can I ask interviewers whether they use employee surveillance tech? by Alison Green on April 24, 2025 A reader writes: The last time I was searching for jobs was pre-Covid, and while the job market and world have changed in many ways, one of the ways I’m most concerned about in my current search is the rise of employee monitoring technologies. I work in a field that has been primarily remote since well before the pandemic and has not been subjected my recent waves of return-to-office for that reason. I also live with a number of serious but very well-managed mental health issues that would quickly spiral out of “very well-managed” under the pressure of surveillance technologies. This isn’t just a preference not to work in an environment that uses these technologies but rather a real risk of triggering a psychotic episode. The combination of highly obsessive performance anxiety and the paranoia of surveillance is untenable for me given my particular slate of mental health conditions. I have been and will remain in the regular care of a mental health team that I am confident would provide whatever I need to get accommodations in place if it came to that, but I’d prefer not to be in an environment where accommodations are even needed for this particular struggle. Is there a way to ask about whether or not an organization uses employee monitoring technology during an interview without either disclosing mental health conditions that I would rather not disclose or flagging myself as a potential slacker who doesn’t want supervisors catching on through monitoring software? To be clear, I do NOT believe that people who don’t want to work under surveillance are “slackers,” but I worry that emphasizing the point too strongly in interviews might give hiring committees that impression and hurt my chances. I generally don’t think employers should monitor their workers to the extent that current technology allows for, but I also understand why making a big deal of that point might not look great to potential employers. But I worry, too, that handling this via accommodations would force me to reveal more than I would like about my mental health in the workplace. Is there a graceful way to raise the question in interviews? Would it be better raised at the stage of an offer being made? Or is this something that I’d be best served just waiting out and then getting accommodations in place if the need arises? I welcome any advice that you or your readers might have for how to handle this! Yeah, this is a rough thing to raise in an interview without coming across strangely. In theory, it shouldn’t be that way! There are loads of reasons for people not to be interested in companies that surveil their every keystroke — such as believing that it reflects a culture and management style not aligned with how they want to work — but it’s still going to be very difficult to raise it in an interview without seeming oddly and inordinately focused on it. The same goes for asking about things like drug testing; there are plenty of good reasons not to want to work somewhere that drug tests, even if you’re not a drug user yourself, but asking about it in the interview will Create An Impression. You should be able to ask in an interview about anything that’s important to you without worrying about what subtext interviewers will read into it … but in reality, you can’t. Of course, the reverse is true, too — there are questions an interviewer could ask that would really turn off candidates — but the power dynamics are so different that it’s not the same thing. You could of course ask what they’ve found effective in managing a remote team and where the challenges have been, and that could lead to an interesting discussion that reveals something relevant about their philosophy … but it’s very unlikely that they’ll announce, “Oh, and we use keystroke loggers and take screenshots of your monitor every 10 minutes.” So unfortunately, the best time to raise it is after you have a job offer — when they’ve already decided they want to hire you and have extended you an offer, because at that point the hiring decision can’t be influenced by the question and they can’t pull your offer over you merely asking the question without violating the Americans with Disability Act. Even then, I’m struggling with how to word it, since it’s an unusual request. It might be useful to talk with your medical team about the best way to frame it so that you don’t reveal more than you need to. (And if they’re no help, an employment lawyer should be able to advise on the right way to word it.) You may also like:Microsoft is removing the user names from its creepy "productivity score"I got in trouble for using a mouse jiggler ... despite my excellent workmy company reads every email we send and put cameras in our offices { 128 comments }
we have a new “sagas” tag for letters with multiple updates by Alison Green on April 24, 2025 A reader writes: I read Ask a Manager every day and have a suggestion for the site. I’m always delighted when I click on a post and it turns out to have a bunch of updates — those are the most fun to read! I think readers would enjoy a category on the Topics page that’s specifically for posts with more than one update. Maybe you could call it “Sagas” or something like that? Sometimes I want a solid distraction and the multiple updates always deliver, but as far as I’m aware there’s no way to specifically pull up a list of posts that have them. Just something to think about if you ever add new categories. Thanks! Excellent idea, and there is now a “sagas” tag. I didn’t get them all, but I got a lot. If I missed any of your favorites, let me know! You may also like:is reading books at work ever OK?is it rude to read in the car on work trips?the intern who took over an office, the dragon pajamas, and other stories to cringe over/revel in { 101 comments }
what’s the strangest first impression you’ve seen a new hire make? by Alison Green on April 24, 2025 Most people try to make a good impression when they start a new job. Others … do not or, perhaps, cannot. Think, for example, of the new hire who was already badmouthing the business on Twitter, the employee plotting a coup on her second day, and the new hire who brought their mom to orientation. And then there were these: • • • • I was asked to see if I could find the brand new student worker who was supposed to be staffing a front line desk, as everyone who walked past noticed no one was sitting there. I happened to go around the desk — and discovered her sitting underneath the desk, absorbed with her phone. (She’d taken off her shoes, for an added touch.) I politely asked her to sit in the chair. She climbed out from under the desk, said something about not feeling “people-y” today, and sat in the chair, eyes never leaving her phone. • • • • Working as Corp Trainer at a call center. CEO comes storming down to our offices asking who owns a car with a car wrap on the hood that says “Cocaine Queen.” We find out whose car it is and tell them they can’t park the car in the office parking lot because it isn’t appropriate. She gets indignant and tells us that it is her “stage name” she worked nights as an exotic dancer. When we tell her that is fine, but it can’t be parked in the parking lot, she tells us that she picks her kids up from school and no one has ever said it wasn’t appropriate. • • • • This wasn’t their fault at all but I’ve never forgotten it. I happened to look out the window as one of the new hires was walking towards the building. He noticed that there were geese in the fountain and detoured to go look at them. They had nested and if you know anything about Canadian geese, they can be vicious! The geese started chasing him, he freaked out, ran around to get away from them, slipped on the geese poop, landed on his back in the grass, and had 4 geese honking at him. Poor guy came in covered in poop and wet grass. I told him to go home and we would try again tomorrow. • • • • We had a guy apply for a staff job. His very first day he was helping clean up brush along the edge of a mountain biking course. One of the other staff said “when you’re done with that axe, I need it,” and the new guy proceeded to say “OK” and THROW THE AXE AT HIM. It went within a yard of his torso. New guy’s first day was his last day. He protested that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, he just didn’t think about the risk, and was told “Look, we know you didn’t mean it, but you’re so stupid you’re dangerous.” • • • • Let’s talk about the most surprising first impressions you’ve seen made by new coworkers. Please share your stories in the comments. You may also like:new hire is plotting a coup, employee is terrified of balloons, and morewhen your boss has to correct your behavior, does it impact their impression of you forever?my new employee says he won't help a coworker, my boss suggested I cry, and more { 776 comments }
should I quit my job and open a bookstore, coworker was disciplined for sharing info everyone already knew, and more by Alison Green on April 24, 2025 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I want to quit my job and open a bookstore I work in tax accounting. Tax season just ended and the overtime nearly killed me. I love my job but I’m tired of it. I’m also in my mid twenties and more or less feel like I settled down too soon. I work at a small firm and the owners are the best bosses I’ve ever had. I really enjoy the people I work with and I enjoy what I do. I’m well paid and have good benefits including 100% employer paid health insurance. But I’m starting to get tired of it. Lately I’ve been fantasizing about opening a bookstore. I’ve planned out the kinds of loans I would need, how I would acquire inventory, etc. It all feels so doable, but I would lose the stability afforded to me by my current job. I’m sure I would make less money, and I fear the bookstore wouldn’t make any money at all. I could switch to part-time hours at my current job, but I would lose my benefits and not make as much money. All that said, the bookstore is still calling my name. I’m dreaming of a store open in afternoons and evenings for people to shop at after work or school. I’d like to have seating and make it sort of a local “third place.” I’m inclined to think that my community would enjoy it, but I’m not sure how profitable it would be. What should I do? Write up a formal business plan, including market analysis, sales strategy, start-up costs, and financial projections (including what monthly sales you’d need to cover expenses). You’ll need that anyway, and that process will give you a lot more insight into whether it’s something you want to move forward with. Look at the American Booksellers Association, too. They have an “opening a bookstore” electronic kit they can send. But also, you should talk to some bookstore owners! Owning a bookstore is a very common dream, and often what people envision doesn’t line up with the realities of the work — which tend to involve long hours, small profit margins, and often more focus on business than books. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it successfully and happily, but you’d want to make sure that you understand exactly what’s involved and what your day-to-day life will be like. In fact, the best possible thing you could do might be to work part-time in a bookstore for a while and see it up close. 2. My company disciplined a coworker for sharing info everyone already knew I work in a niche field in a town with a handful of businesses in that field. Many of us know each other and have worked at the different businesses over time. In my workplace, there’s a high awareness of confidentiality about who’s applying for jobs, as there should be, but we had a situation come up that I’ve been curious about. Sally had worked with me at Company A, then went to work for Company B. Some of our part-time staff at A also worked part-time at B. My coworker Lyle and I supervised these part-timers. When we had an opening at A for a different job, Lyle was on the hiring committee. I had previously worked at B, and several people I knew there mentioned that Sally was applying for this new opening at A. One day, one of the mutual part-timers told us that Sally was applying, and had talked to them about it at B. Sally had been very open about it, and it was no secret, so many of us found out. Later, a different part-time staff person was chatting with Lyle about the position, mentioned Sally, and Lyle confirmed through conversation that Sally was applying. This was overheard and heads rolled! Lyle was disciplined, with the threat that he could have been fired for breaking confidentiality in the hiring process. Normally this would be appropriate, and Lyle probably shouldn’t have been talking about the hiring at all. But it did feel odd, since most of us at A already knew Sally was applying because she’d told multiple people, including people who worked here. Sally ended up leaving for a third business and is currently applying for a job at the fourth, which I know about through this network even though A isn’t involved at all! Sally habitually broadcasts this kind of information. Of people I know in our field, this actually isn’t uncommon. Anyway, I was reminded of me of this incident, and I’m curious what you think of it. It’s great that your company takes applicant confidentiality seriously, but threatening to fire Lyle in this particular set of circumstances was a bit extreme. Or at least it was if they actually threatened to fire him. But did they? Or was the conversation more like, “We take applicant confidentiality really seriously and while we know that in this case the candidate was sharing the news widely herself, you still need to be careful because it’s not up to you to decide who hears about it, and there’s too much room for error if you assume you know who already knows. While we understand what happened here, we take the rule seriously enough that breaking it could be fireable, and it’s important that you don’t do it again.” An explanation that the policy still applies despite the circumstances and and why, along with a warning that it’s a job requirement to handle confidential information with discretion and a reminder of the potential consequences, would be reasonable. 3. I‘m getting too many requests for practice exchange I work in professional services in higher education (in the EU). Two years ago I started to be active on LinkedIn. The goal was to advertise our great services and attract researchers to our university, but I now have a very large presence there. Recently, I have been overwhelmed with international colleagues wanting to do a study visit to our unit. They want to learn how to build or improve services at their own universities or sometimes even countries. This is a normal thing to do in my sector, but now we get monthly/weekly requests. We are a team of seven, mostly part-time, and my colleagues (who I manage) aren’t keen to host all these people who basically are fans of mine from the internet. Also, I get invited to give talks about our unit as well, so lots of info is already available in recordings anyway. Nevertheless, I’m having trouble just rejecting everyone. I also went on helpful study trips to the elite UK universities when we built the unit. How many should I accept? What can I offer instead? And how do I tell the people „you’re the fourth person this month to ask me this?” How many you should accept depends on how much time and energy they take up and how much of both those things you’re willing to invest, so I can’t answer that — but it’s very reasonable to put limits on it. You’re seeing that more people are interested than you can accommodate, so you already know you’ll need to say no to some of them; the question is just how many you can reasonably say yes to. Since your colleagues are involved, too, sit down as a group and decide what’s practical. (And you’re not locking yourself into whatever you decide; if it turns out to still be too many, or if it’s not as onerous as you’d thought, you can adjust that number up or down next year.) But the fact that you already have lots of info available in recordings is great because you can point people to those. It’s completely fine to say, “We’ve fully booked the slots we have available for study visits this year (or this quarter, or whatever time period makes sense), but we’ve compiled some information that might be useful” and then link them to it. 4. Is bad eyesight a disability for the purpose of job applications? I’ve run into this question on employment questionnaires and job applications: Do you have a visible/non-visible disability? I have pathetic eyesight and wear glasses/contact lenses as a correction. I wouldn’t be able to function properly without these corrections. I generally don’t think of my condition as a disability, because wearing glasses is so common. But what do I say to answer this question? Technically, I do have a disability, because I can’t function without my lenses. But I feel like I’m faking a label to call it a disability. I don’t know how to answer this question. Currently, I have been saying that yes, I have an invisible disability (because I wear contact lenses, so nobody knows how bad my vision really is). Am I lying? I am wondering if “invisible disability” is usually referring to a condition that doesn’t have any kind of mechanical aid (for sight, hearing, locomotion). You can answer this however you want and it will have absolutely no ramifications for you, whichever you choose. Assuming you’re in the U.S., they’re only asking because companies with more than 100 employees and companies with government contracts over a certain dollar amount have to report the demographic makeup of their applicants and employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (in aggregate, not individually). They’re not allowed to consider your answers when they consider your candidacy; in fact, they’re legally required to store the information separately from the rest of your application. (The exception to this is veteran status; in some cases employers are permitted to give preference to veterans.) They’re also not legally allowed to penalize you for not answering, and they won’t check back on your answers to ensure they match up with info they get about you later on. (So if you said you had a disability when you don’t appear to, they’re not going to ask you about it or even notice or care. Same thing if you said you didn’t have one when you do. This is just about collecting info in the aggregate for reporting.) If you consider your vision issues to be significant enough to be a disability, answer yes. If you don’t, answer no. It will not matter either way! 5. Addressing a federal layoff in my resume and when networking I’m one of the thousands of government employees who were recently RIFed. I’m searching for jobs (using your resources!) and am unsure whether and how to put this layoff on my resume and cover letter. Technically, I’m still on admin leave, so do I put the date on my resume as July 2014-present or July 2014-June 2025? Do I address this in my cover letter? I can’t decide if people will take pity on me or if it will come off as desperate. I also struggle with how to address this in networking situations: do I still work there or am I a former employee? It can get exhausting having people tell me how sorry they are when all I really want is to have someone say “let’s get you a job.” You can do either! “To present” would be accurate because technically you’re still employed, just on leave. “To June 2025″ would also be fine if June is the date when your employment will end. It really won’t matter much either way. You don’t need to address it in your cover letter at all. In networking situations, you can say, “I work as a taco handler for the Department of Dinner, but my job is one of the ones being cut.” You may also like:what to say if an interviewer asks about your favorite books or movieswhat's up with job ads that include "sense of humor"?my company is not planning well for my retirement ... what's my responsibility? { 390 comments }
my new manager is upset I didn’t tell her I was pregnant when I interviewed by Alison Green on April 23, 2025 A reader writes: I recently interviewed for and accepted a job as a nurse at the very small hospital in my very small midwestern town. My lovely manager was very transparent about how they are big supporters of work-life balance, and gave tangible examples of how they support families, because they have “small town values.” She is clearly very proud of this fact and puts a lot of stock in being a “good” manager. I know some of the employees on that floor, and everything she says seems to be true and not just lip service. Well, I am pregnant (around 15-16 weeks when I interviewed) but, naturally, did not disclose this fact until I had a verbal offer from HR, at which point I asked about some unpaid leave since I won’t be eligible for FMLA. The HR rep asked if I had disclosed my pregnancy during the interview. I answered no, and she said something along the lines of, “Of course not, I didn’t think so, I’ll let your manager know.” Well, my manager said to me on my first day, “Congratulations on your pregnancy! I hope you know that I’m very supportive of families and you could’ve told me during your interview.” She seemed, and seems, very miffed. I responded with the usual stuff about how you never know until you know who you’re interviewing with, that the common advice is to wait, blah blah blah. Since then, I’ve committed to being