Darling, I know _exactly_ what you mean.

Hairdressers are like doctors - find one who doesn't patronise you and who listens and stick with them.

You sound like you could do with a second opinion!


Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Sorry, I disagree. Things are changing in the profession and people want you to be able to type fast and accurately but not necessarily hold certificates in copy typing. They are quite often interested in other qualifications as well especially for some of the more demanding jobs.

I was 65wpm even when I was looking at the keyboard when my fingers hit them. Different things work for different people.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

I suspect a regional difference here - Gee4 probably has a UK keyboard layout. MrsBean put an umlaut on hers which would probably be a German keyboard.

Am I close?

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Sorry, what? Since when has being an admin been somehow an unworthy position? This isn't the 50s and we are not personal typists. We do stuff that thirty years ago would have got us paid a lot more.

Sorry to hear your friend put you on a downer. You were probably very polite to her even with her outdated views.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

You have to give someone notification that there is a problem and give them a chance to change.

When it comes to the firing, take them somewhere quiet and tell them they are fired. Stop there. Don't ask them to justify themselves, don't say anything else until they have accepted that fact. Make it clean, make it quick.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Erg! I do my grammar instinctively, having learnt (or should that be learned?) it from reading. I wasn't taught any grammar after verb, adjective, noun in school and I feel the lack as an adult.

My favourite piece of advice is from http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/w.html
While it's possible to memorize a rule for distinguishing who from whom, it's easier to trust your ear. A simple test to see which is proper is to replace who/whom with he/him. If he sounds right, use who; if him is right, use whom. For example: since he did it and not him did it, use who did it; since we give something to him and not to he, use to whom. It gets tricky only when the preposition is separated from the who: Who/whom did you give it to? Rearrange the words in your head: "To whom did you give it?" See Preposition at the End and Hypercorrection.

See the original for italics.

Some others that might help:
http://www.uhv.edu/ac/student/writing/grammartip080204.html
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20021113.html

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Hello, Jelena.

How much responsibility does your boss want you to take? If he is happy for you to manage his inbox you can delete things or handle them to get them down. Quite frankly if the man isn't going to read the summary then there is no hope for the actual emails!

You could set up a rule to move everything where bossie is CC'd into a separate folder. It will still be his job to read it all - and it will be marked 'unread' until he does - but it won't clutter up the things sent directly to him.

You can use the organise function to mark emails sent only to him in a different colour. I find this one quite useful. I have emails only to me in blue and list emails in green. I think that the sender is the most significant piece of information in an email to help you judge what to do with it. I respond to different people with different priority levels and this would support that theory. If that applies in this situation you could get him to indicate what priorites people have for him.

I'm not seeing a quick and easy answer to this one I'm afraid. Would he work better if you could get the notification to his PDA or mobile phone?

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Gosh, that's a hard one. Did they complete the project or end the project? It could be that they declared it "Better off dead". Or it could not be that .

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

I remember we had a thread a long while ago about this sort of ad and how it was nearly always a scam. However, I checked them out with the better business bureau and they don't have any black marks against them (which is not the same as being legitimate). http://www.thebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=89000008. Check for the scam signs - being asked to pay to register is one - and be wary if you follow this up.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

You have to allow at least two, if not three cookies for DD and the domains it references. Hitbox is one of the other two. If you don't allow them you can't log into the forums.



Bethalize
Peer Moderator

I have a set of folders (under the inbox if it's a pop account or there is space on the Exchange server, or in a separate PST if not) where I file everything, sent and received, from that person or company. If I am filing e-mails that have been sent to two people I put a copy in each folder. I don't have anything left under my 'sent' items.

I also make good use of the follow-up flag in Outlook.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Could you define 'clean' a little more precisely? I have no problem with dusting and polishing my desk and things on my desk. I might, if in a small organisation, push the hoover around and empty my bin. I am not going to work to wash the skirting boards and clean the windows, however.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

All to often I've had to say: "Is that a decision, Chair?". This can start it off all over again!

My tip for taking minutes at meetings is to have a diagram in front of you with people's initials on them showing where they are sitting at the table. That way, if someone I don't know starts talking I can write down their initials and look them up later.

So long as you get all the action points and decisions, no one can really fuss too much. Any more than that and it's not minutes, it's a transcript.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

I'd go with that, but I'd use the word 'inappropriate' instead of going straight in with sexual harrassment.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

Certificates and plaques are empty gestures IMO - unless you are a huge company and only picking out one person. Anything with a company logo on it is a no-no - I expect to be PAID to wear things with a logo on and unless you work for Chanel or Nike, I expect your colleagues will feel similarly!

Time off is the best thing you can give, but CEOs tend to see it in terms of lost productivity as well as the hourly wage cost so I expect that to be a non-starter - unless you can convince her that she will reap the benefits in moral.

I like the ideas jak gave you. You could also provide someting for all staff, like filters for the taps so that drinking water is cold and non-chemically, or a revamp of the lunch room or a donut for everyone once a month. I don't know what prices are like where you are but if a doughnut is 25p then one per employe every month is £3 compared to say a £5 gift voucher.

Proper flexitime is the best thing anyone ever gave me.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator