March 2019

weekend free-for-all – March 30-31, 2019

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: The Italian Teacher, by Tom Rachman. It’s about a terrible, infuriating father and the mark he makes on the son who longs to connect with […]

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open thread – March 29-30, 2019

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 […]

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what to do when a potential reference turns you down

A reader writes: How do I respond to a rejection email from a potential reference? I am a graduate student and requested a reference from a professor I know well. I was shocked when she responded, “You can use me as a reference, but I would have to be honest… if they ask me about […]

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my coworkers want status updates — but I don’t have them because my boss is a bottleneck

A reader writes: I frequently field “status update?” requests for my projects. But I’m not sure if I’m doing myself any favors in my approach to these emails. Some of the issue here is that I work for a micromanager (Cersei) who picks apart emails, frequently changes standards, and doesn’t communicate “behind the scenes” executive […]

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my employee lied about a reference

A reader writes: I wanted to run a scenario by you that happened to a friend of mine the other day. He told me that one of his direct reports had asked him for a reference for a part-time weekend gig to make some extra money. He said that this staff member was a high […]

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