aggressively normal and am planning to let her work out her angst on her own. My question is, if you are relatively certain that the place that you’re interviewing is family-friendly, and you suspect that your manager will be … sensitive to not being disclosed to, or to being perceived as untrustworthy, does it make sense to disclose? I am confident (and was confident during the interview) that they would have hired me either way. I feel like I lost some political capital with her. You can’t know if it’s safe to disclose or not, so you should default to not disclosing. Lots of companies say they’re family-friendly but aren’t. And lots of companies are pretty good at supporting pregnant employees who worked there for a while but might still balk at hiring someone who would be out on leave for months soon after starting. And some would hire a pregnant candidate for some jobs but not for others. And sure, maybe there’s a company out there that’s great about it across the board and would always happily hire pregnant candidates … but you have no way of knowing from the outside which category this company is in, which is why it’s always safer not to disclose until you’ve been hired. In some hypothetical situation where you’d seen the company hire a slew of obviously pregnant candidates, maybe the calculation would be different. Even then, though, you’d be taking the risk that they’d balk at it this time — maybe even because they’d accommodated so many maternity leaves recently, or maybe because this particular job made it harder to accommodate for some reason. A manager who takes that personally and gets upset that you didn’t “trust” her enough to disclose your pregnancy ahead of time is a manager who really isn’t that family-friendly at all. It’s not family-friendly for her to make it about herself and her feelings, rather than understanding that of course people need to worry about discrimination, and of course you don’t know her well enough to feel confident, and there’s a reason the law makes it clear you don’t have to disclose a pregnancy when you’re interviewing for a job. Your manager being “miffed” that you didn’t trust her, a stranger, not to unconsciously or consciously factor your pregnancy into her hiring decision (which is illegal but happens all the time) is a really odd reaction. You didn’t know her! You had nothing to judge on. And frankly, even if you did know her and still decided to use the legal protection afforded to you and not disclose, she’d still have no right to be miffed because discrimination is really common, and your right not to be illegally discriminated against trumps her desire to feel like a trusted ally. (Ironically, her response is proving that she isn’t really a trusted ally anyway.) And to add to all that, at 15-16 weeks you might not have been sharing the news with anyone. Ultimately, it’s just not info she was entitled to. As for what to do from here, being aggressively normal and letting her work out her angst on her own is exactly the right approach. You may also like:my employee asked if I'm pregnantis it dishonest not to disclose you're pregnant when you're interviewing?pregnancy and work: all your questions answered { 181 comments }
I received a job offer — and it was a scam by Alison Green on April 23, 2025 A reader shares this story: I recently received what I believe to be a scam job offer. It seemed too good to be true, and I should have realized it was a scam, especially since I don’t remember applying for the position at the company that supposedly offered it to me. The most obvious red flag was that it seemed too good to be true, and the text in the email was clearly copied and pasted from a template. Still, in the excitement of the moment, I almost fell for it. Here’s how it went down: First email: A seemingly legitimate email from someone within the organization asked me to reply “yes” if I was interested in being considered for the position. I replied “yes,” as I have been applying for jobs almost daily for the past three weeks. It’s possible that I applied for this position and simply forgot. Given the large number of applicants applying for jobs through LinkedIn, I can understand the need for email verification. The name of the emailer and the email address appeared to be real enough, but the emailer did not list a phone number or job title, just an address (which was listed below his name and is a real address for a corporation in Wisconsin). I googled the company, and they are a legitimate organization involved in energy infrastructure. However, the emailer’s name and email address returned no search results. I then googled the emailer’s name by itself and found real people on LinkedIn with similar names, but none of them were employed by the company the emailer claimed to be working for. I reached out to these people on LinkedIn to ask if they had ever worked for the company, and those who replied said no. Second email: I received a job screening questionnaire that was way too generic to be legitimate. There was also a deadline to return the questionnaire by a certain time on the day of receipt. It took me a while to answer the questions, but I made the deadline. I also noticed that the emails sent by the emailer were usually during evening/early morning hours in the United States — certainly, non-standard workday hours for a recruiter, unless they work a third shift. I should have noticed this sooner, but I was still overly thrilled to have been offered a seemingly legitimate job, so I didn’t pay attention to the timing. Third email: After sending in the questionnaire before the deadline, I received an email during those non-working hours telling me that I had “got the job.” However, rather than offering me a salaried position, they said it would be hourly pay with weekly disbursements. This was the first red flag I noticed, as the questionnaire had listed the position as salaried, and now it was hourly. The next step was for me to forward my phone number, physical address, and full name to an HR email address, which would supposedly begin the hiring process, and I would start training immediately. The second red flag was that the email’s text was clearly a copy-paste job — too many spaces between phrases, inconsistent font, capitalization of certain words, and still no job title or phone number for the mysterious emailer. The language also seemed unprofessional for someone working at a company involved in energy infrastructure. The third red flag came when the emailer mentioned that the company would be sending me a check for work expenses and equipment. Having worked in higher education for almost 20 years, I know that reimbursement and expense processes are never that simple, especially when done over email! I was about to reply with the details requested, but I couldn’t shake the “it’s all too good to be true” feeling, especially since I had never communicated with the emailer in person, over the phone, or via Zoom. I still didn’t know their position at the company or how to contact them other than by email. I’ve never been offered a job this quickly or this easily. It just couldn’t be real. So, I replied to the third email with the following: Just a few