where are you now? (a call for updates)

by Alison Green on November 13, 2015

At the end of each year, I publish “where are they now” updates from people whose questions I answered here in the past year. It’s time for 2015’s version, so …

If you’ve had your question answered here in the last year, please email me an update and let us know how your situation turned out. Did you take the advice? Did you not take the advice? What happened? Leave no juicy detail out! I’ll post updates as they come in. (Don’t post them here though; email them to me.)

And if there’s anyone you especially want to hear an update from, mention it here and I’ll reach out to those people directly.

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    5. WorkingMom*

      I would love to read another update on this one – really hoping that things worked out for that letter writer!!

      1. Kvaren*

        NM, found Allison’s link in another thread.

        So that this isn’t a complete waste of a post, here are my favorites so far this year:
        Duck club
        Boss who kept stealing food
        Person who had $20k debt on company credit card
        Boss who offered to buy lingerie or something? Can’t quite remember.

  7. Merry and Bright*

    Did we get an update from the person whose coworker had a noisy active night in the hotel room next door?

    1. Road Warrior.*

      That was my letter! The “update” isn’t interesting enough to justify sending Alison a full email but the end result was she dug her own grave with some other incidents and is being let go soon.

      4. voyager1*

        Oh what other incidents? Anything juicy enough for snapchat :)

        Honestly I am glad you came back and gave the lil update originally, I felt a few people on here were way to judgemental with their responses before you came back that day.

  9. Cordelia Naismith*

    An update from the person whose employee would take out a red pen and correct her memos during meetings.

  10. Juana*

    I realize there is very little possibility of an update from the guy with the offensive sticker on his truck… but I’m still holding onto hope for an update. Please, Santa!

    1. Clever Name*

      One of our new employees has an offensive/tasteless sticker on his vehicle. I’m not sure if HR told him or if he got tired of people taking a photo of it with their phones and sniggering, but he now backs into the parking space so the sticker isn’t visible.

  11. Beebs*

    This was from last year, but maybe there is a new version for this year. Whatever happened to Hanukkah Balls?

    1. OfficePrincess*

      Something tells me we could get quality updates on Hanukkah Balls every year until she finds a new job!

    2. Elkay*

      I’d like to see an update on that too. I thought the OP promised a second update (there was definitely one update around the time of the original letter).

  12. Carrie in Scotland*

    I know she did an update a little while ago but I think alot of us here would like to hear from the OP who was facing incurable cancer and then in her update was let go. That one really brought together the AAM community.

    Others on my wish list:

    – The mayan shaman boss
    – The OP who had a homeless man sleeping in the doorway when she had to open up
    – the coworker who wrote a mean blog about the OP
    – the OP who had a messed up work history & then was finding it hard to find a job
    – the young woman who was asking how decline men’s offers to help her carrying things at work
    – the boss who phoned her employees dad after the employee called out sick
    – the employee who didn’t want his manager to give him feedback
    – the Canadian OP who was getting terrible advice from a govt career centre
    – the OP who was interning at a place who was offering bad career advice for people on a low income (also, Alison, did you ever write to them?)
    – The credit card OP (again)
    – another company is opening & maybe stealing the OP’s company’s mail
    – the employee who was allergic to dogs and her office was dog-friendly
    – OP 1 in the short answer post 13 Aug (overweight employee who is breaking the office chairs)
    – The OP from September who was transitioning and was interviewing
    – the graphic designer whose co-worker was trying to do the design – and not doing a good job of it
    – the OP who was interviewing and wondering if she should make the candidates aware she was gay
    – the OP whose job became more travel orientated and it was expensive to board her dogs
    –

    3. Dot Warner*

      All of these plus:

      -the irritated manager who wouldn’t stop yelling
      -the manager who’d inherited a poor performer who’d been granted a lot of slack by his previous managers

    1. Al Lo*

      How is it possible that that one was in March? I swear it was just, like, 6 weeks ago. Geez. Where has this year gone?

  14. ZSD*

    Have you gotten any updates from people whose letters you’ve resurrected for the Inc. column? anyone who’s said, “Wow, seeing my letter from four years ago was a real blast from the past. Here’s how things turned out”?

    1. Ask a Manager* Post author

      I sometimes email them to let them know it’s running again, and I think a few of them have updated in the comments there, if I’m remembering correctly!

    1. Owl*

      Oh man, I thought you meant that the new hire was intended to actually personally fire the guy he replaced!

  17. AnotherFed*

    Not this year, but could we get an update on the one where an employee was putting curses on people?

