Team Building Is For Suckers

I love the 90s and I love this video of the single worst boss in America.

Check out that tie & the hair.

For another view, here’s a video that shows us exactly what was happening through the eyes of his ‘producer’ (who looks like Chris Elliott).

I also love this video from Countdown, last night.

Finally, here’s the O’Reilly dance mix for your Friday night viewing pleasure. Get your freak on, yo.

I’m jammin’ on the one.

WE’LL DO IT LIVE! WE’LL DO IT LIVE!

(H/T to Scholars & Rogues!)

Quick post. Here’s a lovely article on a nineteen-year-old flight attendant for a partner of Northwest Airlines who didn’t want to fly a specific route at work — so he allegedly started a fire inside a paper towel compartment in the rear bathroom of the plane.

• Flight attendant accused of setting fire on airplane - Yahoo! News

Things that bother me:

• He allegedly boarded the plane with extra paper towels and a lighter. Excuse me, where the hell is TSA? Why do I have to take off my shoes but this tool can walk through the airport with Quilted Northern and a lighter?
• He didn’t just call in sick with the blue flu like most employees who want to send a message — he just got even.
• He’s a nineteen-year-old flight attendant.

Doesn’t 19 seem a little young to be responsible for the safety & security of 40+ passengers on an airplane, by the way? You can’t even drink but you can be a flight attendant? Weird.

In any case, there seems to be a new math in the airline industry.

• Low wages + horrible work environment = fire on planes.

I miss the good old days of crappy airplane food & stale peanuts.

This for my HR Scrabulous buddies out there — most of whom I’ve met through this blog.

LTS&R ain’t gonna get you very far.

As a side note, my pformer employer blocked Facebook almost immediately after I left the organization. Coincidence? Happenstance? Divine intervention from Baby Jesus?

I’m curious about the level of access to Web 2.0 in Corporate America. Does your organization block The MyFace? How about the Twitters? It seems pretty clear to me: if they don’t see the value in web2pointohs, they won’t see the value in your employment.

I worked as a recruiter back in the 90s. I was in my office, minding my own business, when I heard a knock at my door. I looked up and saw an administrative assistant in tears.

• She accidentally stabbed herself in the thigh
• with a pencil
• while trying to open a box.

For reals.

She was in pain and asked, “Should I go to the hospital?”

I had one thought:

• Thank god the pencil isn’t still in your thigh.

There wasn’t any blood so I improvised and suggested a trip to the employee medical department instead of a hysterical call to 911. Human Resources is all about flexibility and creativity. I just rolled with my instincts, yo.

In the spirit of office accidents, I’m sharing an article that lists America’s eight unhealthiest jobs. The list isn’t shocking or odd except that it leaves out firefighters and police officers. (I guess fire and guns aren’t as dangerous as I thought.)

Here’s the list.

1. Construction Worker
2. Office/Administrative Staff
3. Sales Staff (too many donuts?)
4. Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants
5. Janitors and Housekeepers
6. Registered Nurses
7. Waiters
8. Computer Specialists

I’ve seen accidents at work, and most of them are related to employees who are taking a shortcuts or ‘zoning out’ on the job; however, employees have rights (for now) and the article suggests the importance of understanding your options. Get to know the OSHA website, understand your work comp rights & responsibilities, and have a full understanding of your safety-related responsibilities at the office.

Yes, even the most cynical HR bloggers among us have attend compulsory ‘office safety’ seminars. It’s not so bad. There are always donuts.

Dear Laurie,

As a prefatory note, you don’t look very punk rocker-ish which, for my money, is a much more satisfactory state of affairs.

I’m writing to solicit your opinion on the use of the Briggs-Myer and FIRO-B in a OD-team building day and half session for my employer which is a state special district. We’re a small group and I would be fairly described as low in rank and have little or no influence on operations or strategy; however, the session was mandatory for all 22 of us including a couple who are ranked even lower then I am. I am not in Human Resources.

Staff and board members (the latter did not participate in the team building session) took both tests via the internet and I am almost sure that an explanatory section assured us that individual results would not be identified as such. In other words, there would be no way that my results would be public knowledge or discussed. However, that’s exactly what happened. Everybody’s personal results were made public and something of synanon-like session was tacked on to the part of the Briggs-Myer fest. We are expected to do the FIRO-B part today and some of it has already taken place where small teams were asked to evaluate several anonymous FIRO-B profiles which turned out to be our own!

