Waiting – Take 1

You arrive for an appointment and the person you are meeting is on the telephone. They wave you into the office. You go in, and sit in front of their desk and listen to them talk, feeling uncomfortable. You are uncomfortable both because you have to wait, and because you seem to be eavesdropping on their call.

Finally, they start to make apologetic motions, but they continue the conversation. You begin to get irritated, because you had an appointment and they should not have taken the call in the first place. By the time they hang up, you are pretty hostile. The meeting goes poorly. You leave, and you spend the rest of the day irritated.

Waiting – Take 2

You arrive for an appointment and the person you are meeting is on the telephone. They wave you in, but you happily smile and shake your head no, with a look that says “I couldn’t interrupt.” Then you STAND outside their door so that they can see you, but you look the other way so that they can’t motion you in again. Others in the office begin to get embarrassed, and offer you a chair, but you refuse and continue to stand. Either the person you have an appointment with will hurriedly finish up their telephone call and apologize, or someone in the office will go and force them to finish up and see you.

You have won the positioning battle. You cheerfully stood and made everyone else uncomfortable. The person will not be on the telephone the next time you have a meeting.

“What’s for dinner?” The happy children ask. “Chili,” replies the mother. One child is very happy; the other says “Yuck, chili again?”

Most of us still live in households where the food preparation responsibilities are not equally distributed.
Several years ago, I began writing books in my spare time. The family decided that maybe they would help with meals. First, they tried to cook together, and it didn’t work very well. It is hard for three people to agree on most anything.

Next, they each tried to take one night to cook. That worked much better. Suddenly, we had the Indian food night, the vegetarian night and the grilled ham and cheese night.

To make it work well, we had to lay some ground rules.

• Meals have to be balanced, having things like vegetables, fruit, bread and meat, all in the same meal.

• There has to be something that each person in the family is willing to eat in each meal.

• No one can make the others cook as they do. Family members must be allowed to pick their meals and cook their way.

Suddenly, everyone in the family was willing to eat less complex meals that took less time to prepare. It is so easy to ask for a tort for your birthday cake, until you have tried your hand at one.

Once you gain responsibility for something like cooking, you also suddenly realize how difficult it is to do, and you tend to criticize others less.

On the down side, we discovered that no one in the family had really ever learned to cook. They were having a real struggle reading cookbooks.

Thus, my next project was to write a cookbook series, designed for people who didn’t know what they were doing.

I have suggested to other families that they try this meal-splitting method. Some have tried it. All principle meal-preparers report that the meals that the other members of the family create are much less elaborate than those that they asked for in the past. Instead of pork roast and mashed potatoes, people are suddenly happy with hot dogs and canned soup.

It is fun to share the task, and fun to eat different foods. Try it.

For those who will be a high-school junior this year, and want to go to college, it’s time to determine what college they want to attend.

Folks often do this by talking with their friends, looking at brochures, and looking at the college’s course offerings, but an often-overlooked factor is determining whether the academic and living environment at the school is one in which the student will succeed.

If the student is unhappy in the school and living environment, no amount of academic prestige will keep them there. Since the goal of attending college should be to graduate, the living environment is very important.

Colleges come in many shapes and sizes, so finding the right “fit” is not too difficult, if you understand the differences. Here, we review the different characters.

Small Private Schools

Small, private schools typically have 1,600 or fewer total students, or fewer than 400 per class level. They are often affiliated with a religious institution. They have small campuses and normally very attentive faculty.

In these schools, the student is assigned a guidance counselor who meets with them and helps them determine what courses to take. The faculty in these schools typically has Master’s or PhD degrees.

Often the schools require the students to live on campus, and the school then provides dormitories and dining halls. The school takes a very active role in the student’s education, and also in monitoring their living and partying habits.

A student who has not been away from home much, and who is a bit uncertain about the college experience, can be very successful in a small private school.

The main downside is that, since these schools are private, they cost quite a bit to attend.

Medium–Sized State Schools

Medium-sized state institutions typically have around 20,000 students, most working on Bachelor’s degrees, but some working on Master’s degrees and PhDs.

The student has a guidance counselor, but often has to seek out the counselor for help.

