Cultural divide

Beloit College in Wisconsin comes out each August with its “College Mindset List,” to remind professors and the rest of us about cultural forces that affected the lives of those in the incoming freshman class. It’s their way of highlighting the various generational mindsets.

Here are some things they have to say about the class of 2010:

--“They have never heard anyone actually 'ring it up' on a cash register.”
--“Text messaging is their email.”
--“'So' as in 'Sooooo New York,' has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun.”

Many employers may not be ready to start thinking that far ahead. But, they may want to focus some attention on the class of 2007 – the grads they could be hiring in the coming year. So says the blog at Recruiting.com.

Beloit says that for this group:

“Ctrl + Alt + Del is as basic as ABC.”
“Paul Newman has always made salad dressing.”
“Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents.”

U R fired

If you were taken aback to hear how RadioShack decided to tell about 400 employees they were being laid off – through e-mail – have we got some stories for you.

Just listen to the tales USA Today readers told about the ways they got word they were being sacked. After an article involving another jaw-dropper – a woman in Wales who was fired via text message several weeks ago – site visitors were invited to post their own “can you top this?” firing stories.

One wrote of receiving the standard company birthday gift of candy and a card – just half an hour before getting the old heave-ho. Another was called back early from a honeymoon just to get the same news. Yet another reported that a colleague received a larger-than-usual paycheck. Only nobody bothered to mention that the extra money was severance.

But, there is a nice tables-turned story, as well. Someone reported that a friend hated his job, but didn’t know how to tell his boss he was quitting. So he sent him a cake with this farewell message in the icing: “Happy Trails!”

Oprah in a cube near you

Without a doubt the most frivolous workplace press release I saw today has to do with an online survey from SnagAJob.com: the website asked hourly workers which celebrity they would most like to bring to work with them for a day.

And, Paris Hilton, if you’re reading this, please don’t be too distraught to learn that it’s not you.

No, the top three celebrities that some 2,300 SnagAJob site visitors picked for this honor, who apparently would be the most fun to have at work, are:

Oprah Winfrey, 26 percent; Angelina Jolie, 11 percent; and Will Ferrell, 10 percent. What’s more, Oprah came in tops for all age groups. 

Bringing up the rear: Derek Jeter, 3 percent; David Letterman, 3 percent; David Beckham, 2 percent.

No mention, though, of Tom Cruise, who’s had his own career issues to wrestle with of late.

Getting ready for a disaster

Yes, hurricane season is upon us, as tropical storm Ernesto is already reminding us. So now may be a good time for employers and their employees to bookmark a new web destination.

That’s the workplace area of the catastrophe-readiness clearinghouse found on the website of the Middle Country Public Library in Centereach. There you’ll find links to all kinds of resources, such as tips for what commuters should do if caught in an emergency situation; lists of supplies you should have on hand at work; and for businesses, samples of disaster plans. There are also notices of events, such as one coming up September 14 called “Is Your Business Prepared If Catastrophe Strikes?”

The clearinghouse was funded by a grant from the Allstate Foundation.

Vacation

I'm headed off for two weeks to a meditation retreat. But, there is only so much serenity a New Yorker can take.  I just bought a new BlackBerry to see me through.

Office prank

A while back I wrote about an office prank that went awry. The young man on whom the prank was played did not react well, and a video of him was posted on the Web. And boy, what he’s been though since.

Here’s what Ryan Holt, student body vice president of the University of South Carolina, had to say in an e-mail:

“…the prank caught me at a bad moment. I had spent the entire day in Washington, D.C. and was called over to my office at 10:00 p.m. to find it filled with balloons. The next day, I found the prank absolutely hilarious. What isn't hilarious is the backlash that has developed from hundreds of people I've never met.”

In an official statement he tells of the “negative and demeaning” e-mails he’s received – and the humility he’s developed. He apologizes to all involved and is hoping to get on with his life.

In response to that earlier post, Mark Harbeke of Winning Workplaces writes of a “quasi-Big Brother working environment” in which people can become infamous overnight.

It is a new world, one in which we get more freedom because of the tremendous reach of the Internet, but also less, in that moments we expect to be private can now be posted for all the world to see.