Would you consider this an ethical use of these tests? What legal obligation am I under to participate in this process, especially when I strenuously object to the public display of the test results, even if I thought they were accurate? The psychologist leading this exercise is a well-respected individual and has apparently written a couple of books on team building.

Thanks for any insight you might offer.

Regards.

- Anonymous

**

Dear Anonymous,

Oh boy, I feel your pain. I believe that personality tests in the workforce are bullshit. Plain & simple. Here are other things that I believe –

• I believe that it’s important to understand your strengths & weaknesses as a human being.
• I believe that it’s important for you to understand how your behaviors & actions impact your team.
• I believe in self-improvement.
• I believe that you can learn to be more self-aware and conscious of your behaviors through activities other than pseudo-Jungian psychology.

I haven’t found anyone who can clearly articulate the true difference between Myers-Briggs (which is rooted in a subjective, post-Freudian psychology) and astrology. You can cast my astrological chart as a Capricorn or you can call me an INFJ. There’s not much difference in the pseudo-scientific results from the MBTI exercise (in my humble and non-PhD opinion).

• For a discussion on the MBTI/Myers-Briggs test and its conflict with science and reason, you can visit the discussion board on the Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe.

Back to your questions:

• Your team building activity seems poorly executed, confusing & vague. (Go figure.) Generally, personal MBTI results are complied and presented to you in a private manner so you can review the data. The data of your team is aggregated and rolled up into a larger report that is used in a session to discuss the team’s strengths and weaknesses.

As to the legality of being compelled to participate, I always defer to common sense. This is America and you are not required to participate in an activity and/or keep a job that you find objectionable or unethical. Unfortunately, your organization is not compelled to employ you as a low-ranking colleague (as you described yourself) if you’re not meeting performance expectations. Most companies link performance, funny enough, to the act of responding to the feedback from faux-scientific personality tests based on a flawed, oppressive, and subjective Jungian psychology.

For my money, the issues of team building and personality tests are smokescreens for a bigger discussion you should have with yourself. Is it time to look for a new job when time & effort at your current job is spent dissecting MBTI and FIRO-B results instead of focusing on activities that are linked to performance, your team’s abilities, and the financial results of the company?

I’d be curious to read comments from other HR bloggers & professionals. Evil HR Lady and HR Wench also provide excellent legal & technical HR advice.

Best of luck,
Laurie

PS - I’m age-appropriate punk rock, which really means that I’m lame and I wear comfortable shoes.

Per Cute Overload’s suggestion, I made a demotivator poster for my office at Team Building Is For Suckers, Inc.

Our new brand slogan?

“Building teams through the power of NOM.”

I rarely write about math or compensation because neither are my strong suit; however, I’m here to testify to the dangers of tapping into your 401(k), your pension plan, and other retirement investments.

A former employer of mine allowed employees to borrow money from their 401(k)s and repay the loans through payroll deductions; however, my employer was also engaged in a massive restructuring effort. Many employees lost their jobs.

As the on-site HR Generalist, I was exposed to the unfortunate financial illiteracy in my otherwise educated workforce. When accepting the terms & conditions of the 401(k) loans, far too many employees ignored the important fine print: they were required to repay the 401(k) loan in full within 90 days of their termination date or the loan would be treated like a cash withdrawal (where they would face an early termination penalty and taxes).

As the on-site HR Generalist, I was expressly forbidden from counseling employees on financial decisions (it was a policy and not just because I’m bad at math). I was only allowed to offer comfort and advise our employees to talk to the benefits department or speak with our employee assistance program. It was heartbreaking to hear the panicked voices of my colleagues because I knew that their hard work & financial planning was placed at risk by a decision to borrow against their retirement savings

(This is why people hate HR, by the way. We’re not staffed with experts, nor are we empowered to speak or think like an expert. We are nothing more than an inefficient referral system.)

SHRM says that one in four employees will make an early withdrawal from their retirement savings. The reasons for the early withdrawals were never simple, and I wish that my HR department could have offered more proactive guidance to these employees. SHRM suggests that HR managers have a role in educating employees on why loans against retirement savings should be considered as a last resort; however, much of HR is now outsourced and specialized, thus requiring employees to make financial decisions through the anonymity of the internet — or a call center in Bangalore.

Had I been able to provide proactive advice, it would have gone something like this:

• Don’t take a loan against your 401(k).
• Don’t do it.
• Just don’t.