questions before I confirm or deny the position offered: What is your official position at the company? There is no phone number listed with your email — could you please provide one so I can call you? Please provide the phone number for a human resources representative so I can verify the details you’ve provided. No response as of yet. I even called the corporate headquarters of the company they said they were from and spoke with the head of human resources, and they had no clue who the person was and no record of anybody by that name working there or at any office, and asked me to forward the emails to them so they can investigate for fraud. I now understand how this happened: I have a website that hosts my professional portfolio, resume, and projects. I also list this email address as a contact, so it wouldn’t be hard for someone to craft a scam email based on the information available on my website. I was almost fooled, but it was the small inconsistencies in the text that eventually led me to question the legitimacy of this “job offer.” The most embarrassing part of it all is that I almost fell for it. It was the small things that really added up that made me really question if it was legitimate. Me again. A couple more red flags to note, as well: If that initial email literally just asked you to reply with “yes” … that’s weird and not typical for hiring. Something like “please let us know if you’re still interested,” sure. But “send back the word ‘yes'” is pretty spammy. Offering you the job without a single interview or giving either side a chance to actually talk to each other: huge red flag. It can happen in some pretty narrow circumstances, but it’s incredibly rare for professional jobs. Thanks for sharing this! You may also like:to get an interview, I have to spend a week at a writing retreat at my own expensecoworker is taking credit for my work when she applies for jobs, scam job offer, and moremy friend is bombarding me with urgent messages while I'm at work, I fell for an email scam, and more { 283 comments }
should I report an old mentor who was inappropriate with me? by Alison Green on April 23, 2025 A reader writes: The letter you posted from the volunteer who didn’t disclose something to a student’s teacher and parents reminded me about something that happened to me a while ago with an outside mentor for an after-school program, especially since I was a lot like Marvin in that letter (without the expensive romantic overtures). I was the only girl in a STEM club at my high school, and the mentor was, let’s say, a teapot designer who also trained teapot drivers. Bob wasn’t actually a teacher at my school. He was a volunteer who worked at a well-known organization that the club was associated with, which other schools were involved in. I was 14, and he was in his mid-40s(?). I was that straight-A nerdy gifted-and-talented kid just like Marvin who barely socialized with my peers and gravitated towards teachers instead. I especially gravitated towards Bob because it was/is my dream to be a teapot driver. We had a very close mentor-student relationship, and he always regaled me with stories of his job. After I graduated high school, I stayed in touch with Bob. We would go out to lunches whenever we were in the same city and have long text conversations. I never thought anything was off because our conversations always focused on changes in the industry, scientific discoveries and theories, learning new languages, literature, etc. It was like being friends with Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society. However, after I graduated college, I off-handedly mentioned to him that I had broken up with someone I had been dating. That was when Bob nervously confessed to me, “I’m a bit embarrassed to say this, but I’m attracted to you.” My mind did a complete record-scratch. The only thing I could manage to say was, “Sorry, I don’t date married men.” (Even though him being married was obviously the least of my concerns.) It was the last time I saw him (January 2021). He texted me exactly three times since that occurred — August 2021, January 2022, and February 2022. I ignored all of them, and it was the last I ever heard from him. I had spent the following years questioning myself and my ability to read his intentions (especially after an autism diagnosis that came shortly after). I suddenly remembered a time when he visited me at college. When we were at an ice cream shop, he joked, “A lot of the people there were looking at us thinking I was some old guy dating a young lady like you.” I thought nothing of it at the moment and took it at face value. When he was driving me back to my dorm, he patted my leg and said, “You must be cold! You have goosebumps!” And I laughed then because I actually was cold! And when he offered to take me to his hotel, his intentions flew completely over my head, and I told him that it was late and that I had a mid-term in the morning. (It wasn’t even an excuse! I actually did have a mid-term and truly had no idea he was implying sex!) It made me feel so gross and confused. Did I unknowingly encourage it all because of my autism? Should I have seen the signs either way? Did Bob actually enjoy any of our intellectual conversations, or was he just playing some long game to get into my pants? How long did he have those feelings? Did he become attracted to me after I graduated high school or before? I blocked it all out for the last five years because I didn’t want to think about it. I never even told a therapist about it. A friend suggested I talk to someone at RAINN for advice, but I don’t want to misuse their services since Bob never actually tried to rape or even kiss me. I’m now 28. After I read the Marvin letter, I googled Bob. He’s still in that organization. I feel like I need to say something to someone to stop him from potentially doing this to another student, but I have no idea where to begin or what consequences would arise if I bring it to light. I have no idea if this is something legitimate to warn someone about, or if I’m overreacting, or if it’s been too many years. I’m scared of it turning into a mess of “he said, she said” and having it blow up in everyone’s face. It wasn’t an actual crime that could be applied in a legal sense, so I can’t go to the police. Is there anything I should do? I’m very sorry this happened to you. Bob positioned himself as an older, wiser authority figure and mentor, someone you could trust, and then he abused that trust by trying to sexualize the relationship. Of course you’re now questioning whether he ever enjoyed your conversations the way you thought he did or whether it was all a long game to groom you. I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to that for sure, but what I do know for sure is that you didn’t encourage it. This was a person who had been mentoring you since you were a child. Think about how young the 14-year-olds you know are, and how unreasonable it would be to expect any of them to screen all their interactions with adults through the lens of “am I encouraging this adult to view me sexually?” You paid him the respect of assuming that he was being genuine with you and that he wasn’t a predatory