Rookie's Guide to Work

[rookie]

First let me get a few disclaimers out of the way. This is in no way aimed at you or anyone you know. Unless otherwise stated, any situations and people are fictitious and all pronouns are to be considered royal. This is not meant to be definitive or applicable to every field or situation. This isn't supposed to be about right or wrong, moral or immoral, not about how it should be but how it is. This is written from an American perspective. If this doesn't apply to you, then it doesn't adult to you. Please feel free to disagree with anything. This is just what I've gathered from two decades earning money working for myself and others. And, as always, if a mod feels this is in the wrong section, please punt it to where it should be. With that out of the way, here's part 1 of Rookie's Guide to Work.

Part 1. DEALING WITH THE WORK

So you've chosen a job in a field. Maybe it's a new field, maybe it's one you're familiar with. But either way, now would be a good time to learn about what the company does and how it does it differently than its competition. How is the company branding itself? How can you contribute to the brand? This is important after about a month. In a month's time Manager Rookie expects you to no longer be new at your job but to come to work every time ready to jump in. More on that later. Try to see the company attitude as well as the branch attitude, if applicable. As you were waiting for your interview, I hope you took a minute to look at the other employees. What we're they doing? How were they acting? How were they dressed? If you did that, you'll find it easier to adapt to that particular environment. More on that later.

The big thing is how do you handle the mundane mindless crap that everyone had to deal with as part of their job. Even something like being asked to clean the microwave in the break room. These BS tasks are part of reality in working America. We all have those outside of job description tasks. We all did or do them. You don't have to like it, but it does have to get done.

I'm going to put your attitude here. I firmly believe your attitude is important in every aspect, but I want it in part one, so here it is. Some of us work too much as it is. Others don't work nearly enough. But no matter where you fall on that spectrum, we all spend too much time at work to be grumpy and miserable all the time. Nobody expects cheerful and chipper all the time. But don't be afraid to smile sometimes. Share a joke. Sing along badly with the song on the radio if your environment allows. Management gets it. It's called work, not fun. We also know if we weren't paying you, you wouldn't be here. But we also know the guy who at least isn't unhappy to be here doesn't hurt morale. The guy who likes his job is great for morale, and the worker who is unhappy will kill it. Moods can be infectious.

Don't be afraid to take pride in your work. Going back to cleaning the break room microwave, if you're supposed to clean it, clean it. Make it look like something you'd want to use. Carry that to every aspect of your job. If you have the attitude that you're signing your name to everything you do, good things start happening. Your direct supervisor will probably see that. That's helpful come review time.

Also, don't be afraid to cross train. Once you gain competence in your job, start learning about others. You've become a hell of an engineer. Awesome. Maybe stay conversations with customer service people. Pick up on what they do and how they do it. If it'll help get into the customer's mind, it'll make you a better engineer. Plus having friends in other departments is good. And being well rounded makes you appear that much better in the eyes of management.

To put it another way, in this climate of part time jobs, hours and shifts can be hard to come by. But if you do your job well and have a good attitude doing it, you'll earn more and more shifts. The more you can do, the more incentive I have to keep you longer and let someone else go early. You'll earn more and more leeway. For full time employees, the more you can do, the more useful you look. The more useful you look, the better able to survive the next round of budget cuts. It's sad, it's something nobody likes. But that's the way of the world.

One more aspect I want to touch on a second. Workplace rules. Please follow them. If there is a problem, or even a better way, please use the rules to address them. Bring up the problem to your direct manager before going over her head. But keep following them until they change. Trying to make your workplace better is nobel. Pointless defiance is pointless. I can't tell you where that line is unless you're working for me. That's something you have to find for yourself. But learning the difference is important to your future at that company.

[rookie]

Part 2, DEALING WITH COWORKERS

Your coworkers can be your best friends. They can be the biggest pain in your butt. They can be both at the same time. Some are great. Some you'd like nothing more than to punch in the nose. Most are somewhere in the middle. But no matter what, you gotta deal with them.