I’m not naive and I know that life is tough for many people, but there are resources and other unexplored avenues out there. Instead of offering lunch & learn sessions on employee wellness programs, maybe HR leaders ought to work with local management teams to schedule relevant sessions on how to manage an out-of-shape financial portfolio. At the end of a long work day, who cares about high cholesterol if your house is in foreclosure and you’re borrowing money against your 401(k)?

Food for thought.

Deb Owen, one of the first people who actually read my blog when I started writing about Human Resources, is quoted on The Shine network on Yahoo.

Check it out, yo:

Words of wisdom for entrepreneurs from the pros on Shine: For those contemplating taking what Thoreau called ‘the leap in the dark to our success’, it’s necessary to gather data, including seeking out advice from several sources. Too often, though, you’ll find that people may not be so excited about your idea or may not believe in you. Don’t listen to them. You must know with absolute certainty that you are going to make this thing work, one way or another. Once you have that confidence and determination, nothing will stop you. — Deb Owen “8 hours & a Lunch: A Search for Balance and Sanity”

Deb is the total package: brains, heart, and passion. If you don’t read her blog, check her out now! Do it!

Scott Adams is trying to come up with the ultimate Catbert t-shirt design.

Go vote here (correct link!).

I could never be a funeral director.

Being the human resources geek that I am, I visited the BLS website in the aftermath of my great aunt’s death. I wanted to learn a little more about the funeral services industry. It turns out that being a funeral director is a hot job. (You Baby Boomers out there — the ones who don’t trust anyone over 40 — are singlehandedly responsible for expanding the market. Way to go!)

I learned that the job of a funeral director is quite scientific and technical. Funeral directors are licensed; there are serious compliance issues related to federal & local regulations; and most employees in the field have four-year degrees. Furthermore, the job of a funeral director is quite complicated and requires a working knowledge of laws, ethics, and various religious traditions. There’s also a psychological component built into the job and the successful candidate must be able to guide a grieving family through a series of very important financial & emotional decisions.

Oy.

The National Funeral Directors Association has a fascinating website, too, with interesting resources and statistics. (Did you know that a cremation chamber reaches between 1400 degrees to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit? Neither did I.)

Here are some significant points about the job from the BLS website:

• Job opportunities should be good, particularly for those who also embalm.
• Funeral directors are licensed by the State in which they practice.
• Funeral directors need the ability to communicate easily and compassionately and to comfort people in a time of sorrow.

You can also visit the NFDA website and learn more about being a funeral director. What surprises me most is that only 20% of the people who work in the funeral services industry are self-employed. (I thought that number would be higher but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a corporatist movement in the field.)

Also, I was surprised to learn that the median annual earnings for wage and salary funeral directors were $49,620 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $37,200 and $65,260. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,410 and the top 10 percent earned more than $91,800.

Only $91,800? Really, I thought they’d earn more — especially because they are asked to work with both dead people and the grieving, emotional relatives. I don’t know anyone in the field of funeral services, so I can’t ask if there are other perks with the job beyond the emotional satisfaction of assisting people during a crisis.

I am attending my great aunt’s funeral services on Monday & Tuesday. I won’t be live-blogging the endeavor (although I might be on Twitter); however, I will attempt to seek out the owners of the funeral home and ask them if they want to talk about their jobs. I’m curious, yo. I will report back to you in the evening and provide any additional facts/stories from the funeral home proprietors. I might also have some family tidbits to share, too.

The best advice I can offer on Mother’s Day? Demonstrate some creativity and savvy! Show mom that she didn’t raise a fool!

• Get up early on Monday (for you unemployed suckers, that’s tomorrow, May 12th, 2008).
• Arrive at Target at 8AM when the store opens.
• Buy a 50% off Mother’s Day card with the remaining $2 from your stimulus check.
• Stick the card in a drawer until May 10th, 2009.
• Voilà! You have your Mother’s Day card all set for next year

This plan is awesome, yo. Here’s why.

• Mom will love this plan because you demonstrated frugality (50% off sale) and thoughtfulness (buying the card a year in advance).
• Target will love this plan because there’s a 97% chance you’ll forget that you bought the card and then buy another one. (Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything.)
• The government will love this plan because you’re spending money now (& possibly respending money, next year) and saving us from an economic recession.

Any other advice for Mother’s Day? The comments are open.

**

i.

We had a death in our family, this week. My grandmother’s sister, Helen, passed away from complications related to being old. (This isn’t snarky. She was old and it was complicated.)

