Miss Manners on job-hunting, etc.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Her book is: “Miss Manners Minds Your Business.”

http://nypost.com/2013/09/29/miss-manners-offers-workplace-tips-in-new-career-book/

Last paragraphs from the NY Post article:


.....FOR THE WORKER CONFUSED BY GIFT-GIVING ETIQUETTE

Miss Manners heartily disapproves of the workplace Secret Santa. “Why are people giving presents in the workplace at all?” she wonders. “Presents are symbolic. When you give them in your personal life, they should show that you are paying attention to the person to whom you’re giving them. Knowing all those things about your co-workers, unless they also happen to be your friends or your relatives, would be a little bit impertinent.” Each holiday season, she receives queries from people who don’t know what to give to their assigned recipient, as well as from “people who are highly offended by what they’ve received.” Added to that, many workers don’t have the personal resources to buy an additional gift for a work acquaintance on top of their holiday expenses.

The bottom line:

It is possible to abstain from this year’s Secret Santa without looking like a Grinch. “Learn graceful ways of saying no and of pointing out that this pressure to do something is not in line with most people’s wishes,” Miss Manners says. “I would enlist others in understanding why you’re opting out, or else take your vacation at that time.”



Lenona.

[leno...@yahoo.com]

Review:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323846504579073450798524832.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

Excerpt:

...Ms. Martin is at her strongest when sorting through issues faced by parents or childless employees, and she lands firmly on the side of justice when she says that "many patterns of life in this country no longer fit the realities." Companies need to step up and address the needs of working families, she writes; "society has a crucial interest in the welfare of children, and therefore in making good care available, and therefore in designing respected and economically feasible jobs for parents, adult children, and professional assistants alike.".....



Lenona.