December 2016

vote for the worst boss of 2016

2016 was the year of bad bosses, and now it’s time to vote on the worst one of the whole year. We had a lot of candidates this year, and I’ve tried to narrow it down to the worst. We’ll crown the worst boss of the year later this week, based on your votes … so please vote below. (Voting […]

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updates: recovering professionally after an internet hate campaign, teased about my drunken holiday party behavior, and more

Continuing our annual December “where are they now” series, here are five more updates from people who had their questions answered here this year. 1. Recovering professionally after an internet hate campaign (first update here) Things went both good and bad. My company continued to stand up for me publicly, and eventually the internet hate died […]

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weekend free-for-all – December 17-18, 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.) Recommendation of the week: How to […]

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update: my coworker won’t stop complaining about our health insurance and I feel horribly guilty

Remember the letter-writer whose coworker wouldn’t stop complaining about his health insurance and she felt guilty because she’d helped hire him? Here’s the update. Well, first of all, everyone told me to stop feeling guilty, and I actually took that to heart. The next time teammate made a comment about how he wished he could […]

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update: my boss is verbally abusive and won’t pay me

Remember the letter from the person working for a start-up where the founder wasn’t paying him and was being verbally abusive? Here’s the update. I’m happy (and relieved) to let you and your readers know that I have finally quit my job! Here’s what has happened since the last time I emailed you. I honestly […]

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when a “sick” employee is spotted around town

A reader writes: Should an employee who has called in sick to work and is seen out shopping lose that day’s pay? I am the employer. I answer this question — and four others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and […]

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all my 2016 book recommendations

All year long, I’ve made a weekly book recommendation when kicking off the weekend open thread. These aren’t work-related books; they’re just books I love and think everyone else should read. Sometimes they’re books that I’m in the middle of reading, and other times they’ve just long-standing favorites. Here’s the complete list of what I’ve […]

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open thread – December 16-17, 2016

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * If you submitted […]

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