weekend free-for-all – July 30-31, 2016 by Alison Green on July 30, 2016 This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. (This one is truly no work and no school. If you have a work question, you can email it to me or post it in the work-related open thread on Fridays.) Book recommendation of the week: […] Read the full article →
my manager moved into my apartment building, can I land my dream job after a not-great interview, and more by Alison Green on July 30, 2016 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. I shared concerns about my boss, and they weren’t kept confidential My department within the last year had a new vice president brought on board. My manager, who at the time was overseeing me and my coworker, wasn’t performing very well, and in my one-on-one […] Read the full article →
my junior team member is insisting on a desk by a window by Alison Green on July 29, 2016 A reader writes: I work for a start-up, where I “manage” two other people. Manage is in quotes because we are technically a “flat” organization, but as we grew they started promoting people to team leads. In practice, leads work as middle managers (including things like making decisions on project priorities, approving PTO, all the […] Read the full article →
open thread – July 29-30, 2016 by Alison Green on July 29, 2016 It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * If you submitted […] Read the full article →
asking my boyfriend’s boss to help me plan a secret vacation, a camera was stolen from my office, and more by Alison Green on July 29, 2016 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Asking my boyfriend’s boss to help me plan a secret vacation with him My boyfriend of six and a half years is turning 30 between Christmas and New Year’s. His family and many of his close friends live in the UK. I would like to […] Read the full article →
my coworkers keep pressuring me to take vacation — but I need to save up time for a chronic illness by Alison Green on July 28, 2016 A reader writes: I have a problem that I’m sure other readers would love to have: I’m about six months into a new job, and almost everyone in my department has been pressuring me to take vacation. The pressure has been gentle, but persistent. Some examples: my supervisor brought it up in both my three-month […] Read the full article →
when you should default to “no,” how to be productive when you’re sleep-deprived, and more by Alison Green on July 28, 2016 Over at QuickBase’s Fast Track blog today, I take a look at several interesting work-related stories in the news right now, including why you should default to “no” when you’re overwhelmed, how to be productive when you’re sleep-deprived, and more. You can read it here. Read the full article →
interview with a 16-year-old working her first summer job by Alison Green on July 28, 2016 My 16-year-old niece, M., has appeared here before — when she was 12, she and her sister helped me answer this letter about a boss who was always making out with his girlfriend in his office, and when she was 14, they helped me answer this letter about a boss stopping up a toilet and asking someone […] Read the full article →
a terrible student worker asked me for a reference, coworkers send social texts throughout the night, and more by Alison Green on July 28, 2016 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. A terrible student worker asked me for a reference I have received a reference request from another university for one of our former work studies. I had told this student that I was not hiring her back because she wasn’t reliable. She would cancel her […] Read the full article →
my manager says that most people are too good to stay in my job for long by Alison Green on July 27, 2016 A reader writes: I have been at my job for 2.5 years. A member of my team recently quit, and my manager asked me to participate in the hiring process to replace her. Since then, she has said a few things that I perceive as hurtful and insulting towards me and my job. During the […] Read the full article →