A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing

I’ve always been a big supporter of the notion that you can create positive work environments and create positive group dynamics in teams.

Luckily for me, I’ve managed to get a job where these things already exist.

Very lucky.

Stranger Danger

I have the most bizzare interactions with strangers. 

Recently, I’ve had a drug addict asked me if I would bite her drug dealer. (No)  Or if I would let him bite me. (Also no.)  This woman then told my friend and I that we’re ”gorgeous, and educated too. You can tell!”  To which my friend replied, “Don’t let the accent fool you.”  She’s not wrong, she’s just a jerk.

A few days ago I met the self proclaimed town drunk of Fairfield, CT., who in addition to telling me three semi-funny jokes, also told me that he was in the French Foreign Legion, was a graveyard shift construction worker, was the man who issued the subpoena to Monica Lewinsky, and then accurately guessed my ethnicity.  He told me his house was “twenty yards that way” but then later it was “ten feet that way.”  I reached the conclusion that he lives in a mobile home / his car.

Next time I try to pick up random, obviously uninterested girls at a bar, I’m probably going to use those lines.  They’re solid gold.

My most recent and new # 1 favorite stranger interaction happened late Friday afternoon, at the New Haven Green.   I had gone out to lunch and was now sitting on a bench with my lunch date, chatting and people watching.  

We notice a man on the other side of the green wearing a three piece business suit, and has flowing locks growing from the bottom 2/3 of his scalp, and had chosen to leave the top 1/3 bald.   Walking in our direction, he suddenly changed his route.  What’s this he’s found?  A lawn chair under a tree.  He picks up the chair and walks towards us once again.  “Min…I think he’s gonna try and sit with us”

He comes over, mumbling something incomprehensible.  Something to do with the chair.  “Oh that’s been there since before we got here – I think someone left it.”  He tries to assemble the forgotten chair.  “Oh it’s broken right there on the corner.  That’s too bad.” 

The man says in his British accent (sounded educated to me), “It’s difficult to resist picking up trash from a concentration camp.”  And walked away.

Now, I don’t know if everyone is familiar with the New Haven Green.  But let me tell you, it is by no means concentration camp. 

Immediately after the mans departure, another one came into our lives.  This fellow, an elderly man with bleached blonde hair in a similar 2/3 of the scalp style said, “That guy is crazy.  I smoke ALOT of pot and I don’t even talk like that!”

I really don’t know what it is.  I don’t talk to strangers or really do anything that should instigate these interactions.  I’m a normal looking, normally behaved person.  So, I wonder if other people have equally odd interactions with as much frequency, and if so  – why am I not told about them?

The Tide is High

To Procter & Gamble, the makers of Tide To Go:

I absolutely love your product.  Tide To Go is amazing. I’ve honestly considered listing it as a general interest of mine on myspace and / or facebook.  Now, I’ll admit – initially i was very skeptical.  How did Kelly Ripa remove that stain so easily, right at the restaurant?  I just didn’t believe it.  I needed to try this thing. 

Needless to say, I tried it, and wow.  It does for me exactly what it did for Kelly. 

However - there’s a problem; unfortunately, I don’t always have my Tide To Go with me.  In fact, I’d say more often than not, I’m without it. 

It’s more like Tide To Stay.    Tide To Stay in my other purse.  Tide To Stay on my desk at home.  Tide To Stay under my car seat from when my bag fell and spilled its contents everywhere while I was stuck in traffic on I-95 yesterday morning.

Over the past two weeks, there have been several instances in which I’ve thought to myself, “Ugh! I wish I had my Tide To Go!!”  Out with my friends.  At the office.  On a date.   The list goes on and the stains just keep happening.  

Given this, I’d like to suggest that Tide To Go be made into a smaller, more compact version of itself and put on a keyring so I can keep it with my car keys.  The ”To-Go” aspect of my key set is implied by it’s very nature.  If my keys weren’t To-Go, I wouldn’t be To-Go.  And it’s when I’m To-Go that I need Tide To-Go the most. 