creep. It’s not your fault that he hid it for a while. That’s what dudes like this do. That’s part of how they do it; they know they wouldn’t get anywhere if they made their intentions clear up-front (and in some cases that would get them sent to prison, and rightly so). He took advantage of the access the mentoring program gave him, and he took advantage of the trust you had in him. You aren’t responsible for his choice to do that; that’s 100% on him and no one else. And for the sake of thoroughness, sure, it’s possible that Bob’s interest in you was utterly wholesome for years and then one day, once you were solidly into adulthood, that changed. It still wouldn’t be okay that he didn’t think about or care how violated it might make you feel to be hit on by someone who had been mentoring you since you were 14. (And his visiting you at college and then suggesting you come back to his hotel with him is just … ugh. You might have been technically an adult, but there’s no world where that’s appropriate for the man who’s mentored you since you were a child to do while you’re in college.) As for what to do now … first, you absolutely can contact RAINN, even though Bob didn’t assault you. What he did was a violation, and it’s making you question the same sorts of things people often question after they are assaulted, and the question is around a trusted figure who has made you feel preyed upon. I am confident that they would be happy to talk with you. (Even if they’re not, they’d just explain that; they won’t be outraged that you asked. But again, I’m sure they’ll talk to you. Please call them if you want to!) You would also be on very solid ground in contacting the organization Bob still volunteers for. You’re not asking for an extensive investigation that becomes “he said, she said.” You’d simply be contacting them to say, “I want to let you know that one of your volunteers formed a mentor relationship with me through your program when I was 14, stayed in close contact with me after I graduated, and then propositioned me while I was in college and then a second time after I graduated. It felt very much like an abuse of his access to teenage girls, and I want to make you aware of it.” What they do from there is up to them, but you get to tell them that it happened and that it shouldn’t have. 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my boss says my salary research is wrong because our benefits are so great, calling out sick for flight anxiety, and more by Alison Green on April 23, 2025 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My boss says my salary research is wrong because our benefits are so great I recently received a promotion with a significant increase in job responsibilities and found myself negotiating salary for the first time in my career. My state requires salary ranges to be posted with job descriptions, so I have a good idea what other companies in our industry are offering for my role and my years of experience, and I asked for a similar amount, about 10% higher than what I was offered. My manager wanted to know how I came up with the new number, so I pointed out these job postings. She responded that the total compensation I was being offered, including benefits, was already equivalent to the amount I was asking for, so there was no need to increase the offered salary amount. I understand where she’s coming from; we have very generous benefits, including regular bonuses and multiple reimbursement programs for a variety of qualified expenses, and total compensation is a way to quantify those extra dollars. But in my mind, these benefits are not the same as guaranteed pay. Bonuses are dependent on the company’s profits, and I won’t receive the reimbursement funds unless I incur the relevant expenses. Not to mention that the market rates I’m researching are base salary and I don’t have any way of knowing what the dollar value of another company’s benefits would be for a more equivalent comparison. Is this normal to consider total compensation when negotiating a salary? Am I too focused on the base salary number? I generally consider benefits as more of a happiness boost than a monetary boost (and this is the first time I’ve had benefits that result in me receiving cash payouts), so maybe I need to adjust my mindset. But I feel like my manager is using the company’s benefits package to justify giving me a salary that is below market rate. I’m wondering how I can approach this better at my next salary review. Ha, no, the value of your benefits package isn’t supposed to be used like that. Your boss is comparing salary plus benefits at your current company to salary alone at another; it’s apples and oranges (or cash and scones?). For all we know, the other companies’ benefits packages could be the same or better than your company’s is! It sure is convenient for her to use that to swat away the comparisons, but it’s not at all accurate to do that. Bonuses could be an exception to that if your bonuses are extremely reliable (although still not ideal for the reasons you point out), but “we reimburse a lot of expenses that you may or may not incur”? No. The next time this comes up, you could say, “I appreciate our benefits, but ultimately salary is the most important piece of compensation for me, and that’s what I’m focused on.” You could add, “I can’t include the value of our benefits package without comparing it to the value of theirs.” (And really, she’s practically begging you to go out and learn more about what the competition is offering.) Related: can I include the value of my benefits when I talk about my current salary? 2. Can you call out sick for flight anxiety? This is a hypothetical, but it almost happened. I just had a weekend social obligation in another city that required two flights each way. (These were domestic flights within the U.S.; my local airport doesn’t have direct connections to the destination city.) At the gate for the first flight back home, I was feeling very anxious about the flight and almost bailed to rent a car and drive back. If I had done this, I would’ve had to miss one day of work. Ironically, that flight ended up being super smooth. But if I had gone with my idea, would I have legitimately been able to call out with a sick day, on the grounds that flight anxiety is anxiety and therefore a mental illness? In theory, in a perfect world where everyone understands anxiety and there’s no stigma around mental health? Sure. It should qualify. In this world, though, the wiser move in a lot of organizations would have been to just say your travel arrangements got messed up, you were having to rent a car to get back, and you’d need to use an additional day of vacation to do it. 3. My boss won’t let me send client reports until he reads them, but he never reads them My boss is generally fantastic and supports my professional growth and allows me flexibility in working hours and leeway to manage my clients as best I see fit. However, he has one frustrating area of micromanagement that is causing me workflow issues and I don’t know how to move forward. Our organization’s clients receive quarterly reports on the performance of their products, which I spend about a day each