ALL UP IN YOUR BIZNESS

An offbeat guide to dealing with other people—at work and in life.

In irreverent tones reminiscent of Irma Bombeck and Dave Barry, Newland writes about the spoken and unspoken etiquettes of the workplace, usually but not exclusively aimed at readers who are just entering that world. She advises such readers to become friendly with the boss’s secretary, for instance (“Don’t delude yourself into thinking you are more important than this executive assistant no matter what your title is,” she writes) and to avoid using company equipment for personal use, which includes “watching sitcoms on the business computer, trolling, or playing electronic poker”). She stresses developing a friendly but comprehensive professionalism on subjects from prepping for an interview to assessing the company’s pecking order. All of this advice is conveyed with a gentle, wry tone: “You do not come to work with your underwear worn on the outside of your clothes, your drawers on your head, or have certain anatomy on display,” she writes about how to dress at work, “I don’t care what Madonna does.” The booklet’s short chapters use bulleted points and cartoons to make an already light book feel even lighter, but Newland is often serious and refreshingly candid under the humorous surface. She advises her readers, for instance, to take the exit interview process seriously: “This is not the time for whining, remember, you are heading out the door.” Likewise, she warns readers to be cautious at holiday office parties since “the office snitches also will be there, ready with their phone cameras.” Newland can be winningly self-deprecating. She confesses, “I can’t tell you where my muse is from, primarily because she rolls her eyes and tells me to ‘shut the hell up’ whenever I ask,” and this blend of goofy humor and real-world savvy is very effective.

A smart, funny, and useful overview of how to behave at work.