Workers Confess Which 30 Basic Everyday Skills Are Shockingly Rare In The Office

I suggest that the main problem here isn't necessarily the thinking, it's the information it's built on. If someone has been living in a silo (of any sort) they have no balance of verified information to build their thinking on. Don't expect a citizen of North Korea, who has only ever heard Government propaganda, to have an informed view of the war in Ukraine, for instance - If you don't make the effort to get your news from at least two, different , sources, you're in a silo. And by 'sources' I do *not* mean podcasts, 'influencers', or political parties. / Mind you, some knowledge of a few of the more regular fallacies (by which I mean failures in logic, *not* just data you don't like) wouldn't hurt - as well as the concept of "the best lie is the truth you do not utter".

Shouting down someone you disagree with doesn’t mean you’re right and won the argument. It just means you’re a LOUD a*****e, and loud a******s tend to be wrong and unable to justify their side. Same goes for switching from discussing the issue and resorting to personal attacks.

Two things you will find difficulty in getting rid of - a smile, and politeness. You nearly always get them back, immediately.

Nope, that is not how you play the game in the corporate world. Not if you want to get ahead. Sucks but true.

The hole in the machine is so often round the back, out of sight. Be kind.

Acknowledge you heard their idea, ffs. I hate it when I suggest something, get no indication I was even heard, then when I repeat it they get all pissy about me saying it again. Well a*****e, if you had said something, nodded your head, grunted, farted, or made any kind of indication you f*****g heard me in the first place, I wouldn’t be wasting my time repeating myself. Courtesy goes both ways, m**o.

My catty response to those requests are to send them to https://letmegooglethat.com/ ... so fun.

Rating yourself? Beware the Dunning-Kruger effect. But, primarily, blame the interviewer for asking a question they didn't understand. Are you *sure* you want to work for this firm?

Set your email to show a preview of each email’s content. That way you can see what’s in them without opening them, and simply delete the obvious scams—-as long as you’re savvy enough to be able to recognize a scam, that is.

This one goes hand in hand with the ability to Google directions for doing stuff like this, as some websites aren’t very intuitive and tend to bury steps in really odd places.

It used to be well known that you leave touchy subjects like politics, religion, money, and sex and avoid bring them up in polite conversation—-which includes work conversations as well as private ones with people you don’t know well enough to broach the subject(s) with. Ther are PLENTY of other things to talk about, believe me. Some important and other innocuous, but at least not so incendiary. Save those four for your close friends who you regularly have deep debates with that don’t break out in hurt feelings, hatred, and potential violence.

Slang and email spelling shortcuts have no place in a professional exchange. You must learn your language properly, and be able to speak and write it properly and clearly, if you want to be taken seriously in most professions. Goes hand in hand with good hygiene, neat grooming, and wearing professional-looking clothing appropriate to your job. In your own time, you can be a slob who smells like they died four days ago, but at work, representing your company, you MUST make a good first impression, and that includes appearance and speech.

Honey, I worked with a college graduate who counted dimes and came up with a total that had a 5 at the end of it. I am not making that up.

This one is pretty important. I always made sure that if I promised something to someone or anyone was relying on me for help,I did that. It sounds silly but so many of my colleagues in the same role couldn't care less about their responsibilities.

*Never* use the default. And, yes, this is an excellent piece of advice from the OP. If all else fails, 'name' it with the current date and time - year month day hour minute - like 202502281442. But far better is, something you can remember it by, I agree.

Not exactly an 'end of civilisation' error; fun, though. There should be more fun in life. Enable it.

I do agree - budgeting should be taught in schools (in amongst all the other stuff that gets dropped on teachers). But where in the week? There's only so much time in the month ...

It's tempting to ascribe all of these to 'lack of character' but sometimes that helplessness *has* been taught - by parents or schools who pitch into kids who don't immediately 'get it right' - sometimes after vague or self-contradictory instructions. Be kind, try not to write people off, and listen to them; agreed, if all they have to say is "poor me" then maybe avoid, but some people are recoverable. Be the change you wish to see, in the world.

I can only recommend the reply "here are the jobs I'm working on, and here are the names of the people who set me these tasks. Please choose which job I am to side-line, and explain to the person who set me that task why your needs are more important than theirs." Sometimes we have to educate our masters ...

Meeting - and working - with an expert is such a great learning opportunity, it's only fair that you offer a few words of praise as your payment for the chance to learn. They deserve that.

This is a major life skill - choosing the hills you don't need to die on. You can always close the discussion with "We seem to disagree but I don't see a great benefit in spending any more time on this, let's move on". If they won't take this for an answer, there is the danger that they're trying to push you into something. Be very ware!

This is a much-misunderstood part of school life, for example. Poor teachers equate "having the right answer" with success, as if everyday life was an exam. Good teachers (as well as making learning fun) encourage fresh thinking, with open-ended questions and a general lack of 'yes/no' work. Good students are often the ones who are open to new ideas, are not just studying 'for the test', and have their own reasons for learning. Any time a student asks "why do we have to learn this?", the teacher messed up quite a while ago. That question should never arise, if either the student is there to learn, or the teacher is interesting them in the subject. Students can learn without discomfort, if they start right or, at least, are taught right.

You should be able to teach them this in, oh, half a second?

I create shortcuts because memorizing numerous website addresses is ridiculous, and Googling them every time you need them is time consuming. If I use it a lot, I can remember it, but if it’s something I only access once or twice a year (like at tax time), I won’t remember it. However, if I lost all my shortcuts, I am perfectly capable of finding the website addresses and rebuilding my shortcuts. I’m 64, and have been using computers for work since 1985, and have had one in my home since 1998 (when they became more affordable).

It just how, but when. Know your limits and don’t take on new work when you’re already in the weeds.

I think a good portion of people like that aren’t neurodivergent and simply unable to pick up your cues, which is a legit reason because they can’t, but are merely selfish disrespectful a*****es who can pick them up perfectly well, and choose to purposely ignore them.

Once in a while? Well, s**t happens. Chronically? That’s an issue that needs to be addressed, privately, with the late person (do not publicly embarrass them!). Most importantly, find out the context before you pass judgement.

I dont have the motor skills for it. I have a 10 finger blind typing diploma though. But i passed typing with 2 to 4 fingers max. And i can't do it blind either.

What is? The dictionary? Job applications shouldn't rely on decoding unknown words (though, maybe, spelling them right helps?). Job applications are often enabled by fitting the applicant's skill set onto a good reading of the company's current needs, which requires good reading of the original advertisement, an understanding of the job, and maybe a few teasers to indicate that the applicant has an interesting life of their own. Then reeeeel them in ...

SO easily forged. The point of a signature is to be unique, and preferably difficult to forge. Doesn’t have to be pretty or neat and legible, because those are also easy to forge. But it does have to be uniquely yours. If you learn nothing else in cursive writing, at least learn to write your signature.