, Vort said:

Shakespeare didn't think so:

The evil that men do lives after them;  the good is oft interred with their bones (Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II, lines 1619-20).

I don't know if Shakespeare is applicable "at work".

It's kinda like bad joojoo to talk bad about a workmate who passed away.  I had a boss that was not very good.  She passed away and everybody remembers her as being quite good... or at least, that's what they publicly say... I had a workmate that would walk into work after a lunch break smelling of alcohol and proceed to fall asleep at his desk (oooh... I'm talking bad about him, bad joojoo!).  He passed away and nobody mentions that anymore.  They just remember how good a programmer he was (which he was, that's why he kept his job).

[Blackmarch]

Cleanliness is next to godliness.how you keep your workspace speaks volumes.

[Sunday21]

Companies that have factory outlets produce two lines of goods: high quality for the stores and low quality for the factory outlet.

a lot of research is just plan wrong. Not reported truthfully, not carried out properly

 

[unixknight]

Things I learned when I was a mechanic...

• Never let a customer talk to you while you're working on their car.  If they come to talk, put your tools down until they leave.
• Never compromise the quality of work to save someone money or time. 
• Admit to your mistakes.  The guy who acknowledges his errors is more trustworthy than the teflon tech.
• Never accept the customer's diagnosis.  If they knew better than you, they wouldn't be there giving you their money.

Things I learned as a software developer...

• The ability to go find the answer online is more valuable than someone who memorized the textbook.
• A new hire who is teachable is more valuable than one who may have the skills you want, but are set in their ways.
• Never let a developer do quality assurance testing on their own code. 
• The more toys, photos and decorations employees have in their work area, the happier the work environment is.
• Your tasks aren't done until they're ready to be tested.
• Compiled code doesn't go in source control.

[LeSellers]

19 minutes ago, unixknight said:

• Your tasks aren't done until they're ready to be tested.

I'd suggest that the task isn't "done" until after it's been tested, and found effective.

Lehi

[zil]

12 minutes ago, unixknight said:

Things I learned as a software developer...

• The ability to go find the answer online is more valuable than someone who memorized the textbook.
• A new hire who is teachable is more valuable than one who may have the skills you want, but are set in their ways.
• Never let a developer do quality assurance testing on their own code. 
• The more toys, photos and decorations employees have in their work area, the happier the work environment is.
• Your tasks aren't done until they're ready to be tested.
• Compiled code doesn't go in source control.

You forgot one:

• You cannot test code in an environment that doesn't yet have the code.

[unixknight]

6 minutes ago, LeSellers said:

I'd suggest that the task isn't "done" until after it's been tested, and found effective.

Lehi

Conceptually you're right but in many software development environments testing is a separate stage from initial coding and implementation, so a developer who has completed their task can call it "done" before it's been through formal QA testing, though yes it is expected that their code at least runs and has its features working.

5 minutes ago, zil said:

You forgot one:

• You cannot test code in an environment that doesn't yet have the code.

Haha yes  that tends to be true as well.