The students typically live on campus in dormitories the first year, but often live off-campus in apartments for the remaining years.

The student has to understand the college bureaucracy, and “work it.” Living off-campus requires more independence. They must be able to pay their bills, and prepare their own food. No one from campus is there to oversee their living or partying arrangements. The range of courses offered at these schools is greater. The lecturers may have Master’s or PhD degrees.

These schools are typically much lower in cost than private colleges, as long as the family is living in the same state as the school, or is “in-state.” If the family is “out-of-state,” then the tuition is normally three times the “in-state” tuition. This ends up being comparable to the tuition at a small private school.

Large State Schools

Large state institutions typically have a student body of 40,000 to 60,000. Students normally live in dormitories the first year, and off-campus the next years. The college may not even offer on-campus housing for upperclassmen. At these schools, the student has to be able to handle large corporate problems on their own. They, and about 1,500 others, are assigned a guidance counselor who signs their class schedule each semester. The student must be able to determine what courses they need to graduate, and be able to schedule these on their own. The lecturers have PhDs, and are assisted by graduate students.

Much of the actual teaching, and most of the interaction with students, is done by these graduate students, who are working on their own Master’s or PhD degrees. The professors have office hours, and are often helpful when approached, but the student must know that they have a problem in the class, and must take the initiative to find the professor and get help. These schools spend a lot of time trying to make themselves act like small schools, but they are largely unsuccessful.

A person who attends a large university must be able to cope on their own. The cost to attend most of these large state colleges is about the same as the medium-sized state schools, if the family lives in the same state as the school, or is “in-state.”

Community Colleges

Community colleges often offer two-year degrees, but some offer four-year degrees. The students live at home while attending classes. The class schedules often allow for the students to have full-time jobs and attend school at the same time. Because the students live at home, the experience at a community college can be more like that of a high school. Most instructors at community colleges have Master’s degrees.

The cost of a community college is generally less than that of the other options. Students often attend two years of community college and then make the jump to a four-year school to finish up their degrees.

The School’s Personality

Colleges all have personalities. You can feel the personality when you arrive at the campus for a visit. If you visit the school and it does not feel like you, then don’t go there. There is one major well-respected institution that we visited with one of our daughters, that we thought would be wonderful. What a joy to be able to say that she had a degree from that school! We arrived on campus and prepared to take the tour. The tour guide was what we used to call “flaky,” but we chalked that up to happenstance. Then we sat in an auditorium and listened to a talk given by an admissions person. She also seemed to not “go very deep.” We figured it was just the person available to talk that day. Our daughter attempted to talk to people in the department she wanted to attend. She had trouble getting in touch with them, and then had trouble getting any information out of them. Finally, she went for an interview with a graduate from the school who lived in our area. This person struck us the same as the others. This was definitely not a school for us.

Walk around campus and feel the personality of the school. You want to feel comfortable there. Do most of the people that you meet seem intelligent and happy? Are they stern? Are you stern? When you stand on the campus looking lost, does someone stop to help you? Do you want help? Or do you want to be left alone?

When you happen into the research area and find a researcher, do they stop to talk to you? Are they excited about what they do?

We once were standing on a sidewalk at a school with 60,000 students. A statistics professor stopped, asked if we needed help, and then told us all about the school. What a good feeling for us. Find a good feeling, for you.

Choosing

For a protected environment, choose a community college or a small private school. For independence, choose a larger school. Choose a school that feels right to you.

Definitions

Associate Degree: Two years of class work, generally four classes a semester. Normally given in a specific job-related field like Environmental Technician, or Engineering Technician.

Bachelor’s Degree: Four years of class work, generally four classes a semester. Bachelor’s degrees are split into either Bachelor of Arts (BA), which emphasizes disciplines such as English and Classics, or Bachelor of Science (BS) which emphasizes disciplines such as Botany, Geology, and Chemistry.

Master’s Degree: Two additional years of study, past the Bachelor’s Degree. Often a Master’s degree requires some research work that extends research started by others. The divisions are like those for the bachelor’s: Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MS).

PhD (Doctorate): Two additional years of study past the Master’s Degree. Normally original research is required, and is presented in a dissertation.

Underclassman: a freshman or sophomore, the first two years of a 4-year program.

