Are you a master prankster or are you the frequent victim of an Ashton Kutcher wanna-be?
Either way you could win a fun prize from the YDR.
The business staff wants to know about your April Fool's Day shenanigans. Leave a comment telling us about your best workplace prank or your most embarrassing moment of gullibility. The more details the better.
I don't work at one of those offices that have a gym inside them for employees to use and I've always been kind of happy about that fact.
I like working out in private (or as private as a regular gym can be). I don't like people seeing me sweat while I'm running or chug water while I'm cycling -- especially if they are the same people I work with on a daily basis. I like to keep up some level of professionalism around them, and somehow being seen all sweaty doesn't scream professional.
I was mortified the other day at the gym when someone recognized me after I spent an hour in spin class. I wished I had magical powers to mind erase and make her think she saw me dressed in my work clothes, not my sweat-laden Under Armour.
As I've mentioned in many previous posts, I am a huge sports fan. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I was fairly excited about the start of the NCAA basketball tournament.
I wrote a story for Friday's paper about how March Madness affects workplace productivity. Every year all these studies are published saying companies lose millions because workers aren't doing their jobs.
But what I found was totally different. Turns out people do take their jobs seriously and instead of dedicating the whole day to watching the game, many people will head to a sports bar during their lunch hour or take a half day or use their multitasking skills to check scores and do their work.
Piggybacking on my previous post about why Gen Y doesn't seem to work as hard as our parents, one local company is apparently taking the Gen Y work ethic as a fact of life.
(Basically, to save you a search through the archives, we don't work as hard because big business threw our parents away like they were disposable cans, and both our generation and our parents are worth better)
Johnson Controls, parent company of the former York International, is co-sponsoring a study to see how the company can better cater to this group and retain them as employees. The logic is simple: Older workers retire, and we're all you got left.
See the story here.
What do you think of this move?
Last month I wrote about how excited I was that Maryland was banning smoking in all bars, restaurants, etc. and how I was hoping Pennsylvania would follow suit.
In order for that to happen the House and the Senate need to decide on a bill both will agree to sign. Right now they both have passed separate bans, but aren't seeing eye-to-eye on some details. For more information on the specifics you can check out the article in today's YDR.
The next big step in the process is April 1, when a committee made up of members from both the House and the Senate will meet to try to work out the differences. Right now the big points of contention are whether to include bars, taverns and casinos in the ban.
I'm all for an all-out ban on smoking in public places. Part of it is absolutely for selfish reasons. I don't want to be breathing that crap. The other part is because I have had friends who work in these places and I don't think they should be forced to breathe second-hand smoke whenever they are working. Why should some servers, hosts, etc., be protected by this law, but not others?
It doesn't seem to make a whole bunch of logical sense.
Do you have stuff you wish you would have known about the workplace before you got there?
We want to hear about it.
Tell us, in 100 words or less, what you wish someone had told you about bosses, resumes, sick days -- whatever workplace wit or wisdom you have to share. Send your response to mburke@ydr.com. Include your name, age, where you work, the municipality where you live, and a daytime phone number.
I face real terror every weekday.
And it occurs as the clock approaches 5:30 p.m.
My heart starts to pound, and I wonder how I can possibly get all my work done in time to rush out the door, speed through rush-hour traffic on Route 30 and make it to my daughter's daycare before it closes at 6 p.m.