Helen was the matriarch of our family — a woman who had children late in life, ran a successful Avon business, and was an all-around nice woman. She loved me, and told me so as recently as October when I saw her for the last time. She called me Lauren, which is very old-school in my life and throws me back to the 70s. Lauren, my given name, is reserved for family and nuns.

Helen believed in family and soap operas. She believed in Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. She believed in Chinese buffets and family picnics in the summertime. She was my mother’s godmother and was a gentle caretaker to many generations of children in my family.

She is loved and will be loved forever.

ii.

My high school boyfriend had a baby. (Wait. Let me rephrase that. His lovely wife had a baby.) He helped, of course, and is now left speechless by the monumental shift in his life.

I saw his son’s picture and cried tears of joy. Then I read an article about a three-year-old boy who suffers from a genetic disorder that doesn’t allow him to sleep.

Parenthood. It’s so amazing & scary. Why would anyone want to do it 18 times? It’s so wrong for a variety of reasons — and I was motivated to make a Mother’s Day donation to Planned Parenthood in honor of Michelle Duggar.

iii.

I think you guys need to view the 50 Worst Album Covers in the history of mankind. Now you have something to talk about at your Monday morning staff meetings!

Because it’s Friday and you don’t want to work, I’m giving you a link to Nine Extremely Odd Jobs via Digg. I think it’s worth a look — and a 30 minute discussion with your colleagues in the break room.

Hey, can you get me a donut while you’re in there?

Just so you know, I think the worst job on the list is Podiatrist for the Indigent.

Podiatrists make good money—averaging $108,220 in 2006 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—but it is a job few people can stomach: treating toenails gone wrong, banishing plantar warts, cutting off bunions, and dealing with problem feet, all day, every day. There is one population of clientèle who categorically have the most troubled feet of all: the homeless. Substance abuse problems coupled with chronic disease (like diabetes) and lack of proper (or any) footwear can lead to unchecked infections, tinea eating away at the flesh between toes, and other oozing, pussing maladies. The podiatrists treating this population often volunteer their time at free clinics, making their commitment to dealing with troubled tootsies all that more admirable.

Oh my god, right?

You heard about the pregnant bank teller, a few weeks ago, who lost the twins she was carrying after being shot during a holdup?

HR Wench wrote a thoughtful post about the situation and how the bank’s branch had been robbed five times since 2007. Questions:

• What role does the bank have in protecting its employees?
• Is it reasonable to expect an employer to guarantee a certain level of safety when you work in a bank?
• What did Huntington Bancshares (the employer) do to protect its employees after robbery #1?
• How about robbery #4?

HR Wench wanted answers, and so did I! I sent a note to the CEO of the bank, Mr. Tom Hoaglin, but I was only given an option to send an email consisting of 250 words. That’s not much space, so I sent a brief and simple request for more information related to bank safety. This was the response.

Dear Ms. Ruettimann:

Thank you for your email to Tom Hoaglin, CEO of The Huntington National Bank. He has asked that is respond on his behalf.

Thank you for sharing your concern for Katherin Shuffield. We continue to be deeply saddened for what Katherin and her family are going through. This was a senseless and vicious act.

The safety of our associates and customers are of our utmost concern. With that in mind, we are limited in what we can share about our security procedures. At the same time, Huntington has pledge full support of the Indianapolis Police and FBI in identifying and convicting the responsible party.

Sincerely,

Marcie Heiser
Research Specialist, Senior
Executive Escalation
The Huntington National Bank
614-331-9174
1-800-480-2265, extension 19174
fax 614-331-8496

Wow. At first, I was compelled to blog about the sterile & simplistic response to a very serious set of employment issues; however, I’m more outraged to learn that I received the same exact response letter (typos & all) that was sent to HR Wench!

(Apparently, Huntington Bancshares doesn’t employ a Director of Communications or understand how the internet works.)

Stay tuned for more details, and please keep Katherin Shuffield in your thoughts. Of course, go visit HR Wench’s blog for breaking news on this story & other HR stuff. She’s awesome.

I live in Michigan, a state hit hard by the recession in America. We suffer from very high unemployment rates and depressed wages; corporations (such as my former employer) are eliminating jobs and/or leaving the state in droves; and we have an auto industry in denial — one that tries to make money by eeking out profits from SUVs while aggressively attempting to reduce labor costs.

::sigh:::

We’re awesome. We do have nice lakes and beaches, though. The casino in New Buffalo isn’t bad, either.

So what is my state focused on, right now? The important things, of course! Denying health insurance to the ‘domestic partners’ of state employees and seating the Democratic delegates elected in a contest between Clinton versus ‘uncommitted’.

