MovingFollow

Yeah...books suck to move; they're far too heavy.

Most of our stuff was in boxes labelled "Crap and Stuff".

I had many useful moving tips when I moved into my new house this summer, the most important one would be hire movers. But for 750 miles of moving fun, that could get mighty expensive.

I can, however, offer one bit of advice for moving, buy your packing materials, boxes, tape etc, from Walmart or Target, not from the said moving companies, it's a lot cheaper.

I have a hard time mentally picturing Flea digging through garbage bins for boxes

You're right! I usually send my family out to dig for me.

As far as procrastinating, it's getting hard to figure out time to pack when the vast majority of it will be spent trying to work in billable hours so I can afford
a)the move itself
b)deposit and rent
c)liquor for before, during, and after.

You can fill up a box in just a few minutes. No more excuses, Missy!

The Allanois '07 plan is slowly coming together....

Nope. It's a community hospital, and they initially weren't even receptive to the idea of an interview unless I assured them that I wouldn't ask for relocation expenses. It's a step into the lovely world of management, though, so I'm biting the bullet.

That reminds me... Any tips on being a manager? Staff of about 17, have to keep someone on 24/7. I'm sure I'll have some cliff-jumpers.

Biggest tip I can think of for being a manager is to step back and let people work. Don't hover, don't micromanage, don't step in and try to do all the work yourself. Do get updates on a regular basis (bi-weekly for routine business, more frequently for critical projects), do find ways to say 'thank you' (it encourages people to do their best, positive reinforcement for the win), do take the time to figure out why people are doing what they're doing.

This last one is key. Learning your people is the hard part of management - figuring out what they can do, what they can't do, and assigning tasks based on their level of competancy in any given field. Don't come into the job believing that you know how they ought to get things done. While this may be the case, making pronouncements during week 1 goes a long way to earning the enmity of the folks that have to work under you. You've been a worker-bee before, so you know how that feels.


Think back to the bosses you've worked for. Emulate the good ones.

Some companies, especially smaller ones, just do not offer relocation expenses.

The hardest part of managing, to me, was delegating important tasks. It just drives me crazy to see people make avoidable mistakes; and you can warn them about pitfalls ahead, but some people, Bob love 'em, are just not bright enough to apply said warning.

Do periodic job reviews. It's a chore, but it needs to be done, and it really can be beneficial to everyone to go over expectations and results.

When you have to have a disciplinary/performance meeting with a team member, let them have their say (within reason). Allow plenty of time so they feel that they've had a fair hearing. Let them know clearly what's expected and how they failed to meet expectations, and offer support and advice on how to improve.

Wow, you are a youngin. Here's a quarter kid, don't go spending it all in one place.