Flattery gets people what they want, and research proves it.

Despite negative connotations, studies suggest no office compliment is too great. Jennifer Chatman of UC Berkeley set out to find a point at which flattery became ineffective, but she couldn't find one.  

Financial Times' Lucy Kellaway put this theory to a test:

"I picked on six colleagues, each of whom had recently written something that I admired, and plied them with praise in increasing quantity.

"I waylaid my subject, and started: “I much enjoyed your piece on ‘xx’,” and then proceeded to phase two: “I mean it was incredibly clever/original/funny/fascinating,” and from there to: “In fact it was by far the best thing that I’ve read in the newspaper – or anywhere – ever.” I finished off with: “I just don’t know how you do it. You are a total genius.”"

As the compliments increased in intensity, her colleagues' smiles grew wider.  Half even returned the compliment; Kellaway was shocked to find herself "inexplicably willing to take them at face value," even though colleagues were just being polite.

"I can, therefore, confirm that the theory is resoundingly, astoundingly true. If it works with cynical journalists, whose job it is to spot false notes, it will work with anyone," Kellaway writes.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-line-between-sucking-up-and-complimenting-there-isnt-one-2010-10#ixzz12xGGXXv4

Ooops

At de Gaulle’s funeral, Nixon remarked, “This is a great day for France.”

"Somebody broke into my house!"

Renters in a Florida home apparently in foreclosure came home from the beach to find the locks changed -- and some of their possessions stolen. And a Sarasota landlord, the Herald Tribune reports, said Bank of America tried to change the locks on her condominium three times, even though she said the building wasn't even in foreclosure -- an often lengthy process that usually involves a default notice, a scheduled auction and, finally, a bank repossession.

As the Herald Tribune notes, the legal action against lock-changers has been civil, not criminal, because lawyers cannot establish that the banks have criminal intent. Still, it appears that the banks' agents take illegal liberties: In the rented Florida home, lock-changers reportedly stole a laptop, an mp3 player and six bottles of wine.

The Postal Service’s ability to lose mail is legendary:

Last week the American Postal Workers Union had to postpone their national election of officers because so many of the ballots were lost in the mail.