Ask a Manager

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. My boss has weaponized her personality test results (#2 at the link) I wrote in a while ago about my boss’s use of her Clifton strengths as a weapon. She’s still “maximizing” things, but less often. We were talking about how a client hadn’t completed a report […]

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. An update to a Friday good news letter (#4 at the link) I went into my new position in part as a way of finding out if I wanted to go into management long-term. I learned very quickly that no, I do not, or at least not […]

Remember the letter-writer concerned that her company would make her travel during the pandemic? Here’s the update. I ended up having to respond to my company before Alison posted my question. I did end up including a little lie, thinking there would be less push back: I said that due to family circumstances I didn’t […]

Remember the letter-writer who wanted to leave her horrible, abusive job but feared a major project she’d worked on would die if she quit? Here’s the update. Thank you for your good advice and for running my letter! This whole situation is just soaked in weirdness. Before I give an update, I want to clarify […]

Remember the letter-writer whose new team was taunting her because of her nut allergy? She had repeatedly found Snickers bars lined up on her desk, and her manager knew and wasn’t stopping it — and thus become a Worst Boss of the Year nominee. Here’s the update. I just wanted to say a massive thank […]

Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. My coworker knowingly exposed me to COVID-19 First of all, I did not get COVID from Stacy (and have somehow managed not to get it from anyone else either, despite living in one of the worst hot-spots in the nation). As for what happened after I got […]

Remember the letter-writer whose boss’s stress was so out of control that people were asking the letter-writer about it? Here’s the update. Thank you for your thoughtful answer to my letter! You were right that the lack of delegation from my manager was the heart of the issue. The main reason I didn’t ask about […]

Remember the letter from the person grappling with how to get privacy from their live-in nanny? Here’s the update. Thank you for your initial advice – I thought it was very sound!  I would like to answer some of the questions that were brought up in the comments. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be […]

Remember the letter-writer whose employer — a theater — had laid everyone off but then re-hired them when they got a federal pandemic loan, and she was worried they’d just be laid off again when the loan ran out? (#4 at the link) Here’s the update. You answered my question about this in 2020, and […]

Here are four updates from people who had their letters answered here in the past. 1. We have to send three updates a day while working from home I originally wrote to you in March and things have changed a lot since then. In regards to the 12pm check-ins, we were able to compromise with […]