Everyone has their own work experiences and stories, and we have all heard some great ways to get noticed and get ahead at work. Then there are some things we definitely don’t want to do. Sometimes we slip up, but here the four worst things you can do that will get you noticed at work – for the wrong reasons.

1. Let Him Catch You Shopping Online

Nobody works 100% efficiently from 9-5 each day, but there’s a difference between letting your mind wander a little and getting your work done and making it clear that you have your own set of priorities during those hours. What’s better than spending money as you earn it?

2. Say Goodbye at 5pm Every Day, No Matter What

If you don’t care about company performance, you’re there to do your work, you have one eye on the clock, and as soon as the clock hits 5pm, you’re out of there like a fat kid in dodgeball. Who cares if you finish, it will be there for you to take care of in the morning!

3. Fall Asleep During Meetings

Sitting in a room at 2:30pm never wakes anyone up, but your boss will be especially upset if you make him look bad in front of others. Drink coffee to stay awake! If you’re got nothing to add, take notes and your odds of getting whiplash from snapping awake when the lights turn on increase tenfold. But hey, who wouldn’t love a nice little nap to break up the day?

4. Focus…On Yourself!

We all want to get our work done and we all hate the annoying distractions during the day. But when a teammate needs help and you’re constantly “too busy,” you won’t earn any brownie points around the time of your performance review.

A friend of mine, Josh, recently applied to job, had a positive interview, but ran into a problem with the paperwork. They wanted to run a credit check on him.

In college, Josh was a little irresponsible and racked up a fair amount of debt. Now he wants to repay it, but was worried that this employer would  disapprove of his past activity. The credit check was likely the deciding factor as he didn’t get the job and had to look elsewhere.

At least 16 states are now considering banning most employer credit checks, an act that will help give jobs to people who are trying to get out of debt. Josh was penalized for something that happened 5 years ago, and he has since changed his ways. Making the assumption that he is irresponsible and not letting him get a job adds insult to injury.

Unreasonable Conclusions

Another friend, Sally, had gone through a lengthy interview process, been offered a contract, and was ready to sign when she saw a strange non-compete clause. She didn’t understand why her administrative assistant job would require that, so she had her father, a lawyer, take it in to work and have a coworker who specialized in contract law take a look. He came back with a few concerns, which Sally relayed to her soon-to-be employer.

She received a call saying that the employment offer was being rescinded. My friend was confused why getting legal advice about the contract was a problem, but they explained that getting legal advice was fine, but going to her father for help was not and that it was a sign that she is too irresponsible to handle work without help from others. Whether that was the real reason or if the company had more of an issue with her not signing the clause we can’t be sure, but the employer’s assumption cost Sally a job.

They took a HUGE leap to come to the conclusion that she was unfit to work for them. Suddenly this 4.0 student with just about every award in the book isn’t responsible? It’s ridiculous that she would be penalized because of her father’s profession. Clearly this isn’t an employer anyone should actually want to work for, so it is probably best that she found out early on that this company is crazy.

Are employing making big leaps with these assumptions against my friends? Is it fair to discriminate against those who have had credit problems in the past and are now trying to make up for it?

Daily Yakezie Short Carnival:

Property Tax Deferral For Young Families A Good Idea? @ Canadian Finance Blog

Life Insurance Breakpoints @ Evolution Of Wealth

Everett S. blogs about his family’s experiments in simple living on his blog about living the simple life and shares how-to videos from his Simple Living Skills Channel on YouTube.

When we hear “voluntary simplicity” most people think about hermits who quit their jobs and trot off into the woods to live in a shack. However, you don’t have to drop off the grid completely to simplify your life. People all over the world are starting to realize that simplicity comes in many shades.

Our shade of simplicity allows me to work a full-time job from home using high-tech conveniences like laptop computers, high speed internet access, printer, fax machine, VOIP… It is hardly the life of a Luddite. But it also allows me to spend that would-be commuting time with my family, and to live in a rural area where we can keep goats, chickens, bees, and grow much of our own food.

Choosing to simplify your life doesn’t have to mean a move out to the country or a full-time telecommuting job either. We started years ago while still living in Denver, Colorado and working in cubicles. First we gave up crap we didn’t “need”. I cut the cable off and found out how much better local news was than the sickening, repetitive, opinionated “analysis” they play ad-nauseum on cable news channels. I cut the satellite radio off in our cars and rediscovered the joy of playing audio books on CD during my commute. I even learned Spanish… un poco. We started spending time together making Christmas gifts for family (soap, cheese, scarves…) instead of fighting mall traffic and lines during the holidays – and learned how much more people appreciate a hand-made gift, and how much more enjoyable it is to make them than to buy them.

We kept our good “city jobs” for several years. Instead of buying big flat screen TVs like all of our friends, we just kept our perfectly good oldschool 27″ box TV. Instead of buying all new fancy furniture for our living room my wife sewed covers for our thrift-store couches. They were comfortable and looked great. I took leftovers to work for lunch, had a pretty good sized garden in the backyard, and made my own yogurt for breakfast every week.

But we still went to the movies at least twice a month – popcorn, soda and all. We still went out to dinner sometimes on weekends. We still went snowboarding and had the occasional drink at the bar with friends. In other words, we never once felt “deprived” of anything, yet were able to save enough money over several years to pay off all credit cards, pay off a new car in 8 months, and put a 20% deposit down on our new farm.

We could have had the attitude that if we’re not going to do the voluntary simplicity thing “all the way” then we might as well not do it at all. Or we could have taken it to the extreme, quit our jobs and moved off the grid and into the wilderness. But neither answer seems right for the average American family. Our politics are polarized with no middle ground and look where that has taken us. It is time we start looking for the golden mean – the middle way – and in this way we can live happy lives as productive members of the greater community without falling into a consumerist gotta-have-it-now mentality.