A reader writes: I’d be really interested to hear your take on a situation that cropped up for me while I was attending an internal job interview this week. I’d been asked to prepare a presentation of “no longer than” 10 minutes. I practiced plenty in advance and was generally coming in at 8 minutes, … Read more
A few years ago, I accepted a job as a director of strategy at a small agency. One of the perks of this job was that I would deal with clients less, because this company had client managers to do that, and wouldn’t have to do things like public speaking. To be clear: This wasn’t … Read more
A reader writes: I want to go to HR about my boss coming in sick, resulting in me using all my vacation time for an upper respiratory infection, but I’m not sure I should. We work in a cafeteria, so we have an HR but we also serve food. My boss came in Wednesday and … Read more
A reader writes: I was a stay-at-home-mom for a good 10 years, and have recently started working for other people again. I have been taking entry-level positions, because I’ve been out of the workforce for a decade and also because my kids are still kind of young and I can’t handle the additional responsibility. I’m … Read more
I’m about to manage someone who thinks we’re good friends, but we can’t be by Alison Green on July 16, 2024 A reader writes: I have accepted a management role in a new team my company has set up. My coworker also applied for the role (unbeknownst to me at the time). She was not … Read more
A reader writes: I have a coworker — let’s call him Sergeant Duke — who is a pretty nice guy. We’re in the military, are the same rank, and have a similar level of experience. Aside from a personality clash with one other coworker, Sergeant Duke gets along with everyone, is good at his job, … Read more
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker took a video call from the bathroom I was on a call with a vendor recently with about three people from each organization. Most people had their cameras off, and after the meeting topics were covered, I began to ask some follow-up questions … Read more
Last week, we talked about strange customer complaints. Here are 25 funny stories you shared. 1. The Bigfoot artifacts I worked in a small history museum and got a complaint that we didn’t have any Bigfoot artifacts, like bones or fossils … from Bigfoot. 2. The bewitchment I used to work in sales for a … Read more
A reader writes: I work in an office of a large company. The work my team does is often stressful, so sometimes staff morale suffers. The managers of my team have created a feelings chart that has giant emoji representing various levels of being happy, stressed, and angry. There are stickers of all our names … Read more
A reader writes: My manager is a hoarder, and our office space is odious. There is no trash can, because my manager treats the office as one giant trash can. She leaves leftover lunch and discarded wrappers all over, sometimes even on my desk. She uses the office as an extension of her own home: … Read more