::double sigh::

I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but the best thing that our federal government can do for Michigan (and for our automotive industry) is to decouple heath insurance from the employment covenant. It’s not helpful for our courts engage in judicial activism during an economic crisis and link marriage, employment, and sexuality. Furthermore, the Michigan court just placed a disproportionate weight on heterosexual marriage and may force citizens of this state to marry for practical reasons. (That’s fine if you support marriage-for-health-care-coverage, but I prefer my fellow Michiganders to marry for love and not for prescription drug coverage.)

I don’t care if we open up the existing federal health care program used by Congress, such as Hillary Clinton suggests, or if we create an expansive (and mandated) federal health program as suggested by John & Elizabeth Edwards. We need to do something fast & simple because Michigan is not an anomaly. Your state is next. Let’s remove the burden of providing health care from American businesses so we can get back to the business of making some money.

While I’m on a roll and making recommendations to help my failing state, can I suggest that we don’t worry too much about seating the Michigan delegates? I have friends in the state Democratic party, and they are wonderful people; however, our interests are represented in the DNC and we are not disenfranchised.

I would be a politician and fix all these things — and more — but I’d never be elected. I’m too punk rock.

It seems like America is outsourcing everything to India, these days, including our notion of appropriate boundaries in the corporate workforce.

Take, for example, this article about the phenomenon of ‘office spouses’ in India.

• We’re ‘just colleagues’-Work-Relationships-Lifestyle-The Times of India

Some background for those of you who haven’t heard this term before: an office spouse is defined as a close, platonic, opposite-sex friendship at work. (The HR professional inside of me doesn’t feel that the definition is inclusive enough. What about same-gender relationships or people who consider sexuality and gender to be a spectrum?)

Whatevs, dudes. I’m sure you get the drift.

Office spouses are fairly prevalent in the United States and achieved notoriety, a few years ago, when it was reported that having a spouse at the office — i.e., someone who is supportive at work — could make you more successful.

I say that the office-spouse-syndrome in India (& the United States) is much ado about nothing. A close, platonic, opposite-sex friendship at work can be better than having a spouse as long as the lines of emotional infidelity aren’t crossed. What constitutes emotional infidelity?

• Sharing your hopes & dreams with your office spouse and not sharing those same feelings with your partner.
• Speaking to your office spouse about confidential or private issues in your marriage/relationship — with no intention of ever discussing those issues with your significant other.
• Using your office spouse friendship as a means to otherwise zone-out on your primary marriage/relationship.

Did I miss anything?

I am an advocate for common sense in the workforce. I think it’s okay to share a mutual love of Top Chef, American Idol, or Gossip Girl with your colleagues. You can be in a monogamous relationship but have a close, platonic friendship with another person. It’s allowed, yo.

The problem starts when you forget that your job is just a job. This is true whether you work in America or India. A 9-5 relationship at the office is a transitory experience — especially when compared to the lifetime commitment of marriage.

Take it from me, suckers. Find a friend at work — regardless of gender — and try to survive the day with some level of sanity. Cash the paycheck on Friday, ask for $50 worth of singles, and then go home and roll around in your money before you spend it on a tank of gas.

Focus on the things that matter most in life and you won’t have to worry about stupid stuff like the relationship between ‘office spouses’.

Earlier in my career, I worked as a Regional HR Manager. I was sitting at my desk, probably buying shoes, and the phone rang with bad news. A Vice President of a division — located in Connecticut — died from a heart attack at work while running to a meeting.

Holy crap, Suckers. Let me give you this hard core punk rock lesson in life:

• Nothing at work is so important that you have to run.

Now that being said, there’s no reason to believe this guy wouldn’t have died at some point had he not run to the meeting; however, I’m not kidding about my no-running-rule. It’s a job, dudes, and there’s no reason to embody stress and lose your identity in the chaos & upheaval of the work environment.

The meeting isn’t going anywhere.

I moved quickly after I heard the news that the VP died. I called the family, called honchos at work, and coordinated grief counselors. Then I got my butt on a plane and flew to Connecticut. This all happened quickly, but I didn’t run.

Moving with speed means moving deliberately and thoughtfully. I operated in the moment as a woman who was conscious of my surroundings. It was a stressful experience, yes, but it was yet another reminder for me that stress kills. So don’t mess with stress on the job, yo. Get a handle on it.

