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Filing vacation requests after receiving a job offer is a generally tough question. Every employee deserves time off, but when you’re brand new to work, free time may feel like it’s on the back burner.

Except that it doesn’t always work that way. You may have had an interview and got hired while planning a vacation; or maybe a vital event – like someone’s wedding – has long been planned during your third week of work. The truth is, there are ways to get it right so the question doesn’t come off carelessly.

When to ask for time off after you’ve just started a job

You may hear things from certain workplace experts that point out specific rules, such as: B. a measurable amount of time that shows that you’ve paid your fees and can do a little R&R with little fear of repercussions. Most importantly, you understand a company’s culture and also know what your manager is happy with.

“Vacation guidelines vary depending on the company and the boss,” says Marc Cenedella, founder of the CV writing service Leet Resumes. “What is in the manual is just sometimes the way vacation is actually approved,” he tells Lifehacker.

For example, some companies have a provision system that requires employees to work a certain number of hours in order to earn vacation days. This system is kind of archaic these days, however: many younger companies have abandoned the notion that work is time to decompress, earned. According to the Society of Human Resource Management, such formats are usually a deterrent to potential employees who could simply direct their job search to companies with more generous vacation packages.

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However, if you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to ask a boss about an upcoming vacation before you’ve allocated plenty of time, there are plenty of ways you can go diplomatic.

How to apply for leave on a new job

If you have received a job offer but have not yet signed it Your letter of offer, that’s the best way to address the issue, says Cenedella.

He explained:

The employer clearly wants you to join in and an innocent “How do I apply for a week’s vacation, by the way?” followed by ‘and is it okay if I do this for the first three months?’ will probably give you the mildest answer.

Of course, it’s understandable that everyone has a life outside of work, so it’s very likely that unless your request is completely off the beaten track – don’t schedule two weeks of vacation right after the first week of work. If you’re planning a wedding or family vacation within the first month of your career, just say it. You should not be questioned if something important was planned long before you were hired.

“The worst thing is to wait with a question until it’s a foregone conclusion,” says Cenedella. To say, “‘My family bought a cruise for the end of this month and I have to go’ puts your boss in a bind and shows that you don’t know how to communicate or manage well.”

You don’t have to play a guessing game either, but if you can’t read your boss, you can seek advice elsewhere in the company. “It is helpful to ask your new colleagues for practical advice on how vacation works for your new employer, and it can provide guidelines on how the company culture actually works,” notes Cenedella.

Everyone deserves time away from their desk. Asking about the free time without putting your boss in a precarious place should be easy enough as long as you plan ahead.

Introducing a new love interest to your mom and dad, whether it’s the first or ninth time, is nerve-wracking. What if they don’t like your new boyfriend? What if your new girlfriend doesn’t like her?

We can’t stop you from taking a stinker home with you, but we can try to make this meeting run more smoothly – and keep the peace when it doesn’t.

Orchestrate a few mini-meetups

If you live far from your parents, FaceTime with them while you hang out with your boo. Swing the phone a little and let your newest darling wave or say hello. Boom, now they kind of know each other.

Do some work on your own when they’re not around, too. Start peppering her name in conversations when your mom calls so your parents can get the idea that this new person will become a part of your life. Send photos to your parents when, say, you have a cool date. The more seriously your parents think the relationship is going into the big meeting, the more likely they are to like the person and the less likely they are to think it doesn’t matter if they don’t.

Do you have siblings? Try them out first. When you and the new partner are at a bar, text your brother and ask him to come over. Have the new partner in the front passenger seat when you drop in to drop something off with your sister. Let them know that you mean a lot to your new treasure, but don’t plan on big, lavish introductions; Keep the sibling meetings more relaxed. You already know they are talking to your parents about you, so let that work to your advantage for once. Let them express how happy you are or how great and relaxed this new person seems to be.

Dogs cannot eat grapes. Did you know that? Not me. In my eagerness to befriend the family’s pet, I almost committed a dog murder. “

Prepare … but not too much

Let me tell you a story When I started dating my last boyfriend, he told me that his parents would love me, but the real key to our successful meeting would be if I got along with their dog. I’m not a dog person, but I went into this household to win the schnauzer’s affection. At first, the fluffy taste maker seemed to hate me. He barked and growled and I panicked. At some point he relaxed, and when my impressed friend asked how I won it after dinner, I said cheerfully, “I fed him grapes under the table!”

