ION, looking at some photos of men I knew in college on Facebook, so many of them have that fat neck thing going on. My husband kinda has it too. Is this an inevitable part of being a 40-year old man? mr. flea isn't fat, though he could stand to be more fit. But the neck bloat. What is that about?

Speaking as a 40 year old man, I have no idea. I've never really thought of my neck as being bloated, though I am certainly overweight, so maybe I'm just deluding myself. (Or at least in denial about my neck bloat.)

Of course, when I hear the term 'neck bloat', my mind immediately turns to siamangs. That would be pretty awesome, being able to generate siamang-like volumes. Be nice to have a defence against interminable office meetings.

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Woohoo! Husband got a job interview with my company. This could be good in several ways.

But here's a question: both of his parents have advised him not to mention in the interview that I also work there. That seems weird to me. What does the hivemind think?

Do you have a company handbook that references family members working together/at the company/hiring practices for that, Dana? Often they do. Might give you an idea of where to start, at least--he may be SUPPOSED to mention it.

The only reason I can think to mention it before being given an offer is if the company has a rule about family employees. One of my husband's departments made a point of excluding family.

Would it help him, do you think? Or would you working together have any negative effect?

Hmm. I don't know. I can ask my coworkers, though. I bet they'll know.

Might give you an idea of where to start, at least--he may be SUPPOSED to mention it.

Right? It just seems bizarre to me not to mention it. Obviously, we don't want the vibe to be "You must hire me because of my wife," but especially with this place being such a big employer in the area, it's got to happen occasionally.

Or would you working together have any negative effect?

We wouldn't be in the same area at all. I would never have any reason to interact with him in the course of my job.

Then I'm going with meara about checking the employee handbook.

Check a handbook if you can. You don't want to be seen as hiding anything but you also don't want to flamboyantly advertise it.

eta:

Obviously, we don't want the vibe to be "You must hire me because of my wife," but especially with this place being such a big employer in the area, it's got to happen occasionally.

Precisely.

I dunno, I think it depends on the field. Mine is incestuous so it is not weird to bring it up (especially at the scientist level; the two body issue is kinda big in this field, and it's not unheard of to try to find available positions for spouses, esp. when hiring a really competitive candidate.) I didn't mention my father, but since I sent my resume in through his former grad students, and my potential corporate boss was in grad school with him and easily put 2 and 2 together (hello, I got a job in high school working at the observatory next to my dad's one summer!) shrug. Hard to miss.

I have versions of this sketcher [link] in black, brown and mesh. I don't so much wear them for work (I like wearing heels at work) but they are suitable (except most of my pants are long for heels, so...)

Those are the ones I have, sarameg!