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[Closed] What's the best piece of work related advice you've ever been given?

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Remember most people have certain degree of evil in them but they just do not know about it. 😯


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:21 pm
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Don't be a c*&^ and you'll be fine.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:23 pm
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If all the staff are invited to a meeting with no published agenda in a hotel at 4pm on a Tuesday, it's unlikely to end well. 😥


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:24 pm
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If all the staff are invited to a meeting with no published agenda in a hotel at 4pm on a Tuesday, it's unlikely to end well.

And if you're not invited, it'll be even worse.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:28 pm
 edd
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This post from [b]ourmaninthenorth[/b] is one I often go back to:

[url] http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/anyone-on-here-work-regular-unpaid-overtime/page/2#post-740960 [/url]


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:41 pm
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gatsby - Member
"Early is on time, on time is late, late is no good to me..."

My parting words to an ex-employee. I got sick of him rolling in at 2-minutes past nine and going to make himself a brew!

Did it make a blind bit of difference to his job what time he turns up?

Accepted it might be a job that requires you to be there at a specific time. I can't stand office environments where the time has no relevance to the job other than for clock watching managers to have something to do or for smug early birds to tut because they get in at 7am and bog off at 3 or 4pm.

Of course if he's crap at the job then fine. Soon find out.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:43 pm
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I gave it to myself. It went something like this....

'Ok, so I'm nearly 40 hours down on my flex time, there's no way I'm going to make that back as I hate working. How about, get up early every day, go into work at 6.30, sign in, go home and back to bed for a couple of hours then come into work at 9ish as normal. The flexitime deficit would be gone in a few weeks.'

I very nearly got away with it, and I did get away with some of it.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:49 pm
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Work to live

Rachel


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 12:55 pm
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I had a boss who once told me that when writing essays, business cases, policy documents, always ask yourself:

"Who give a s, and why should they give a f"

Helps you cut the BS and get right to the point. All killer, no filler if you will.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 1:00 pm
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Your strengths are also your weeknesses


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 1:06 pm
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Treat people as you would like to be treated, not as they treat you.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 1:11 pm
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Oh, and if something tells you something's obvious then it's probably not, if they can't tell you why it's obvious then it's probably wrong.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 1:12 pm
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Man who stands on head has clean feet.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 1:26 pm
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" The difference between a good boatbuilder and a bad boatbuilder is the good boatbuilder learns how to get around their mistakes"

Given to me 34 years ago whilst training to be a wooden boatbuilder by a man who had started building and repairing wooden boats as a 14 year old in the early 1930's. He knew stuff 8)


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 5:33 pm
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Aim for the best expect the worst.

Never help a man who's struggling (job preservation that lad eiii).

He who tries hard and works his best goes down the road like all the rest.

Doctors bury their mistakes, ours are there for everyone to see.

Work a lot like life you get used to disappointment.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 6:40 pm
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@ edd - did I really write that? Well, I'm glad it was of some use..!

It illustrates my second point above: where possible go to something, never from it.

Since then I moved from being an M&A lawyer to an in-house lawyer in a tech company to a commercial guy in the same tech company. I've been promoted and earn about double what Indid when I wrote that original post.

Solicitors' practising certificates are renewed on 31st of October every year. I got a reminder today. I'm not going to renew it.

The only question is: what next?


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 7:26 pm
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The advice I give (and it applies to everyone, myself included) is this:

Never forget rule number 1.

[b]Rule Number 1 - Don't be a dick.[/b]


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 7:28 pm
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It really is all about people and how you read them

Generally if you are creatively satisfied the rewards will make you happy

Integrity is what gets respect


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 7:39 pm
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"Keep the pits full"


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 7:50 pm
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Don't screw the crew


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:11 pm
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Don't put your fingers there - relates to a lot of the machinery we use, still have my fingers.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:12 pm
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Rule #1 : Don't go over the side - you'll drown before we can get a line to you.

Fishing boats obviously, there were other snippets of advice but i expect they'd get me a banning if i phrased them.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:14 pm
 Spin
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Follow the procedures.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:16 pm
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Coffee's for closers


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:17 pm
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And finally, one that Dilbert taught me but is a universal truth. If you ignore something long enough it will go away.
The number of times that someone is desperate for some info/response/report etc. You ignore it for 24/48 hours and hey presto, they've resolved it another way.

Yup. The laziest bastard ever told me "you know, if you just ignore people asking you to do stuff, it turns out that most of it didn't need to be done in the first place". But he was wrong it just meant someone else ended up doing it


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:29 pm
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Cash is king

Plan for the worst, hope for the best

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit (Bond trader in the 80s)

Hit the pause button....


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:37 pm
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You see none of this sh*t is either any more, or any less, important than a game of chess. When you sit at the board, you give it your all to win - death or glory - and you die inside if you lose a significant game. But, once you walk away from the board it's totally irrelevant who won or lost. You'll still go home and have your tea. After 5 o'clock this loads of boll*cks disappears.