quarter compiling. My boss insists on seeing the reports before I send them to clients. This is despite me never having an error that needs correcting in the five years I’ve worked here. The issue is that he is swamped and it takes him forever to get round to checking and approving the reports. Currently, he hasn’t yet looked at my 2024 Q4 reports, and the Q1 reports for 2025 are now also waiting for him to check. When I finish a report, I email him with a link to where it’s saved. I remind him about checking the reports at least twice a week in our standing meetings, and he says he’ll do it that day but gets distracted by more urgent priorities and the client reports get pushed to the bottom of the pile. My clients have been asking for the 2024 Q4 reports for a couple months now and I have been giving them vague promises of “soon.” Telling clients that the reports are ready but I’m not allowed to send them until I get my manager’s approval makes me sound incompetent. However, being months late sending the reports also seems unprofessional. Every time I finish the quarterly reports, I ask if I can send them to clients, and every time he says “I want to do a quick read-through” and then sits on the reports for months. Do you have any advice on how I could do things differently to get a quicker response? Going to his boss feels like a nuclear option as they’re very senior. I don’t want to stop doing the reports as the clients like them and I find it a useful exercise to see how the products are performing. I just want to send them out reasonably soon after the quarter ends! Have you laid out for your boss that clients keep asking for the reports and you’re concerned it looks bad to keep delaying and then never send them? If not, do that! And then say, “Since I’ve never had an error in the reports in the five years you’ve been looking them over, could our system be that you’ll have a week to look them over, but then I’ll send them at that point if I haven’t heard back from you? I could give you a heads-up the day before. Otherwise they’re not getting to clients in enough time for them to be useful, and I worry we’re making ourselves look bad by delaying them when people keep asking for them.” If he doesn’t like that, could you pull the latest report out in your standing meeting and ask him to go over it with you right then and there so you can put it to bed? 4. I flamed out at my last job, but there were mitigating circumstances — can I apply again? I worked for two years at one of the largest and best employers in my field. During my first year, I did well: received good feedback from managers, got good reviews, had my contract renewed for a second year. During my second year, things took a turn: I struggled, got assigned a new manager in case that would help, was put on a PIP, and ultimately let go. The thing is, there were mitigating circumstances. Starting right at the year mark, I had a series of crises: three pregnancy losses, a surgery, and then a flare-up of a chronic condition so severe that I had to take leave to get treatment. Needless to say, this drastically impacted my work performance, and though my bosses knew what was going on and gave me some grace, I wasn’t able to do enough to mitigate the damage, and they let me go. The good news is, I did get treatment — and what’s more, got an actual diagnosis (which I’d never had before) and got medicated, also for the first time. The difference is night and day. I didn’t realize how much my chronic condition had been impacting my work performance until suddenly it wasn’t any more. In my new job, I’m excelling again, and it feels easy in a way it never has before. I’d like to apply for a role with this org again. I know from reading your site that the phrasing “had some health challenges that have since been dealt with” can go a long way towards explaining resume gaps. But as I understand it, that’s usually done in interviews. Is there a similar way to professionally bring up this situation in my cover letter as a way of basically saying, “Yes, I know my records show I was let go, but the situation was very circumstantial and truly won’t happen again”? Having been a hiring manager, I understand not wanting to take a risk on a candidate with a poor internal record, but as an applicant, I’d love to be considered for the role given that I’m now in a very different life situation and the difficult circumstances are unlikely to happen again. It’s pretty hard to apply at an organization that fired you for poor performance (despite the mitigating circumstances!) so I wouldn’t rely on a cold application and an explanation in your cover letter. Instead, can you get in touch with your last manager there and share the situation? You don’t need to get into private health details but a general description of what happened, that it’s now resolved, and how well you’ve been doing since might go a long way. You can then say you’d love to come back but understand the previous situation might be an obstacle to that, and do they have any advice on whether, given the circumstances, there might be a way to be considered again? They might or might not be able to help, but that’s going to give you a better shot than just applying cold will do (and that manager will definitely be asked about you at some point if you did get considered, so you might as well talk with them and get them briefed ahead of time anyway). Good luck! 5. Employer wants to photocopy my Social Security card As part of a starting a recent job, I went through the usual onboarding processes. I’m aware the purpose of the I-9 form is to verify eligibility to work in the United States. My understanding is, and always has been, that presenting these ID’s is sufficient to meet the requirements of the I-9. Recently, I was asked to provide a photocopy of my Social Security card. The HR person was vague when questioned, only saying, “For company security reasons.” They apparently keep a filing cabinet with these. This is questionable to me and possibly a security risk. Is it legal for a company to request and keep photocopies of sensitive documents such as these? Yes, it’s legal and not uncommon. Many employers keep copies so that if they’re ever audited, they can show that they did in fact check your documents and record the information correctly. The government’s guidance to employers on this says, “You may make copies (or electronic images) of the documentation you reviewed, but must return original documentation to the employee. If you make copies, they should be made consistently for all new hires and reverified employees, regardless of national origin, citizenship, or immigration status, or you may violate anti-discrimination laws.” They’re also required to keep the copies as secure as the I-9 itself. For what it’s worth, a photocopy of your Social Security card doesn’t really make you more vulnerable to identity theft than the I-9 itself does, since an identity thief only needs your card number, not an image of the actual card (and that number gets recorded on the I-9). 