my boss loves being told she’s beautiful by Alison Green on April 7, 2025 A reader writes: My boss clearly loves compliments on her appearance, and our team is responding with more and more of them. It feels embarrassing and a bit ridiculous to me, especially since no one ever makes these kind of compliments to anyone else (e.g., “I love your shoes” to another team member but stuff […] Read the full article →
my employer fined me $90 for being late by Alison Green on January 20, 2025 I’m off for the holiday, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2018. A reader writes: My company has a ridiculous late fine policy: you will be fined $2 for every minute, starting from 9:01 a.m. So if you come in at 9:05 a.m., that’s $10 you gotta pay […] Read the full article →
I walked in on employees having sex — and I think there’s a sex club in my office by Alison Green on October 2, 2024 I’m off for a few days so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2015. Is it real? Is it fake? I honestly don’t know. I normally don’t print letters that I think are likely fake, although the update made me less sure. Ultimately I don’t think it matters (as […] Read the full article →
update: my coworkers are engaged but one of them is cheating … with my boss by Alison Green on September 4, 2024 Remember the letter-writer whose coworkers are engaged but one of them is cheating with the writer’s boss? Here’s the update. Thank you so much for responding to my question. I couldn’t really respond to any of the comments on your post, but I read them and really had a good think about everything you said […] Read the full article →
employer made us take fake lie detector tests to trap a stealing receptionist by Alison Green on September 3, 2024 A reader writes: A coworker, Kate, and I used to work together at another company several years ago. I was visiting with her recently, when she brought up a situation we encountered at the old place. At the old firm, I was a manager and Kate reported to another manager. A bunch of cash payments […] Read the full article →
I spent a ton of time helping 2 employees who hate each other … now they’re dating by Alison Green on May 6, 2024 A reader writes: Over the last few months, one of my people (Alice) has repeatedly come to me about conflict with a neighboring department’s person (Mary). Both are at the same fairly junior level — they’re a few years out of school. The conflict has always seemed odd, and fairly amorphous, but both Alice and […] Read the full article →
I’m supposed to share a bed with a coworker on a business trip by Alison Green on February 20, 2024 A reader writes: I started a new job recently and was told that there was a department-wide meeting coming up in another city in March. In total, they are flying around 45 people in for two days/one night. As I’m leading one of the sessions, I was in the organizer’s spreadsheet and found a list […] Read the full article →
my boss and my employee won’t stop asking me to spend the night at their houses by Alison Green on February 12, 2024 A reader writes: I am a mid-level manager at a medium-sized company. I have worked here for four years now, and this problem has been happening since I started. About six months after I started, my boss invited me to a Halloween party at her house. I felt like I should go because she is […] Read the full article →
I have to go to an awkward Valentine’s Day work dinner right after a breakup by Alison Green on January 29, 2024 A reader writes: I am a 53-year-old woman. I have just gone through a surprising, disappointing, and painful breakup, and so far I’m coping and keeping my turmoil out of the workplace. As a single woman in years past, I’ve taken to traveling the few days surrounding my Valentine’s Day and my birthday (which is […] Read the full article →
I had to share a bed with a coworker on a business trip by Alison Green on January 15, 2024 I’m off for the holiday, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2016. A reader writes: Some coworkers and I recently went on overnight travel, and the plan was to have us split two hotel rooms. Sharing a room with people I work with is less than my favorite […] Read the full article →