For that reason we decided to spice things up a little! Today we launch Talk to The Work Buzz! What is it, you ask? I’ll tell you: It’s a contest where we ask you for questions on a specific topic, and if we choose your question, we’ll not only answer it but we’ll also give you a nifty prize!

Here’s the deal:

At the beginning of each week for the next three weeks we’ll give you a topic and invite you to ask us a question in the comments sections. We’ll pick a question to answer  and post the response on Friday and notify the winner.

What do you win? A copy of Career Building from the editors of CareerBuilder.com, which addresses topics from job hunting to salary negotatiations to getting along with your co-workers.

The next post will have the topic, but let’s get the rules and regulations out of the way first:

CareerBuilder.com Talk to the Work Buzz Contest

Official Contest Rules and Regulations

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.  MUST BE A LEGAL RESIDENT OF UNITED STATES, 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. By entering the CareerBuilder.com Talk to the Work Buzz Contest (the “Contest”) entrants agree to be bound by these Official Contest Rules and Regulations (“Rules”). The Contest commences at 1:00:01 p.m. Central Standard Time (“CST”) on March 8, 2010 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. CST on March 26, 2010 (the “Contest Period”).

Sponsor.  The Contest is sponsored by CareerBuilder, LLC (“Sponsor”), 200 N. LaSalle Street, 11^th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601.

Eligibility. The Contest is only open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States plus the District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry and who have a valid E-mail address and. The Contest is not open to: (1) employees, independent contractors, officers, and/or directors of Sponsor, and Sponsor’s respective parent, related, affiliated and/or subsidiary companies, advertising, promotion and fulfillment agencies or legal advisors and their respective officers, directors, agents, employees and assigns (collectively, “Released Parties”) or (2) the immediate family members of, and persons living in the same household as, any of the foregoing persons.  All federal, state and local laws apply. 

How To Enter.  No Purchase Necessary to Enter or Win. Each Monday during the Contest Period, Sponsor will post a topic on its’ Work Buzz website located at: http://www.theworkbuzz.com/ no later than 1:00:00 p.m. CST. Work Buzz readers will be asked to submit a question related to the posted topic of the week, no later than 11:59:59 p.m. CST that Wednesday of the same week. Sponsor will review all submissions each Wednesday and select one question to answer on the Work Buzz website that Friday (see table below).  Each Work Buzz user may submit only one question per entry. Subsequent entries from the same Work Buzz user will not be considered or qualified for consideration. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, damaged, illegible, misdirected or incomplete entries.  Late entries, mechanically/electronically reproduced entries and facsimile entries are prohibited, and any use or submission of such entries will not be accepted. One entry per person, per topic, per week. Only your first entry will qualify for the Contest; all other entries will be disqualified.  Contest entries are the property of Sponsor and will not be returned or acknowledged.

Use of automated devices is not valid for entry.  Entrants must possess a valid E-mail address. By submitting an entry, entrants warrant and represent that the questions submitted for each topic posted is 100% their question and that the question provided will not violate any law or infringe upon the rights, title, claim or interest of any third party. Sponsor and the Released Parties are not responsible for any problems or technical, hardware, or software malfunctions of any telephone network or telephone lines, failed, incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, garbled or delayed electronic communications whether caused by the sender or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any E-mail or entry to be received by the Sponsor due to technical problems, human error or traffic congestion, unavailable network connections on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including, without limitation, any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading any materials in this Contest. By submitting an entry, you agree to abide by the terms of these Rules, the terms of the CareerBuilder Terms and Conditions, and the CareerBuilder Privacy Policy.

Question Selection Criteria. The Sponsor, in its sole discretion, will select the winning question each week based on originality, creativity and relevance to the posted topic.

Prizes and Their Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”): Each week one (1) winner will receive a One CareerBuilder Building Book (ARV $16.99). Contest prizes are not transferable. Federal, state and local taxes are the responsibility of the winners.  Odds of winning a Contest prize depend on the number of eligible responses received. Any Contest prizes that are unclaimed will not be awarded. Limit one Contest prize package per person.  No prize substitution allowed except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor who may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

Use of CareerBuilder.com Sponsor makes no warranties, representations or guarantees, express or implied, in fact or in law, regarding the effectiveness, performance or use of the CareerBuilder Building Book. No responsibilities are accepted for any additional expenses, omissions, delays, re-routing, or acts of any government or authority.

