I was fired because of a tarot card reading, how do I learn business jargon, and more by Alison Green on November 5, 2019 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I was fired because of a tarot card reading I worked for a company for many years, always receiving excellent reviews and having strong relationships with my coworkers. I *loved* my job. Last year, I went through a series of personal tragedies in a very […] Read the full article →
where are you now? (a call for updates) by Alison Green on November 4, 2019 At the end of each year, I publish a slew of “where are they now” updates from people whose questions I answered here in the past. In past years we’ve had several hundred each December and it was amazing (and has let me take most of the month off, so thank you). If you’ve had your […] Read the full article →
our CEO calls employees’ babies “future employees” and gives us no paid parental leave by Alison Green on November 4, 2019 A reader writes: I work for a contracting company that places workers in other company’s offices all over the place. I’ve never met anyone from corporate HQ, just my regional managers, but I do get emails from our CEO. A lot of emails. Every single day. In the middle of misspelled and grammatically incorrect messages […] Read the full article →
the cc line is the most passive-aggressive email field by Alison Green on November 4, 2019 If you’ve ever opened an email at work and found a colleague has inexplicably cc’d your boss on a message to you about a minor concern, you likely know the irritation this tiny electronic bomb can cause: Does your coworker not trust you to resolve the issue without your boss’s scrutiny? Is the presence of […] Read the full article →
my boss drops his sick kid off in our small office by Alison Green on November 4, 2019 A reader writes: I work for a very small company (five employees plus our boss, who is the company owner). We all work in one room, and the boss’s house is on the property. Our boss “Joe” is, in general, a kind, understanding person. He can occasionally be volatile, but we are paid pretty well, […] Read the full article →
CEO assigns work to my staff without telling me, vandalized posters, and more by Alison Green on November 4, 2019 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. CEO assigns work to my staff without talking to me I was recently promoted to a management position. My team’s main obstacle to success is the CEO of the company, three levels above me. No matter how clearly I set priorities, or how much I […] Read the full article →
weekend free-for-all – November 2-3, 2019 by Alison Green on November 2, 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 Dreamers, by Karen Thompson Walker. A college student falls asleep and can’t be roused — and what seems to be a virus spread through […] Read the full article →
how should you deal with a boss who yells at you? by Alison Green on November 1, 2019 Work is usually a place where we’re expected to control our emotions — unless, in some cases, you’re the boss and you like to yell. I recorded a piece for the BBC about bosses who yell — why it’s wrong, what companies should do about it, and what you can do if your manager is […] Read the full article →
open thread – November 1-2, 2019 by Alison Green on November 1, 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 […] Read the full article →
bedbug-sniffing dogs at work, using vacation time for a work training, and more by Alison Green on November 1, 2019 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My company brought bedbug-sniffing dogs to work and people’s homes I work for a large national company with many locations across the country, and I had a question about a situation that happened at one of our sister locations. The sister location has been having […] Read the full article →