Unwritten Rules to Follow on the Job

Do not walk far to work in hot weather. If you do, you will get sweaty and funky. Fellow workers will not want to be around you and management will let you go without telling you the true reason.

Do not run away from a challenge. At one point while doing window demonstrations, I started clocking out early because I had trouble writing leads and I did not want to look bad by working several hours and not acquiring signups. One night when I called my supervisor to ask where I would work the next day, he said, “You s–ked the other day big time and clocked out early again. Don’t do it anymore. That’s the bottom line. I’m tired of it.”

Do not overreact to evil customers. A customer once gave me a snide remark as I greeted him to give him a window demonstration. I retorted, “You didn’t have to be rude.” My immediate supervisor told me, “If Michael (his boss) had been standing here, he would have fired you and asked you for your badge. You should have let that guy walk out the door feeling like he was the jerk.”

Do not lie down on the lobby sofa. After I lied down on a lobby sofa off the clock while working as a market research telephone interviewer in a building with several offices, my supervisors got a call and I was reprimanded.

Do not sound weird or unprofessional on the telephone. I was once reprimanded for talking to a respondent with a funny pitch while I was excited.

Do not fall asleep at your station. This could lead to a warning or firing.

Never oversleep. If you must take a nap elsewhere while on your break, do not put your head down. If you put your head down, you are likely to literally fall asleep and not make it back to your station on time.

Follow these rules and do anything else that applies good common sense to keep your job!