Back-to-School Shopping: A Day in the Life Sunday

As the Sunday papers expand with back-to-school ads, I begin to plan for school shopping now as I flashed back to my own school shopping days.

We had a school shopping day where we headed out to make the rounds and we likely didn't stop until the last item was in the bag. There were the necessary items we picked up from Genovese drug store like notebooks, pens and a pencil or two (I don't remember having the long lists the kids have now) . . . and then there were the clothes.

One of 3 kids from a single parent home, we had food on the table, a roof over our head and there was not room for extras and one school shopping day, that's where the needs and wants of a teenage girl clashed.

Raise your hand if you remember selecting your designer jeans by the stitching on the pockets. Raise it higher if you were glued to the TV whenever the New York Rangers danced to Ooh la La Sassoon.

While the car was headed for the Long Island discount stores, the pull of the Jordache Look was too much for this girl to resist - even if it meant blowing the budget on 2 pairs of designer jeans when I could have had 5 others with cash to spare.

I don't remember what our back-to-school budget was then but I know it was more than just a bit shy of the $500 sixty-three percent of consumers plan to spend up to on back-to-school today. Take a look at this Back to School 2012 infographic shared by David Erickson at e-Strategy Trends.

I need your help. I have been rather fortunate that I've been able to get by with buying most of the kid's clothes for her in the past but with some of the items I purchased last year still hanging in the closet - unworn - that has come to an end.

Any tips for shopping with tween who has a mind of her own and and no money to go with it?

Can Your Employee Relations Actions Handle the Truth?

Employee relations actions are a fact of life in human resources.

When preparing an action is it important that fact-finding investigations are properly conducted, evidence is fully developed, charges are properly written and employee due-process rights are protected. 

Hidden agendas and emotion do not translate to reasonable cause and with awareness, you can use your employee relations expertise to change behavior - and not merely make a point.

What are you made of?

It used to be a point of pride for me as a young HR professional to say that my employee relations actions had never been appealed outside of the organization. Did I chalk it up to my obviously awesome skills or beyond reproach reputation? Who knows what actually went through my young mind then but I can tell you now that whatever it was, it was misplaced.

Unchallenged means untested and you don't know what you are made of until you are tested. How you respond when tested says more about you as a professional than the outcome of any one case. Think about this before you jump to conclusion, put emotion before fact or pounce on a witness.

What are your actions made of?

Readying an action for appeal (because appeals are another fact of life in human resources) involves reviewing the evidence "through the eyes of another" and preparing your witnesses to testify. After testimony is given, it never fails that a witness will wonder aloud, "Did I ruin your case?"

In response I ask, "Did you tell the truth?" Telling the truth is the only thing you need to worry about. If my action does not hold up under the truth, then I didn't have an action in the first place. If you did not tell the truth, my action is the least of your worries.

Can you handle the truth?

What do you think employee relations pros? Can you handle the truth?