Son,

I didn't get a lot of tips on how to work in an office, or how to dress, or how to act when I went "out into the world". I'd be remiss as a Dad if I didn't have some words of wisdom for you as you go out and seek your fortune, so here's some stuff I've gathered over the last couple of years:

Snip of a bunch of links

In addition to the links I sent, here's some advice straight from me:

- Your co-workers will be into sports. You should have a favorite team, and a team you hate. In baseball, the Yankees are good to hate
(unless you work in New York).

- Your co-workers will be into beer. Know something about it even if you don't want to drink it. Know what Lager, Stout, Porter, Ale, and Pilsner are and the difference between them.

- If you go to a work-related party, don't drink more than one alcoholic drink. Embarrassing yourself at a company function is something that your boss (and his boss) will not forget.

- Dress like your bosses' boss. Or put another way, dress for the job you want to have. Or still another way, don't be the worst dressed
person at your work.

- Keep your work area clean and organized. Some people will tell you that a cluttered desk demonstrates that you are "busy" or "working
hard". That's crap - a cluttered desk tells your boss that you can't organize and is an embarrassment to the company when outsiders visit.

- Keep your apartment clean. This is hard for you and me, but it is very, very important. You will have people from work that will want to
drop by, and if the place is a pig sty, it will hurt you at work.

- As a general rule don't date your co-workers (although it can be Ok sometimes), especially if you are a supervisor of that person (never, ever, Ok).

- Don't eat lunch at your desk, at least not regularly. Eat with your co-workers in the lunch room or cafeteria. If they go out once a week
for lunch, go with them if you can afford it. If you can't afford it, tell them that and that you will go next time. Save your money and go
next time.

- Keep track of your classmates and former co-workers as best you can. You never know when you will need some piece of information or a job
lead. When you need it it's too late to "keep in touch". Keep in touch now.

- Your co-workers will want to go out for drinks sometimes after work. Go with them, even if you don't drink. Get a pop or something, but go
with them. You want them to think of you as a member of the team, and doing stuff together is how that happens.

- If your workplace has a softball team, play on it - it usually doesn't matter if you suck - they all do too. If you really don't want to be on the field, offer to keep score (remember when I showed you how to do that?).

- Don't do something wrong, illegal, or unethical for someone else, no matter who it is (like a girlfriend, or a boss). It is better to be dateless or unemployed than in jail.

- Stay calm in a crisis. When all the world is falling to hell, the guy that keeps his cool will come out on top, or at least has a fighting chance at it.

And finally, don't forget to have fun whenever you can.

Dad

quote:

Don't eat lunch at your desk, at least not regularly. Eat with your co-workers in the lunch room or cafeteria.

I worked for a small company of 180 people for 4 years. The Texas multi-millionare who owned it had few rules, but one of them was that he did not want people eating at their desks. He was known to personally enforce this by wandering through the spaces during normal lunch hours. Anyone at their desk needed to have a pretty good non-business related reason for being there.

It was one of the more productive, cooperative and positive places I ever worked.