The ones you like are easy. You develop a friendship and it makes work that much more bearable. At least you get to work with Tom today. The challenge comes with maintaining a degree of professionalism. An hour long water cooler discussion or smoke break is bad for business. If you're lucky enough to work side by side, go ahead and chat the day away so long as your work is getting done. If not find a reason to be there. Five minutes to drop paperwork off and talk about that show you both like is fine as long as there's nothing else going on. I'm going for a smoke break. Tim, care to join me? Perfectly acceptable as long as the smoke break rules aren't being violated.

The big problem comes from the ones you don't like but have to work with. There's a few things you can do here. My favorite way is to try to find some sort of common ground. I work with people 15 years older than me and quite literally half my age. But common ground is there. The key is to find it.

If you can't find it, if it's just not there, then what may be best is that level of keeping it just professional enough. Avoid that SOB as much as you can. If you have to talk to him, keep it about work. And try to keep an even tone. If that becomes a challenge, it might be time for a discussion with management. We'd rather not have employees going at it. Maybe there's something we can do, get put on a different project or transfer to another department. If you're willing to be flexible, a solution can probably be found. If not, well, Monster exists.

Working with new people takes time. Time for you to see the flow, time for that particular dynamic to fit your style in. It should happen. Try to jump in but not disrupt anything. Like joining any other group.

[rookie]

Part 3: DEALING WITH YOUR BOSS

This is the bad part, right? You can avoid asshole coworkers, customers come and go. But that tough constantly irate grump in the office is a different story. Well, he did hire you, so let's start making him not regret his decision.

This isn't going to be popular, but I feel the need to say it anyways. Your first priority is to keep the boss happy and off your back. It sucks, it's not right, but it's the way of the world as it is now. Lucky is not hard to keep the boss happy with you. Do your job well with a half decent attitude. It's really that simple. Do your job well, do what you can to limit conflict with coworkers and I'll be asking for you on my shifts.

Of course, like every other simple thing in life, it ain't. Problems come up, things happen. You should never feel afraid to go to your boss with a problem that came up. More on that in a minute. If during the day nobody comes to me with a problem, I get worried. If you see something bad about to happen, speak up. Your boss should not feel like she's been blindsided.

Ok, I touched on it a minute ago. You should never feel scared or worried to talk to your boss if there's a problem. There's no real right way to talk to him. I wouldn't come right out and say Rookie,  you scare the living tar out of me. Instead, maybe try to judge my mood by asking how the day is going. Or some stupid little question. Hell, ask coworkers about her. Does Mrs Neeley ever smile? Get them talking about the PITA in the office to humanize him. If you're (un?)lucky enough to have more than one manager there and one of them you feel more comfortable talking to, bring it up to them. It could very well be that I come off as a cold and heartless person. If nothing else, maybe that other manager can act as a go between. That doesn't always work though. I know that doesn't always happen, variables and all. Sometimes the boys really is a cold heartless SOB. In that case, do your best to keep your head down.

Managers, bosses, are all there to help you to. Believe me, I want things to go smooth when I'm there. I want to help you to do the best job you can. So does your boss. If you don't understand something, please for the love of FSM, ask for clarification. Rookie, I need you to clean the microwave in the break room. Ok. What do we normally use to clean it? A perfectly valid question. If you have technical questions, your boss is a good one to go to, especially if there's more than one answer it could be. That way, even if it's wrong, it's wrong his way.

Asking questions is a good way to manage your manager. If there's a way you'd like to do it, suggest it a full the seconds after the situation. Hey Boss, this is a thing. Damn, ok thanks. You want me to get around it like this? 8/10 we'll say yes. Or we'll give you a reason why not. That's a very easy way to look helpful.

AAn often overlooked fact about bosses is they have bosses over them. So if he's getting on your case about something, it's because it's been brought to his attention. And sometimes when she asks you to do something stupid and pointless, she already fought that battle and lost. If she's professional enough, she'll never say it, but you'll know.

