weekend open thread — July 6-7, 2024 by Alison Green on July 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: The Mythmakers, by Keziah Weir. A young writer recognizes herself in a short story by an author who she met years ago and tries […] Read the full article →
open thread – July 5, 2024 by Alison Green on July 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 →
my coworkers are in a self-help cult, I pretended I’m allergic to bees, and more by Alison Green on July 5, 2024 I’m off today. Here are some past letters that I’m making new again, rather than leaving them to wilt in the archives. 1. I got in trouble for saying “bite me” in a meeting I recently attended an intense work group meeting with my boss and a coworker. The coworker responded to one of my […] Read the full article →
4th of July open thread by Alison Green on July 4, 2024 It’s a holiday! This comment section is open for any discussion you’d like to have with other readers. Read the full article →
the burnt bagel, the excessive candor, and other reply-all email catastrophes by Alison Green on July 3, 2024 It’s the day before a long weekend and I expect traffic to plummet, so to send you off into the holiday with something fun, here are 10 11 reply-all horror stories that have been shared here over the years. 1. The burnt bagel My first or two week at a new job, someone burned a […] Read the full article →
pushing back on unreasonable reference requests: a success story by Alison Green on July 3, 2024 Here’s a success story from a reader. I just wanted to share a quick success I had today. I’ve seen a lot of comments/posts on your site about reference companies that are very pushy about trying to get their long surveys completed. I got an email this morning asking me to provide four references to […] Read the full article →
do I need to ensure my nipples are never visible through my work clothes? by Alison Green on July 3, 2024 A reader writes: I am a mid-40’s woman working in an office setting at a university and would describe our dress code as office casual. I don’t dress in a manner that might be considered revealing or sexy, but have protruding nipples which are visible through my shirt regardless of whether it is cold or […] Read the full article →
“girl boss” artwork in the women’s bathrooms, interview focused on conflict with coworkers, and more by Alison Green on July 3, 2024 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. “Girl boss” artwork appeared in the women’s bathrooms A few days ago, new artwork appeared in all of the women’s bathrooms in our building (and we’ve confirmed that it’s only the women’s bathrooms). This artwork is of the inspirational “girl boss” variety, with phrases like […] Read the full article →
my coworker disrupts meetings and explodes or freezes us out if she’s angry by Alison Green on July 2, 2024 A reader writes: I work on a four-person core team, and we have a standing weekly meeting that is required of every team in our organization. We are all of equal standing and all have at least a decade of experience in our field. Occasionally a supervisor will come to these meetings, but often it’s […] Read the full article →
should I address the feedback from an anonymous survey? by Alison Green on July 2, 2024 A reader writes: My company did an employee survey. It really was anonymous (no names and anything that could be de-anonymizing was scrubbed from the results I can see) but my department is small enough that I have a good idea about who gave each rating, including who gave a tiny bit of negative feedback […] Read the full article →