jerks

Jerks at work come in all flavors — credit-hoggers, bullies, underminers, and more. Here’s help in dealing with them.

my coworker accidentally sent me a recording making fun of me

A reader writes: My coworker sent me a five-minute voicemail. She had inadvertently recorded herself talking about me, making fun of me and laughing at my appearance. She also promised the person she is speaking to that she will show them my picture later. Laugh laugh laugh. After listening to the message, I sent a […]

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our head of security took upskirt photos of an intern

A reader writes: Curious to hear your take on a situation that came up a long time ago at a previous workplace. Shortly out of college, I got a job working for a nonprofit cultural institution that had a fair share of unpaid interns working across the organization. Our head of security had a reputation […]

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a friend of my ex-boyfriend verbally attacked me at work

A reader writes: I have been working for a large corporation for a few years now. Recently, Joe started a new job here; he is a friend of an ex-boyfriend I recently broke up with (and who is still bitter about the breakup, although I’ve moved on). I got a new office space today and […]

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a manager scolded me for having a cold sore on my face

A reader writes: Is it unprofessional to go to work with active cold sores on your face? I occasionally get them and have never considered it to be a big deal until recently when someone at work commented on it. Last week I had a cold sore in the middle of my lower lip. It […]

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my trust fund coworker bullies staff for being “poor”

A reader writes: We just got a new team member a few months ago, “Lucy.” Lucy makes no secret about it that she’s a trust-fund kid: private schools, Ivy League, owns a fancy horse, the works. She’s like a stereotype from a bad sitcom. She’s in a role parallel with mine and we have to […]

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