Participation.  Participation in the Contest constitutes an agreement by each entrant to comply with these Rules. These Rules will be posted at http://www.theworkbuzz.com/ Between March 8, 2010 and April 1, 2010. Sponsor reserves the right to, in its sole discretion, cancel, modify or suspend the Contest should any computer virus, bugs or other technical difficulty or other causes beyond the control of the Sponsor or Released Parties corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Contest.

Limitations of Liability. By entering the Contest, you acknowledge and agree that: (1) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the Contest, or any prize awarded, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (2) any claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering the Contest, but in no event attorney’s fees; and (3) under no circumstances will you be permitted to obtain any award for, and you hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased and any other damages, other than damages for actual out-of-pocket expenses.

Warranty Disclaimer. Prizes are awarded “AS IS.” If applicable, any and all warranties for the prizes are contained in the manufacturer’s warranty. Except as otherwise provided in these Rules, Sponsor makes no warranties, representations or guarantees, express or implied, in fact or in law, respecting the performance or use of a prize, including, without limitation, quality, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. Further, no responsibilities are accepted for any additional expenses, omissions, delays, re-routing, or acts of any government or authority. 

Construction. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Rules, or the rights and obligations of any entrant vis-à-vis Sponsor, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions (whether of the State of Illinois, or any other jurisdiction) that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Illinois. Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may amend these Rules at any time. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision was not contained herein.

General Release. By entering the Contest, you release and discharge Sponsor, and Released Parties from any liability whatsoever in connection with the Contest or with the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize including, without limitation, legal claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages, demands or actions of any kind (including, without limitation: personal injuries; death; damage to, loss or destruction of property; rights of publicity or privacy; and defamation or portrayal in a false light). Sponsor and the Released Parties will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Rules or in other materials relating to the CareerBuilder.com “Talk to the Work Buzz Contest.”  Additionally, you hereby agree to indemnify the Sponsor and the Related Parties from any and all losses, damages, costs, expenses, rights, claims, demands and actions (including attorney’s fees and expenses for litigation and settlement), which may be brought against any one or more of them by anyone claiming to have suffered loss or damage as a result of my participation in the Contest.

Official Rules/Winners List. To obtain a copy of these Rules, print them from the Internet at http://www.theworkbuzz.com/ or send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: CareerBuilder.com “Talk to the Work Buzz Contest” Official Rules, c/o Anthony Balderrama, 200 North LaSalle, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL.60601. If you have any questions regarding this Contest or would like to obtain the names of the winners (available April 1, 2010) send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: CareerBuilder.com “Talk to the Work Buzz Contest” Winners, c/o Anthony Balderrama, 200 North LaSalle, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL.60601. All requests for Official Rules and Winners List must be received on or before December 1, 2010.

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I’ve known office workers whose draconian bosses actually reprimanded them for talking too much. Not for job performance problems or deadline issues. No, they were good workers; they just got in trouble for talking — as if they were first-graders during a  school assembly. Oy.

Not everyone likes to gab, so a quiet workplace doesn’t bother some people. But for workers who can’t keep their lips sealed, silence is torturous. To help those of us who thrive on jibber jabber, here are six careers to consider. These jobs require more skills and education than just the ability to gab, but talking plays an important role that will make your day that much better:

Nurses
You can’t possibly list every responsibility nurses have. Whether in an emergency room, physician’s office or a number of other settings, nurses are working one-on-one with patients, ensuring tests are ordered, updating charts and staying calm. Patients who are sick or about to undergo surgery are often temperamental, nervous or just having a good old-fashioned  freak-out. The best nurses stay on task while talking to patients, whether finding out more information about their malady or just trying to keep everyone calm. Here, the gift of gab can be a patient’s dream.

Emergency dispatchers
Dispatchers obviously rely on their speaking skills to find out information about  emergencies, so that’s a no-brainer. Among their many skills, a knack for conversation is just as important as the ability to extract and report information. In  emergencies, people (e.g., witnesses, victims) get unnerved and often frantic. Dispatchers maintain conversations with the callers until help arrives, and that’s no easy task as they have to be calm and think quickly under stress.

Salespeople
If you’re going to sell anything — a pair of jeans, a car, a business plan — words are your best friends. Anyone who works in sales has to know when being aggressive is appropriate and when toning it down is better. Not every technique works every time, so understanding how to talk most effectively to the customer is a skill not everyone is blessed with.

