Office Pet Peeves

This entry was inspired by a few things.  One of my friends and former classmates from Pineville always jokes about a co-worker who does not dress professionally (he is an engineer).  Apparently she wears yoga pants and other inappropriate items.  I also have read a few articles in the last few days about office complaints and other things you should avoid doing at work.

First, I am going to mention my top “work” pet peeves and then will talk about the articles. (Granted, I may sound like a brat because I am not currently working, but while I was gainfully employed, I worked very hard).

 

 

• Unprofessional dress by workers and in my case students (not at my last job). If you work in a professional environment you should not wear flip flops, short skirts, clothing that seems sexual, sweat pants, and tennis shoes if it is not jean day. I worked at a school where students were allowed to wear pajamas, slippers, and bring blankets to class.

·         Co-workers who want to ride your coattails- they want you to share all of your good stuff, but never take the initiative to create their own stuff. (maybe this is a teaching thing). I always shared with everyone because when it was all said and done, the kids benefited from good lessons.  I was fortunate to work with lots of people who shared, shared, shared.  Every once in a while you would come across a teacher who would not share.  That made no sense to me because the kids suffer.

·         When cliques form

·         Complainers

·         People who say “that is not my job”….sorry, if you are on the clock, it is your job.  If your boss says sweep the floors, they have that right. 

·         Lazy people

·         People who hate their job….go find a different profession.  Don’t make others suffer around your misery!  Just do it!

·         People who spend too much time on the internet (facebook, twitter, etc) when they are supposed to be working.  Appropriate personal technology time would be breaks.

 

Here is an article from the Houston Chronicle about the biggest office pet peeves. I will list a few:

http://www.chron.com/jobs/article/The-21-biggest-pet-peeves-at-the-office-5475468.php#photo-6297516

 

Office gossip, passive aggressive emails, smelly lunches (burnt pop corn, microwave fish), obnoxious phone calls you can hear (on bus, in cubicles), grooming in public, nasty communal refrigerators, people who steal food in fridge (who does this?), people not washing their hands after using the restroom.

This article was about mistakes millennials make that will either not get them the job or will get them fired.

http://blog.chron.com/gettowork/2014/05/social-media-mistakes-millennials-make/?cmpid=hpfc#23738101=0

Basically it was about people being on social media all day long.  If you are working and you have coworkers who go home and see that you have been posting all day long on social media sights, that does not look good.  That means you have too much time on your hands and should ask your boss for more work.

The article also talked about the importance of before you get the interview, employers’ google you and check out your social media if it is not private.  This can tell you a lot about someone.  If you are constantly complaining about your job, coworkers, or boss, that is a red flag to a potential employer.  This seems to be obvious but I have some people in my network who are guilty of this and don’t realize.

 

Finally, I love Suze Orman and used to show my seniors this clip.  It is very good, especially if you have middle, high, or college aged kids.  It is perfect advice!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDrCXD3-sXI

It’s called Suze Orman’s advice to the young, fabulous, and broke.

My question is this:  what are your office pet peeves?

Work horses

Today was all about work. Dave and I worked all day packing boxes, getting it ready to go on the market:) We have this huge chair that we tried to take out of the study and ended up busting a huge whole in the door...it has to be replaced. Other than that we are on track!

Between cleaning, making freezer meals, and keeping kids happy it was an interesting day! Tomorrow the guy who stained our built-in is supposed to do all the touch up paint. 

I can't believe the girls and I leave for Seattle Tuesday morning:) I have to pack!!! Life is good, busy, but good!

Our whirlpool jucazi jets worked one time since we moved into our house. Five years later we called our home warranty company to fix it. I can't believe we never sorted it out before. It was only 60.00 to fix and the girls and I took our first jet bath with bubbles. They were ecstatic! 

My New Stitch Fix

The excitement never ends coming home and seeing that cute little box:)

I couldn't even open it for an hour because Finley decided to go nuts. So I patiently waited:)

I love when I opened it they used the wrap dress to wrap the clothes:) it's the small details:)

I liked all the pieces I took out of the box, but was not sure about the maxi skirt pattern. It seemed a bit 70s-80s pattern. All the pieces (high quality) ranged from about 40 to 60. 

Here they are out of the box:)

My wonderful sister in law Ashlee took pictures of me:) I wish I were much thinner, but have been working my tail off at the gym..this baby weight (Finley is 9 months..I get that this excuse is about to run out) will come off the right way:)

Ok...so here is my review...this was my favorite box. I liked all pieces and feel that as I continue losing weight, they will still work. The wrap dress was the least flattrering, but mainly because it was too long. I love the color. With a cute chunky necklace and the dresesed hemmed, I think I would wear it a lot. 

Soooo...I did the math... I loved 3-4, possibly 5 pieces...the quality of these clothes are high..they are boutique, high end, classic.

I did the math. All 5 pieces added up to $274.00. But the exciting thing is that if you keep all 5 pieces, you get a 25% discount. That amounts to $205.00. To me that is a great deal!!! I got 2 shirts, a skirt, a dress, and cardigan for basically $200.00.  I will wear these pieces over and over and over. I love that as I lose this weight, I can still wear them.

