A reader writes: I travel once or twice a month for work, almost all domestic and for fairly short trips. As a resident of Washington, D.C., I almost always fly American from DCA simply because it’s much closer to my house and I have the widest range of non-stops. This has never been a problem, […]
Read the full article →Here are four updates from people who had their letters answered here recently. 1. My employee constantly talks about waiting for 5:00 and the weekend This employee’s overall performance did not improve. I did not speak to her about her “5 o’clock” habit, but I did address other performance concerns as they arose. She called […]
Read the full article →I wrote last week that for new managers, the first year of managing is usually one long string of mistakes. Among the most common: not addressing problems early and instead waiting until they’re bigger and more serious … not thinking through work before you assign it and then frustrating everyone by swooping in late in the game […]
Read the full article →It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. An employee punched a manager who didn’t approve her day off A incident of violence happened at my office. I manage several departments and one of the supervisors was assaulted by an employee. It happened near her office, the employee went there because she was […]
Read the full article →A reader writes: How do I deal with a nearby coworker (in an open office workplace) who spends a great deal of her work shift gossiping, using profanity, complaining, and being unpleasant? Every day consists of her complaining about clients; trashing our product by saying no one uses it and it is worthless; complaining about […]
Read the full article →A reader writes: I was recently interviewed for a job I was very excited about. I completed an online application for the job, and I know the starting wage was what I was looking for. When I looked at the job posting a few days later, the starting pay was gone. I didn’t think anything […]
Read the full article →A reader writes: While driving to my temp job recently (all I could get after losing my job earlier this year in a mass layoff), I was hit and pushed for about half a mile by a large commercial vehicle at highway speed. Multiple lawsuits — civil and criminal — are pending against him. After calling […]
Read the full article →It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I got caught lying about a sick day I did something stupid. I finished college this spring and had just started working a full-time job in the industry I attended school for. The company I got the job at has a policy where new employees […]
Read the full article →A reader writes: I received an odd email from an alum of my university (“Jane,” a stranger to me), asking for help finding her husband “Bob” a job in my state, where they were planning on moving. The email was bcc’ed, so I assume she searched for “wide job field” and “state” and sent an […]
Read the full article →It’s “It’s Complicated” week at New York Magazine’s The Cut — a week of stories on modern relationships. This week my column there tackles a whole bunch of questions about office relationships: What do you do if you think your boss is having an affair with your coworker? Can you ask an old date for […]
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