Article: In any conflict situation, everyone involved tends to believe the situation is the other party's fault. Consider whether there is anything you could do differently to improve your working relationship. Do you have an aggressive personality? Sometimes you might come on too strong, and others might react by withdrawing or becoming defensive, even if you meant well. Try toning it down or giving them some space. Do you tend to be critical? Even if it's part of your job, the way a person offers criticism can feel constructive or like a personal attack. Some people with more sensitive personalities may receive all but the most gentle criticism this way. Don't be afraid to take the responsibility for a conflict, and make it right. Use "I statements" to deflect potential defensiveness, like "I may have overstepped my role" or "I am afraid I may have come across too harshly with my criticism." Learning more about their interests, backgrounds, and families can help to relieve some of the conflict by helping you understand their personality, goals, and priorities. Invite them over to your home for a barbeque, or to a bar or restaurant after work. You can get to know them free of the stress of the workplace, and help them to see you as a three dimensional person with a life outside of work. Remember that negative and conflict-ridden people are often under a lot of stress. They may be fighting a medical condition, struggling to pay their bills, or dealing with family issues. Extend the same benefit of the doubt that you would hope someone would extend to you on a bad day. Be considerate of your co-worker's personal boundaries, and don't be offended if they choose not to get close. They may decline invitations or prefer to keep their work relationships strictly professional, and that's ok too. You might not be best friends with all your co-workers, but you can make a special effort to be kind, polite, and easy to work with. Never engage in behaviors that are considered harassment, such as making suggestive sexual comments or gestures or telling jokes that target race, culture, or gender. Consider leaving notes of appreciation for your co-workers, or bringing in donuts to the office once a month. When it's reasonable and does not add to your work load, help your co-workers out in little ways: grab their copies off the copy machine, offer to take orders for Starbucks if you're headed there anyway, or refill the soap dispenser. The little things can add up to a much more enjoyable working relationship. Going out of your way to be kind doesn't mean letting others walk all over you or letting others take advantage of your helpfulness. It just means treating everyone the same at work regardless of whether they are your favorite or least favorite person to work with.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Look at yourself. Get to know your co-workers as people. Go out of your way to be kind.

You'll need to find a long serial number, usually 17 digits, marked somewhere on your car or truck. It may be in one of several locations. You can read the wikihow article on how to Find Your VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) or look in the common locations listed below. Look on the dash at the base of the windshield on the driver's side for a small plaque. Look for a sticker on the driver's door. A VIN may also be found in the front of the engine block, easily visible once you open the hood. On most newer vehicles, some body parts such as fenders and hoods also have the VIN on them for identification and matching parts to the vehicle. Open the driver-side door, and look at the where the side view mirror would be located if the door were shut. Older cars may have VINs found elsewhere, such as on the steering column, radiator support bracket, or the left-side inner wheel arch. You can find websites that can decode the VIN of most manufacturers automatically. Try VIN Decoder.net if you're looking for detailed, quickly accessible information. You can try to find a VIN lookup on your car manufacturer's web site, but it's not guaranteed to have one. If your vehicle was manufactured before 1980, it might have a nonstandard VIN. If free lookup websites don't work, try a paid service such as CARFAX, AutoCheck, or VinAudit. These should give you a little information for free, but a full VIN decoding will cost money. Specialized VIN websites and VIN lookup services exist to see whether your vehicle was involved in an accident, fire, or other damaging situation. You cannot decode this information from a VIN yourself, since the VIN for a vehicle never changes. These services just take advantage of the fact that police and other organizations use the unique VIN to describe a car in accident reports. First, try the free service at The National Insurance Crime Bureau website. If you cannot get information for free online, you may need to pay for a Vehicle History Report. This should be included in the VIN report services described earlier, such as VinAudit's. Follow the methods below instead if you want to have fun decoding it yourself, or if your vehicle was made by an unusual manufacturer not decodable by a website. Finding out where and when your car was made should be easy, while the other methods may take extra effort. These codes are fully standardized in North America. Elsewhere in the world, most major manufacturers follow the same standards, but they may use the 9th and 10th characters for different purposes. In North America, the 9th must be used as "checking code" to confirm the VIN is real, and the 10th must be used to indicate the year the car was made.
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One-sentence summary --
Locate the VIN on your car to start the decoding process. Find detailed information quickly by entering the entire VIN online. Use a service to check whether your vehicle has a history of damage. Use the other methods to decode it yourself.