I don’t imagine it would be too difficult to make this happen, if the makers of Sharpie can do it, I’m sure you can too.   You’re half way there with the Tide To Go Mini.  Which I havn’t tried yet, but I’m pretty psyched on. 

Anyway, let me know what you think about Tide To Go On The Go. 

Sincerely,

Mindy To-Go Munizaga.

The “Standard” Resume Debate

I re-did my resume earlier this week for two reasons:

1. My internship is ending, and they’ve asked me to stay on as their web copy writer.  Hooray.

and 2.  For a class assignment. 

In doing this assignment, I’ve been actively disagreeing with my professor about whether a resume  should one-page or not.  Personally, I think that if there’s important and relevant information that can’t fit on one page, you shouldn’t omit it just because it’s not the standard – you want to stand out and get noticed by the recruiter.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think the one-pager is restrictive, and one-dimensional, which is the last thing you want to appear as to a potential employer. 

Because I’m an advertising major, a lot of the times that I’d apply for a job, my resume would be accompanied by not only the standard cover letter, but also a portfolio of sorts, so there’s leniency with “following the rules” in this regard.  I’m pushed to “think outside of the box” and “colour outside of the lines,” so adhering to the standard just seems contradictory to the nature of the work. 

Whatever way you slice it, a resume and cover letter are advertisements.  You really need to sell yourself to the recruiters and get noticed.  With this mind set, and the fact that there really is no cut and dry way of doing this things successfully, I see the “standard” as being a bad thing.  I’m not saying that anyone should make their resume 2 pages if they can fit it all on one, but I hate to think that people leave things out, or literally sell themselves short, because “that’s the standard.”

I’ve spoken to a few people who have been in recruitment positions and asked them their thoughts, and they’ve all agreed with me.  I’ve gotten,

 ”What? One page? No.”

and “It should be as long as it needs to be.”

I’ve also asked a few friends, who have given me mixed responses.  Although they agree with my over-all concept, they also think that having a two-page resume could spell doom, because some H/R departments are very strict and won’t accept them.  Luckily, I also (reluctantly) have a one page resume because i’m not a complete anarchist.  

What are your thoughts, internet?  How long is your resume, and do you think (assuming it’s more than one page) you could fit it into one without omitting something important?  Would you still hire a two-page resume anarchist like me?

it happens.

Imagine coming home from a long day of work, you take off your jacket because it’s bloody freezing out.  You collapse on the couch and say to someone, “I had the worst day…”  As the wheels in your head are a-spinnin, thinking about how you can explain the horror of your day to somebody who’ll listen to and appease you, they say “eh, it happens.” 

It’s pretty rude.  It makes the complainers’ complaints seem invalid and groundless, and all they wanted to do was vent for a little while.  And i’m not talking about the “oh I stubbed my toe” complaint – because that really does just happen, but I mean the legitimately bad days.  I only mention this because I know someone who says this all the time and a few days ago, I really wanted to complain to them but I reconsidered based on this.  Despite what you may think, i’m not much of a complainer (yes, i know that right now i’m complaining about being unable to complain…) but I just like to think that if I were going to complain, you’d listen. 

On a completely unrelated note, I want to talk about mix CD’s for a while.  I like to think that most people in the world have seen the movie High Fidelity (if you havn’t seen it, watch it.  Or better yet, read the book by Nick Hornby of which the film is based, then watch it).  In the movie, there’s a great quote. 

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.” 

 I make alot of mix CD’s and playlists.  As anyone who’s been in my car knows, that’s usually what i’ll listen to when I’m driving, and i’ll listen to albums at home or work (currently listening to Abbey Road for instance).  I like to think I make good mixes, and i’ve been told that I do; however, I don’t have a strategy when making one.  I mean there are some obvious rules.  I don’t put a song by Bright Eyes on and then listen to Journey (although, that would be interesting).  I try to stay in the same genre, and try to avoid having too many songs by the same artist on the one mix.  Unless of course, i’m making a mix of an artist to expose listeners to brilliance (Hi Jenn! Elliott Smith!). 

So tell me, Internet – Do you have any rules to play by when you’re making a mix CD?  I’ve found some advice and how-to lists but I feel like they’re either very serious or very stupid, it’s not working for me.