Office Life

Three out of five American workers plan to buy their bosses a birthday present this year, according to WorkPlace Media. A fourth of those plan to spend more than $50. I wonder if three out of five bosses plan to buy a single employee anything...

Duke University researchers have discovered that obese workers take more sick days and cost a company more in workers' comp claims. This is a surprise? How much money was spent uncovering those pearls of wisdom?

Email Etiquette

There's a growing industry to teach corporate America how to write emails. The Seattle P-I did a story on David Shipley, who's actually written a book on the subject (a whole book!) called "Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home." Some advice:

"Please" sounds nice in person, but condescending in an email.

Sarcasm doesn't translate. (Really?)

Keep paragraphs short and put important stuff at the top.

Avoid replying "Thanks" to every bloody email you get.

Exclamation points and emoticons actually give messages life!!!! ;) (man, I hate emoticons) :->)

Shipley's "Phrases to Avoid": "Delete this email," "Can we get away with it?", "They'll never find out" and "This might not be legal."

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