Troy Hadley's blog

10 important signs that your job sucks

I appreciated Sarah's post today about determining the positive aspects of a work environment. You should read that post before you read this one.

As someone who has had to make the decision to leave more than one lousy job, here's my counterpoint top 10: how to know when to leave. I don't take the decision to quit lightly, and I don't think anyone should. See if the problems can be fixed first.

Some of my advice here involves big ideas (Ask for a raise!) that should not be undertaken lightly. Research tactics first before acting.

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Ask the readers: What charities do you give to?

My last post on giving made me think a bit about... well, giving. My train of thought, fortunately, is easy to track.

I give a good deal of money to charity every year, enough so that the monetary amount actually affects my tax returns (in a good way). I was just thinking about all of the places that I give to, and since some people started posting other charities in the last blog post, I thought I'd just out and out ask: who do you give to?

Because I'm really dig critters, be they fuzzy or bald, small or huge, I give to the following organizations on a regular basis:

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Giving is Better Than Blogging... or IS it?

Giving is better than receiving. I do sincerely believe this, as much as I like receiving. And I do like getting stuff.

You know that old saying about giving a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day... but teach him how to fish, and he'll end up going to cooking school and opening a swanky restaurant downtown that you won't be able to get reservations to, despite the fact that you taught him, in painstaking detail, how to tie flies when he was down and out?

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Writing for Money on the Interwebs

A while back, a girlfriend of mine forced me to watch a chick flick that she felt I would find inspiring. It was called The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio.

Now, I think Julianne Moore is a good actress (and I have a thing for redheads) so this didn't take that much arm-twisting. And it wasn't an altogether bad movie. But what I remember most, rather than actual plot or characters, is the idea that people used to be able to make money writing jingles and entering them in national contests.

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Hack a Mac!

If you're like me, the closest you get to hacking anything is when you are allowed to carve the turkey at Thanksgiving. But lately, I've been inspired to learn how to do all those techy things that my nerdy friends seem so good at. I'm also a sucker for most Mac products, but I had heard bad things about AppleTV.

So I was happy to see tech-lovin' geeks at Wired Magazine publish a fun hack that turns AppleTV into a full-fledged computer.

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Can't Afford to Pay the IRS?

Even though I have a couple of extra days to file my tax returns this year, I won't be able to come up with enough to pay the IRS what I owe.

The age old question about paying now or later came to a head for me this year, when I chose the "pay later, and invest your money in a high-interest savings account in the meantime" strategy, but forgot to actually save the money. So, I owe Uncle Sam a few grand. Only I don't have a few grand.

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5 More Fun Money-Making Ideas!

I like Sarah's post about fun ways to make money, and I thought I'd add to that list. These are more "turn your hobbies into a job" type posts, and I don't suppose that they are all viable for everyone, but with a little creativity, they can be parlayed into part-time gigs.

Rent-a-goat

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Is This Job Worth It?

This post technically isn't about me. It's about a friend, a lousy job situation, and soliciting feedback from our readers for a friend of mine.

Tiffany is an engineer who works for a small start-up. She makes a very good salary, has benefits, and doesn't have a particularly heavy workload at the moment (her company is building a product, so the work comes in fits and starts, so she's been chilling for a couple of months while the hardware is being built). Anyway, Tiff is kind of bored right now, but otherwise OK. She's the only female in her office, and works with about 12 men who are much older than she is (she's 27, they're all about 45-57).

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Free Music Lessons Online! For now...

Ever paid for private music lessons? Pricey, no? I know that my accordian lessons got to be too much for my feeble salary to cover.

Now, you can learn music online. Through You Tube! Video lessons, all for free. Or at least, until tomorrow, when You Tube is ordered to take the lessons down.

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3 Cheap Ways to Win Over the Ladies (by Looking Better)

I used to be a slovenly brute. OK, not so much slovenly as... average. My morning routine including a shave, shower, and deodorant. I figured that was all a guy had to do to look good. My chiseled features and bulging muscles didn't hurt, either.

By the way, just scroll down to the bottom if you don't want to read my justification for man-grooming. I do feel the need to explain, but if you are just looking for tips, they're at the bottom.

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Ring. Ring. Ka-ching! Lying About Your Telephone Tax

I haven't had a landline in years. I'm dead serious. Years.

So, I was bummed to hear that this year, the "sorry you were cheated initially when we taxed you too much" refund that we get back is for long distance telephone service.

Apparently, Americans who paid for long distance calling plans were cheated or something. By Ma Bell? Or the Baby Bells? Uncle Sam in conjunction with the Bell Family? It doesn't matter now. What matters is that, when you file your taxes this year, you can get back between $30 and $60, depending on the number of exemptions you claim.

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Buy a drink, get a free Whopper - every single day?

Did your mom always nag you to keep your receipts? Mine did. She'd see me charge something to a credit card and then casually toss away the receipt, and I'd get an immediate lecture about what it means to keep track of my expenses yada yada yada (Mom actually included the yada's). Frankly, budgeting has never been an issue for me, even when I was close to the poverty line, and receipts seemed to be a wallet-cluttering nuisance. But that all changed for me recently, and now I treasure receipts because they are kind of convenience that is rare - they are pre-cut coupons.

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