I just wanted to add my frustration, although not work related...

I sent out wedding invitations at the beginning of March, with a "please RSVP" date of April 2.  Just a few days to go until the due date and I'm still missing about 1/3 of them.  All you have to do is write your name, check a box, and send it....it's already stamped!  And they are all relatives...go figure.  So I'm going to either have way too much food or not enough!  Good thing we're just having a dessert buffet and not a full sit down dinner!

Wow, how nice to be loved, eh?  Good for you!

I just wanted to express my sympathy and sorrow to the people of Spain for the horrible tragedy.  My thoughts are with the families of the dead and injured.

My thought would be to change everyone's vacation date on their anniversary date, and have an accrual amount.

For example, if your anniversary date is in August, then in August of this year you would be notified of the new policy.  You would then be given a "pro-rated" amount of vacation days based on the number of months between your anniversary date and January 1.  In this case, you would have 4 months.  10/12 is ~.85 days per month, so you would get ~3.4 days of vacation to use between your anniversary date and January 1.  If they are willing to be fair, and soften the policy change blow, they could round that up to 4 days.

It would take a full year to get everyone on the same schedule, though.

Karz, I agree, it seems to be running very slow lately.

Didn't work for me, maybe because the first digit of the last four of my number is a zero?

Just want to add my congrats on your decision--I know how great it feels to leave a job you can't stand.  Best of luck, and hope you'll still visit  the boards.

Thanks for the repsonses!  I'm glad I'm not alone.  Thankfully, the person she went to over my head backed me up.  Yay!  It is so satisfying to have people appreciate what you do and stand up for the policies, and therefore, you and your decision.

Let me begin by saying I have nothing but sympathy for people who have money problems.  I'm just a step away from them myself.

I work for a music school.  We give music lessons, which are expensive.  However, we do offer financial aid.  The amount of financial aid we can offer is dependent upon corporate grants.  Therefore, we have a committee that reviews applications and a very strict deadline.  I am the staff contact for financial aid.

The deadline for financial aid for our spring semester was January 2.  As I've said, that is a very strict deadline, because we have so many requests and limited funds.  I had a parent come in today and want an exception to this deadline because her other child is in college and her son wants to continue music lessons.  Today is January 20, 18 days past the deadline.  She is going over my head to request an exception to the deadline.  She has known for months that this next semester was going to be tight, why did she wait so long to ask for aid?

I am more than happy to help people that can follow the rules.  Maybe it's just the anal retentive in me that feels so strongly about this, because if I had the power to make the exception, I wouldn't.  There are deadlines in place for a reason, and it really irritates me that people think that I should just give them an "in" because they have money problems.  So do the other 100+ students that applied on time.

Coming from the HR side, I'll just throw this out there.

If she had an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) form on file with HR concerning her condition, completed by her doctor, they would have to take this into consideration when disciplining her.  These forms (at least the ones we used) indicated diagnosis, special circumstances/working conditions required, as well as symptoms that may be expressed in the workplace.  HR and the company would need to refer to this form before taking action.

Just something to keep in mind.  Things aren't always as they seem, and if your company is a "careful" one, as mine, they will be certain that they follow all federal employment guidlines and laws.  I do agree with a previous poster that she should have been suspended pending investigation for an event this serious, though.

You mention going to your HR person and asking her about this situation.  If your HR person tells you anything about this employee and how her discipline was handled, I would have a serious problem with your HR rep.  Employee issues and disciplinary actions should be held in strictest confidence.

I think pants suits are perfectly acceptable.  I would want to see interviewees wear an actual suit, though, not separates.  In my opinion, I find it rather old-fashioned and discriminatory to require a skirt of women, after all, you are not hiring them for their legs so why should you need to see them?

I do high volume printing (invoices) so I have a personal B&W laser printer in my office.  There is one color printer that the office manager has; it is a combo fax/copier/printer and isn't used very often.  I don't have much need for color printing; as mentioned by Suze if I need something to stand out I print it on colored paper.

I agree with Bethalize.  Companies have reasons for doing what they do, and I feel when a presentation is made by anyone in the company, it should have a nice, consistent look from person to person and department to department.  Not saying that that look can't be snazzier than the norm, but if you're looking to be creative in your job there are industries just for that--advertising, for example, as you yourself cited in your post.  If you want to use flair, you need to be in an industry that embraces that.

As a 28 year old that regularly gets mistaken for a teenager, I have found that the way I dress makes a major difference in getting taken seriously, from work to customer service disputes in department stores to buying a car.  When I wear a suit, it seems to make people take me more seriously than if I'm in casual jeans or khakis.  I don't know what you're doing now for work dress, that may be something to try if you haven't already.  Consignment shops can be wonderfull places to get suits on a budget.

I just read the article, and I guess I'm feeling the opposite.  We have all been programmed in this voice-prompt, hold-forever-to-get-a-real-person world, that it's really rather a novelty to get a live person and people who are busy may not indeed realize how phone systems work.  I think she made some valid points about customer service and educating the customer as to how things work at your company.