Dogs cannot eat grapes. Did you know that? Not me. In my eagerness to befriend the family’s pet, I almost committed dog murder. I was crying in another room while my friend’s patient – alarmed – called the vet, just in case.

My nightmare scenario was certainly due to a general lack of dog-related knowledge, but also a nervous over-preparation. A little less worry would have reduced my anxiety to a level where I wouldn’t bribe the puppy with treats, poisonous or otherwise, to gain general family approval. (The dog is now, two full years later, perfectly fine, and we really all hit it off!)

Whitney Bibeau, 29 years old Tattoo artist and DJ based in New Jersey, fully agreed that rehearsing or getting angry before the fateful meeting is a bad move. For them, a performance is not just for the sake of the parents – the comfort and needs of your partner should also be in the foreground.

“You shouldn’t have to submit or find yourself in an awkward position,” she said, especially if you prepare excessively, out of reasonable concern that your parents might not approve of their child’s new partner. “I have absolutely no intention or desire to bring my partner into a potentially unsafe room or a room where they will not be fully absorbed.”

Bibeau described how she brought a number of friends to join her blended family who live in a small Maine town and have never had a problem. Recently, however, she brought a friend with her – now her fiancée – and was not welcomed as warmly as her previous male partners, at least by part of the family.

Let’s talk about it.

Make sure you are solid about who you are. You don’t have to prove anything to your family. “

Don’t let family disapproval upset the relationship

Bibeau said that while a parent’s criticism of a partner has some value, parents may not know who their adult children really are, and could even be racially, religiously, or sexually biased in one place. She pointed out that the faction in her family that did not accept her fiancée is against her same-sex relationship and would be against any same-sex relationship. The rejection has nothing to do with her fiancé as a person. She didn’t let the cold stop her happiness and advised anyone worried about a parent-partner meeting – or anyone whose meeting wasn’t going well – not to give up a relationship just because of family tensions.

“I’m very careful to know who I am and what I need and what is good for me now,” she said, and that self-acceptance is the result of her hard work, not that of others. “Make sure you are solid about who you are. You don’t have to prove anything to your family. Really, if you’re happy and it works for you and your life, that’s really all that matters. “

But if the peaceful coexistence between your parents and your partner is really that important to you, don’t give up. Ask your parents exactly what they don’t like about your partner. When it feels safe, arrange another meeting. One bad experience doesn’t have to set the tone of the entire relationship, but also see if you think their negative opinion is in good faith. For example, if it is due to racism or homophobia, you have the right to object and take the necessary measures to protect yourself and your partner. Only you know what that looks like, whether it’s keeping the parties separate or making a more definitive breakup, and whichever choice you make is right for you. Trust yourself!

Remember they love you

Your parents and partner may be different in many ways, but they should all have one thing in common: they all care for you and want you to be happy. If your friend acts strangely the first time you meet, remember, she’s just plain nervous. If your parents are too critical, remember that they want what they think is best for you. Do not be harsh on anyone while they are doing their best. It can be hard to accept that a child is adult enough to be in a relationship and give the primary role of caring to a newbie, so keep that in mind too.

If you’re still nervous, understandable. For reinforcement on this point, see Raheela Mahmood. Mahmood – or Mama Jee on social media – is known for comedic viral videos with her son Wajeeh West, in which she jokingly talks about marrying him to a nice Desi woman and leaves little time to celebrate, for example, his law degree or other milestones outside of the wedding.

In real life, of course, she doesn’t feel that way. If your parents have pressured or nervous about showing up with a partner they don’t like in the past, remember that seeing you happy can change everything, and you may have exaggerated their comments in your own fear .

“Remember when you bring someone to your parents’ house that your parents love you so much, so you don’t have to be nervous at all,” enthused Mahmood when asked for motherly advice. “No matter what you do or who you bring, they will always love you.”

