advice about your boss

Need advice about your boss? Here are answers to all the questions you have about your manager, from how to deal with a boss who yells, to how to tell your manager you’re allergic to her perfume.

can I ask my boss for feedback about how I’m doing?

A reader writes: I am fairly new to the workforce. I’ve been at my current job for close to two years and I cannot shake the feeling that I’m bad at it. Rationally I think there are parts of it that I am indeed not-so-great at; rationally I think there are parts that I’m decent […]

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can I turn down business lunches as an intern?

A reader writes: I’m in the last semester of my junior year at college and just started an internship this month that I’m really enjoying. For context, I applied for a different internship that was not customer-facing, and after my Zoom call with HR was asked to interview for an internship on the team who […]

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can I learn to thrive under a hyper-critical boss?

A reader writes: I work in a competitive, technical field where I need to be able to research, think critically, propose solutions, and write persuasively. I’ve always gotten good feedback on these skills, except in my current role from my boss, Jane. Jane’s style of feedback entails questioning every single detail, where it came from, […]

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my boss keeps leaving her kid with me

A reader writes: I work at a tristate chain. My location manager is the owner’s wife, Jane, but rumor has it that he recently cheated on her and ran out on her and their kid. It’s a terrible situation that should be none of my business. The issue is that when summer break started, Jane […]

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am I supposed to thank my boss for paying me?

A reader writes: I’ve just had a mid-year profit share conversation with my boss (who majority owns the company, and note that we do not bring out the best in each other so perhaps this is just interpersonal friction) where he told me what my payment would be. This is an established, formal profit share […]

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how to professionally say “I told you so”

A reader writes: I work at a small-ish company in a creative industry that has a lot of issues with changing/inconsistent expectations and management that isn’t in the habit of really listening to employee feedback. My direct manager and grandboss also have a habit of saying one thing in team trainings and then doing the […]

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