Dentists
I know I’m not the only person who has been at a dental appointment, wearing the fashionable paper bib and protective glasses, while the dentist chips away at my teeth and asks how my job is. Luckily, most dentists have the good sense to time their questions when I’m about to get a break from all the oral construction going on so I can respond. Good dentists know how to fill the silence of a dental visit without peppering the patient with questions he or she can’t answer. At the same time, they understand that we don’t want to hear 30 minutes of personal ramblings while we’re a captive audience (with a numb mouth).

Hairstylists
For many people, hairstylists are the human equivalent of a Leatherman knife — you know the kind that is basically a pocket-size MacGyver. Hairstylists serve as some clients’ confidante and therapist as well as their stylist. While they’re clipping hair and mixing dyes, stylists are forming bonds with their clients as they discuss their lives and jobs. Anyone who’s experienced an awkwardly silent haircut knows how strange it is to be inches from the person holding the scissors and looking at you in the mirror, and yet you have nothing to say to each other for the full hour.

Perhaps most important for the stylist is the ability to communicate what he or she will be doing to the client. If the client asks for a trim and the stylist says, “Sure, we can do that,” then proceeds to chop off 6 inches — well, that’s not good. Effective communication benefits them both (and probably leads to a better tip).

News reporters
News reporters, as far as the public is concerned, are just talking heads, but they do more than just stand in a hurricane and tell you that, yep, it’s wet and windy. Reporters interview people, both in taped segments and on air, and you don’t want a mumbling, incoherent mess doing that job. Amazing news goes unnoticed if the reporters’ speaking abilities are subpar, so their talking prowess needs to be as outstanding as their investigative skills. You want someone who can talk on camera as if he or she is talking to you one-on-one, and that’s not easy.

If you’re a talker and have found a way to earn a paycheck, let us know. We know there are more jobs out there that other chatty readers would love to know about.

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Do you hear something? It’s the sound of proud citizens around the globe puffing their chests as athletes from their nation head to the Olympics. *hums national anthem*

Every two years, either the summer or winter games dominate our TV viewing for two weeks. Events we wouldn’t normally give two hoots about suddenly must be recorded. I admit, I only think about the biathlon every 206 weeks. Still, billions of people tune into the games every time they air. You don’t go out as much. You ignore the ringing phone. You pretend a foil-covered Ring Ding is a silver medal in bobsledding. (No? Just me?)

Host cities pour unbelievable amounts of money and energy into readying venues and lodging for the games. As a result, each city — this year Vancouver — experiences a temporary boost in jobs to construct and staff new stadiums and housing. London’s already seeing this happen for its 2012 games. And other existing jobs are put into overdrive as the city becomes the momentary center of the athletic world. For example, Ron Cameron is the general manager of BC Place, the stadium hosting the opening ceremonies. Read about his job here.

Because I have the games on my mind, I did a little digging to see how some past Olympians are earning paychecks now that they don’t have to devote 80 percent of their waking hours to training. As expected, many finish their educations and start families — especially when you remember that many Olympians are teenagers during competition. So here are a few medalists and where they are today.

Beth Barr
Event: 4×100m Medley Relay
Year: 1988
Medal: Silver
Current occupation: Owner of a training center for swimmers and triathletes
Source: NPR

Carly Patterson
Event: Women’s Individual All-Around gymnastics
Year: 2004
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Singer
Source: Her own site

Dan O’Brien
Event: Decathlon
Year: 1996
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Motivational speaker
Source: Forbes

Jair Lynch
Event: Parallel bars
Year: 1996
Medal: Silver
Current occupation: Heads an organization that, according to its Web site, “specializes in the responsible transformation of urban markets.”
Source: NPR

Peggy Fleming
Event: Figure skating
Year: 1968
Medal: Gold
Current occupation: Breast cancer activist and co-owner of a vineyard and winery
Source: WKYC

As always, good luck to all the Olympians (who are probably too busy to read this blog, but still) and have fun watching!

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In case you were away from the TV getting your third plate of food (or, let’s be honest, opening up another bag of chips so you could eat bean dip straight from the jar), you might have missed some of the commercials. This year, CareerBuilder did something different from our usual big reveal during the game. We held a contest where anyone could submit a commercial idea to us and we’d pick the winner. We narrowed it down to three and let everyone vote on which should air during the game. And the winner was…”Casual Friday!” In case you missed out or want to watch it again, here it is:

If you want to see the other two commercials that didn’t air, check out our YouTube channel.

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Not everyone is so lucky. A recent CareerBuilder survey finds 39 percent of workers think they don’t fit in with their colleagues. Workers in health care, sales, and professional and business services were most likely to feel like they’re out of step with their co-workers.

