Here’s the situation: You’re working on a document for work, and suddenly you realize that you’re using the same terms over and over again. However, you can’t think of a different way to describe what you’re writing about. What can you do? You can either whip out the dead weight that is a standard printed thesaurus, or you can simply use the one that is included in Microsoft Word.

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Unfortunately for many of us, this summer is shaping up to be tremendously hot and uncomfortable. Even worse, many offices don’t offer much better protection from the heat than just being outside. Maybe the air conditioner is on the fritz, or maybe you have a ton of glass windows with little shading. Whatever it is, working in an 80 degree office is nobody’s idea of a good time. To alleviate some of these problems, here are three tactics you can try to keep comfortable:

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As I was riding the elevator down from my apartment this morning, a girl got on carrying her lunch with her. While this is pretty mundane, what wasn’t so normal about it were the contents: Two cans of lite Red Bull and a Lean Cuisine. I can honestly say that this is the first time that I’ve ever seen this combination, and it got me to thinking about an interesting workplace subject: How we seemingly work against ourselves on a daily basis.

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There’s nothing worse than putting a great presentation together, then going to print it out and getting that deadly message Out of Toner. Another classic scenario is that you go to copy it and find that you’re all out of copy paper. Hopefully, you’re audience doesn’t mind sharing. The point is this: You can’t underestimate the importance of having office supplies in-stock and available. From toner to copy paper, there are tons of basic supplies that play a role in keeping the modern office up and running. However, it can be a real pain to go to the store and lug around all of the supplies you might need. That’s why online ordering of these supplies has become so popular. A great example of this is Supplies USA.

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*Note: This specific review applies only to those readers in the UK, or who are looking to start a business in the UK.

Finding the right place to house your company can be a rough task. There are so many options out there, it’s hard to figure out where to begin. The paper? An agent? Word of mouth? With so many options to choose from, it may seem like finding a needle in a haystack. However, luckily for those in the UK, there’s an online service out there that provides some great tools to make your search that much easier: London Office Space.

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While the title of this post may not be familiar to you, here’s a saying that you might be more familiar with: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. In other words, you can show the horse where the water is, but the horse has to make the decision to drink or not. This saying applies to almost any workplace, as it is a basic tenet of communication. There are multiple leadership styles out there, but no matter what style you employ, if you want to get your team to do something right you need to convince them it’s the right thing to do. “Right” is highlighted there because someone can perform a task even if they don’t’ agree with it, but you most likely won’t get their best effort. This is also the point that Glenn Ray makes in his entertaining parable below. My thoughts are immediately following the article in the My Comments section.

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With the 2008 elections quickly approaching, it seems that you just can’t get away from the election coverage. Everywhere you go, you’ll hear something about the election. This includes your office. At the water cooler, right before a meeting, even just chatting in the hallway, the subject is bound to come up. The question is this: Should you discuss politics in the office? Based on my experience, the quick answer is a definite no. There are multiple reasons for this, but I’ll focus on the main one which is described below.

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With today being Friday (TGIF!!!), I thought I’d put together a list of five things that are ideal to do on a Friday.

Here’s the list:

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At some point in your career, you’re going to get frustrated at work. Actually, I’ll rephrase that: At many points in your career, you’re going to get frustrated at work. Whether it’s due to some major project change, or because the soda machine is consistently out of diet coke, it’s going to happen. The question then becomes: How do you deal with it?

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Telling someone they’re wrong can be a daunting task, especially if it’s in a work situation. That’s why at work, you very rarely hear someone flat out say “You’re wrong”. On the one hand you don’t want to insult whomever you’re speaking to because at the very least you have to work with them, and they could even be your boss or your client. On the other hand, you need to get them to understand that they are incorrect or else it could cause major problems down the line. While this seems to be a “Damned if you do, Damned if you don’t” situation, there are ways to accomplish both goals. All it requires is the proper phrasing.

With that in mind, here are three phrases that I’ve used to tell someone they’re wrong, without actually having to say it:

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