Life | Work | Style

I Hear the Sound of Fingernails Clipping

Keiko Rosenstiel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last issue we asked Blue Avocado readers how they would react to hearing the activity
of a co-worker in the next cubicle clipping his fingernails. Ack! Some readers provided
humorous ideas and others gave practical advice, perhaps because of personal
experience? Here are just a few of the letters:

Those of us who have lived in cube environments for years have found the best way is to ignore them with music and headphones. And a few of us can just turn off our hearing aids, which we need as a result of using loud music to drown out the fingernail clipping noise. -- Dave Cannard, Portland, Oregon

I actually witnessed my supervisor clip her toenails into a trash can about two feet from me. What did I do about it? A week later she applied deodorant and I quit. -- Louise

Clearly your co-worker doesn't have enough to do. Since there is rarely a shortage of work in most nonprofits, maybe you should tell him that you're happy to share items on your to-do list. -- Michelle Johnson, Davis, California

Leave an anonmymous bottle of flaming red nail polish and an emery board on "The Clipper's" desk with a note: 'Here's a little something extra to put on your freshly clipped nails." -- Alan E. Yue, Life Foundation, Honolulu

I was the person clipping! For years I thought that talking on the phone at work was the perfect time to clip my fingernails. But one day I overheard two people complaining about someone ELSE who did it. I was stunned to realize this was considered too uncool for words, and embarrassed that no one had ever told me. In retrospect, I wonder if my two co-workers staged that conversation for me to overhear. So remember: some of us are just ignorant or from a different culture, and we would appreciate a gentle soul clue-ing us in. -- Jan Masaoka, Blue Avocado, San Francisco

Lean over the top of the cubicle and ask: 'Would you like to be alone, this seems like an intimate moment for you? Or go to the doorway with your trash bin and at the next clip yell, 'Two points!" BUT, since my boss has been known for the same bad behavior, I'll remain anonymous! -- "Rad-Raw"

Have a 3-Minute Staff Retreat with Cookies

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You need a 3-minute vacation. You feel like eating a cookie. There's a wrong way and a right way to have a 3-minute cookie vacation. The wrong way: eat it while working. The right way: Go out and buy a box of cookies (if desperate, buy 5 packages out of the vending machine, but you have to be really desperate). Announce to a few co-workers that you're having a 3-minute staff retreat at your cubicle in 15 minutes. Pass out the cookies and talk (no working!) while you all enjoy the cookies.

Why Do Men in the Nonprofit Sector Wear Such Bad Shoes? (humor)

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Bostonian Kristin Barrali of the Nonprofit Quarterly posed this hilarious question: Why do men in the nonprofit sector wear such bad shoes? Our three favorite reader responses are below (note: this photo and the third photo are of real nonprofit men wearing their real shoes; their names and organizations are being kept anonymous for their protection).

Men in nonprofits wear such bad shoes because we have transcended the need to be judged by our outward appearances. That's why we drive bombed-out cars, live in tiny houses, and rarely go see "the Lion King" on Broadway when we are in New York for a nonprofit conference. Or it could be that we are willing to do a tremendous amount of work for diddly pay and our spouses don't have the time to be our fashion consultants because they are working two jobs to pay the mortgage. ...or is that just me?? -- Ken Dall (see his shoes to right), Prevention Network, Lansing, Michigan

The wonderful, superbly talented artistic director and conductor of our nonprofit choral arts organization . . . wears clogs! The running joke is that if there is enough money in the budget at the end of the season, we will buy him a new pair of clogs! He also wears "engineer-striped" bib overalls - over his tuxedo shirt and pants - in the hour or so before a concert. This protects his clothing while he adjusts the risers, microphones, and warms up the musicians. The combination of clogs and overalls is a real hoot! -- Diane Campbell, Boise Master Chorale

Why do women in the nonprofit sector care about our shoes? -- Tim Wolfred, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services

Readers: post your comments below!

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now: A Gratitude Moment

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:41:43 -0700

From reader Lynn Sadler, President and CEO, Mountain Lion Foundation (and this is her taking her 3-minute vacation!)

The best three minute vacation is a gratitude moment: hand-writing a snail-mail thank you note to someone who randomly crosses your mind to thank that day. My grandmother attempted, each day, to do something for someone unasked. Maybe write to a retired legislator who penned a law that aids your clients. Perhaps the artist who inspires you daily from the wall above your desk. How about a colleague whose quiet heroism serves as a shining example? I guarantee you'll feel refreshed (and grateful!).

Three-Minute Vacation...On the Prowl With North African Cats

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:23:13 -0700

A Blue Avocado reader tells us his technique for "vacationing" on a rough day at work: he goes to YouTube and puts in the name of an animal and the word "cute." Lots of us use our computers to hunt for lions and tigers and bears - oh my! Admit it. Who among us doesn't like cute animals? Another Blue Avocado reader - Anne Pasmanick, volunteer at N Street Village, a Washington, DC, center for homeless and low-income women, recently took a 3-minute vacation to visit some beautiful exotic creatures called sand cats under the protection of the nonprofit Big Cat Rescue.

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now: Chamber Music!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Spirit yourself to an intimate chamber music concert, played on historical instruments: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #2, iii, performed energetically by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. http://youtube.com/watch?v=6jtk4ETAx8g

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now . . . to New York City

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:20:03 -0700

How about taking in the people and places of our Great Metropolis without the blare of taxis or the expense? Stroll through the streets by strolling down Joe's NYC. Award-winning Joe Holmes stands out among the army of New York photographers and photo-bloggers by poking his nose (and camera) in places you would never think of. He even makes New York's trash look intriguing.

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now: Jabbawockeez

Sun, 18 May 2008 11:00:41 -0700

There's only been one thing worth watching on MTV in the last ten years: this spring's "America's Best Dance Crew." Put a mental spring in your step and enjoy the winner: Jabbawockeez from San Diego! "You are changing our country!" commented judge Lil' Mama. "You are the future!" Warning: you have to endure a 30 second commercial first. :( but it's worth it.

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now: Hummingbirds

Sarah Clifford — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:31:47 -0700

Love the idea of the "3 minute vacation." The [Alvin Ailey] dancers were so different from the cultures in which I live and work, it was a real break. My "time-out" when I am volunteering in Ecuador (at the moment I'm in the UK) is to watch the hummingbirds, which never fail to make me smile. If you think others might enjoy them, I'd like to suggest my hummingbird photos as a "3- minute vacation."

Sarah Clifford, volunteer for CRACYP (which stands for Rural Reforestation and Progress Network Corporation, in Spanish)

Take a 3-Minute Vacation Right Now: Check Out Today's Front Pages

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:01:00 -0700

Instead of heading to your favorite coffee place, why not take a 3-minute vacation by reading the front page of the Pensacola News-Journal, Today's Zaman (Istanbul), Asahi Shimbun English Edition (Tokyo), the GlosSzcecinski (Poland), the Telegraph (Calcutta), or any one of today's front pages from 500 newspapers from more than 50 countries? And our thanks to the nonprofit Newseum in Washington, D.C. for this great resource, and for being a champion of freedom of the press.