Welcome... and greetings from the (for once) sunny West Midlands, UK.

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I spent 2 years in my last job doing the "hour plus each way down the motorway without holdups" after a merger with my company relocated my job to another city, so when I took this I was specifically looking for an easier journey to work.

I walk to my local railstation (5 mins - main reason for buying my house where I did), train into town (20 mins) and then another 15 mins walk to the office.  The journey only varies in time if bad weather causes rail delays, or occasionally the trains are cancelled (for no apparent reason).  So, 40 mins each way - not counting the waiting time at the stations.

I manage to avoid peak travelling times by working 8am-4pm so don't have to suffer the "sardine" problem many rail commuters face.

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We had a big issue with this at management team - not just with mobiles, but they all have blackberrys as well and seemed to spend more time reading their email than participating in the meeting.

So, I took an empty cardboard box, labelled it "mobiles here" and plonked it on my desk.  As they arrived for the next meeting, I took all their phones/blackberrys from them, labelled them with their names, and put them in the box advising them that all their secretaries knew where they were and would call my office in an emergency, and if any mobile rang I would personally answer it and take a message (unless it was urgent, then I would fetch them from the meeting).

I don't like treating senior managers like children, but when my boss has to repeat himself when asking questions because they're too busy reading their mail to be listening, it just makes my blood boil.

After a lot of whinging from some, they all finally complied!!  It was even better when the Chief Exec was attending the meeting the following week and arrived with the "worst grumblers", saw the box, commented "I must tell my staff to try that" and handed her phone over to me on the way in to the meeting.  SUCCESS!!  

It's not quite so easy with external visitors, but I started with the "I'm terribly sorry but we don't permit mobiles into meetings so if you would kindly switch it off, or perhaps leave it with me and I can take your messages for you...." the word soon got round that we won't condone unnecessary interruptions.

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I tend to wear dark coloured suits mostly - I leave the house very early and it's difficult to gauge the weather/temperature (regardless of the forecast) so prefer clothes that don't show the rain splashes as I have quite a long walk from the station to the office.  I wear a variety of coloured tops, usually plain, to complement the suit.

My favourite is a black trouser suit with various shades of pink stitching (round the hems and pockets) and favourite tops with this are lilac or fuschia pink.

I had a colour analysis done a few years ago and found some great colours which perhaps I wouldn't previously have chosen to wear, and this has also helped me "mix and match" my wardrobe.

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The company I work for (local authority) seems to fit the job title to the seniority of who you work for.

Director has a PA (and sometimes a Senior Secretary and/or Secretary)
Asst Director has a PA or Secretary
Head of Dept has a Secretary
Manager sometimes has a Secretary

It is often who you work for that defines the title, not what you actually do - the job descriptions at each level are fairly similar, but dependent on the capabilities of the person in the role, depends on what they actually do.  Some lower grade managers actually have someone who carries out a PA role, altho they're called Secretary because that's the job description and what the expectation is.

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I think it often depends on what type of business you work in as to what is deemed acceptable/inappropriate.

I generally take the view that "short" is higher than resting at the top of the knee cap when standing (on the theory that once you sit down it generally rides up a fair bit)... which is probably about the 2.5" someone else mentioned.

Low cut - I don't like seeing this in the office, particularly when colleagues lean over each other's desk (even if they don't intend to "give you an eyeful") and think it's unprofessional.

Sleeveless - I never used to really agree with this, until I moved to an aircon office which seems to be extremely warm all the time.  I have now had to switch to sleeveless (generally with a high neck as that's my preference) but I work with my jacket on 95% of the time so most my colleagues aren't aware of this.  I'm not keen on this, but when you're working in a warm environment you need to feel comfortable.

Shorts - I really don't think these are appropriate for an office environment.  I don't actually remember seeing any of my colleagues wear shorts at any time (except for charity days where they pay a donation to wear specific items - eg jeans 4 genes).

I'm not sure office wear is about looking fashionable - it's more about what's appropriate to your line of work.  Looking good is more about shape/style than length/fashion and if someone wears clothes tailored to their shape then the "fashion aspect" is irrelevant.

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I also learned Latin in school.  The only "song" I remember learning was Baa Baa Black Sheep - some of which I vaguely remember.

I think Winnie-The-Pooh would have made a welcome diversion from Caecilius (think that was his name) and the fall of Pompeii.

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Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then traveling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.

And the most British thing of all? Suspicion of anything foreign.



Oh and......

Only in Britain... can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in Britain... do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in Britain... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

Only in Britain... do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters.

