Did you know that it is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament? Were you aware that it is perfectly legal to murder a Scotsman within the wall of the ancient city of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow? Outrageous and hilarious rules and regulations pack the pages of More Than My Job's Worth along with incredible stories of officialdom gone mad. How about the story of a couple in Surrey who cleared an eyesore of weeds, litter, wrecked shopping trolleys and bits of an old car from the area outside their front fence, dug the ground over and put in some plants to make it all look nice for passers-by? The local council told them that unless they paid for a permit, they had to put everything back exactly as it was! You couldn't make it up, as they say, but you don't need to because it's all true! By the way, you need the permission of the Secretary of State if you want to enter the hull of the Titanic, and in Connecticut, USA a pickle cannot be classed as a pickle unless it can bounce!

From the authors of Women Don’t Ask, the groundbreaking book that revealed just how much women lose when they avoid negotiation, here is the action plan that women all over the country requested—a guide to negotiating anything effectively using strategies that feel comfortable to you as a woman. Whether it’s a raise, that overdue promotion, an exciting new assignment, or even extra help around the house, this four-phase program, backed by years of research and practical success, will show you how to recognize how much more you really deserve, maximize your bargaining power, develop the best strategy for your situation, and manage the reactions and emotions that may arise—on both sides. Guided step-by-step, you’ll learn how to draw on your special strengths to reach agreements that benefit everyone involved. This collaborative, problem-solving approach will propel you to new places both professionally and personally—and open doors you thought were closed.

Malcolm Philips was a reluctant bureaucrat. When it was suggested that he give up selling ice-cream and go to work for the council, he protested that it would be full of jobsworths, skivers and crawlers. Truth to tell, however, he quickly fitted in among what his boss described as all the other ‘sods and buggers' at County Hall. The 1960s and 1970s were the halcyon days of local government when rules and regulations multiplied at the expense of common sense and no-one was entirely sure what the person in the next office actually did … or even what purpose their own job served. In these Confessions, Malcolm tells all: his surreptitious visits to the girls in the typing pool, the ingenious fiddles, the arrival of flower power in the computer room, the goings-on in the roof-space after the Christmas party, and the mysterious expenses, such as ‘repairs to elephant'. Some of the ‘sods and buggers’ you’ll meet in this book include Archie, a master of foul language and never without a Player’s No. 6; Vince, who had the power to disrupt machinery just by looking at it, and the Lord of the Stationery Cupboard who refused to issue a new pencil unless the old one had been worn down to a stub. As for Malcolm, he thrived, quickly progressing from his early faux pas in commandeering a chair with arms (only for staff on a higher grade) to being allowed to use the rubber stamp with the chief’s signature on it. What more could a young man desire?

A myth-busting book challenges the idea that we’re paid according to objective criteria and places power and social conflict at the heart of economic analysis. Your pay depends on your productivity and occupation. If you earn roughly the same as others in your job, with the precise level determined by your performance, then you’re paid market value. And who can question something as objective and impersonal as the market? That, at least, is how many of us tend to think. But according to Jake Rosenfeld, we need to think again. Job performance and occupational characteristics do play a role in determining pay, but judgments of productivity and value are also highly subjective. What makes a lawyer more valuable than a teacher? How do you measure the output of a police officer, a professor, or a reporter? Why, in the past few decades, did CEOs suddenly become hundreds of times more valuable than their employees? The answers lie not in objective criteria but in battles over interests and ideals. In this contest four dynamics are paramount: power, inertia, mimicry, and demands for equity. Power struggles legitimize pay for particular jobs, and organizational inertia makes that pay seem natural. Mimicry encourages employers to do what peers are doing. And workers are on the lookout for practices that seem unfair. Rosenfeld shows us how these dynamics play out in real-world settings, drawing on cutting-edge economics, original survey data, and a journalistic eye for compelling stories and revealing details. At a time when unions and bargaining power are declining and inequality is rising, You’re Paid What You’re Worth is a crucial resource for understanding that most basic of social questions: Who gets what and why?

As far as I'm concerned, why get paid to sit on my arse at home when I can get paid to sit on my arse in a lobby Where I also get paid Bea's secretly working three full-time jobs. All at the same time. And she's still financially f*cked. Between looking after luxury flats and dogsitting the world's ugliest pooch, she's neck-deep in employers and it's only a matter of time until someone finds out she's breaking all her contracts. Armed with nothing but her smarmiest boss' dirty secret, can Bea get herself out of the red and into the black (and into the fit intern's bed)? Or will the plates she's been spinning come crashing down around her and her dysfunctional family? Jobsworth is a riotous comedy about snakes and surviving capitalism written by Isley Lynn and Libby Rodliffe. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Pleasance Courtyard, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.

Although this book is about Information Technology, it is in no way technical. The main objectives are to both enlighten and entertain. It covers the four decades I have worked in the industry in which I've attempted to cover all the good things, all the bad things and some downright ugly things. There is also a flavour of 'Wouldn't it be nice if...?' There are 26 sections - one for each letter of the alphabet and the book takes the format of Questions and Answers, not dissimilar to I.T Agony Uncle columns. The main message I have attempted to convey is that I.T. is a knowledge industry. It is populated almost exclusively by very smart people. These people do not require micro-management. They need to be encouraged and trusted to do outstanding work in an environment that is free of fear and blame. There are not many managers who are comfortable with this and we need a radical change in culture so that people can flourish and have fun.