Beginning Labor Day (September 4, 2006), workers can submit an application to be cast in an upcoming Cube Fabulous episode by visiting the online "Cube Casting Couch" - powered by Monster - located at the co-branded microsite www.cubefabulous.monster.com. In addition to submitting a workspace photo and optional video, interested participants must complete a personal "Cube Profile," which asks a range of questions including the three things they can't live without, how co-workers would describe them and what their fantasy job entails. Those entering also have an opportunity to "sell" their submission in a 100-word essay explaining why they should be chosen. The Cube Fabulous season two premiere episode will air online in mid-October; subsequent shows will air every two weeks following.

"Cube Fabulous appeals to young professionals in an entertaining, light-hearted way by bringing edgy home makeovers to the workplace. One by one, the team will revitalize drab cubes or office space where many people spend more waking hours than anywhere else each day," said Diana Nicholson, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products, Monster. "Our relationship with Cube Fabulous also represents Monster's entry into broadband video, allowing us to reach a large audience and key demographics with creative work-related programming."

"Shorn Entertainment took an irreverent and fast-paced approach to the makeover genre which really struck a nerve with our audience of 21-34 year old cube dwellers seeking an entertainment escape." said J. Scott Berman, Creator of Cube Fabulous and Founder/CEO of Shorn Entertainment. "Cube Fabulous taps the emerging office lifestyle of a new generation of professionals looking to express themselves at work. We'll continue to capture a fresh perspective on work life in Season two by making over both traditional and non-traditional work environments."

Going an entire summer without The Office would have been too much to deal with. Thankfully they're airing webisodes over at NBC.com to keep us updated on our favorite Pennsylvanian office staff all summer long. Kevin and Angela took a sick day and snuck over to Best Week Ever to guide us through what's SFW and what's NSFW via a handy instructional video. So check it out… and make sure you take notes.

Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters received an e-mail Tuesday morning telling them they were being dismissed immediately.

"The work force reduction notification is currently in progress," the notice stated. "Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."

Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.

Management experts expressed surprise at RadioShack's use of electronic notification instead of face-to-face meetings with supervisors.

Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.

Nor should they. Those skills are big assets when it comes to multi-tasking and productivity. But they're also a nightmare for many of their bosses, those over 35 who understand that while technology is a useful tool, it doesn't replace relationship building as a primary means for doing business. Today's bosses can't understand why their young recruits, for all their brains and technical acumen, hardly ever come over and actually talk to them.

"I hear from clients that [young professionals'] first instinct is to IM rather than walk over to their boss's office. That can be OK for a quick question, but when you're planning something, you need to talk face-to-face," says Steven Rothberg, founder of Collegerecruiter.com, who places recent graduates into corporate jobs.

The tech disparity between 20-somethings and 40-somethings is far greater today than it was 20 years ago, when today's 40-somethings were the young turks. Over 17 percent of today's workforce is between the ages of 25 and 34, while another 28 percent is made up of employees 55 and over, Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show.

That breakdown is not much different than in many past years. But what is different is the speed of technological progress since the mid-1990s, from the Internet and e-mail to cell phones and instant messaging. A recent survey by outplacement firm Lee Hecht Harrison shows that 60 percent of U.S. corporations acknowledge having workplace tensions among generations.

Ruth Sherman, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based communications consultant whose client roster includes Deloitte, Pfizer and Bank of America, says common complaints about younger workers range from lame handshakes and poor conversational skills to super-casual attire and personal use of company e-mail. Some show up at job interviews in tee shirts. What the Gen Yers don't see, she says, is the meaning and value of gestures and other non-verbal skills that don't come through in a text message.

"My clients are frustrated; a lot of them are throwing up their hands because they can't persuade young people to get it," Sherman says.

Carl Tyler, a veteran of Lotus and IBM who now runs Instant Technologies, an enterprise IM software group, thinks one of the biggest etiquette breaches by Gen Y recruits involves newbies typing paragraph upon paragraph of chat.

"It's a new medium, don't treat it like e-mail," Tyler says.”