• Call Centers: Stressful Call Center Allegedly Kills Verizon Employee: “She was sitting at her desk and all of a sudden, ‘bam,’ her head hit the keyboard on the computer and she was gone,” another former co-worker said. Young’s daughters said they believe job stress caused their mother to have a fatal heart attack at the call center last year. “She said every day, that she was going to drop dead at her desk, it was so stressful,” Beth Young said. “She did. That’s exactly what happened.”

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and ABC News has a compelling and interesting article on maternal profiling. You’ve heard that term before, right? Maternal profiling is the bias that some mothers feel in the workforce.

• …according to a recent study in the American Journal of Sociology, women with children are half as likely to be called back by an employer than childless women with the same qualifications. It’s a practice women’s rights groups like “Moms Rising” refer to as “maternal profiling.”

As a Human Resources professional, I’ve seen this bias in the workforce and counseled against it; however, I’m not sure if it’s a bias against mothers or if it’s a bias against anyone who has the audacity to claim relatedness to something other than a corporation (or a job).

The amateur HR professional (*like me, circa 1997*) can find herself accepting this bias (*however unwittingly*) in an effort to help executives & leaders identify talented individuals in the workforce. It’s so easy for unskilled HR generalists and recruiters to sanitize & secularize the workforce — removing all trace of identity & diversity — to ensure a level playing field.

The amateur HR generalist operates from a default assumption that everyone should work hard and give 110% to the company. Anything less than a total & complete commitment to the organization is unacceptable.

Looking back, I can see the culpability of HR (and my own culpability) in some very flawed talent review discussions. There are HR & business leaders who demonstrate an almost Soviet-socialistic mindset when it comes to ‘working hard’ and dedicating oneself to an organization. How committed are you, some have asked in my presence, if you take time off for your family and work from home on Fridays?

When this kind of mindset emerges from management, it’s a teachable moment. When it comes from HR, it’s toxic.

It took me years to hone my skills and ensure that I’m not overlooking speed, savvy & creativity. Working hard, working smart, working fast, and working efficiently — it’s not the same things as being in the office and working 80 hours/week. My goal, over the past several years, has been to ensure that colleagues who find a healthy work/life balance are accepted and lauded in the workforce.

Unfortunately, bias and poor management skills still remain prevalent in Corporate America.

• Homosexual men in committed relationships earn 23% less than men in heterosexual relationships.
• Married men earn more than single men.
• Women earn less than men.

Could it be as simple as a bias against paying people what they’re worth unless the colleagues give their blood, sweat & tears to the corporation?

If HR can do anything, it’s imperative that we work to change the expectations of how people should work. We can also counsel leaders on when it’s appropriate (if ever) for a company to pass judgment on an employee. We can also advise employers to make money on smarter, better, and more efficient products & services — and not attempt to expand the profit margins by participating in unfair, unethical and/or illegal compensation practices.

*

THIS JUST IN: Dan McCarthy @ Great Leadership makes the case that being a committed parent can enhance managerial capability. Go here to check it out!

There was a time in my life when I was very punk rock and cynical. I was young, jaded, and underpaid. My cynicism has its roots in my first job — a Baskin-Robbins store in Palatine, IL.

I was a sophomore in high school and lied about my age to secure the position behind the counter.

“You’re fifteen?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” I lied. That was it.

The owner paid me $2.85/hr for six months as a ‘training wage’ and then bumped me up to $3.85/hr for the rest of my tenure at the store. I learned how to decorate ice cream cakes, flirt with old men for tips, and I had awesome biceps & triceps in my right arm thanks to scooping ice cream

• Co-founder of Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores dies at 90 - Yahoo! News Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought Rocky Road, Pralines ‘n Cream and other exotic ice cream concoctions to every corner of America, has died at age 90. Robbins had been ill for some time and died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said his daughter Marsha Veit.

As a side note: several years later, while in college, I received a check for over $500 — representing back wages and fees. This was my first exposure to HR. Now that I’m old and wise, I understand that the owner was taking advantage of my age to pay me less than minimum wage. At the time, I was kind of thankful to spend 10-20 hours/week surrounded by Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream!

Suckers, I synced my blogroll to my google reader. Scroll down and check it out on right-hand side of the page. There are two groups:

• HR Suckers
• Other Suckers I Read

Can you help a blogger out? Look for your blog and let me know –

• Are you properly categorized?
• Are you on there? (If not, let me know. I read you — I just forgot to add you!)
• Is your link working?
• Am I missing anyone awesome? Any recommendations?

xxxooo

- Laurie