With a New Year on the horizon, you may be wondering what excitements, challenges or horrors may lie ahead.

You may even be thinking about taking things firmly into your own hands by perhaps considering going after a new job.

Many issues we all face in life can be daunting, one such is the interview for that new job!

From the second you leave your house until you sit down in front of the interviewer, you’re on your best behaviour to ensure nothing goes wrong.

But news has just been reported of a man who managed to kill his chances even before he reached the room where the interview was to occur.

So what did he do?

Well they always say that first impressions are everything  – for starters a ready smile goes a long way.

But it seems that this guy was somewhat dismissive of the receptionist, barely making eye contact with her and unwilling to engage in conversation.

Sure there was no way that he could have known that the receptionist was actually the person responsible for hiring staff so his lack of interaction with her doomed him from the off.

And even if that had not been the case, it’s more than possible that her input would have eventually reached the people responsible for hiring staff.

Indeed one applicant to a company got chatting with a guy in the lift who turned out to be the CEO!

Other issues we face may not be daunting, but can often be confusing.

Take for example, buying a rail ticket.

Do you remember the days when if you wanted to travel somewhere by train, all you had to do was to go to the ticket office and buy a ticket?

Job done!

But these days it all seems incredibly complicated.

Can I use the ticket I just bought on the first train that comes in, are there any restrictions as to where I can sit?

The list of questions goes on and on! Often there’s no one around to ask – just a machine sitting motionless staring defiantly back at you.

It can all seem very confusing, even for people considerably younger than myself.

Even more confusing is that the rules are not universal between the various different railway companies.

To prove the point 18-year old student just got hit by a near £130 fine for sitting in the wrong part of a train between Boston in Lincolnshire and London Kings Cross.

It seems that the train he boarded was so full that he couldn’t find a seat, but then he suddenly remembered seeing a notice stating that if all second class seats were taken, it was permissible to use first class seating as an alternative, an option he decided to take up.

What he hadn’t realised was that on the particular train he’d boarded that option was available only to first class compartments at the rear of the train. He was not alone in his misunderstanding of the rules with many others becoming embroiled in unsuccessful arguments with the guard.

Another passenger who’d purchased a so-called “anytime ticket” fell foul of the rules, after he discovered that name of this ticket is somewhat of a misnomer as “anytime” doesn’t actually mean “anytime” since it was only valid for “off- peak” hours!

Anyway as I’m driving home that won’t be a problem for me!

I very much hope that you’ll be able to join me once again tomorrow for the New Year’s Eve edition of the show.

See you then, I hope!
Scott