Here in the UK, we have a reputation for being intelligently humorous, polite, reserved and proud of our stiff upper-lip

You would think these traits would apply to the office; however, it seems this couldn't be further from the truth!

This is because a recent survey shows that almost 60% of us admit to displaying bad manners towards our colleagues and committing verbal faux pas on a very regular basis.

So, if you want to stay on the right side of your co-workers, and avoid sounding and looking like a right chump, here are 10 things not to say at work.

1. "You are the dumbest boss I've ever had"

Picture the scene. You have just landed the job of your dreams and you can't wait to give your current boss the two-fingered salute and tell him exactly what you think of him. But (and we know it can be hard), you really must resist the temptation to bad mouth and let off steam.

We say this as here is a true case that appeared in The Times as an example of what not to say. One person referred to their employer as "having an intellect that ranges above the common ground squirrel" whilst adding for good measure, "You are one of the few true genetic wastes of our time."

Remember people, your comments will be filed for future reference if requested by another employer!

2. "That's not my job"

With your 'to-do' list showing absolutely no signs of getting any shorter, your boss walks into your office to ask if you do a 'little' job for him. This results in you taking on more work than you can realistically manage.

But, a "blunt refusal to help, will simply burn bridges and damage goodwill," says psychologist Bryan Carroll. "Instead, simply explain your existing commitments; and perhaps propose another time that you could offer assistance."

A year later sounds about right to us!

3. "Anyone can do their job"

Are you quick to badmouth your boss or ridicule their decision making abilities? Watch out: the boss hears everything that is said in the office; both good and bad.

Assume that what you say will eventually get back to him or her via the network of office gossips (which operates more efficiently than the CIA). And the next time you notice yourself griping, ask yourself, "Is it more important to vent my frustrations, or to get that next promotion?"

One expects the latter will be your reply if you have any sense!

4. "Take the whole pack of Trebor's, please; you need them more than me"

Tempting though this may be and sometimes very necessary, this approach is about as subtle as a brick and you may want to re-assess your 'diplomacy skills'.

The best way to tell someone that their breath is a problem is to do so discreetly. If a colleague has bad breath, offer a mint or furtively leave a packet on their desk.

The other option is to walk in wearing a gas mask; but that might hurt their feelings.

5. "Sack me and you will regret it"

These were the famous last words uttered by Martin Jol shortly before he got the sack as Tottenham Hotspur 'manager'.

Just because you were the number one salesperson or are credited with reversing the fortunes of the company in the past, does not guarantee that you will have a job forever; remember nobody owes you a job.

And, as the saying goes: you are only as good as your last game. On that basis, if your daily performance is like Derby County, then you are clearly in trouble.

6. "Why can't I log onto Facebook anymore?"

The Daily Telegraph found that 70% of UK companies have banned their employees from accessing social networking sites, such as Facebook and Bebo, is because they detract staff from doing what they are actually paid to do; namely work.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but traditionally, people have gone to work to actually WORK!

Also, do you really want to run the risk of your boss peering over your shoulder and finding out what you really got up to at the weekend?

7. "Have a go if you think you're hard enough"

Most of us don't get to choose the people we work with (if only, eh?) and your colleagues come as part of the package when you take a job. Just like your relatives, it would be unrealistic to expect you will get on with everyone all of the time.

But if the tension between you and a colleague threatens to boil over into hand to hand combat, physically remove yourself from confrontation and allow yourself sufficient time to work out a passive response.

Counting to a million should help too.

Nancy Peterson, co-founder of the Mediation Agency says:

"We've all said things in anger that we later regret. A lot of conflict could be avoided if people didn't wrongly hypothesise a reason for someone's behaviour, and make a poor decision based on this judgement."

Fair enough, but let's face it, who hasn't wanted to hit someone in the head with their stapler at some point? 

8. "I do like to dabble in recreational drugs every now and again"

Memo to self: you are complete toaster if you say this out loud at work.

If you do 'dabble' then make sure you keep it to yourself. This is because whatever you tell people now will become more widely known as you climb up the career ladder and, you may find that that climb comes to an abrupt halt a lot sooner than you think.

In a survey of email blunders, officebroker.com in the UK found the case of an employee who, following a 'sick' day, sent an email to a colleague explaining his illness was due to 'class A's'.

Unfortunately, the chump sent it to everyone in his company; including the senior management.

It's no surprise that he now works elsewhere!

9. "Go away; I'll do it when I'm ready"

Here in the UK, we have a growing long-hours working culture, and so it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the increasing amount of work that you have to plough through each day.