Upperclassman: a junior or senior, the last two years of a 4-year program.

In the past few years, we have been hearing about mercury contamination in the environment.

Mercury was the Roman god of trade, profit and commerce. He quickly flew from place to place. His name has been used for the planet Mercury, because it appears to move quickly in the sky, and the element mercury, which is liquid at room temperature and thus able to flow quickly. Mercury is sometimes called “quicksilver.”

Mercury, Science Teachers and Toys

Most of us who are over 50 years old have some stories about the metal mercury. We can tell how our science teacher would bring out some mercury and roll it around in his hands, showing us this marvelous metal that is liquid at room temperature.

We also had toys with mercury in them. There was a plastic maze with a mercury droplet that we had to work through the maze. We also used mercury thermometers, and sometimes they broke.

Mad as a Hatter

The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland was not entirely fiction.

During the industrial revolution, everyone wore hats, which were often made of felt. The felt was manufactured from animal fur. In order to remove the fur from the pelts, the hatters put the pelts in a solution of mercury nitrate. Inhaling mercury vapors affects the nervous system, and can lead to muscle twitching, a lurching gait and trouble speaking and thinking clearly. Hatters developed these symptoms.

By 1943, all use of mercury in hat making had ceased.

If Not from Hats, where Is Mercury Coming From?

According to USGS Fact Sheet FS-095-01, coal burning power plants produce 50 tons of mercury per year, and this accounts for 13-26% of the total airborne emissions of mercury in the United States. Another source notes that this is 40% of the man-made total. Based on these figures, 35-66% of the mercury released is produced by natural sources, which include volcanoes, forest fires and weathering of mercury-bearing rocks. Inorganic elemental mercury that is released to the atmosphere is thought to wash into streams, where it is organically changed by bacteria into methylmercury, the most common organic mercury compound found in the environment.

Methylmercury Behavior

Methylmercury is dangerous to humans if ingested in large quantities. It can produce symptoms of mercury poisoning. Methylmercury accumulates as it goes up the food chain. Larger fish have the potential to have more methylmercury in their systems than smaller fish. Luckily, methylmercury can be removed from the body naturally, but it takes months to a year to do so.

Pregnant women who eat large quantities of fish containing methlymercury are at risk of harming the development of the fetus, who can be born with severe disabilities.

If you eat fish containing methylmercury, your body will remove it, but slowly. Partially due to mercury levels, we in northern Ohio are currently advised to eat fish from Lake Erie only once a week. You can find specific fish advisory information at: www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fishadvisory/.

Mercury in Old Fillings

Every once in a while, there arises a concern with fillings for teeth that were once created with an amalgam of mercury, silver, tin, copper and zinc. In addition, cadmium, indium, palladium and lead have been used. Here again, the mercury is not a problem, but mercury vapors could be. The biggest risk-taker was the dentist who used to mix these fillings in his office. These fillings were used because they cost much less than gold, and were malleable and durable. Now, a range of plastics has taken their place.

Medical Applications

Mercury-containing medicines, such as the Blue Mass pill and Mercurochrome, were used in the 1800s and 1900s. A study released in 2001 in Perspectives in Biology and Medicine suggested that Abraham Lincoln used the Blue Mass pill, and had violent rages caused by them. He stopped taking them when he became president, and reportedly returned to a more normal condition.

Mercurochrome was a red tinted mercury-based antiseptic. Many of us can recall the use of it on cuts as children, before it was banned in the United States.

Cleaning up Mercury Spills

Inorganic mercury, like we played with in science class, is still present in older thermometers and barometers. While inorganic mercury is only moderately absorbed through the skin, and often can pass through the digestive system unabsorbed, breathing the vapors for a long period of time is a danger. Thus, the biggest concern during a spill of mercury is to remove people from the area so that they do not breathe the vapors. If vapors are inhaled over a long period of time, they can cause tremors, gingivitis and excitability.

Spilled mercury can be cleaned up by changing it into a nonhazardous organic salt. A product named HgX is designed to be spread over mercury to cause this chemical change. Fine powdered sulfur or zinc can also be used. Spilled mercury should never be vacuumed or swept up, because this will disperse the droplets and increase the amount of vapor in the air.

