December 2017

updates: the work note left on a grave and more

Here are updates from five people whose letters were answered here this year. 1. My coworker keeps asking his wife for input on our projects I think my coworker figured out based on our ignoring his wife’s input that we weren’t going to listen to it, because he hasn’t since tried to do that again! I […]

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debriefing a project without personal attacks, letting people know I’ll be their reference, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Making sure a project debrief doesn’t become a personal attack on a coworker We’re a small company of five (three full, two part-time) that sells, let’s say, teapots. The holidays are always a crazy time for us with everyone working full-steam. Going into this holiday, we knew […]

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updates: the tonsils tyrant, the old job gossip, and more

Here are updates from four people whose letters were answered here in the past. 1. My boss is insisting I get my tonsils out My situation has change dramatically. I visited my doctor again and told her about my manager’s demands. My doctor told me she’d support me in taking a few mental health days off […]

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Christmas open thread – December 25, 2017

It’s the Christmas open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything that you want to talk about — work-related, not work-related, doesn’t matter. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please don’t repost it here, as it may be in the to-be-answered queue :)

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I’m being assigned “make up” work before maternity leave, coworker is pushing prescription pills, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’m being assigned “make up” work before my maternity leave I work in an academic library in a tenure-track position. All of the librarians are expected to work some evening and weekend shifts, which are divided up equally according to a schedule created by a […]

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updates: the acne, the client apology, and more

Here are updates from four people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. Could my acne be keeping me from getting a job? (first update here) I can’t say much without giving too many potentially identifying details, but I learned that our turnover is absolutely insane. We have lost several people already […]

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weekend free-for-all – December 23-24, 2017

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.) Book recommendation of the week: Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee. It’s a four-generation saga of a Korean family living in Japan. Someone recommended this last week and it’s fantastic. […]

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