Ask a Manager

Remember the letter-writer who was getting ready to leave for a new job and one of her current coworkers wouldn’t stop badmouthing her soon-to-be-new boss? (#5 at the link) Here’s the update. I’ve just finished my first week at the new job. So it’s still very early to tell, but here’s what I’ve learned. * […]

Remember the letter-writer whose coworker spent the day eating, burping, watching bizarre YouTube videos, and then would ask her for hugs? Here’s the update. After suffering through increasingly obnoxious levels of gross from my office mate, I finally could not take it anymore and decided that I couldn’t continue to sit there day after day, […]

Remember the manager asking about a high-performing but high-drama employee? Here’s the update. I took the advice of several of the writers to do a debrief. So at our next regular monthly meeting, we talked through one of these stressful scenarios in great detail: what happened, how she felt, how others on the team were […]

Remember the reader whose coworker was covertly taking cell phone photos of her and others during staff meetings? Here’s her update. First of all, I feel bad that I didn’t end up posting in that thread. The day that my question was posted, there was a death in my family so I wasn’t able to […]

The letter from the person whose boss was insisting on being the “life coach” for all his employees was one of my favorite this year. Because, absurdity! Here’s the update. About two weeks after I initially emailed you and my story was posted, I made the decision to resign from my position in the company. […]

Remember the reader whose mother kept telling her that she wouldn’t possibly get any of the jobs she interviewed for? They live together, which made the situation harder. Here’s her update. When I wrote to you originally, I was at a point where I was really feeling defeated. You weren’t the first person to tell […]

Remember the person whose company was threatening to strand her at an out-of-town job site after she gave her notice? Here’s the update. I talked with HR about everything my boss was doing and how he was threatening to take my things and leave me stranded and so they called him, and he was told […]