December 2016

update: I’m in trouble for what I wore when when my boss made me pick him up for the airport in the middle of the night

‘Tis the season of updates from letter-writers! Between now and the end of the year, I’ll be posting at least one update every day (including weekends!) from someone who had their letter answered here this year. I received a lot of updates this year, which I’m very excited about. Today’s update is from last week’s […]

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is it unprofessional to write notes on your hands, should you take severance or a PIP, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Is it unprofessional to write notes on my hands? I work in a fast-paced environment that’s semi-open to the public, and am frequently running around the office and public area juggling urgent tasks and sudden requests. To keep track of things-I-must-not-forget-but-can’t-do-right-this-very-second, I write on my […]

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update: how can I keep my star performer, without being able to pay or promote him (while his less competent coworker earns double)?

Remember the letter-writer in August who was trying to figure out how to keep his young star performer without being able to promote him or give him much more money … while his slower, less skilled coworker earned almost double? Here’s the update. To clarify some things, my company has a two-tier partnership structure. There […]

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weekend free-for-all – December 3-4, 2016

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. (This one is truly no work and no school. If you have a work question, you can email it to me or post it in the work-related open thread on Fridays.) Book recommendation of the week: Domestic […]

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5 more updates from letter-writers

Here are five more updates from people who had their letters answered here this year. (I’ll be printing updates daily or close-to-daily through the end of the month. We’ve got a lot this year!) 1. Advising a great applicant to run far, far away from my troubled workplace (#2 at the link) I really appreciated your […]

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4 updates from letter-writers

Here are four updates from people who had their letters answered here this year. 1. My coworker is threatening to lie to get our manager in trouble Just wanted to thank you for posting my letter and your answer. It really helped, as well as did the wonderful and helpful comments. I did meet with […]

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