When asked to share the most bizarre things they’ve seen their colleagues do, surveyed workers had some unique stories:

• Co-worker ate the cheese off the pizza box at a company meeting.
• Co-worker talks openly about flatulence.
• Co-worker in the cubicle next to me wears 3-D glasses with the lenses removed.
• Co-worker repeatedly bangs a mallet on the table for no apparent reason.
• Co-worker whistles eight hours a day.
• Co-worker chews tobacco and spits it into empty soda bottles.
• Former boss brought a baby sippy cup to a meeting and started drinking out of it.
• Co-worker cleaned fingernails using a counterpart’s business card.

Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder, has the following advice for anyone who encounters this unorthodox behavior at work:

• Talk it out: Talk professionally and honestly with your co-worker about his or her behavior. Be sure to do this in private and try not to embarrass anyone or make the situation worse.
• Take it to a higher level: Don’t be afraid to get your boss involved or talk to HR. If the behavior is hurting your ability to do your job, it might be time to call in the big guns.
• Mix it up: If you can’t come to an agreement with a co-worker who is bothering you, ask to be reseated in another area.

I’ve not been (un)lucky enough to witness any workplace behavior quite as strange as the ones above, but I’m guessing some of you have. Feel free to share the strangest things you’ve seen at work. It’ll make you feel good to get it off of your chest and it will probably make the rest of us feel normal.

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Yet, I read this article on NPR this morning and was amused but not surprised by it.  Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Then one day he heard about New Work City. It’s a rented office space in Manhattan where workers like Prentiss can drop in, hook up their laptops and work away with other people similarly mobile, while making face-to-face connections.

Membership at New Work City is kind of like going to a gym. The plans range from $150 a month for two visits per week on up to getting your own key.

New  Work City is interesting because it seems to defy the logic that working from home without distractions and a knuckle-rapping boss is the ideal work situation. The article goes on to explain that people who work from home often get lonely. Whether they own their own business or freelance, these professionals miss the chatter or even just knowing someone is a few feet away from them.

In the wave of the layoffs that began in 2008 and continued into 2009, many people cited their co-workers as one of the things they missed most about having a job. (I’m certain compensation was at the top of the list, though.) I’ve held jobs on site, where I was in my own office and hardly interacted with anyone. I’ve been in a sea of low-wall and high-wall cubicles. I also worked from home and only interacted with colleagues through phone calls and e-mails. In their own right, each workplace is kind of strange, though I do know that after working at home for so long I was a bit stir crazy. Going to a cafe just to work in the presence of white noise often made my day  much better.

But the story did make me wonder how important co-workers are to most people. Is your ideal job one that involves interacting with colleagues (and clients) in person or would you rather be in your own home office away from everyone else? Right now, if you’re looking for a new job, does co-worker interaction factor into your decision to apply? Let us know.

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Lights! Camera! Fantasy! Movies are where we go to forget how boring our lives are. Well, unless you’re into obscure independent movies that aim to capture our tortured, meaningless existence in gritty, hand-held camerawork. But on average, movies let us disappear into the celluloid world for a couple of hours and get lost in the images flashing on the screen.

Sometimes a movie can make us feel good about ourselves. Not because the story is uplifting but because we look at the characters and think, “At least I’m not you!” And that feeling of schadenfreude is worth the ticket price. In that spirit, we put together a list of movie characters whose jobs are less than ideal. The real-life equivalents of these jobs are perfectly fine, but in these movies no paycheck would’ve persuaded you to accept the position.

Here are the 10 worst movie jobs:

Barney Matthews in  ‘Silence of the Lambs’
No, Matthews doesn’t get eaten in the movie, but that doesn’t mean his job is peachy. How would you like to be the primary caretaker for one of the scariest inmates a prison cell has ever seen? Anyone who works in incarceration facilities has to be thick-skinned and on alert at all times, which is why not just any person is up to the challenge of the job. Throw in having to deal with Hannibal Lecter and I’d guess the list of qualified and willing candidates gets even smaller.

Chris Parker in  ‘Adventures in Babysitting’
Haven’t we all babysat to earn a little cash at some point in our lives? At worst, we had to cut gum out of a toddler’s hair or rush someone to the ER for unsuccessfully doing cartwheels off of the couch. But suburbanite Chris Parker takes three children into the scary world of downtown Chicago in the 1980s without telling their parents. They outrun  gunshots, knife fights and organized crime. Oh, and they’re forced to sing the blues in a  nightclub. Totally not worth the five bucks an hour.