She added a few practical tips, which serve as a nice conclusion: “Just stay calm and don’t keep looking at the girl or the boy. Just keep smiling at your parents and everything will come, Inshallah. “

Later this year, Google will begin preventing advertisers and developers from accessing a device’s advertising ID when users opt out of personalized ads, reflecting the controversial changes (which are controversial for advertisers anyway) Apple introduced in iOS 14.5. However, while you wait, you can immediately turn off personalized ads on all Android devices by preemptively turning off ad tracking.

Advertisers use your unique advertising ID to create personalized ads based on your internet browsing history, app usage and other activity. That’s why you seem to get incredibly accurate ads in every app you use. Companies also use these IDs to collect data on how people use their software and services – and those of their competitors.

However after a current Google support update, “The advertising ID is removed if a user declines personalization with the advertising ID in the Android settings. Any attempt to access the identifier will receive a sequence of zeros instead of the identifier. ”The new policy will come into effect for“ Android 12 devices from late 2021 and will be extended to apps that run on devices running Google Support Play “.

Apple introduced it in early 2021 a similar change to iOS 14.5 This requires apps to ask for tracking permissions during installation and allows users to completely opt out of tracking in the iOS setting. The wording in the Google Support update implies that Android 12 must ask apps for similar permissions. The update also states that Google plans to notify users of system notifications once the privacy change is implemented – but why wait?

How to turn off personalized ads on Android now

It is very easy to deactivate personalized advertising on your Android smartphone: simply switch on the setting “Deactivate personalization of ads”. However, the setting is in different places depending on the manufacturer and Android operating system version of your device. Therefore, it can be difficult to find if you don’t already know where it is. Here’s where to look:

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Screenshot: Brendan Hesse

• Most phones have the option in the Settings app under Google> Services> Ads.
• Other devices may have it under Settings> Privacy> Advanced> Advertising.
• If you have the Google Settings app installed on your phone, you can find the option in the app under Services> Ads.
• If none of these work, look for “Deactivation of personalized advertising” using the search bar in the settings app of your Android device and it should appear.

Once you’ve found that “Deactivating the personalization of advertisements” Tap the slider to turn it on (make sure it’s blue). While your Advertiser ID won’t be hidden until Android 12 and the Play Store update roll out later this year, it’s worth turning it on now to stop tracking asap and stop you from doing so see personalized ads in your apps.

[Tech2]

Weight lifting belts can be fantastic performance boosters, but very often they are misunderstood – and often misused. So let’s break down what slings actually do and when you can really benefit from wearing one.

You’ve probably seen someone in the gym wearing a heavy weight lifting belt and wondering if it would make them lift better or more safely. The latter is actually the common perception; after a Study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning the majority of the surveyed belt wearers wear a belt because they believe that it helps prevent injuries. It is unclear whether this theory will hold up in practice as we could not find peer-reviewed studies specifically looking at the relationship between weightlifting belt use and the incidence of injury events in the gym.

However, we can take the notice from studies in manual work environments, such as: this one in JAMA, which shows that wearing a back support belt when lifting heavy objects at work did not appear to reduce the incidence of back injuries or lower back pain. In short, don’t put a belt on because you think it will protect you from bad ideas in the gym. A sling isn’t there for that anyway.

How do weight lifting belts work?

In reality, a weight lifting belt primarily supports your abs and is not intended to directly support your back. It sounds backwards, but here’s why: the belt acts like a second set of abs to prepare your entire body to lift heavy loads, which we discussed earlier We’ve talked here about strengthening your core. The short version is that as you prepare for these super-heavy exercises, you should breathe deeply through your stomach and hold it, a method of “breathing” known as the. referred to as Valsalva maneuver.

The Valsalva maneuver helps create intra-abdominal pressure that cushions and supports your spine. And this is exactly where a weight lifting belt unfolds its strength. When you wear one, you breathe deeply into your stomach, which is pressed against your abs. This amplifies the effects of this intra-abdominal pressure, which in turn protects your back and helps it cope with the stress of heavier loads. These Studied medicine and science in sports and exercise confirms that the resulting pressure is greater and builds up faster than without a belt.

