January 2019

I ghosted a client and now I need to finish my work for her

A reader writes: I work in a jack-of-all-trades type position doing administrative work, graphic design, web design, and more. The hours that I spend at that job are full-time for my ability level, but are technically part-time and read that way to others. Earlier this year, someone I worked with in the past asked if […]

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our sick leave practices are a mess

Every year around this time, my inbox at Ask a Manager fills up with complaints about coughing, sneezing colleagues who shouldn’t be at work and, by coming in, are putting everyone else at risk of getting sick, too. Sometimes, of course, it’s due to a martyr complex – the feeling that work cannot possibly go […]

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weekend free-for-all – January 5-6, 2019

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.) Book recommendation of the week: The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust, by Diana B. Henriques, the New York Times business correspondent who covered the […]

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open thread – January 4-5, 2019

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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was this interview as bizarre as I think it was?

A reader writes: I recently went on my first interview in my field after finishing school two weeks ago, and the interview was odd in a few different ways. 1. Although I’m white with a British background on both sides, my last name is one that one would assume is Korean or Indigenous. The first […]

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my boss makes people work late for no reason

A reader writes: My boss has told my two salaried coworkers on more than one occasion that she wants to see them working late more often (like she does), even while admitting that they get everything done on time and their work is excellent. The other day she said to me that she believes as […]

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the government shutdown: an open thread for people being furloughed

With the government shutdown nearing two weeks and hundreds of thousands of government employees and contractors furloughed — and currently not getting paid — here’s an open thread for people who are affected. People impacted by the last shutdown, what advice do you have for people affected by this one? And people affected by this […]

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