the $15,000 coffee fund, the cheapskate executives, and other stories of office coffee wars by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 Last week, I asked for your stories about office coffee wars (or tea/milk/etc. wars). Here are 15 of my favorites … plus an update. 1. The coffee fund I worked in a department store during summer breaks from college back in the late 80s. The break room had an old school coffee maker, powdered milk, […] Read the full article →
when I offered someone a job, her dad got on the phone with questions by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 A reader writes: We recently hired a new grad, Jane. As my colleague, Sally, was making the verbal offer over the phone, she asked Jane if she had any questions. Jane replied, “No, but my father does.” Then, Jane’s father took the phone and started asking Sally questions about the offer! The questions ranged from […] Read the full article →
I had to stay in a horrible hotel on a team-building trip by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 A reader writes: I work for a large company and my team is spread over four offices in different cities. We do a yearly employee satisfaction survey and our scores last year were quite low. In an attempt to improve our scores, our manager and director arranged a team-building trip to their home city. The […] Read the full article →
I got yelled at after texting a hiring manager’s personal cell, interviewer asked me for something positive about Covid, and more by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. A hiring manager freaked out when I texted her personal cell number I recently tried to apply for a pharmacy tech trainee job at a local hospital. The website was down for a few days and it was impossible to reach anyone, so I decided […] Read the full article →
update: I got in trouble for using a mouse jiggler … despite my excellent work by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 Remember the letter-writer who got in trouble for using a mouse jiggler despite their excellent work? Here’s the update. Thank you so much for your response! It was helpful and validating and gave me some additional perspective to process what happened. I thought I’d send you an update. Not long after I sent in the […] Read the full article →
my team doesn’t want managers to hang out with them by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 A reader writes: I manage a small tight-knit team. The people I’ve hired in the last two years socialize together quite a bit, which is great. The downside is they don’t invite me or the other managers; the junior members will hang out together and not invite the managers. The disappointing part of this is […] Read the full article →
if you work for a church, can they require you to give 10% of your salary back to them? by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 A reader writes: A friend of mine has been really down on his luck job-wise, but he’s finally managed to pass the final round of interviews for an IT position at a church. The way he tells it, it seems as though they are just waiting for his background check to go through and they’ll […] Read the full article →
people are stealing the bathroom items I bought for shared use, how much mental health support should managers provide, and more by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How much direct mental health support should managers provide? You get a lot of questions about how employees can deal with managers who overstep the mark in the name of mental health, pushing employees to be vulnerable and share details about the mental health. I […] Read the full article →
weekend open thread – February 11-12, 2023 by Alison Green on February 10, 2023 This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: Silver Sparrow, by Tayari Jones, in which a man has two daughters — one in his public family and one in his secret […] Read the full article →
it’s your Friday good news by Alison Green on February 10, 2023 It’s your Friday good news: 1. “I’ve never written in, but I read the site every single day. I’ve been at my current company for over 12 years, and just last year I finally landed in a role that I love. My company merged with another one about a year ago, so I went from […] Read the full article →