The sling increases your lifting efficiency and may allow you to put out a little more weight than without. Of course, that assumes that you know how to lift properly and use the right technique. You may end up lifting a little more weight and getting more stability where you need it (your torso and torso).

But – and here’s a big but – just wearing a belt won’t automatically improve your strength and lifting ability. There is a learning curve to wearing it and lifting it with one on (just like there is a learning curve to properly applying and lifting intra-abdominal pressure). Sure, some can reap the benefits right away, but it will take a bit of work for most to click.

When you really benefit from a weight lifting belt

It just depends on your performance goals. If you’re serious about lifting heavier and getting stronger, wear a plain belt. If you regularly do squats and deadlifts very close to your maximum weight or want to break a plateau, try a belt.

If you put a belt on and use it properly, the sky will part, birds will sing, and your deadlift or squat (or both) will get a noticeable boost. In this excellent weightlifting belt analysisGreg Nuckols, writes that well-trained belt users can typically move 5-15% more weight for the same sets and reps, and are able to push or lift the same weight for the same weight in an extra couple of reps same number of repetitions with less effort. That’s pretty significant!

We can take this as an indication that belted training is likely to help you get stronger over time than belted training. This is useful to get more “work” (i.e. Lift more weight and do more repetitions) and continuously push your body to improve, a process called progressive overload. In the long run, you can gain more muscle mass and strength.

When do you not need a weight lifting belt?

When it comes to building strength and performance in the gym, it’s hard to argue against wearing a belt, but there are some big red flags here. You probably want to avoid using a belt if:

• You have high blood pressure or certain medical conditions: If you have health problems like uncontrolled high blood pressure or conditions that can be made worse by intra-abdominal pressure (like an inguinal hernia), you shouldn’t wear a belt (or even use Valsalva). We discussed that also in our breath article, but this warning doubles in this case as a belt further increases both intra-abdominal pressure and blood pressure. Pregnancy is another time to avoid intra-abdominal pressure, even if you can still fit your belt.
• You can’t lift heavy weights with good technique or don’t know how to stabilize your body without a belt: Belts don’t magically undo bad shape. Without Tension Your core, there is a good chance that you are not properly stabilizing your body for heavy loads. The belt doesn’t support you, it just helps you get more pressure. That said, feeling like your core muscles are pressing into your belt can give you feedback that will help you learn how to better contract yourself.
• You’re not doing squats, deadlifts, or doing a lot of overhead presses: No, you don’t need a belt for bicep curls.

If you’re doing heavy squats, deadlifts, and presses and intend to keep doing them, it’s never too early to get yourself a belt as long as you learn how to use it first rather than expecting it to solve problems for you. We have Here is a guide on how to choose your first weightlifting or powerlifting belt.

Weight lifting belts are a “sometimes” accessory

A weight lifting belt is not a fashion statement; It is a training device. You don’t have to rely on the belt for everyone. Single. Exercise.

Most strength athletes prefer to use a belt for Squats and Deadliftwhere a little extra support can keep the spine from buckling during these strength exercises. Many experienced strength athletes put the belt on for almost maximum exertion and take it off for regular exercise and warm-up. Just so we can make it clear, “almost max” is a weight that is 80% or more of your maximum stroke. The exact percentage is often arbitrary, so wear it if you think you really need the extra support on large lifts. Some lifters only bring it out for their top sets; others belt all of their working sets for a consistent feel from set to set. Knowing when to wear it and when you are inexperienced and may also depend on your training style (high volume versus low volume, for example).

For all other times when you’re not lifting cosmic weight in a squat or deadlift, you don’t have to carry it. In fact, if you can and do wear it all the time, you are probably not wearing it properly. The belts should feel tight enough that they sit in the same place, but not so tight that you cut off blood flow. With it buckled up you should still be able to take deep breaths, but you won’t be wearing it comfortably between sets.

Not every fitness visitor needs (or wants) a weight lifting belt. It’s useful, but not a requirement. Just think about when they will and will not help you and use them accordingly. They are tools – not championship belts to show off in the gym.

This article was originally published in March 2016 and updated on June 3, 2021 to include updated links and to bring the content in line with the current Lifehacker style.