Ask a Manager

Remember the letter-writer last year who was a Halloween fanatic but their company wanted them to work on Halloween? Here’s the update. I’m happy to report that I still love the job AND … I have Halloween off this year! The same project is happening again, and it was agreed that I would do a […]

Here are four updates from past letter-writers. 1. Disclosing PTSD at work (#2 at the link) Alison kindly responded to my email privately with some extra info, and I thought I’d give an update. I followed her advice and let my supervisors know I’m dealing with PTSD due to complicated family issues. They were extremely […]

Remember the letter-writer last week who didn’t want to change her hair routine for a coworker who seemed bothered by the smell of her shampoo? Here’s the update. I asked Jane to give me a call when she had a spare moment but of course she showed up in my office instead. I told her […]

Remember the letter-writer whose coworker refused to wear a mask, despite the company mask policy? The first update was here, and here’s the latest. I wrote to you last year about a non-masking coworker, and wanted to provide a second happy update, if I may. First, I wanted to say thank you for publishing my question, […]

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. Recruiter made ominous comments about my current job (#2 at the link; first update) I’m back again with a much nicer update. I sort of regret my last update. I wrote it from a very emotional place shortly after we received the bad news. When I read […]

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. How do you learn what types of jobs exist? It’s been a little over four months since I sent in my question, I’m still at the retail job, and I have so much good news I barely know where to start. To clarify my situation a little […]

Remember the letter-writer whose overpaid coworker is rude, rarely here, and called colleagues “uptight” and “slaves” for caring about their jobs? Here’s the update. A few readers asked for an update, so…TL;DR Cersei is gone! Some things that transpired after I sent in the letter were that Cersei asked to be moved to part-time, and they […]

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. Is my manager the problem … or am I? After being fired, my job search was hard, but about six weeks and four interviews with different companies later, I was hired in a new role! The new role has a 20% raise, fewer hours a week, more […]

Remember the letter-writer who whose chatty coworkers kept saying wildly inappropriate things? Here’s the update. I wrote to you a few months ago regarding my two coworkers who had no sense of what was appropriate in an office environment. Boy, have a lot of things happened since then! This is a long update, but I […]

Here are four updates from past letter-writers. 1. My former coworkers crashed my networking party I thought now would be a good time to provide an update on my letter because after a break for Covid, conferences and networking events are returning in full force in my industry. It’s embarrassing to say, but I did […]