Only in Britain... do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.

Only in Britain... do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

Only in Britain... are there disabled parking places in front of a skating rink.



NOT TO MENTION...

3 Brits die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue.

142 Brits were injured in 1999 by not removing all pins from new shirts.

58 Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers.

31 Brits have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.

19 Brits have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.

British Hospitals reported 4 broken arms last year after cracker pulling accidents.

101 people since 1999 have had broken parts of plastic toys pulled out of the soles of their feet.

18 Brits had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth.

A massive 543 Brits were admitted to A&E in the last two years after opening bottles of beer with their teeth.

5 Brits were injured last year in accidents involving out of Control Scalextric cars. and finally.........

In 2000 eight Brits cracked their skull whilst throwing up into the toilet.



I am proud to be British !

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You could also try OS Magazine - contactable at circulation@peeblesmedia.com

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It's not a word I hear often these days, but I don't think I've ever heard it outside the Jewish community.  I've never considered it offensive but can see it might be deemed as such in a non-Jewish environment.

I suppose in my view it depends on the context of the sentence and would see it in a similar way as the use of the term "paki", ie if you're talking to someone from Pakistan they often refer to themselves as "pakis" but if you're using it in an intended derogatory way like "oi paki" then it would be offensive.

I don't remember seeing the "n" term used in a non-offensive way since the PC brigade started.

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That's also a big bugbear of mine.  My name is Vikki, but you can probably imagine most the variations (and that's before the typos start).

The reason this annoys me so much, is that they've bothered to find my email address (firstname_surname@company.etc) so have it on the screen in front of them as they're typing their mail.  How hard is it really just to copy the spelling they already found??

Grrrr....

Edited by diamondlady on 31/01/06 09:00 PM.

Dear Hiring Manager,

Thank you for your letter of 16 January.

After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a position in your department.  This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters.  With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

Despite your company's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time.  Therefore, I will assume the position in your department this March.  I look forward to seeing you then.

Best of luck in rejecting future applicants.

Sincerely,

Interviewee

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Found this on another forum and thought it might amuse people here....

How many forum members does it takes to change a light bulb?

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

1 to move it to the Lighting section

2 to argue then move it to the Electricals section

7 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

5 to flame the spell checkers

3 to correct spelling/grammar flames

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" .. another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum

36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

13 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

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Saw this on another forum... and it amused me...

(1) Phonetically spelt phonetically is fonnetickly.

(2) If phonetically was spelt phonetically then it would be pronounced pahonnetickallee.

(3) Noun is a noun. Verb is a noun too.

(4) If verb was a verb, then it would be an excellent way of describing the action of transforming a noun into a verb which seems to be particularly commonplace in certain lines of work e.g. "productionise", "physicalise", "commoditise".

(5) If, indeed, we agree with (4) above, then the best name for this process is verbing. And so we have verbed verb, i.e. verb is now a verbed noun.

(6) Continuing from (5), noun is a noun, we can now verb, but nothing is yet adjective. The proposition here is, of course, to use "adjective" as an adjective, or rather, of course, to say that it is adjective. "Nice" is everyone's favourite word of its kind, and I think everyone agrees that it is particularly adjective. It even sounds the part- a bit like compulsive, but more like obsessive.

(7) To avoid confusion, it is worth noting that there is no such accompanying noun as "adject", even though it sounds like there should be. There is a word "abject" (as in abject poverty), but this "abject" is adjective, and not related. Incidentally, the noun for the adjective abject is abjection, which is rarely used. There is also an unrelated word "adjection", which is a noun, but means "the act of adding".

(To summarise so far: Noun was a noun and remains one. Verb was a noun but we verbed it. Adjective was a noun too, but it has now become supremely adjective).

(9) Among all this, there is one remaining island of incongruity. "Adverb" presents a problem, but is solved by being described adverbally. "Quickly", for example, is best described adverbally. And in doing so, we have adverbally verbed a formerly adjective noun.

(10) The word for word is word.

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Foreign languages are rarely considered essential in UK unless the company specifies a bi-lingual secretary/PA and very few courses actually include a second language.

In UK we are lazy and expect companies we deal with to communicate with us in English - this is reflected in the education system whereby it is not deemed necessary to ensure a minimum level in a foreign language whilst most other European countries (and indeed further afield) would expect a standard of at least English and usually another "local" language in addition to the language of that country.

Whilst I have no need for copy typing in my current job I would be unable to adequately cope with the workload if I did not have a good typing speed (I think min 60wpm was requested in the application).

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