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I’m working for my parents’ company — and my colleagues are being jerks by Alison Green on April 22, 2025 A reader writes: Through a bit of misfortune, I had to fall back on working at the company my parents own, in order to pay my bills. It is a challenging job market, to say the least, so I am grateful that I have this safety net I can fall back on. However, it isn’t without its own league of challenges: my coworkers have taken to making complaints about me to my parents, who are the bosses, about issues that quite frankly seem petulant. In one case, one coworker was noting what times I was clocking in and made a complaint when I clocked in three hours earlier than everybody else to finish paperwork in peace without any interruptions. (Because I am neurodivergent, it is very difficult for me to finish a task if I am constantly being distracted by requests, phone calls, and other distractions that happen during business hours.) Another time, the same coworker lodged a complaint because she didn’t see my car in the parking lot and assumed I had not clocked out. After that, I parked my car across the street at another lot and caught her walking around outside our parking lot as if she was looking for my car despite me being at work. I can’t help but feel that this seems very targeted and purposeful because I’m the bosses’ adult child. In another situation, I was given a stack of paperwork that my coworkers had been sitting on for weeks and was then blamed for not finishing the reports by the time they were due. Because they sat on the paperwork so long, some of them were due next day or already overdue. I’m not new to working and have a bachelor’s with 10 years of work experience in various fields, and I’m not under-qualified in any way for my current job. My parents don’t want to give the appearance of favoritism or nepotism, so when these people are making these complaints they’re not quite sure how to navigate it either. It is incredibly frustrating to work with people who shift blame and continue to complain about trivial or petty things when they should be minding their own business. How can my parents and I implement a strategy for dealing with this that isn’t going to drive us all crazy? It’s good that your parents don’t want to create the appearance (or the actuality) of favoritism, but they also shouldn’t go so far in the other direction that they’re ignoring real issues or allowing you to be mistreated. It might be useful for you to ask — and for them to think about — how they would handle it if an employee who wasn’t related to them was being targeted in this way. Hopefully they’d shut it down, and that’s what they should do here too. The next time someone raises a baseless or trivial complaint about you, they should do exactly what they would if you were any other employee. Presumably that means they should say to the complainer, “It’s not your job to track what time other employees clock in and out. If something is interfering with your ability to do your job, please raise it but you should not be monitoring your coworkers’ schedules.” And/or, “Jane has permission to work the schedule she’s working. Please do not continue to monitor colleagues in this way.” If someone gives you work that they sat on for weeks and then gets upset when it’s not finished on time (or if it was already overdue by the time it came to you!), that’s something you can try addressing yourself first: “It looks like this came to us three weeks ago but wasn’t assigned to me until yesterday, which created a time crunch. Can we develop a better system so that doesn’t happen?” And if it continues to happen, escalate it — either to your manager or to theirs. Basically, both you and your parents need to handle it exactly the way you would handle if none of you were related. But bigger picture, they should also try to figure out what’s at the root of people’s resentment. Do they feel you got a job that you don’t deserve? Do you have knowledge gaps that are making their jobs harder? (And if so, are those gaps normal for any new hire but landing differently now because you’re the boss’s kid, or is any of that frustration legitimate?) Do they feel like you’re being held to a different set of rules than they are? (And if so, are you?) Was there already a culture problem in the organization that had people primed to be extra sensitive to any perceived unfairness? Are people frustrated with the organization’s management for other reasons and see you as a symptom of those broader problems? In a reasonably healthy organization, it would be pretty unusual to respond to the owners’ kid the way you’ve described. People might assume you’re getting special treatment, but usually they’d assume that special treatment would make it a particularly bad idea to treat you as an enemy. The fact that they instead feel licensed to openly hassle you says something else might be going on in the culture there … which your parents should dig into, totally independent of whatever is happening around you. You may also like:I am the nepotism hire who no one likesshould I take a job working for my dad?is it bad to be alone with coworkers of the opposite sex? { 299 comments }
should I interview candidates who show up without an appointment? by Alison Green on April 22, 2025 A reader asks: My small business has had a recurring discussion regarding taking meetings with job seekers when we don’t have an open position. Someone will reach out, either by stopping by our office without an appointment or just sending an inquiry by email, and ask if they can meet with someone. In the past, we have taken these meetings as sort of informal interviews. From what I recall, we’ve never made a hire from these meetings when there’s no existing connection to our company or staff. Over the last few years, I’ve discouraged these meetings. They just take up time for our team when we don’t have an opening, and I also feel they can be misleading if we’re not clear enough that we don’t have a position. I’m more inclined to take these meetings if (1) the person has a connection to a current employee who gives a positive recommendation, and (2) we do have an idea of a need on our team that the candidate could be a good fit for. Otherwise, I’d prefer to say thanks for their interest in our company, and we’ll reach out should we have an open position that might be a good fit. I’ve had an inquiry recently from a woman who sent her resume and asked to meet even if we don’t have an opening to learn more about our company and how she can contribute. She’s sent a couple of emails and dropped by without an appointment. I told her we don’t have an opening and that I’d reach out if we do in the future. She followed up with a second email, again asking to meet. She does not have a connection to any of our existing staff, and it seems a bit presumptuous to ask a stranger to take time out of their workday essentially as a favor for some career advice. I’m really curious what your thoughts are on this topic. I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. You may also like:candidate showed up in-person for a Zoom interview "to demonstrate their interest"cold-calling companies and showing up in person to submit a resumeclient shows up without an appointment, despite repeated requests not to { 150 comments }