Overall, I am very happy with this month's stich fix. I heard they get better every month because of your feedback. I feel like my stylist listened to me perfectly! I asked for a dress, maybe a skirt, and shirts. I reminded her I lived in hot Houston:) 

I know that not everyone has $200.00 a month to spend on clothes. I get how fortunate I am. I usually only keep one or two pieces. The pieces I have kept have been worn over and over. You get what you pay for.

Sophia pretends to have a baby

Today was great! Worked out my wonderful sister in law came over to make freezer meals. I stopped by our house end they are making lots of progress!

 

Sophia beats to her own drum!

Think Like a Freak

 

I never understood economics in college- Eco 101 and 102.  Did not get any of it. Just like when I was handed an AP Macroeconomics textbook and was told to teach it to 12 grade AP kids (because for some reason it falls under social studies).  Nobody would even go there.  I won’t lie, the first couple of years I did not get it.  Really, I did not get it.  I didn’t even teach the graphs because I did not get them.  I finally found a great guy (I know I have told this story before) and now I get it.  I am obsessed with economics.  It is basically psychology.

So tonight’s blog is dedicated to all of you who are looking for good summer books to read and might go outside your comfort zone and read one of these “different books”.  You will love them.  They are so interesting.  I am going to recommend my favorites and give a few blurbs about each one to try and “hook you”.

 

My husband says he loves Naked Economics better than Freakonomics, but really liked the later two, Super Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak.

 

 

 

I will start with the trilogy:  Freakonomics (they made a movie), Super Freakeconomics, and most recently Think Like a Freak. I can honestly say I liked all of them very much for different reasons.  The first two were similar and the most recent just added to the brilliance!

 

Freakonomics:  Why do drug dealers still live with their mamas?  What do summo wrestlers and school teachers have in common?  What are the socioeconomic implications of naming your kids?  How has legalized abortion reduced crime? Interesting story- Chicago saw a huge rise in gang related shootings but in an odd place- the buttocks.  The gangs got smart and realized if they shot a rival person and shot below the torso it was just assault, if you shoot above the waist, with the vital organs, it becomes attempted murder.

 

Here is a relation between Super Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak. I don’t want to tell everything, but give you a taste so you will be interested in reading.  Super Freakonomics talked about how the authors helped the British government come up with an algorithm for spotting “potential terrorist” based on their banking patterns.  Basically they studied the 19 terrorists from 9/11 and found interesting banking facts.  These terrorist generally had a large sum of money deposited into an account.  They did not make normal withdraws like you and I do to pay bills.  They operated just below the level to not call attention to themselves.  But when you look back they all had abnormal patterns.  They didn’t withdraw money on Friday nights to go out to eat.  So in the book, they told about these strange patterns and how banks formed algorithms that could potentially identify a terrorists.   They said these men never took out life insurance policies from the banks because they knew with a suicide the families would probably not be paid.

Fast forward to Think Like a Freak:  A lot of people (rightfully so) were upset that these authors published all these facts that terrorists could read.  They could change their behaviors.  They took a lot of flack. People were mad….Why give terrorist the upper hand?

Haha…the joke was on them…In Think Like a Freak they addressed this issue and all of these angry readers.  Long story short, they did have an algorithm with the banks.  But banks don’t offer life insurance.  So apparently some of these terrorist who heard about the book (who were probably already on the watch list) went and tried to buy life insurance from the bank. Bottom line, banks don’t offer life insurance policies…you get the jist…they fell into the trap. The algorithm was set to look for people to change their behavior in this manner.

 

Finally, I love Malcolm Gladwell books. They are all good: Tipping Point, Outliers, and Blink.  In Outliers they talk about the abnormally high number of Canadian babies born in January.  Apparently hockey is so serious you have to get in at an early age.  If you are born in January, you are bigger, tougher at 6 and get tracked and often make the career into the big Hockey League.  If you unfortunately are born in December, you don’t have a chance.  You are behind (by mere weeks or months) and never get the attention that these January/February kids receive.  From the years 5-6 it is a 20% more growth.   

 

Bottom line, think outside the box, read outside the box.  These books are so interesting!

 

 

 

 

Date night/ we are really doing this!!!

I can't believe we are really doing this! We met with our realtor and the house should be on the market in a week:)

The David Weekly lady said our house should be done around the end of June!!!!! So crazy:) I love that Christa lives so close because she can stalk it for us. Everyday she drives and gives us a report (yes, people were there working).

Everthing is happening so fast, but in place. Funny story. Our State Farm agent gave us a quote for our new house. She said we have to submit an actual picture of both the front and back of the house to prove it is not a mobile home. She admitted that she has never heard of a 5100 sq ft mobile home, but it was required. 

Dave and I arranged a date night for a couple of hours. We went to World of Beer and ordered Grimaldis pizza to our outside table. La a centerra is what I will miss most about a Katy!

And Miss Finley finally has enough hair for  two straight up ponytails!!!! 

I ordered kindergarten, first grade, and second grade summer work books for the girls. They have already started them and are so excited!!