Workplace Topics

Manual labor: I sweat right in front of you

House cleaner's dirt stories, appliance repairman propositioned, amazing baseboard tales, tension in Mt. Soledad, intellectual plumber, Reader writer as janitor

Here to Clean Up Bruce’s departed tenant had left telltale signs of the "young bachelor" — a floor so encrusted with dirt in places that I had to chisel it off with a knife, a ...

Manual labor

Brawley cattle, La Jolla lobsters, San Diego tugs, circus workers, sea urchin divers, downtown highrise construction, shopping cart retrieval, truck driving

Sweet, Wet, Ugly, and Tough Culbertson fished out of La Jolla for years. “I was born in La Jolla; that was my home. I rented a two-bedroom house there for $75 a month. I fished ...

Finding success as a real estate agent seems simple enough. It’s not brain surgery. People are always buying and selling homes. However, nearly half the agents who receive their real estate agent license fail within ...

An environment I love to be in

The case for co-working

Living the life of an at-home professional can be daunting. While the perception of telecommuting is a pleasant one that evokes images of coffee house visits and sitting behind a computer while wearing flannel pajamas ...

Active pursuit of happiness

Author Henry S. Miller explains why happiness may have everything to do with the success of your job search. How did you become so interested in happiness? When I read one of the very first ...

Flexibility Stigma

UCSD study sees envy among 9-to-5ers

Recent trends toward allowing employees more flexible work schedules to care for children or address other life needs may be backfiring, according to a new study jointly published by Rice University and UC San Diego. ...

A big and daunting proposition

To prove yourself at a new job

Your résumé got you an interview, and you answered the questions in your job well enough to get hired. What’s next? Next is the most important step in your new job. Nothing in the past ...

The pregnant worker dilemma

Workplace discrimination comes in many forms, from the subtlest type of excluding some affected employees in work discussions to blatant racism and ageism. It’s nothing new and broad efforts over several decades at the state ...

Work without stress

Doesn’t that sound nice?

Imagine a job that doesn’t stress you out. Imagine a gig where people are almost always nice to you and they appreciate everything that you do for them. Now imagine leaving work each week, paycheck ...

Go find some paperclips

You and your employer value your skills differenty

One of my first tasks in my first job was to scrounge paper clips from throughout my newspaper plant so my paper clip-dependent department would have enough for the entire week. Paper clips were essential, ...

Socially engaged, socially adept

Young workers value employers’ online reputations

Whoever said recession is the mother of invention was right. Or, they would have been, had anyone ever said that. That’s because the latest recession to hit the economy of the United States has left ...

People love people

Survey shows how much workers value co-workers

What do you love most about your work? That’s a simple question, but you might be surprised that far-and-away the thing people love most about their work is the people they work with. They still ...

Minimum wage is becoming a local matter

It’s difficult to find anyone who really is happy with a minimum wage. The workers who receive it think it should be higher; the employers who pay it are aggravated by it; and, the legislators ...

Diversity dilemma

Inclusion is often discussed, rarely achieved

Everyone knows that good intentions only go so far, and not very far at that. So it doesn’t sound surprising to learn that executives think having a diverse workforce that is inclusive of people from ...

It’s risky to stifle risk

Fear of blame stifles creativity

Years ago, I worked at a company that didn’t have the most progressive management. In fact, it often seemed to be backward to me. I soon noticed that no one really felt good about working ...

Workplace Topics

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