Your boss has expectations. Some of them are attainable, a good deal won't be. Really try to learn what these expectations are. It'll help you out. This guy is a dress code Nazi. Or 9:00 doesn't mean 9:02. The boss isn't going to change for you. Especially if everyone else is at their desk at the stroke of nine. Maybe they're chill in other areas. Like he doesn't notice you got everything done at 10:30 and have been playing Candy Crush for the past 3 hours. In any case, set the alarm and put a white shirt on over your favorite Slayer tee. It's work. If those things aren't worth it, and they might not be for all sorts of reasons, might be time to freshen up the resume.

To sum up that part, a boss should not be abusive but he's under no obligation to put up with crap. We're human, we have good days and bad.  And if you keep them happy, work goes better for you.

Eta: I can't believe I forgot this little tip. If you are lucky enough to have a really cool boss, and you hang out off the clock, great. That makes work go by better if you have that kind of relationship. However never forget where you are. At work is at work. And trying to be like that during working hours will end badly for you.

[rookie]

Last part: MISCELLANEOUS

Things that have to be said but don't fit into the other categories.

First and foremost, you aren't at your last job. Funny little anctedotes are fine. But really nobody at Left Twix really cares about which takeout place everyone at Right Twix orders from. A sentence that starts "Well, at..." is going to annoy everyone. Don't be that guy.

Gossip. That only hurts. Rumors can hurt professionally and personally too. Seriously, dealing with gossip is the most asinine wasteof time I have to deal with. But I have to deal with it because nothing disrupts morale like petty back biting gossip.

A surprising thing I've had to deal with was the, what we called the university attitude. You have a degree in it. Ok, good for you. But the guy sitting next to you had been doing this job for the past 10 years. Book learning is really a wonderful thing. But nothing, nothing, makes up for experience. Really, you both should learn from each other.

Think long and hard before friending bosses and some coworkers on social media. Make sure it's a good idea first.

I had to deal with this. If you're going to call out sick, a phone call to work is much much better than a Facebook message. It's even better than a text. Yes, that's happened. A girl showed me a message that said Tell Rookie I'm sick and can't come in and he hasn't friended me. Yup, don't be that guy.


A lot of this is really geared to first time jobs but this might just be useful to anyone. I've left a lot out because, well, it's just Rookie's Guide, not a real essay or article. A lot of this is frustrations I've dealt with and can pass on to others. As I said earlier too, this isn't defending the system. I disagree with a lot of how is done, but that hasn't changed anything so far. So if I can't change the system, I've figured out how to gain some comfort within it. Anyways, if you've something to add or pick apart, have at it.

[Lt. Fred]

Lt. Fred works for a physically very large Australia media company which will remain nameless. This company operates over several thousand kilometers. Some papers have a single journo and a single advertising hack. I will not confirm that this is my situation.

Nonetheless, there is both office politics inside those two person papers and between those papers and other papers and higher ups, both advertising and editorial.

[Rime]

It's a good article, but I'm curious about what prompted you to write it.  My situation is actually pretty good.  The work is a bit difficult at the moment because the machinery is new and the owner is looking at the contract rather than what is actually possible.  Oddly, in spite of being considered a "big company" they are having the attitude "what's in your way of attaining our goal" as opposed to "if you can't do it, we'll just get someone else."  My boss is almost too understanding and my crew is great.  On the other hand, you have those guys on other shifts who don't understand that just because we carried their weight in the past it doesn't mean that it can continue like that.

[Ultimate Paragon]

You know, I wish I had this fifteen years ago.

[rookie]

You and me both, UP. Which I guess is why I wrote this.

Rime, what prompted me to scratch this out I guess is the kids we've been hiring lately. Some don't like side work, others don't understand the concept of working for other people. That Gandhi quote about becoming the change. Maybe there's something in there to help people if not get job satisfaction, make their lot a little easier. Help everyone out.