It's been a gospel of mine ever since.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:45 pm
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If you let people shit on you, they will.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:46 pm
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'Righty tighty, lefty loosey', there's a bit more to mechie fittin but no much 🙂


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:51 pm
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When I was scaffolding/putting up marquees...regarding fittings and joints.... never put your finger somewhere you wouldn't put your cock.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:53 pm
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When it all goes tango uniform...

'Sometimes even monkey fall out of tree'

... thanks, Spey.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 8:55 pm
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From a guy at my work:

"**** the bastards" (Apologies for language)

My old Ice Hockey coach:

"You can only piss with the cock you've got"

"If you believe you can or can't... Your probably right"

Mine is more of a reflection on my place of work..

It's like Mushroom management in here.. Kept in the dark and fed on shite!

Seriously though, some really good ones here. I live by the old "work to live, don't live to work". But I still spend far to much time at work, it's a "perk" of the job being a lorry driver apparently, and the never Assume one previously mentioned.

Looking for a change though.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 9:12 pm
 CHB
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"Theres a big difference between 5 years experience and one years experience repeated five times."
Reminds me never to get stale in a job.
I also like a lot of John Ruskin quotes, especially:
There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 9:53 pm
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Have we done "shit rolls down hill" yet?
The most real piece of advice I ever had, felt wrong the first time I gave it, I was advising another not telling them, but it is true 🙁


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 10:05 pm
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To simplify my job referring to trains, don't hit them together, keep them off the stones and don't kill anyone. If I can manage this then hopefully I won't get sacked or jail!


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 10:30 pm
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You have 2 ears and one mouth, try and use them in that proportion.

No matter how much we disagree we agree I public.

Although honesty is good for the business it might not be good for your career.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 10:52 pm
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The only person who cares that you tried hard is your mum.

And, from a carpentry point of view:

Keep it as long as you can for as long as you can.


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 11:04 pm
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"you're only as good as your last job"

-something for when you're tired and just about to make it 'good enough' so you can go home. its not just about reputation and repeat business, its about pride in your work, which is how you find happiness in it


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 11:12 pm
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YoKaiser - Member
'Righty tighty, lefty loosey', there's a bit more to mechie fittin but no much

Careful if you're a bike mechanic though and dealing with pedals or bottom brackets 😉


 
Posted : 22/10/2015 11:52 pm
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"Always draw back."

"Get out of that f*cking office."

"Never use the 'Q' word."

"Just because someone gives you a piece of sh*t, it doesn't mean you have to put it in your pocket."

Psychiatric nurse...


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 1:53 am
 sbob
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"They pay you to do your job, you owe them nothing"


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 3:42 am
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To find the easiest way to do something, ask a lazy man.


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 5:08 am
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"Never get angry and be nice to people, even if they piss you off, otherwise they won't buy from you any more"


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 6:23 am
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There's no such thing as an urgent e-mail

From a H&S point of view: Would you be happy with someone asking your son/daughter to do it?

one of my own:

**** 'em, they don't give out medals.


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 7:55 am
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Has anyone said this one:

[b]Never assume![/b]

Its amazing how doing that has kept me out of a few holes over the years!

And.....if I was giving out advice in the Sales, after 25 yrs in the business, it would be this:

[b]Don't get too high on the highs nor too low on the lows. [/b]


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 8:07 am
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Many years ago while working in a British zoo we lost an entire pond of large South American catfish next to the hippo enclosure, for an unknown reason. While removing the large dead fish and feeling very sorry for ourselves the giraffe keeper walked past. After telling him our tale of woe he replied with:
"Where there's livestock, there's deadstock" and walked off.


 
Posted : 23/10/2015 8:09 am
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Ignore emails you are cc'd on
People will email you directly if they need something


 
Posted : 24/10/2015 12:25 am
 DT78
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Promotion requires 3 things:

Drive
Ability
Opportunity

If one is missing it isn't likely to happen.....


 
Posted : 24/10/2015 7:35 am
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"sheep are born to die, they are happiest when they are dead, the only trick to sheep farming is beating them to it !"


 
Posted : 25/10/2015 12:53 pm
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My former quality manager used to say
"If your not upsetting someone, your not doing your job properly"

He had a point but i tend to work with people than just pissing them off.


 
Posted : 25/10/2015 4:12 pm
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There is no such thing as a big job it's a succession
of small jobs done in the correct order.
It's not how long you're at work, it's how much
you do whilst there.


 
Posted : 25/10/2015 4:41 pm
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[quoteHave your "* you" money.

3 months salary in reserve, so if you don't like it, you say "* you" and leave.

Plenty of time to get more work before things are tight.

This ^^^

Although i would add that its best to stay civil, work your notice and leave on good terms, even if you hated the place.
I also like to have a letter of resignation typed out and ready to hand in so if things really get bad you can just sign and date it and hand it in (with a smile). It really helps you feel like you're in control of your own life.


 
Posted : 25/10/2015 5:22 pm
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