Peter Yawitz - Flip-Flops and Microwaved Fish: Navigating the Dos and Donts of Workplace Culture

Flip-Flops and Microwaved Fish is a great change of pace when it comes to career advice. Oftentimes, this type of content can be bland, but Yawitz manages to provide a great mix of advice and entertainment that will keep the young professional engaged.

AJ Vaynerchuk, Co-founder, VaynerMedia, VaynerSports

Entering organizational life can be dizzying, scary, even terrifying. With wonderful, often sidesplitting humor, Yawitz provides valuable and insightful advice, so navigating the early stages of ones career is far less perilous.

Michael C. Feiner, former Worldwide Chief People Officer, Pepsi-Cola; award-winning professor, Columbia Business School; author of The Feiner Points of Leadership

Flip-Flops and Microwaved Fish candidly introduces you to real life in the workplace, equipping you for success. Full of wish-I-had-knowns and great advice, it will save you from a whole lot of headache and heartache. This is a must-read for any new joiner to the workforce.

Leah Cohen-Shohet, former EVP of Growth & Adoption, Symphony; Forbes 30 Under 30 list, 2019

Flip-Flops and Microwaved Fish offers a breezy, commonsensical, and accessible approach to navigating office life for the newly initiated. With a sense of fun, Peter Yawitz of Someone Elses Dad, manages to defuse some of the angst surrounding decision-making, while providing sensible direction. I chuckled while reading this and got some good pointers, too!

Regina Resnick, Sr. Associate Dean and Sr. Managing Director, Columbia Business School Career Management Center

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press

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Copyright 2020 Peter Yawitz

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Print ISBN: 978-1-62634-682-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62634-683-3

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First Edition

To my teachers, Daniel and Nora.

Do you run away when your parents offer advice? Youre not alone. Most of us want to make our own decisions, and its natural to resist interference from the people who raised us. We dont want to admit were nervous or clueless or uncertain. But we can all use some guidance when were starting out, especially when we feel like outsiders. And face it, just about everyone feels like an outsider at some point.

Advice from Someone Elses Dad () provides great, practical ideas with a humorous edge on how to navigate grown-up-hood. I promise to give you great advice, since I have no skin in your personal game. And if you roll your eyes and grumble after you read my suggestions, I wont even know. Ask your own dad how to handle that one. Im confident, though, that youll gain some good insights from me and have a lot of laughs along the way.

As a communication consultant to global companies for about 30 years, I have adapted my advice as technology and generational expectations changed. Slack, videoconferencing, casual attire, open-office plans, and social media have in many cases supplanted the in-office meetings, exhausting travel days, blue suits, closed office doors, and fax machines that were pervasive when I was an eager young office worker who pretended to know everything but often knew very little.

Some things havent changed. I continue to coach and advise many young workers on diverse topics, such as how to deal with a smelly coworker, how to communicate in an American workplace when youre not American, how to manage a team of peers, how to work with people who take credit for your work, how to make sure emails are clearly written and have the appropriate tone, and how to keep a small talk conversation going without talking merely about the weather. I know also when a question should be directed to a product specialist, lawyer, financial adviser, or cop.

Whether youre worried that you seem like the new kid whos desperately trying to fit in because you look, sound, act, or feel different from the average people at work, or youre one of those average people who wants to stand out a bit more, or you consider yourself way above average in everything you do (thanks, Mom and Dad!), Im sure youll get some great pointers here on how to get where you want to be.

Its finally here: your first official day at a new job. Your heart is pounding with nervous excitement, and you cant wait to get to work. You spend your first few hoursor daysfilling out paperwork with Human Resources and sitting through mandatory training about what you legally can or cant do or say in the office. During your training you might watch short videos that youre pretty sure were filmed in the 1980s since all the people in them have wide ties, crazy shoulder pads, and big hair. Their collective acting ability stinks.

Eventually you get your ID badge and official photo and learn about systems and processes. So far, so good. Sure, earlier that morning you accidentally opened a door, causing an alarm to screech, and then had to deal with a lengthy interrogation from some burly, humorless guys from Security, but hey, at least no one threw you out in the street (not yet anyway) and said, Sorry, we made a big mistake hiring you.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, you get settled at your new workstation, ready to be welcomed by the team you met during your interview process. Some of your new coworkers see you and with big smiles start walking over to greet you. No one, you notice, has big hair.

But suddenly you panic. Where you grew up, men and women who know each other go in for bear hugs. Youre almost positive that people arent supposed to hug and kiss at work, but these excited-looking coworkers are rushing toward you so fast that youre reminded of your family reunions, where crazy Aunt Minnie always bounds over for her annual unwanted slobber. The videos on harassment warned everyone that unwanted affection at work is a big red flag, but youre scared all of a sudden that youll be forced to deal with a harassment suit within your first five minutes of working here.

Now that you think about it, these coworkers did send you some overly friendly emails (Cant wait to have you join our team!!! Yippee!!