Ask a Manager

Here are three updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. I told my job I wanted to leave, and then COVID happened (#3 at the link) I wrote in to you in April because I had let my job know that I wanted to leave before COVID hit and […]

Here are three updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. What to say when a “vacation” isn’t a vacation (#4 at the link) Your advice and that of the commenters arrived in time for me to use wording suggestions and to let go of it better when it didn’t […]

Remember the letter about the job candidate’s husband who suspiciously photographed her interviewer ahead of their meeting? The first update was here, and here’s the latest: This is not an update I had wanted to write, but I hope that by doing so, it might help others who observe or experience this. Jane is no […]

Remember the letter from the library worker whose county was forcibly assigning library workers to provide childcare for county employees? Here’s the update. Before I get into anything else, I’ll note that due to information I was provided on the legality of initiatives like the one at my library within my particular state, I didn’t […]

Here are four updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. Family noise when working from home due to quarantine (#4 at the link) I wrote in a few months ago about an upcoming vacation my family was planning and how to make it work if his employer insisted on […]

Here are four updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. Should I rent from my boss to escape Covid? (#2 at the link) I didn’t end up renting from my boss. I stayed with family out of town during our several months of WFH, but would have been unable […]

Remember last week’s letter about the job candidate’s husband who suspiciously photographed her interviewer ahead of their meeting? Here’s an update from the letter-writer, along with more details about what happened. Thank you for a well-reasoned response! And thank you everyone else for your insightful input as well. I admit that I left a lot […]

Here are three updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. I was late my first week — and now I need to call out sick When I called my boss to explain the situation, she was completely understanding. It probably helped my case though that I was still hacking, coughing, […]

Remember the letter-writer in April whose company was planning to cut their pay retroactively? Here’s the update. Thank you again for answering my question. The feedback from you and the commenters was both helpful and insightful! As expected, layoffs happened the day before you published my letter. We lost almost a quarter of our workforce, […]

Here are three updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. My coworker is giving a colleague underwear in our Secret Santa I wrote to you in November about my colleague (let’s call him Andy) who thought it was a good idea to give underwear as a present for Secret […]