What To Do with Your Mercury?

You can check with your local Solid Waste District, many have an exchange program for mercury thermometers. You would also want to call them in the event of a mercury spill.

Just before Bob and I were married, my mother told me about her early days of marriage. She said that they didn’t have much money, and TV was not widely available, but what they did in the evenings was read books aloud to one another. It sounded strange to me, but a year or so later, Bob and I didn’t have much money, and there was nothing good to watch on TV, so I suggested that we read a book aloud to one another. What fun it was! We found that some books are better suited for reading aloud than others. Agatha Christie and Nero Wolfe mysteries were easy to read. War and Peace, on the other hand, just seemed to bog us down with the details.

When our first daughter was entering kindergarten, I attended the “Get to Know the Principal” session. The principal said that one of the most important things to do with your children is to read aloud to them. We had, of course, been reading books to them, but had sort of thought that this would end at some point. The principal said, “Read aloud every day until they graduate.” Thus began a very pleasant time in our lives.

We generally read one book as an entire family at night before our daughters went to bed, and I read them a different book each morning while they ate breakfast, after Bob left for work. When overnight guests came, we all piled into one bedroom and read whatever book we were currently working on. I remember one time when we were reading a ghost story in the mornings at breakfast, and my parents were visiting. Each morning they got down to the kitchen just as I was opening the book. These grandparents found them-selves stools to sit on, and they listened. They had planned to stay through a Monday, but at the end of breakfast on Monday they announced that they were staying another day. “Fine,” I said, “But why?” “Because you will finish that book tomorrow morning, and we want to know how it turns out.”

We found that, as our daughters grew, the complexity of the books that we read increased. We also had them read to us some nights.

As our oldest daughter was preparing for her wedding, I decided to pass on the advice that my mother had given me. About a month later, she reported that her new husband was reading Ayn Rand to her in the evenings, and she was enjoying it (to her surprise).

Here are some of the books that we liked the best:

For small children:

• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown

• Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne

• Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling

• The Peter Rabbit Series, by Beatrix Potter

These children’s books have been recreated by others, so be sure to find the original versions, which we think are the best. The original Pooh books were “decorated” by Ernest H. Shepard. The original Rudyard Kipling books were illustrated with black and white line drawings by the author. The 23 original Peter Rabbit books were a tiny size (approximately 6 inches by 6 inches), also illustrated by the author.

For grade school-age children:

• The Little House Books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• The Anne of Green Gables books, by L.M. Montgomery

• The Bunnicula books, by James Howe

For junior high and high school-age children:

• The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Jubliee Trail, by Gwen Bristow

• The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

People behave in predictable ways. If you study your co-workers for several years, you will begin to notice patterns in their behaviors.

You will find that you co-workers are either:

1. Mostly concerned about procedures
2. Mostly concerned about people, or
3. Mostly concerned about themselves

Those mostly concerned about people are the type that I call sensitive.

These are people who we most often describe as quiet, or shy. They make decisions abut work based upon the effect their decisions will have on others.

They tend to avoid confrontations, and will even do all of the work themselves, rather than asking for help.

If you are working with a sensitive co-worker or boss, you might have to push them to let you help them.

You should be aware that requests that they make that sound like options, really aren’t. If you have a sensitive co-worker at a meeting, you might want to ask them a question, to start drawing them out.

The sensitive person has to train themselves to enter into confrontations, and to assert their ideas. Once they do this, they make great leaders because, after all, they are mainly concerned about people.

You know that chemicals might be bad for you, but how do you live without them?

First, you have to remember that people used to live with the same pests that we fight today, before chemicals existed. When you use chemicals, the natural balance of predator and prey is upset in your house and yard.