Commissioner Gordon in all the ‘Batman’ films
I’ll say right now that I’d love to live in Gotham and have Batman protect me from crazy villains. However, I would not want to be the police commissioner who doesn’t get much of the spotlight for defending the city. Think about how long Gordon worked to get to that post, and now that he’s there, some guy in a cape gets all the credit for protecting citizens.

Dorothy Boyd in  ‘Jerry Maguire’
Forget about the happily ever after. The two hours leading up to the end of this movie aren’t that great if you’re Jerry Maguire’s assistant. You’re the only employee in his newfound company, so that means doing anything he doesn’t want to do. You don’t have all the perks of your previous job, which you left for him, and business is shaky, seeing as Maguire’s agency has only one client. Oh, and you fall in love with your boss only to realize he doesn’t love you all that much (at least for a while). The performance bonus had better be awesome.

Everyone in  ‘Office Space’
The fake software company in “Office Space” is the epitome of the beige cubicle world that’s been demonized by every movie, TV show and comic strip in the last few decades. It’s what so many college students fear is their future. Look at poor Milton, whose job is so pitiful he cares more about his stapler than anything else. The setting makes for a fun movie but a horrible workplace.

Grace Coddington in ‘The September Issue’ / Andy Sachs in  ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
These are two different films. “The September Issue” is a documentary about the work that goes into publishing an issue of Vogue magazine, which is under the watch of Anna Wintour. The other film is a fictitious take on what it’s like to work at a glossy fashion magazine under icy editor Miranda Priestly, who shares many similarities with Wintour.

Coddington is a stylist and creative director for the magazine and, as the film shows, her hard work getting just the right look for a spread can take weeks of planning. Then Wintour can walk in, wrinkle her nose and decide the images won’t appear in the magazine. In “Prada,” Sachs is an assistant who works herself into a frenzy just to keep Priestly happy – or as close to happy as possible. Only she quickly finds out that Priestly doesn’t care how long it takes to do something or how much effort you put into it – if it’s not what she wants at that moment, it’s useless to her. We’re not saying everyone should be handled with kid gloves, but the occasional pat on the back seems like the least a boss could do for any employee.

Lucy Kelson in  ‘Two Weeks Notice’
Kelson wants to work in the nonprofit world and go after the big corporate enemies. Instead, she finds herself working for a greedy, narcissistic head honcho. Of course they fall in love and things get sorted out because that’s what romantic comedies do, but forget that part. If you don’t have a business mind and you want your job to align with your core values, taking a job that contradicts everything you believe in is a bit  torturous. Every day you earn a fancy paycheck but hate yourself for it. All the while you’re catering to a boss you hate (though secretly love, of course). Get past the heartwarming smiles of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and you have one pretty crummy job situation.

Norma Rae Webster in  ‘Norma Rae’
Any mention of Norma Rae in a list of workplace characters is a bit cliché, but her situation is the epitome of the workplace pits. Her struggle to stay healthy in an overwhelming and physically taxing workplace is bad enough, but when her efforts to change things at the factory cause her trouble at work and at home, life gets worse. Kind of puts the arguments about who ate your last string cheese from the lunch-room refrigerator into perspective, no?

The staff in  ‘Jurassic Park’
You’d think that getting to work alongside dinosaurs would be pretty cool, but one power outage later and suddenly the gig isn’t so sweet. Even the best veterinarian or the most scholarly paleontologist wouldn’t be able to handle himself or herself against a carnivorous velociraptor. Stick to your regular amusement park jobs where you can ride the roller coasters for free and eat cotton candy.

Wall-E in  ‘Wall-E’
Sure, Wall-E is the cute little garbage compactor everyone loves, but his job is actually kind of horrible because he’s all alone. Not alone the way you might feel in your cubicle with your headphones on. I mean alone alone. As in nobody-else-in-the-entire-world. For hundreds of years  he’s gone about his job, organizing the mess left behind by humans, and he only has his cockroach pal to keep him company. I think we’d at least want to have the obnoxious chatty co-worker to keep us company.

Did we forget anyone? Let us know your picks.

Bing: Movie roles stars turned down

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Earlier this year, some of my co-workers and I moved our desks from one side of the floor to another. We moved approximately 75 feet, which seems like a negligible distance. Little did we realize we moved 75 feet closer to the sun.

