Most people have to work to survive. Some people love their work. What are your work experiences? How do others manage? Shane your thoughts with your class partner. Remember to help each other.
1. Do you work? Are you retired?
2. Do you have a regular schedule? Which shift do you work?
3. Would you like more hours? Fewer hours? Why?
4. Which department do you work in? Do you have a title?
5. Do you work alone or with other staff members?
6. Can you describe a typical day at work?
7. Do you use a computer at work? What computer software programs do you use?
8. How do you use email or the Internet at work? When? Why?
9. Have computers changed your work habits in any way? How?
10. Do you have a high profile position? Are you visible at your job?
11. Is there a career ladder at you workplace?
12. How do you get along with your co-workers outside of work? Where do you go?
13. Do you socialize with your co-workers outside of work? Where do you go?
14. How does your company/school encourage networking among co-workers?
15. Does your company use interns or college students? How?
16. What qualities does your organization look for in new employees?
17. Have you ever had a mentor? Who? How did this person teach you the ropes at work?
18. Are you a mentor to anyone at work? What do you do to help?
With the help of your partner, read aloud each of the following quotations. Circle the ones with which both of you agree.
1.”Work keeps at bay three great anvils: boredom, vice, and need.”
-Voltaire (1694-1778), French philosopher
2.”I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more of it I have.”
-Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. President and the man on the nickel
3.”I don’t like work-no man does-but I like what is in the work-The chance to find yourself.”
-Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), British novelist
4.”Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.”
-David Sarnoff (1881-1975), founder of Revlon
5.”I don’t meet competition; I crush it.”
-Charles Revson (1906-1975), founder of Revlon
6.”Where work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is savagery.”
-Maxim Gorky (1868-1936), Russian/ Soviet novelist
7.”There are an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job.”
-Peter Drucker (1909-2005), American business guru
8.”There is no such thing as a free lunch.”
-Milton Friedman (1912-2006), economist
9.”Without work all life goes rotten.”
-Albert Camus (1913-1960), French writer
10.”I’m lazy. But it’s lazy people who invented the wheel and the bicycle because they didn’t like walking or carrying things.”
-Lech Walesa (1943-), Polish President and Labor leader