Allowing your yard and house to come back into balance will take about three years. Since you have been artificially killing the bugs that you don’t want, you have also been inadvertently removing the food for the bug’s predators. Once you stop using chemicals, the “bad” bugs will temporarily explode in growth. You can control them through non-chemical methods; vacuuming often, using cedar chips, etc. Then, over the course of the next three years, their natural predators will return, and the predators will take care of them for you. During the temporary explosion, here are some things that have always worked for us, to discourage bugs and rodents:

• Robin egg blue porch roofs are unappealing to mud wasps, so they do not nest
• Removing bushes from around the foundation of your house will remove the private access for mice and rats
• Bees like the color yellow; don’t wear yellow when bees are around
• Ants do not like pepper; sprinkle it on your windowsill and they will not come into your house that way
• Native types of wood are normally resistant to your native pests; use these when building
• Rats come when there is animal residue; be sure that your compost pile gets only vegetable matter

About the authors: The principals of HaagEnviro, Ruth and Bob Haag, have been cleaning up hazardous waste sites for 17 years. They know where to look for wastes, and what to worry about. Bob is a hydrogeologist, and Ruth is a natural resources scientist. Their monthly newspaper, A Sandusky Bay Journal, often carries articles related to their environmental experiences. Visit Ruth online at www.RuthHaag.com .

In most human interactions, people think about each activity as it affects them, rather than how it affects the other person. Interviewing for jobs is just like that.

The interviewee is trying to convince the interviewer that they are perfect for the job, even if they are not.

The interviewer is looking to quickly find a person who will be able to do all of the aspects of the open position, without any training.

Neither of these goals is attainable. In reality, both sides should simply be checking to see if their personalities are compatible, so that they will be able to work together.

Things the interviewee should do

The interviewee should be sure that they convey their true personality, as it will be when they are working.

Anyone can successfully act well for an hour or so, but getting a job based upon an artificial personality will lose the job, or lead to misery, once the real personality comes out.

The interviewee should dress in a “professional manner,” as it applies to the prospective job. One would not wear a three piece suit to interview as a mechanic. “Professional manner” means clean and neat. I once interviewed a woman for a store clerk job, and she arrived in old shorts and a stained shirt. She told me that she had just been gardening. She might have been a good candidate, but I couldn’t get over the fact that her dress implied that the job and the interview were unimportant to her.

Things the interviewee should be looking for during the interview

The interviewee needs to be very aware of the character of the business during the interview. Are the offices neat? Do the staff members seem to be working happily? If they are in a corner gossiping, that is a clue that the workplace might not be a pleasant one. Does the interviewer devote their full attention to the interview or does she take phone calls and interruptions? This might imply that she would not be a good boss to work for.

Things the interviewer should be thinking about

The interviewer should realize that the interviewee is a guest. The interviewer should be ready, on time and should have a quiet place in which to carry out the interview.

The interviewer should be sure to explain to the candidate what the job entails. Once, when I was going over the description of an environmental technician job with a candidate, he interrupted me and said, “Wait a minute, this job involves working outdoors? Then I don’t want it.” He got up and walked out. It was much better for me to find that out before he started to work.

Things the interviewer should be looking for during the interview

The interviewer should ask questions that make the interviewee think. Situational “what-if” questions are good. The questions need to be non-typical, to bring out the interviewee’s real personality. For example, you might ask, “What would you do if you were alone here at the office, three phone lines started ringing at once, and the Fire Department showed up at the door?”

The interviewer should watch the candidate and see if they can detect unpleasant personality characteristics. A store owner told me recently of a candidate who came in and began to re-arrange the store displays during the interview. We often tour a candidate around our facilities, and see if they touch things, or if they give suggestions for our improvement. We don’t think that level of aggressiveness is a good trait for our employees.

The goal of the interview is to see if the candidate, the job and the work environment are compatible, and both sides need to be focused on this goal.

You probably spend as many hours at work as you do awake at home. Thus, you spend as much time with your co-workers as with your family.

It is nice to be able to tell people at work important things that are going on at home. Sometimes it is nice to gain the insight of a co-worker about a personal problem. As a result, it is hard to determine where to draw the line with business friendships. Should you be sharing all kinds of intimate details about your home life, or should you keep totally quiet about what goes on away from work?

Sharing too much can make others think less of you

One of my first supervisors had problems with her husband. She began to come in to work late. Then she would sit and tell her assistant all of her problems. As time went on, she did no work, and neither did her assistant. When she decided to move out on her husband, her assistant took the day off and helped. From that point on, her assistant no longer respected her, and no longer worked very hard.

