Words at work.

It's hard to work with someone who is such a stress puppy.

hands-on: A management attitude that favors remaining involved on a project only to keep in touch with its progress. It is not the opposite of hands-off. It describes a manager who still does a little grunt work, such as coding, to "keep in touch with reality." In fact, many hands-on managers have a hands-off attitude, which makes for an ideal, independent working environment.

scareware: One way cybercriminals fool consumers is through scareware, in which a pop-up message shows that a PC has been infected by a virus and must be cleaned immediately. The popup says the way to do this is by buying a scanning tool that it sells. In reality, the PC was not infected by malware at all; this identity theft tactic is only meant to get access to the user's credit card.

self-starter: One who works on his or her own initiative. This person does need orders to operate and works best with a hands-off manager.

stress puppy: A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny. "I'd like to work with Patrick, but he's too much of a stress puppy. Everything's always a crisis."

vendor release: A company's attempt to throw out as many press releases as possible to make it appear that it has a partnership with the big boys. All too often, though, a vendor release will have a headline such as, "XYZ Co. and GE Sign Deal," when in fact it is just announcing that GE will supply coffee machines for XYZ's kitchen.

wholetail: A business model in which a manufacturer or producer delivers products or services directly to an individual