Lunch breaks, for some reason, are frowned upon in the US; but new research shows that taking a lunch break is actually good for your health. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Dr. Chris Cunningham, Professor of Industrial-Organization and Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga touts the benefits of the […]
Ice breaker
Talk Tyrants and Their Victims | A Small Talk Series | The Interrupter
Beware: There are small talk criminals lurking everywhere. The coffee shop, your kids’ school, the gym, the office, the dinner party. These brazen bullies strike quickly and without warning – and they don’t care who they hurt. My ongoing series, Talk Tyrants, serves two purposes: it allows you the chance to escape the attack […]
The Evils of Email – Yet Again. Why Email Can Be Our Worst Enemy.
I’ll say it again: email can be evil. Emailing in the heat of the moment is like taking four shots of whiskey and starting a bar fight – you think it’s a good idea until 30 seconds later when you are in way over your head and regretting your last move. And let’s not forget […]
Banish the Boo – Why Booing is Bad News Any Time of Year.
I was at a sporting event recently and overhead several fans using what my mother would call “colorful language.” It happens. It happens so often in fact that a reader of mine wrote to me about how to deal with the foul language of others and I wrote a blog offering some […]
I Don’t Like Your Tone. Why Email Can Cause Major Confusion.
Dear Debra: My brother-in-law (my husband’s brother) is getting married in South Carolina next spring and my husband and I are very happy for him and his fiancée. He has asked that we bring our children along (ages 2 and 4), which will prove difficult considering our two year-old is VERY much a two […]
What To Say When Someone Loses a Child
I can’t imagine losing a child. I don’t want to think about it. Ever. I am not one to lump all of the human race into one big group, but I hope I speak for most when I say that the death of a child seems unimaginable. Christina Boyer experienced such a loss and writes […]
