One hotly debated topic is whether women should come out of pocket early on in the relationship. When asked, some women retort with an emphatic "no" while others assert that a woman should indeed offer to help out. While opinions will vary, my take is as follows: I think it's a nice gesture when a woman offers to pay for something, however small. It doesn't have to be lunch or dinner, but maybe a bag of popcorn at the movies, a game at the local fair, or even a movie rental via Redbox or Amazon. He may still go ahead and pay himself, but it's the thought that counts -- and he will certainly appreciate the thought. It demonstrates to the guy that she's invested -- whether emotionally, mentally, or financially. However, each person's financial situation ought to be considered. If either is strapped for cash -- maybe they recently got laid off -- it's only fair for the other to step up for the time being. Some women are certainly more ...

Many of us can't help but grumble about our jobs, whether it's the low pay, obnoxious coworkers, or lousy commute. But what we fail to realize is that we can make our jobs much more tolerable if we only made a couple of mental adjustments. Below are two things you can do that will most definitely make your job easier to stomach. 1. Don't depend on the job to fulfill you. While we should like our work enough not to feel miserable doing it day in and day out, we should never think of our jobs as the be-all and end-all. A job will never fulfill you completely; that's what hobbies are for. I know certain jobs can certainly be fulfilling (e.g., charity work), but let's face it: the vast majority of jobs have an ugly side to them. Politics, red tape, layoffs, and other negatives are part and parcel of virtually all organizations. The less pressure you put on a job to fulfill you, the happier you'll be. You can always leave for another opportunity if your current...

Many of my coworkers have been working at my company -- and in the same department, no less -- for 20 or more years!  It's doubtless a rarity in this day and age of frequent job hopping.  Most of them lament staying there so long. Promotions have been hard to come by, not to mention they feel utterly stagnant in their jobs. Some tell me they can't remember the last time they actually learned something new. It certainly doesn't help that our department is run by two overbearing women -- my boss is one of them -- who are completely stuck in their ways.  Now in their 50s and 60s, they concede that it's too late to think about moving. They're more focused on retirement now than anything else. Competing for jobs with people as old as their kids, they say, is a losing proposition.  When asked why they stayed there so long, they admit that they became complacent over the years. I can attest to the fact that the company provides employees with a handsome salary...