Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker says I don’t respond to his emails — which I never received My department has been working from home due to the current situation, so we have been having a lot of Zoom meetings. I was unable to attend one yesterday but was […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My friend got me a job — and now I’m being assigned work that will push her out Six months ago, my friend recruited me for a job opening, working with her on a really interesting project at a great company. She and I have […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My team keeps holding lunches at a restaurant that doesn’t accommodate my allergy I have a peanut allergy that isn’t life-threatening, but is severe enough to put me completely out of commission for the rest of the day if I accidentally consume peanuts. I work […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How do I stop clients from ranting about why we haven’t reopened yet? I work for a national nonprofit that does hands-on, in-person work. We have been closed since mid-March, got a PPP loan in the second round (so staff are still getting paid), and […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Taking long bereavement leave during a busy time A few years ago, I had a manager tragically lose her sister in an unexpected accident. In the kind of awful luck that compounds those situations, this was a job with a well-defined busy season when we […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My employee wants to vacation outside the state in the midst of coronavirus My direct report has requested vacation time late next month and followed up on his request because he found a great deal on a flight. When I pressed him about it, he […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Can I put up privacy film on a window to block an annoying exec from watching me? I work on the executive floor of a traditional office building as an executive assistant. The floor is set up so that the hallway is lined on one […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’m being inundated with business offers by family and social contacts I work in an industry and on a product that is not only generally unaffected by COVID-19, but business is actually booming. We’re making headlines internationally and people are flocking to the product. With […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should I move in with coworkers? I am a 20-something in my first job out of grad school, and because of the low-paying industry I work in plus the high-cost-of-living area, roommates are a must. My company is made up mostly of other women in […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Asking coworkers to go to vegetarian-friendly restaurants on business trips I am vegetarian (by choice). Normally, this is not a huge issue, and many of my friends and coworkers don’t even know I am vegetarian. If we’re going to a restaurant that doesn’t have good […]