When you are at work, you would like to be judged by the quality of work that you do. If you are a wonderful worker, but share with everyone that you cannot control your home life, they will include that in their estimation of you.

The main goal of work

At home with your family and friends, your main goal may be to socialize. The main reason that people go to work, is to work. People sometimes forget that.

How much should you share?

Some people believe that others are very interested in all of their problems. Perhaps others show concern, but most likely they don’t really want to be totally involved.

Keeping a distance between your work life and your home life is a good thing.

Here is a list of things to keep to yourself:

• Details of an illness
  
• Details of your arguments with your spouse
  
• Details of your financial problems
  
• Details of your vacation
  
• For women, details of their monthly cycles
  
• Details of romantic conquests
  
• Involvement with what your child is selling from school

Here is a list of things you can share:

• That you were sick and are now well
  
• That you are buying a new house
  
• That you are going on vacation
  
• That you are having problems at home, but not what those problems are

Supervisors should not socialize with their employees

Imagine a situation in which the supervisor and several of the employees have a weekly poker game. Imagine that it becomes apparent that one of the employees in the poker group is not working effectively, and should be fired. The supervisor has a very hard problem. If she fires the employee, the poker group might fall apart. On the other hand, if she keeps the employee and the weekly game, she will have to do the employee’s work to ensure that it gets done. Supervisors should not socialize with their employees.

About the author: Ruth Haag helps managers and employees understand the dynamics of the work environment, and how to function smoothly within it. She is the President/CEO of Haag Environmental Company. She has written a four-book business series: “Taming Your Inner Supervisor”, “Day-to-Day Supervising”, “Hiring and Firing”, and “Why Projects Fail.” Her enjoyable, easy-to-read books provide a look at life the way it is, rather than the way that you might think it should be. Visit her online at www.RuthHaag.com.

The work climate today is much different from what it was 50 years ago. A person who was born in the early 1900s could expect to get a job and keep that same job until retirement. A person born in the mid-1900s could expect to have at least two different careers during their prime work years. It is projected that those born in the later 1900s will have three to four different careers during their prime work years.

This difference is caused by the rapid changes in workforce requirements that our current economy demands. Often the job that a person starts their work career with will not even exist after 20 years.

Life is a Chess Game

Many people faced with the loss of a job lament, “I had planned to work here until I retired!” They are caught by surprise when the employer decides to shut down a factory, or move it to another area.

These days, workers cannot look at their employers as their guaranteed protectors. It is better if workers look at their careers as a chess game. Workers must always be planning what their moves will be, when changes in their current jobs come.

Winning the Job Game

Keeping yourself flexible, and keeping aware of the business climate, allows you to make moves before you are laid off.

Looking at career moves as a game requires you to do the following:

1. Learn everything possible, to make yourself able to move on. If your company is offering training, take it. If someone on staff can teach you something, learn it. Learn how to operate all of the computer programs that your company uses. It is very important that you keep yourself as flexible as possible, in order to keep your options open.
   
2. Be willing to change where you live. It really is not so bad to move, but some people are unwilling. Currently, there is a significant downturn in northern manufacturing jobs, but the railroads say that they need people. The only hitch is that people need to relocate. It doesn’t make sense to stay in one place and complain that you don’t have a job, while a job is available with a move.
   
3. Keep aware of changes that are coming. We asked an engineer friend why he had just made a job move, when it appeared to us that he had liked his job of 10-plus years. He explained that he was asked to sit on a committee whose mission was to determine who would be laid off. Based on his committee work, he decided that it would only be a matter of time before his own position was eliminated. So, it was time for him to look for a new job.
   

Most people who stay in the same job for their entire career report real boredom with the job in the last 5-10 years.

However, many people who are either laid off, or jumped before they were, later report that they are pleased that it happened, because their new job was better and paid more.

Accepting your fate allows you to stop worrying and begin finding solutions.

About the author: For the past nine years, Ruth Haag has been training managers and employees to understand the dynamics of the work environment and smoothly work within it. She is the President/CEO of Haag Environmental Company. She has written a-four book series for supervisors: Taming Your Inner Supervisor, Day to Day Supervising, Hiring and Firing and Why Projects Fail. Visit her online at www.RuthHaag.com.