Someone's been stealing your milk out of the office refrigerator every day for the past six months — which you know because that person puts the carton back on a different shelf. You fire back with a Post-it note full of exclamation points.

Kerry Miller's book, "Passive Aggressive Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings", compiles real notes from steaming office workers, neighbours, roommates and more.

"People sit and stew for years sometimes, it comes out on paper," said Miller. The result? One message, or a string of messages, often anonymous, that can escalate into a fight about the notes themselves, not just the original grievance.

In one entry, a reminder to make more coffee led to a series of notes picking on the ecological effect of writing paper notes, deriding the "nit pickers" and criticising the writers' grammar.

In another, an unsigned note was slipped under a door urging the office at large to "please inform the young woman in your office that her dress is inappropriate."

"When you're in the office environment, you're supposed to be polite," said Miller. "People feel that writing a note is more polite than a direct confrontation, even though it usually backfires on you, just gives people ammunition to keep (the offence) going."

TEMP CLASSIFICATION: Veritude, a staffing services company, broke down temporary workers into three groups. Each needs to be managed differently by employers, said Jim McCoy, senior vice president at the company.

¦ Temp-to-Perm: These go-getters are often under 30 and see temp jobs as a way to secure a permanent position with the company, or as a way to build up a résumé.

As a manager, "you're treating people as if they were on a probation period", said McCoy. They should be treated as entry-level employees.

¦ Career Temp: The majority of this group is female, and do not have a college degree. They see temporary work as the goal of employment and require more flexibility as they juggle families and other commitments with work. "You're not looking for them to develop, you're looking for them to deliver," McCoy said.

¦ Extra Cash: The average age of the extra-cashers is 31, often teachers, graduate students or other people with some spare time.

"They see working as a luxury rather than as a necessity," McCoy said, and are the most difficult to supervise.