ArcaMax

It's been a tough year, and you've been working hard. But now it's summer and you know what that means: vacation, baby! Vacation!

Do you deserve a week or 10 of primo vacay? Most def. Should you take it? No way!

Whatever amount of vacation time is allotted to you, from the standard two weeks to the New-Age "take as much time as you need; we ...Read more

You'll never believe it! According to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll of 1,148 workers ages 18 to 64, about 8 in 10 workers are satisfied with their jobs.

That leaves 2 out of 10 who see things clearly. If you don't know the other disgruntled malcontent in your office, better seek them out. You have a lot in common.

In other results, the number ...Read more

Being miserable at work -- that's healthy.

Being SAD at work -- that's sick.

SAD is the sad little acronym for social anxiety disorder. Yes, it's a thing.

Or so I learned in "How to Overcome Social Anxiety," a recent article from George Washington University psychologist Fallon Goodman in Psyche magazine. According to Goodman, social ...Read more

A "monster of disruption."

That's what people are calling artificial intelligence ("AI" to its friends). (And it doesn't have many friends.)

Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of computers to think like people. Considering what many people are thinking these days, it might better be called artificial stupidity, but, either way, AI...Read more

Who's that peeking around the corner? Who's that peeping over the cubicle wall?

It could be nobody. You could be paranoid. Or it could be someone really dangerous. It could be your boss.

Working for a boss who doesn't trust you is a serious impediment to career success. It's bad when it happens in an office situation, where a sneaky-peepy-...Read more

Just say no.

That's the message I get from Tea Angelos, the author of "Six Times You Should Say No at Work (and Exactly How to Do It)," a recent article in Fast Company.

Saying no is a new concept in the workplace, the exact opposite of the success philosophy that gave birth to the classic striver of ancient days, the "yes man." Update the ...Read more

Remember the three-martini lunch?

Remember trying to remember a three-martini lunch?

You called it a business lunch, back in the day, when blocking off your calendar for lunch with a client or a colleague was not only acceptable, it was mandatory. Maybe you didn't actually discuss business between 12 and 2, or 3, or 4, or have "tee many ...Read more

I'm like you: I love it when I can help a gigantic corporation save money. That's why I'm offering Google the use of my stapler. I'll throw in a tape dispenser, too. It will cost me a pretty penny to provide staples and tape to a company with 187,000 employees, all taping and stapling like crazy, but, really, it's the least I can do.

If you'...Read more

There are co-workers who cause trouble. There are co-workers who are trouble. But the co-workers who are the most trouble can only be described as toxic.

"Toxic coworkers make it hard for you to do your job and are harmful to be around."

So says Siobhan Neela-Stock, the author of "5 Types of Toxic Coworkers and How to Deal with Them," a ...Read more

When asked how to keep a job in a bad economy, a wise man once said, "If they can't find you, they can't fire you."

The success strategy of that wise man, who just happens to be me, would not be endorsed by Caroline Castrillon -- the author of "5 Ways To Increase Your Visibility At Work," a recent post on Forbes.com.

According to Castrillon,...Read more

No question, getting laid off is terrible. In fact, there's only one thing worse:

Getting promoted.

When you're laid off, everyone comforts you. When you're promoted, everyone hates you. They're all hoping you screw up, which may very well happen.

Let's face it: You're the kind of employee who works best in darkness. A promotion shines a ...Read more

You're in a job interview and you're killing it. You aced the dreaded "Tell me about yourself" question" with a riveting narrative that ties your obsession with success to the humiliation you felt after your second-place finish in the third-grade spelling bee. You brought the interviewer to tears with your answer to the always challenging "...Read more

Full disclosure: We're negative about people who think positive. And that goes double for people at work.

The manager is a maniac? The positive people don't notice. The company is going under? The positive people don't care. No matter what's wrong with the job, the positive people are optimistic. The maniac manager will come to his senses. ...Read more