    1. AnotherFed*

      Also, an update from the OP on the halal meal request – I’m really interested in how that works out, especially after today’s terrorist attacks. Whether it is fair or not, linkage is real, and resolving that in day to day workplaces is something that I think a lot of people are going to have to figure out.

      And if you’re in France, I’m so sorry for your losses.

  18. Sara M*

    The guy named King. Did corporate ever respond? Did they say anything about the manager who wanted him to change his name?

  19. T-Shirt*

    This was from 2014, but I am dying to know how things turned out with the out-of-control museum volunteer who was keeping a bunch of the collection in his house. There was an update in December 2014 and the OP said they were doing a Museum Assessment Program, and I am so curious to know what the MAP rep thought.

  21. INFJ*

    -situation with coworkers mocking the funeral singing of an excoworker
    -coworker always asking for food and money (but didn’t seem to be in dire need, or at least didn’t express so)

  22. The Whitewalker Formerly Known As Jon Snow*

    I am impressed with everyone’s memory! Throughout the year I think “yes, I can’t wait for that update!” but now can barely remember them.
    I ‘second’ what everyone has suggested and will add

    The one in which the female OP was informed she would be spending a week in a house with men but would have her own bathroom. Did she go? How was it?
    The one in which the retail employee was let go when she was ‘shoulder-surfed’ –she was texting an unkind comment about her bus-mate and a customer from her store recognized her, took screen shots, and sent them to the woman’s boss.

    Thanks!

  23. Mimmy*

    Another vote for the “shoulder surfer”.

    It may be too soon because it was this week, but I’m hoping for an update from the OP who had to classify some employees as “per diem” despite working full-time hours so that the employer wouldn’t have to pay benefits.

  24. Isben Takes Tea*

    Oooh oooh, the one whose employee saw mileage reimbursement as compensation and was really upset that the OP was now wanting him to use a company car.

  25. Lizzy*

    I want an update from the LW who was being objectified by her female supervisor and was labeled the office supermodel. That sparked a lively discussion. And what was worrying is she later stopped by the comment section to add that her looks were also being objectified by some male colleagues as well, with one of them trying to gaslight her when she confronted him.

    I hope she got a new job. :/

  26. Sherm*

    Which updates do I want? SO MANY.

    –The partying coworker who would miss work or come in late/hungover, making the OP feel compelled to cover for her, including missing a doctor appointment
    –The OPs that were afraid that their boss would explode when they announced their resignation. (There’s been a couple at least.)
    –The coworker who kept calling the OP “baby mama”
    –The OP who told the boss to “F off”
    –The coworker who caused a horrible drunken scene at an employee’s wedding
    –The OP who hated work, any type of work

  27. Alma*

    The OP who had a supervisor who regularly had “colorful” phone conversations with a SO and never closed his office door – and the whole office could hear every detail.

  28. Rachel*

    A lot of the updates I want to see have been mentioned already. I’ll add the person who was asked to sign a form saying that she could be fired immediately if the company even suspected her of theft.

  29. Andrew*

    I would like an update about the boss who flipped out at the employee who pranked them with a fake spider.

  30. Arts & Style*

    This is an old one (2007, so I realize an update may not be possible), but it is one of my favorite posts. I feel that the advice was spot on and encouraging to the OP and what she was able to do in the following 10 days was wonderful. She did give an update to her original post, but I always wondered how the last 2 weeks went between her and her boss and how things were at the new job. Would love to hear another update!

    https://www.askamanager.org/2007/11/offensively-low-pay-increase.html
    https://www.askamanager.org/2007/12/update-from-reader-being-lowballed-by.html

    1. Jess*

      Thank you for linking those letters! I’d never read them before and they put a huge smile on my face. Good for that LW!

  31. Jess*

    I wonder what happened with the LW who wanted to work crazy overtime for no pay and was upset that his or her company wouldn’t permit it.

  32. Key to the West*

    Just an idea Alison, but have you thought about seeing if there’s the functionality to pin comments to the top, that way when people update in the comments of their original post, or indeed elsewhere, they could get pinned so people don’t miss them?

  33. Meg Murry*

    I know it was only a few weeks ago, but I wonder if the OP who asked if it was unprofessional to go bra-less found anything commenter said as helpful, either as a bra or bra alternative, or a way to hide the fact she wasn’t wearing one. She commented on the post a few times the next day, but it wasn’t clear to me whether she found anything in the comments she could use.

  35. ZSD*

    This one just came in recently, but I’d definitely like an update from the Australian whose boss’s Looney Tunes wife is offended that the employees want to be paid.

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