POWER OF FRIENDSHIP

It's always a good idea to be friendly with your boss and colleagues. But does your job depend on it?

According to Paul Dobransky, author of "The Power of Female Friendship," both men and women are often hired and fired based on the degree of friendship they seem to offer — more so than their experience or productivity.

"We often do not realise the importance of popularity, and how the strength of the friendship we are able to emit in the workplace plays into this hidden process," said Dobransky, a psychiatrist and business consultant. "The value of how good we make other people feel is really this hidden, unwritten thing."

In his book, Dobransky examines how friendship affects a woman's career and family life, as well as the science behind making and keeping close friends and avoiding toxic relationships. As in romantic love, we are drawn to and most compatible with opposite personalities, Dobransky said.

In social situations, including the workplace, individuals are often excluded or shunned by a group because they don't make others feel good about themselves, according to Dobransky. Offering friendship on some level shows consistency and reliability.

"It always comes down to how positive you are, and that includes how you please your boss emotionally," he said. "Whether people realise it or not, decisions are never so much based on surface reasons as they are about the core values of friendship."

TATTERED DRAWERS

You may joke with your dad about his age. But he may be defensive about how old his underwear is.

According to a recent telephone survey by Kelton Research, on behalf of Jockey International Inc., more than a quarter of men say their shorts are more than four years old. Their underwear is anything but underworn — 77 percent admit that their ancient undergarments haven't stood the test of time and are tattered, discoloured or stained.