According to a survey conducted by Office Angels, 72% of us here in the UK admit to avoiding 'tricky' or time-consuming tasks in the hope that the issue will simply disappear. That makes for tetchy workers which leads too many of us telling colleagues exactly what they can do with their latest 'bright idea'.

But, there really is no excuse for bad manners at work. "Manners are an essential part of the image you project at work," says Paul Jacobs, managing director of Office Angels.

10. "How did he ever get promoted?"

Hands up if you have ever found yourself saying this?

You may think that you are smarter than you actually are and feel that it should have been you rather than your new boss who got the promotion. But don't follow the route of constantly bemoaning or spreading vicious gossip about your boss; a condition termed 'post-traumatic embitterment disorder' by researchers at the University of Berlin.

Also in your eagerness to prove to your superiors that they were wrong to pass you over for the promotion, you run the risk of being seen as irritating or at worse desperate.

This is why you should never 'point out' what could be done better unless you are actually asked for your opinion by your boss.

What are other things you shouldn't say in the office?

Why not let us know in the comments?

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If you've ever taken out a loan, mortgage, credit card or store card, or bought something on credit, then the chances are you were sold payment protection insurance (PPI) at the same time.

Now, the consumer association Which? believes that thousands, even millions of you, may have been mis-sold PPI.

The scale of the mis-selling of loan payment protection insurance is greater than previously thought, with up to 2 million policies sold to people who may never be able to make a claim, according to Which?.

Which? says that up to 30% of you taking out insurance on a loan in the last 5 years may fall foul of exclusions that would prevent you claiming.

What is PPI?

PPI is designed to cover your debt repayments if you can't work through illness or accident, or if you are made redundant.

Unfortunately it is often mis-sold, costing many of us thousands of pounds for expensive insurance we may never actually be able to claim on!

Which? has been speaking out about the mis-selling of PPI for many years, but now the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) are getting involved.

Mis-selling of PPI

The FSA has already designated the insurance a priority because of the potential risks to consumers, and has fined or censured a string of companies over poor selling practices.

Which? found that 32% of those who signed up for the insurance may fall foul of one or more of the "significant exclusions" in the small print. That could amount to between 1.7 million and 2.1 million policies.

The research also found that the average loan is £6,050; 1 in 10 of us has borrowed £10,000 or more.

A Which? spokesperson commented on their survey:

"People who are self-employed or on a fixed-term job contract, for example, often aren't covered by PPI. Nor are many people aged 65 and over, or people who might claim for absences relating to pre-existing medical conditions."

Doug Taylor, Which? personal finance campaigner, said:

"We've always known that people were being mis-sold [payment protection insurance], but we were still amazed to discover the scale of it. It appears that salespeople are chasing their commissions, while their bosses are chasing profits. Where's the sense of responsibility to the customer?".

He said if someone with a loan or mortgage thought they might have been mis-sold the insurance: "now's the time to fight back".

Many people may not be aware that policies only pay out for a limited amount of time, often 12 months, and that credit card and store card insurance frequently covers only the minimum monthly payment.

So, if you think you have been mis-sold PPI, then you need to claim it back from the issuer!

• Claim back your Payment Protection Insurance
• Claim back your bank penalty charges
• Claim back your credit card fees
• Claim back your mortgage exit fees

These days, finding a good mortgage might feel a bit like trying to track down the Loch Ness monster; rumours abound but can you actually find it?

As you know, there are many ways to get a mortgage. You can get it by post, phone, through the internet, by interactive TV; the list is endless.

But the reality comes down to this; to find a good mortgage, should you use a mortgage lender or should you use an impartial adviser?

That's a good question. So, here are some pros and cons to using both.

Going direct

A lot of you like to do your own homework, pick the mortgage you want and then go straight to a mortgage lender to get it.

Well, you could be paying more to take out a mortgage through a broker as increasing numbers of mortgage lenders do offer better rates to those of you going direct to their branches.

According to analyst Moneyfacts, of the top 20 2 year fixed-rate mortgages, (based on a loan of £150,000), the 13 best deals are only available directly from the lender. Three of the top 20 deals are available through an adviser.

Looking at the Moneyfacts table, the best 2 year fixed rate mortgage comes from Welsh building society Principality, at 5.99% with no fee. You can get it if you have a deposit of 25% or more.

For those with a 10% deposit, the Loughborough building society offers you a 5.75% rate for 2 years but you do have to pay a £649 fee to pay.

