The content on this site is offered entirely free of charge to anyone who might find it useful, to take away and use in any way you like.

It is not a cost-free resource, it does actually take a long term, continuing (and not inconsiderable) investment of time and money to keep it going. But that’s fine, it is the choice of the freelancers who run the Watercooler to continue to offer it as a service to the industry.

But there is one thing we ask.

If you should find the content on this page useful and did then contact the admins of the site for clarification or to get help with getting your pay or holiday entitlement or better treatment from a company, we do ask is that youat least acknowledge the help that you received.

Not financially, absolutely not. Nor in any material way (all offers of any kind of remuneration are lovely to receive but always firmly rejected). A simple thank you howver does go a long way. Nothing fancy, just a line in an email will do!

A lesson that one Rhizanne Cyrus could usefullly take on board. Because Rhizanne recently availed herself of some helpful content on this site to help her with a situation she found herself in. She then followed that up by asking a few questions about the information she received, both emails which she received a prompt and a full reply to.

Then from her…nothing. No acknowledgment, no line of thanks, she just took what she wanted and wandered on.

Now when we were kiddies (a very long time ago), when you got some help or service from someone else (even a stranger) our mummies and daddies always told us that it was polite to say thank you. So we always did. Parties, birthday presents, a helping hand across the road: thank you, thank you, thank you. It became a bit of a habit. And it felt like a good one.

It seems however that this habit never stuck with Rhizanne. And when gently challenged on her lack of gratitude for the help she had received, she offered a somewhat rude response to that too.

A thought then: don’t be like Rhizanne. If we do reply to your requests with some helpful follow-up, a simple line of thanks would be very welcome. Not only because it is polite, but also because that kind of behaviour may actually help you get on in life too.

It’s worth nothing that Rhizanne’s job is that she is an “HR Consultant”. You’d have thought, given that that is her line of work, it was a lesson she might have already picked up along the way. It appears not.