Beware of dogs named “Steve”

Way out on one of the backroads of our delivery area was this house way back in a field. These people ordered from us quite a bit, and whoever got the order knew ahead of time that they

Dude! Switch to decaf… (and hurry!)

(This one is for every worker with a Starbucks fix.)

I’ll admit it, I love Starbucks. In fact, I love any coffee shop that offers a plethora of caffeine choices. In the winter I enjoy Grande Skim Lattes, during warmer weather I’ll order Iced Grande Skim Lattes. When I’m feeling really crazy, I’ll dive into a Frappacino. And, if I’m feeling hungry, I’ll gnaw on some chocolate covered coffee beans.

Yes, I’m an “Xtreme” coffee consumer. (notice the big “X”)

The problem is, there are too many elements to a coffee order these days. Do I want it iced or not iced? Regular milk or skim? How much froth? What are the words for the different sizes?

This is particularly difficult when you’re high.

READ: Order the perfect cup of joe.

Bad day at the office…

Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you’ve been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it’s not So bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job.

As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It’s a wetsuit.

Read: if you had a jellyfish

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I see the light at the end of the tunnel and…

I see the light at the end of the tunnel and its not a train! Check out the latest set of a numbers from the DOL.

The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 21,000 last week, the biggest decline in seven weeks, the government reported Thursday.

The Labor Department said 330,000 newly laid-off workers filed benefit claims last week after a surge of 27,000 new claims the previous week, which had been the biggest one-week jump since early 2004.

Labor Department analysts attributed the improvement to fewer layoffs in the auto industry and a shortened workweek because of the Memorial Day holiday, which gave unemployed workers one less day to file claims.

The four-week moving average for claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, also showed improvement last week, falling to 331,750, down from 334,500 the previous week.

Economists believe that solid economic growth will continue to support increased hiring this year, a prediction that the Bush administration hopes will come true. The administration released a revised economic forecast on Wednesday, projecting that the economy will create 2.1 million jobs this year.

Where the money at?

Are you living beyond your means? Is your paycheck not stretching far enough? Perhaps you’re even having trouble finding a job. Maybe it’s time to jump a plane to one of the cities at the top of Salary.com’s “Salary Value” index. We found the top (and bottom) US metros for building personal net worth (taking into account local salaries, cost of living, and unemployment relative to the national average). Median base pay was correlated across more than 2,500 different benchmark jobs in our calculations. Housing costs, living costs, and metro unemployment/job growth figures were also used to rank the metro areas. The results may surprise you.

READ: Salary.com Advice

Never give up!

The further you advance in your business career, the more pitches, proposals, and recommendations you’ll serve to your bosses for acceptance or rejection. And unless you’re prematurely content with the status quo and/or uncommonly risk-averse, it’s enevitable: From time to time, you’ll stake some brownie points on a winner-take-all plan, a strategic direction, or a bid for a key job.

Sometimes, you’ll prevail. Other times, you won’t — whereupon you’ll face one of your most emotionally trying career experiences. At such times, it’s normal to feel like a fool. Your failure is exposed for all to see. And you can’t help wondering what that means for you, long-term. It’s an awful sensation.

You’ll probably be angry with those who shot you down and jealous of whoever trumped you. You’ll vow to short the company’s stock and go work for its nearest competitor, or at least think bad thoughts about the organization forever. Perhaps you’ll feel so terrible that you’ll consider quitting on the spot.

Well, don’t do any of this, at least not abruptly and in a huff. You’ll be amazed at how quickly these feelings pass. Your career isn’t over, probably not even stalled. Faster than you imagine, you can again become a Golden Boy or Gal — if you display maturity and poise. In fact, your ability to play (and truly be) a gracious loser will speak volumes about your suitability as a future team member and leader.

READ: You Lost — Now What?

When should recruiting stop?

Working remotely is great! In terms of work-life balance, evading traffic jams and actually getting things done without someone interrupting you, telecommuting can not be beat. Still, there are some things you give up: water-cooler talk, chance encounters and face-time with your clients. Sometimes it can get lonely and there is the occassional concern that your co-workers will forget about you once the weekly meeting is over. (Insert violin music and a sad puppy-dog face here.) So glad that is not my experience working at Microsoft!

Today is my birthday! (yay!)

And since I am a remote worker, far away from my staffing comrades, I did not expect anything beyond a birthday card and (maybe) a conference call sing-a-long of “Happy Birthday.” Well, I got something better.

My staffing buds shipped me a “Birthday-in-a-box,” to include: Cake mix, Candles, Party Favors, Decorations, a cool t-shirt and (wow!) little sausages to munch on. It was like getting a care package from home while at Summer Camp.

(Sniff-sniff) And I told myself I wouldn’t cry…

I was so very touched by the gesture and was on my third piece of tissue when a thought occurred to me.

“When should recruiting stop?”

Recruiters, after a person has been hired, what does your company do to continue “recruiting” the person that was just hired? How important are team outings? Birthday Cakes? Flowers when a co-worker’s family member passes? Office pranks? Free Coffee? Just because Gift Certificates? And a Friday@5 Beer Bash?

Employees, while you can certainly leave a job whenever you want to, how hard is it to break away from a supportive manager? To give less than your all when working with a close knit group? To not give your loyalty to a company who wants you to progress in your career as far as you can?

I think recruiting should never stop. New hires should feel as valued on their three thousandth day as they did on their first. Some companies give only lip service to those little things that produce intangible, but incredibly valuable returns: happy, productive and dedicated employees. Fortunately for me, Microsoft is not the type of company to ignore the people that make it great.

Staffing buds, thanks again for the card.

Jim

Life with Bill: Why is OOF an OOF and not an OOO?

Oh… now I get it. (Check out this inside Microsoft joke)

Inside Microsoft,