Darren Cook of Moneyfacts said:

'With continuing uncertainty in the mortgage market and the total number of products continuing to decline, many more people will be considering approaching a broker to find them the best mortgage deal. However, many brokers are finding that their choice of products to recommend to clients has been increasingly restricted as more lenders move to offer their most competitive products just for direct-only business.'

Last week First Direct welcomed back new mortgage customers after a brief stint away from the market. It is offering a cheaper 2 year fixed rate mortgage than the Principality at 5.76% for those of you with a deposit of 20%; however, the bank has started charging two fees to this mortgage which comes to around £2,000!

Exclusive deals

Mortgage lenders are also giving you exclusive deals if you take out another product with them; here are a few examples:

• Halifax's range of first-time buyer mortgages are available with a deposit of as little as 3%. Rates start at 6.39% but if you want a LTV greater than 90%, you will need to open or already hold a salary funded Halifax/Bank of Scotland current account.

• HSBC offers you enhanced rates if you have either its Plus or Premier current accounts. To qualify for a Premier account, you need to have a mortgage of at least £250,000 and a salary of over £70,000 or stock market investments with HSBC. HSBC's normal rate for its fixed-rate mortgages is 5.98%. As a Plus customer, you would get the loan at 5.88% and Premier customers at 5.78%.

• NatWest, meanwhile, has launched a savings account for first-time buyers that offer them a tax-free cashback bonus at the end of a year on condition that they take out a NatWest mortgage.

Using an adviser

Others of you prefer to use an impartial adviser or broker; this is because most of them can search all mortgage lenders, (including some you may never have heard of) to find the best deal for your situation.

David Hollingworth of fee-free mortgage broker London & Country says the lenders' practice of offering exclusive deals is 'muddying the waters' of the increasingly complicated mortgage market:

'It is a backward step when banks are cross-selling products to customers with their mortgage and that customer is buying without getting advice. In this uncertain environment advice is more important than ever.'

 

Melanie Bien of brokers SPF agrees:

'You will only be advised on the products that the lender has on offer by someone who is not a qualified financial adviser,' she says, adding that you will be very lucky if your lender can offer you products that are the most suitable for your needs.

 

Last week the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said when brokers recognised that there were more competitive products available direct from mortgage lenders they should tell you about them. But, he added, they could still charge you for such advice.

Mortgage adviser Mform has warned that if you are regarded as a high risk customer, then you might only be offered standard variable rate mortgages by your existing mortgage lender under new 'customer profiling' rules when your current mortgage runs out.

So, as you can see, there are both pros and cons to going direct to a mortgage lender or by using an impartial adviser.

But ultimately the decision is yours; happy mortgage hunting!

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As Tommy Cooper once said "You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine.' So that was nice!"

Yes it's true that the old jokes are best but parking tickets are certainly no laughing matter...or are they?

While the people described below probably didn't see the funny side of their ticket receiving circumstances, we found some of them hilarious (the horse was our favourite)

And you think that you've been hard done to by the parking authorities...

1. Trucking ridiculous

It was a normal day for Michael Collins, who was on his way to collect a skip in London's Belsize Park. Suddenly, his truck lurched as the road beneath him collapsed. Unbeknown to Michael, a burst water main had caused the road to give way, creating a deep hole where the front wheels of his 17-tonne truck became stuck.

While he was waiting for his lorry to be rescued, a passing parking attendant appeared. To the astonishment of nearby residents and despite Michael's protests, she stood on tiptoe and whacked a parking ticket on the trucks windscreen, uttering the immortal words, "You can appeal".

2. Bad news comes in trees

If a tree fell on your car and you escaped death by mere inches, you might think that you would get some sympathy from your local council wouldn't you?

Sadly, no such compassion was found to be available when one family suffered just such a fate under the parking fascists of Wychavon District Council

Nicky Clegg was driving along the Bromwich Road with her 82-year-old mother and her 11-year-old son. Suddenly a tree crashed on her car. Amazingly, they escaped death but the car ended got a crushed bonnet, smashed windscreen and broken wing mirrors.

Police dragged the wrecked car to the side of the road and told Nicky that it was fine to leave it there and she could pick it up the following day.

But when she came back the next day, guess what? Yep, she had a parking ticket on her window.

3. Feeling run down?

Think that being badly injured is an excuse to park illegally? Then think again buster!

When Nadhim Zahawi of South London was thrown from his scooter and left lying in the road with a broken leg, a heartless traffic warden from Lambeth Council slapped a £100 ticket on his bike.

4. Horse play

You leave your horse in the street and what do you expect to find when you get back? A small pile of manure perhaps, but a parking ticket?

