December 2023

“I will confront you by Wednesday of this week”

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Several years ago, a reader shared with us this epic email that was sent by their company’s boss after a holiday party gone terribly awry, and as we enter the holiday season we remember its glory. “This happened about […]

Read the full article →

update: my coworker talks non-stop and we can’t take it anymore

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Remember the letter-writer whose coworker talked non-stop and they couldn’t take it […]

Read the full article →

when your new hire is in jail on his first day

A reader writes: My company hired a new person on my team. He was scheduled to start on a Monday but he pushed back a week at the last minute, and he didn’t notify us until minutes before he was expected in. The next Monday he didn’t come in, and no one could get in […]

Read the full article →

I’m about to fire an employee … but we just hired her husband

A reader writes: One of my staff is about to be fired for grossly inadequate performance. I’m confident that we’re on safe legal ground with the firing, and her performance issues have been documented and addressed with no improvement. However, the complication is that we have just hired her husband to work within the same […]

Read the full article →

update: my new coworker is putting fake mistakes in my work so she can tell our boss I’m bad at my job

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Remember the letter-writer whose coworker was putting fake mistakes in the writer’s […]

Read the full article →