Humor

February 9, 2013 by Eric Butts 4 Comments

How Casual Should You Be On Casual Fridays?

Don’t be like Mike…

I’m going to let you in on a secret about the working world. Some people may have their world shaken and may even want to fight me on this once I drop this bomb on you but sometimes the truth hurts. And it’s better to hear this new from me than from someone on the job like..your boss.

Casual Fridays Don’t Exist

If someone tells you that they have casual Fridays, don’t trust them. This is just a way to weed out the new people that have a common sense deficiency. I remember when I was working at Pepsi we had a new joiner right out of undergrad. It was a Thursday and people were talking about casual Friday and he asked me what was considered casual. Jokingly, I told him I was wearing basketball shorts. Apparently he didn’t get the joke because the next day he absolutely showed up in mesh shorts. Priceless. Not getting a picture that day was one of my bigger failures to date.

Always Play It Safe In The Office

If you ever have any doubt, err on the side of too formal. Wear khakis instead of jeans. Wear loafers instead of gym shoes. Even if your casual Friday is more specifically named jeans day, you still need to take some precautionary steps. First, please don’t ever in your life wear jeans like Michael Jordan. People just won’t respect you after that. Jeans need to be rip-free and fit your body, unlike these jeans Jordan wore. If you decide to wear a polo instead of a standard button-down, make sure your iron it in the morning before you leave so you don’t look like you slept in it the night before.

When You’re With Colleagues You’re Always On

As you progress in your career, image and its less tangible relative “executive presence” become increasingly important professional development areas, and every interaction with those you work for is a data point people will subconsciously (at least) use when assessing your readiness to go on to the next level.

In other words, a rule of thumb for work functions is don’t dress like a clown and stay away from the tequila shots as if your life depended on it because your career does.

Click here for more tips on casual Friday dress
Here’s another reference for casual Friday style

Feel free to share any points you have in the comments below. Thanks to Never Less Than Success reader Michele for asking this question!

January 28, 2013 by Eric Butts 6 Comments

How Far Would You Go to Avoid Wearing a Collared Shirt?

This actually happened…

A couple of weeks ago, a guy walks into the office wearing a v-neck sweater with nothing under it but a t-shirt. Said guy’s manager advises him to hit the mall to buy some collared shirts to go under those v-necks. After all, perception is everything in this business.

This week, I go into one of the conference rooms — at the client site — to take a phone call, shut the door, and I find this hanging on the back of the door…

It would appear that said guy, a manager at a consulting firm, chose to go with this feaux collar instead of taking the time to wear a shirt under his sweaters. One could look at this in one of two ways:

Genius innovation for speed and comfort
An odd manifestation of immaturity in the workplace

Which one do you think it is? Let me know in the comments.

August 23, 2012 by Eric Butts Leave a Comment

How to Identify A Fraudulent Tax Return

So I recently posted about myths associated with CPAs, the last of which I “mythbusted” by showing just how funny we accountants are. When I wrote that, I was only considering intentional comedy by CPAs, but after a late night reading of the Journal of Accountancy last night (yes, this is how I unwind), it seems CPAs aren’t the only one with jokes. Yesterday’s news posted by the JoA included an article “IRS Chief Counsel’s Office Issues Guidance on Identity Theft Returns” that I had to double check at multiple points to make sure I hadn’t actually flipped over to The Onion.
I’m still not sure this wasn’t a parody posting. Can somebody please confirm this for me??

Here is the first gem from our friends at the IRS. You may have been confused on what makes for a fraudulent tax return before, but they set the record straight yesterday:

“a return filed by an identity thief is not a valid return because it is not filed by the true taxpayer or with the true taxpayer’s consent and it lacks a valid signature. This is a position the Office of Chief Counsel has taken in prior guidance.

I especially love the last line referring to “prior guidance.” My one comment/question on this is what other position could could they possibly have taken under this scenario?!

The article becomes even more strange when it all but says some types of fraud are ok. I’m going to paraphrase what the official guidance says but you can check the article for yourself. The quick summary of The IRS did not address situations where the name and/or SSN were fake/stolen but the return was otherwise correct. In these situations, the return WITH SOMEONE ELSE’S IDENTITY is an attempt to comply with federal tax law…so the fraud is ok…

To be fair, it does mention that this is often the case with undocumented workers, but I’m fairly sure that stealing identities is not part of the tax code. It seems like a dangerous game to pick and choose when fraud is acceptable.We really need to come up with a better process for undocumented workers to comply with tax law. Any ideas on how to handle this? Is there anyway a different ID number could be used?

