Discussion Topics for Sunday-Take 1

Just some things I thought about at work today, in no particular order.

How much should one change their speech, clothes, manner for a job, to do that job 'correctly'? I can understand and agree with the idea that people should speak proper English for a professional job, especially when the have to talk to the public. But what about their voice? If they sound too gay or too foreign or too southern? I also understand professional dress. Especially in today's current working environment, people will wear anything if you don't tell them they can't. But should we all look alike, like clones, even wearing the uniform in the same way? What is the plus side of that? What is the down side of that? I also understand people developing and practicing more professional etiquette but when does that push out commraderie and fun that one has to have at least a little of to put up with your job everyday? [I was thinking about this today as I was listening to one fellow trainee who was practicing scheduling pick-ups. There are no 'scripts' persay but there is 'preferred phrasing'. After at least five days of working on this, this person still spoke in incomplete sentences and was completely unprofessional. How can anyone think this is ok? But where does this wipe out your identity?]

Funny story-Here at my new job at a large shipping company, we ship a good deal of stuff for the government. We even have a special "Government Desk" to handle those shipments. When scheduling a pick-up, we are taught to ask what they are shipping, often to ensure that it is not something hazardous that we can not ship, or, if it is HazMat that we do ship, it has proper paperwork. Our trainer was telling us today that the government often ships packages that are highly secured and have to be watched at all times, though the government never tells us what is really in the packages. Once, when a container was damaged and we had to repack it, the government quickly demanded the photos that had been taken to document what had happened (routine for damaged packages). Our trainer said that, on the government desk, they were instructed to ask "And are you shipping ELECTRONICS, as usual, today?" Unless it has any hazardous goods, they always say yes.

How big of a deal should it be if your significant other, or potential SO, smokes weed? In what ways is smoking weed different (or, really, worse) than drinking alcohol? As long as neither is a problem in their life, should it be a deal breaker? And how come everyone I know smokes weed?