Yet, amazingly, this is what happened to Robert McFarland, a retired blacksmith from Yorkshire when he left his trusty steed, Charlie Boy, for a few brief moments. The horse had a ticket on him...

On the ticket, the over-zealous warden had written the vehicle description as "brown horse".

5. Daylight robbery

It was a normal day at first for Fred Holt when he went to his local bank. But then it went a bit pear shaped when two masked men burst into the bank brandishing an axe and a machete. During the raid, they held a young cashier hostage with an axe to her throat and customers were forced to lie on the floor as staff were made to hand over the cash.

If being a victim of this scary situation wasn't bad enough, 77 year old Mr Holt had parked his car nearby, and by the time he had given a statement to police officers, his car had been there for 20 minutes longer than allowed.

However, Mr. Holt was not worried because the police officers who interviewed him said that traffic wardens had been told about the raid and asked not to issue tickets. But when Mr Holt got back to his car he was shocked to find a £30 parking ticket pinned to his windscreen; the reason: overstaying his allowed time in the street.

6. Bloody ridiculous

"Do Something Amazing Today" is the slogan of the National Blood Service.

In Sutton, a traffic warden did just that, though not quite in the way one woudl like...

For four years, a mobile National Blood Service truck has visited Sutton, parking at the same spot outside a group of offices, so volunteers can give blood. But seeing the good citizens of the town turn up and exchange a pint of the red stuff in return for a cup of tea and a biscuit was too much of a temptation for one parking attendant. Whilst those inside were giving blood, the parking attendant gave in his own special way; a parking ticket.

Sutton council eventually waived the fine, saying the parking attendant had made a simple error of judgment. Or was it more like a rush of blood to the head?

7. Bus(ted)

Picture the scene: You're a bus driver. You're driving your bus. You see a queue of people waiting for you at a bus stop. You pull over to pick them up. So far, so good.

But sadly, not everyone wants to buy a ticket. This chap in the queue wants to give you one instead...

This was the ridiculous scene that greeted Manchester bus driver Chris O'Mahony, when he stopped his number 77 bus to let people on. He and his passengers looked on in absolute disbelief as the Manchester City Council parking attendant joined the queue to prepare the parking ticket, deposited the £40 notice and then walked away.

The bus driver's crime? Parking in a restricted area.

The attendant said he'd been told to issue tickets to buses that park. Manchester City Council bosses cancelled the ticket and ordered the warden to be retrained (hopefully, as something other than a traffic warden)

8. Heart attack

Whilst David Holmes was driving along he felt chest pains; naturally he drove himself straight to hospital. When he arrived he was forced to park on the road and was then treated for a heart attack.

A kind nurse left a note on the windscreen saying it was an emergency and that David's daughter would pick the car up later. Despite the note, a scumbag parking attendant slapped a parking ticket on David's car.

Despite an appeal to the local council, the £40 fine was not cancelled. What a bunch of swines!

9. Welcome to Warwickshire

Warwick is a beautiful part of England but it had no appeal for one man who received a parking ticket from the local Council.

Krister Nylander was upset to get a parking ticket in the post for parking in Warwick. But he knew the ticket was wrong; and here is why:

• He lives in Sweden and had not visited England since he was 16
• The offending vehicle was his 20-ton snowmobile
• The snowmobile had hardly ever left the barn, let alone Sweden

How did it get the ticket? We've absolutely no Ikea.

10. Driving you crazy

Driving instructors are used to the problems that can come with teaching people to drive (3 point turns can be especially tricky)

So spare a thought for the driving instructor who got a CCTV parking ticket when his pupil stalled whilst attempting a three-point turn and could not restart the car.

The offence? Parking more than 50 centimetres from the kerb!

Think that you can beat any of these?

Why not tell us about your stories of parking ticket tomfoolery in the comments below?

(List compiled by Barrie Segal, founder of AppealNow.com and author of the book, The Parking Ticket Awards: Crazy Councils, Meter Madness and Traffic Warden Hell)

Greek parrot gets parking fine

Go on, ask yourself that question...

With money being a bit tight for most of us these days, it's important to make sure your current account is doing its best to look after your hard earned cash!

So, if you are thinking of switching your current account to another bank, would an interest rate of 5% or more be enough to tempt you?

We think it might....

Alliance & Leicester has upped the battle for current account customers by increasing the in-credit interest rates on two of its accounts to an impressive 5% gross.

That's a lot more than the 0.1% interest paid by many of the standard current accounts offered by the "big four" players (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland).