July 30, 2012 by Eric Butts 2 Comments

4 Little Known Things Management Consultants Obsess Over

I’ve been in Management Consulting for going on three years now, and it’s a different world than what I experienced after spending the first 7 years of corporate life working in industry. There are many “important” differences deserving of the spotlight, but for this post I’m going to share the secrets on what we consultants talk about on a regular basis. A consultant’s life revolves around a handful of things that you might not expect.
To be honest, the frequency with which these things come up in conversations borders on the ridiculous.

You would think that after a few years doing this that people would find something else to talk about, but that is not the case. If you are lucky enough to standout in one of these areas, you will definitely earn the respect of your peers.

1. Computer Bags
One of the first things I learned after getting into this job where travel is the rule rather than the exception is that nobody EVER uses the firm-issued computer bag. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I’ve met a lot of people on this job and I can remember only one person that was still using the bag they were given at orientation.

While not using the default bag as your mobile office is of the highest importance, it is a not decision that should be rushed and taken lightly. Judgements inevitably will be made based on the bag that you choose. For example, the first manager I worked for in consulting opted for the Swiss Army backpack. This says “function over style” to everyone with whom he comes into contact. Basic yet durable. And if I had to choose a colleague that I thought would give me the best chance to live in a “survival situation” it would be that guy simple because of the bag he choose. In my mind Swiss Army = Eagle Scout = most likely to know what to do stranded on a deserted island. To quote Charles Barkley, “I may be wrong, but I doubt it.”

Very Professional

On the other hand, you have the type that goes with the brown leather briefcase that must be carried by hand. This says, “I want people to look at this bag and know how professional I am.” The brown color seems to be just to draw attention but to be fair, this may be what’s fashionable these days. As for the briefcase style, when you’re on the move this much, why else would you choose a big requiring you to have a hand occupied at all times. Not practical at all and results if you asking people if they can help hold or carry things way more often than you should… You can make your own conclusions.

I personally chose the Briggs & Riley bag below. The backpack design allows me to be hands-free, and distributes weight across more of the body, which must be good for the back. I haven’t seen the research on this, but I’m sure it’s out there… This particular bag is TSA friendly (quick-release butterfly flap so that I don’t have to remove my laptop from the bag for the x-ray), which is a big win when you’re going through airport security twice a week. So if the “very professional” guy wants to claim this is juvenile, I’m ok with that, because I’m not the one that will be paying outlandish chiropractor bills down the road.


Before

After (a few trips across the pond later…)

2. Hotel Points

3000 SPG Points in one shot is nothing to sneeze at

Most people don’t stay in hotels often enough to even notice the hotel points you accumulate and the various offers that hotels make in order to improve their position in a highly competitive market. That being said, believe me when I tell you that consultants take their hotel points very seriously. This is how are able to go on vacation at a reasonable cost and somewhat rationalize being away from our families an absurd amount of time.

To give you an idea of how real this is, I worked with a guy who would check-out of his hotel every night and check into another hotel within the same group of hotels to accrue more “stays” and accelerate his progress to the highest hotel status.

There’s not much worse than the feeling I get when I find there is a double points promotion that I missed, while my colleagues are basking in the glory of double or triple rewards points.

Luckily, I know how to play the game much better now, which basically just means I have to read every single email that comes through from SPG, but it’s worth it.

3. Frequent Flyer Miles
Consultants love frequent flyer miles almost as much as they love hotel points. The thing with frequent flyer miles it that airlines don’t negotiate, and depending on where you live, you don’t have much say which airline you’re flying on in the first place. Still, will I throw it out there that I just got 3 tickets to LA for nothing and still have more miles left than I can do anything with at the moment or how I got upgraded to first class this morning? Absolutely.

Frequent flyer miles are battle scars for consultants – I worked with a Senior Manager that had over 1 million miles remaining. That’s what I call battle tested.

4. The Holy Grail
Anyone who travels knows that the worst part of the travel is getting through security. This little gem is a new development in airline security and essentially allows you to walk right through the airport because you’re the man (or woman).

TSA Pre can be found right now in only 16 airports, and even then it is only with select participating airlines. Once you have this on your resume, you can officially say you’ve “made it” as a consultant.