employee writes overly casual emails, employer told me to remove TikTok from my phone, and more by Alison Green on April 9, 2024 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. New employee writes overly casual emails I’m a millennial and work for state government, where I supervise a new Gen Z employee. Their approach to email communication with members of the public is much less formal than I was taught/how I write and, in my […] Read the full article →
the arrogant sports car driver, the wild turkeys, and other stories of workplace parking drama by Alison Green on April 8, 2024 Last week we talked about workplace parking wars. Here are 10 fantastic stories from that discussion. 1. The parking space war I used to work in the dorm office at a local private college. We had an enormous parking lot that encircled the entire complex. There were enough spaces for every resident and employee times […] Read the full article →
am I sabotaging my former intern’s job prospects? by Alison Green on April 8, 2024 A reader writes: A while back, I supervised an intern for the first time. She produced good results and was eager to learn, but she worked slowly, needed a lot of coaching, had little initiative, and there were complaints about finding her asleep or on personal calls. However, because we were close in age and […] Read the full article →
I organize orgies — can I talk about it in my job hunt? by Alison Green on April 8, 2024 A reader writes: I organized adult weekends (aka, orgies) for several years. The part I enjoyed the most turned out to be the project and event coordination: sourcing locations, keeping the books on payments, communicating with vendors, tracking the budget, managing food, etc. I’d like to do more of that professionally, but I’m not sure […] Read the full article →
manager wants to match outfits, in trouble for a text sent outside of work, and more by Alison Green on April 8, 2024 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Does my manager want to match outfits with me? I know this is almost definitely a joke, but it’s a reoccurring and oddly specific one. I’ve been at my current office job for about a year and a half. When I was a few months […] Read the full article →
weekend open thread – April 6-7, 2024 by Alison Green on April 5, 2024 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: Annie Bot, by Sierra Greer. A robot designed to be her owner’s perfect girlfriend develops her own consciousness and starts to question what she […] Read the full article →
open thread – April 5-6, 2024 by Alison Green on April 5, 2024 It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to […] Read the full article →
coworker said his boss kneed him in the groin, I feel unappreciated, and more by Alison Green on April 5, 2024 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker said his boss kneed him in the groin This is a bit of a doozy, and now I’m worried that I might have screwed things up. My partner works in security, and has a coworker we’ll call Fergus. He also has a boss, […] Read the full article →
what to do when everyone on my team is experiencing a personal life crisis by Alison Green on April 4, 2024 A reader writes: I work in a small office of three people – a director, myself (assistant director), and a coordinator. We are Human Resources and provide support to a workplace of around 350 employees who are in constant need of support for a variety of issues. We pride ourselves on being a great company […] Read the full article →
update: I lied about a meeting by Alison Green on April 4, 2024 Remember the letter-writer who lied to their boss and said they attended a meeting when they really hadn’t (#4 at the link)? Here’s the update. Thanks so much for publishing my question, and for your commenters’ advice along with your own. I do have an update on this, although ultimately the meeting didn’t matter as […] Read the full article →