About 13 years ago I was promoted to assistant manager of a restaurant. The company provided all managers with a Blackberry(remember those!?). The advice I was given was to always answer the phone like I had been awake for hours and was at my most alert. I had all the closing shifts so I usually got home around 2 or 3 am. Most calls came between 7 and 8 am. I was told it was unprofessional to answer the work phone sleepy. Oh, and it was major bad news it it rang more than 3 times or god forbid went to voicemail. I was young and dumb and just accepted it as the way the professional world works.
I don’t know why I suddenly thought of it after all the years, but when I did I just chuckled at the ridiculousness of that very one sided shitty piece of advice. So I was wondering what other absurd pieces of “professional” advice you’ve been given over the years.