In our old location we were often cold. For whatever reason a breeze would cut through our desks and force us to wear zippies or layer sweaters when everyone else was comfortable in polo shirts. Papers on our desk would flap from the phantom draft. Turn the corner and you’ll see us at our new desks, spritzing ourselves with water, holding ice cubes to our necks and standing in front of oscillating fans that are melting. It’s like you stepped into a Salvador Dali painting.  We try to ignore it, but sometimes we can’t concentrate.

Turns out we’re not the only ones. A new CareerBuilder survey finds that a third of workers can’t concentrate when the temperature at the office is too extreme. Twenty-two percent of workers say a workplace that’s too hot can make it difficult to concentrate. Conversely, 11 percent say the same about an office that’s too cold.

Is this really a big deal? Well, if you can’t concentrate, you won’t be productive. So it makes sense to be concerned about this. And seeing as 27 pecent of workers say that their workplace is too hot and 19 percent say the same about it being too cold, a large percentage of the workforce is affected. (Granted, 54 percent of workers are being very Goldilocks and describe the temperature as “just right.”)

At first glimpse, the whole issue probably seems trivial. Yet, it’s a big enough issue that 10 percent of workers admit to fighting with a co-worker over temperature. Just imagine an ongoing routine of moving the dial, sitting down, watching the co-worker get up and move the dial back, and repeat ad nauseam. More importantly, 19 percent of workers feel that the company has turned down the office temperature this year–possibly as a result of budget tightening.

So what can you do about it?

• If a co-worker is messing with the temperature and it’s bugging you or making you sweat through your turtleneck, have a chat with them. Be nice and you’ll probably have luck.
• If it’s out of your hands and you can’t just flip a switch or everyone else thinks it feels fine and you’re the lone duck on the issue, dress appropriately. Layer for your commute and then remove the heavy stuff when you’re working. (Keep it professional, though. Crocs and a swimsuit are not appropriate, even if you’re sweaty.)
• Figure out the issue and work around it. If your corner of the office turns into an igloo for the last half of the day, book some time in a conference room to get your work done so you can stay productive without seeing your breath in the air. Or ask your boss if you can move to another space. Or microwave your socks every hour. Just kidding.)

And in case you’re wondering, we did figure out how to adjust the temperature over here on this side of the office, but it’s still a lot warmer in here than I’d like, but that’s why I bought a fan and avoid sweaters if possible.

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This morning on my daily bus ride, I found the results of yet another poll. This one came from a joint venture with 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair magazine. This monthly poll covers the gamut of news and pop culture asking multiple choice-questions like: “Could you confidently explain what exactly the [Health Care] public option is to someone who didn’t know?” and “If you could add a president to Mount Rushmore, which one of these would you pick?”

Here’s how the 60 Minutes watchers and Vanity Fair readers to the following question: “Which one of the following are you most likely to do at your company holiday party this year?”

• Drink way too much:  3.79%
• Only stop by for 10 minutes to show your face:  15.15%
• Kiss a co-worker:  4.41%
• Take a picture with the boss:  2.00%
• Forget someone’s name:  12.47%
• What holiday party?:  62.19%

How would you vote? If you want to see the entire poll and vote yourself, click here … or watch the Web cast below:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

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Anyway,  as I was saying, we’ve all had embarrassing moments. For some people, it unfortunately happened in the worst place possible: the interview.

If you’re sick of recounting your embarrassing interview moment in exchange for nothing more than a bunch of laughs from your friends and family, now you can tell it for a good reason: You might be able to win an 8-GB iPod Nano with built-in video camera.

BriteTab, a resume writing service, just launched InterviewFollies.com, a site that encourages users to post their embarrassing or funny job interview moment that they may have experienced, seen or heard about. Just by sharing your story, you’ll have the chance to win an iPod Nano with built-in video camera. Plus, you can promote your story however you want — through your Facebook page, Twitter account or your personal blog.

Visitors to the site will be able to vote for their favorite stories; the person behind the story that received the most votes win. There is a winner every two weeks for six weeks, which means you can submit your story up to three times for a chance to win.

From all of the things I’ve heard from hiring managers, I have about 100 stories I could enter in this contest. But, I’ll leave it you guys.

Before you share your embarrassing interview moment on InterviewFollies, share with us here. You won’t win an iPod Nano, but maybe if you’re story is funny enough, we can use it an upcoming article.

In the meantime, here is some reading on interviewing to keep you busy:

The Worst Interview Faux Pas
7 Ways to Wreck Your Interview
10 Signs Your Interview Went Well
You Said What?!

Related posts:

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