Miserly is the word you are looking for...

A&L's table-topping deal is only available to people who switch their current account to A&L, and is the latest of many of headline-grabbing offers from other banks keen to topple the dominance of the big four banks, especially as around 80% of us haven't changed our account in the past 5 years.

Are you getting a bad deal from the big four?

If you are one of the millions of sheep, sorry people, who have a standard current account with the lavishly rewarded in-credit interest rate of just 0.1%, you should do the math.

If you have got £1,000 in your account, that means you are earning a crappy £1 interest a year, says the moneyfacts.co.uk website.

"If you have a healthy balance in your account, you could make more than £180 in interest by switching accounts," it adds.

At the other end of the scale, if you rely on an overdraft, moving your account could mean you save yourself a small fortune in interest and charges.

Here's an example: a Lloyds TSB customer who uses their standard Classic current account and has a £1,000 authorised overdraft would pay £193 a year in interest, based on the account's overdraft rate of 19.3% EAR. But if he or she switched to Norwich & Peterborough's Gold current account, where the overdraft rate is 0% for the first six months, then 7.74% EAR, they would pay £38.70 in the first year.

That's a saving of £154.30!

Best-buy accounts?

So, if you fancy making your money more efficient, what kind of deals are on offer if you plan to switch? Here's a selection...

• Alliance & Leicester

Its 5% rate applies to both its Premier Direct account and its recently launched Premier 50 account, which is only available to people over the age of 50 and costs £10 a month. In both cases, this rate is paid on balances of up to £2,500. Above that amount, what you earn on your money falls to 0.1%.

There is no monthly fee for the Premier Current Account offer although you need to pay at least £500 a month into the account. The bank says customers will also benefit from the interest-free overdraft structure A&L introduced last year; there are no interest or usage fees on agreed overdrafts for the first 12 months.

• Coventry Building Society

Their current account, called Coventry First, pays 1.10%, though this rate includes an 0.85% interest bonus lasting for 12 months only. You need to pay in at least £1,000 a month, but the big benefit of this account is that the interest rate applies to all your money up to £250,000, not just the first couple of thousand or so.

• Lloyds TSB

Their Classic account with Vantage pays up to 4.00 AER% if you keep between £5,000 and £7,000 in the account; you'll need to pay in at least £1,000 a month.

The small print!

As you have no doubt seen, there are a number of strings attached to these great rates.

In the case of both A&L's Premier Direct and Lloyds TSB's Classic Plus accounts, in addition to the requirements outlined above, you need to "use internet banking regularly". Meanwhile, to benefit from Abbey's 7.72% in-credit rate, you must use Abbey's switching service to open the account. In some cases you also have to be aged 21 or over to sign up.

Who should I choose?

Hmm, a good question to ask!

The answer is dependent on what you are looking for: if you are looking for a great in-credit interest rate, the A&L deal is clearly top of the table, but that rate is only fixed for a year, and then falls sharply. The Coventry and Lloyds TSB deals offer lower rates, but their sum limits are different so you may end up with a better return overall.

However, if a low overdraft rate is important to you, A&L's Premier Direct again scores highly, as there are no interest or usage fees on agreed overdrafts for the first 12 months. After 12 months, the 0% overdraft rate continues, but a usage fee of 50p a day (£5 maximum per month) applies if the agreed overdraft is used. N&P's Gold account also boasts a decent deal on overdrafts.

So how do I switch?

Some current account holders have been reluctant to switch to another bank or building society because they are worried the whole process will be a nightmare and lets face it, sometimes it really is!

But banks insist that people have nothing to be concerned about. The industry's code of good practice states that if you decide to move your current account to another financial institution, details of your standing orders and direct debits will be passed on to the prospective bank within three working days of the request being received.

The prospective bank will tell you how long the switch is likely to take, and will give you what you need to operate the account within 10 working days of approving your application. The code also states that banks will cancel any charges that people have to pay as a result of any mistake or unnecessary delay that occurs during the transfer.

Many institutions like Halifax, have introduced dedicated switching teams who will handle all the legwork for you: Some even offer payouts if the account is not switched within the specified time.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society says that if it takes any longer than 10 working days to transfer over all your direct debits and standing orders, it will give you £50 for your trouble.

Meanwhile, Abbey is one of the institutions that provides an interest-free overdraft for the first four months, so that you are protected in the event of any problems.

So, do you think that you have had your current account too long and fancy a change?

(All rates quoted are correct at time of publication)

Current account chaos linked to penalty charges