Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Church member at my job wants help raising money for a bad idea

I work for a small church, of which I am also a member. Laurel has been a member for many years and works as a freelance bookkeeper. For many years, the church supported her ministry (for the sake of anonymity, let’s say it’s tree planting trips to Chile) through an ongoing support group and individual donations. She raises about $10,000 yearly. I spent around 100 hours last year working on administrative tasks for Laurel’s project.

I am a terrible bookkeeper and caused Laurel much consternation. I do other parts of the job well, so the church kept me on and has contracted with Laurel to work as the bookkeeper one day a week. We’ve clashed over minor but irritating things, like can a small office fit both the new desk that Laurel added, and a couch that she likes.

Today, a member of her group contacted me to see if I could look for grants that would help pay for Laurel’s upcoming trip. In looking online for more info about Laurel’s work, I was surprised to find out she has no forestry background, no training in habitat restoration, or any background on Chilean ecology. She decides on her own where and what trees should be planted. It turns out that she’s planting trees that aren’t native to Chile and are bad for the soil, and missionaries from our church have a long history in the region of making local people feel terrible about those trees when they die.

I have a graduate and undergraduate degree in forestry, and one of them is specifically in South American habitat restoration. Ive worked in the field for a decade, spent time in Peru studying tree restoration programs, and published a paper on the topic. While I don’t use that now, I’m qualified to evaluate whether a tree planting program is more likely to harm than help. Laurel’s program is harmful.

$10,000 is an outrageous amount of money to raise for the length and scope of her project. She has always provided financial reports to her group, which I have not read. I suspect the amount is high because of things like Laurel giving money directly to local farmers she’s made friends with. She also pays for a class of travel that an older person would need to be comfortable, and compensates herself for the lost bookkeeping income she incurs during these trips. I don’t think she’s scamming anyone; I do think this whole thing is harmful to Chileans and a terrible use of money.

I assume no one has said anything over the years about Laurel’s planting trips to Chile because “I am called to restore habitats in Chile, will you help me?” is a hard ask to cast doubt on, plus takes some pretty niche knowledge to question.

None of this is sitting right with me. How much of this is my business? How much of this is bitch-eating-crackery about the office couch and sweating to get Laurel’s donation reports right? Should I say something to Laurel’s committee member or my supervisor, and if so, what?

Yes, you should say something to your manager. She’s misusing church money (even if unintentionally) and causing harm rather than helping, and you happen to be particularly equipped to see that in ways that others there aren’t. Frame it as: “Jane asked me to look for grants to help fund Laurel’s trip and in doing that I learned XYZ. I’m concerned because ___ and it seems like a poor use of church money and resources. I don’t feel comfortable with what I learned so I’m bringing it to you.” Make sure to mention your background in the field as well.

It’s your business because you’re part of the organization supporting her. It’s not bitch-eating-crackery because these are serious issues. You might feel extra agitated since you’re not Laurel’s biggest fan, but the issues are legitimate ones that you’d have an ethical obligation to raise even if she were your best friend.

For what it’s worth, Laurel shouldn’t be in charge of bookkeeping if that gives her extra autonomy over the funds that ultimately flow her way. And “compensates herself for the lost bookkeeping income she incurs during these trips” is particularly alarming — does that have someone else’s sign-off? That means the church is essentially employing her on these missions and makes her less of a volunteer, and that amplifies all these concerns further.

2. CEO said anonymous questions about the company cause resentment

My organization lost a major contract recently, and we’re preparing for layoffs of a few departments in the next few months. Everyone’s stressed out about it and there are a lot of unknowns, so the CEO is doing weekly all-staff meetings, optional for non-senior staff. These have mostly been Q&A sessions, with occasional announcements as more information is available.

In our most recent meeting, someone asked whether it would be possible for staff to ask questions anonymously, since some of these are hard topics. We don’t really have a culture where people need to fear reprisal, but all the same, it seems totally reasonable to me why someone wouldn’t feel comfortable asking questions publicly. Our CEO’s response was that in the past, when we’ve had ways for staff to provide anonymous feedback, the people who put their name on theirs were resentful of those who didn’t, and that people should find another way to ask their questions. (For context about those past ways, they were short-lived. Once people started asking hard questions — about DEI concerns, mainly — leadership made excuses to get rid of them.)

Is that answer as BS as I think it is? If we’re concerned about staff being resentful of each other, I’m much more concerned about the people who’ve been denied anonymity being resentful, especially toward leadership and the organization in general! I know there’s nothing I can do about this — I don’t have that kind of influence — but it feels pretty slimy to me and I’d love a reality check.

Yeah, that’s a BS and cowardly answer. When everyone is offered the opportunity to ask anonymous questions, people who choose to attach their names anyway don’t tend to be resentful of the people who don’t! That’s a really odd argument.

If anyone felt resentful at the time, it’s a lot more more likely that it was the leadership — who were getting confronted with uncomfortable questions and who knew the anonymity was making people more willing to ask them.

3. Is it weird to mention you researched your interviewers on LinkedIn?

Is it a faux pas for a candidate to read the LinkedIn profiles of the interviewers — and mention it during the interview during the normal course of conversation?

Are candidates supposed to pretend they are not doing their homework? How many interviewers are not expecting to be looked up at all?

It’s a faux pas if you do it in a creepy way (like you have their complete professional history memorized and make sure to mention you know all five of the states they’ve lived in) or if you try to shoehorn what you found into the conversation in an unnatural way. It’s not a faux pas if it comes up organically and is relevant to the conversation — like “I saw you worked at the Taco Union — I used the research you put out on guacamole-to-jalapeño ratio in my last job” or “I saw you used to work with Valentina Mulberry — she’s been a mentor of mine for a long time” or so forth.

4. My new office building keeps giving me static shocks

My office recently consolidated locations with our parent organization over the summer, which I was fine with (shorter commute!) until, to my horror, I started experiencing static shocks almost every time I touch a metal door handle, elevator button, dishwasher, etc. Every time I reach for anything metal, I am flinching in anticipation of a shock, which has been noticed by coworkers. Sometimes from me yanking my hand back in pain, and other times from the very audible crackle of static.

It is definitely localized to this new office location as I don’t have these static problems outside or at home or anywhere else, but I’ve asked around and no one else has confirmed they have this issue. It is starting to genuinely impact my mood in the office as I am now nervous about anything metal, but somehow it seems like a silly thing to ask about. Is a request to increase building humidity reasonable? Is there any advice for what I can do to make my office day less shocking? Help!

It’s definitely reasonable to talk to someone in facilities or similar and explain you’re regularly getting static shocks in the building, and ask if they can increase the humidity and/or do an anti-static treatment in the building. You could also consider bringing in a humidifier for your own work area (which won’t help with the rest of the building but will at least help with the area you’re in most often), trying an anti-static wristband (although there’s conflicting info on whether or not they work), and also moisturizing the hell out of your hands. And while this is getting way outside of my area of expertise, I do see advice online that wearing natural fabrics rather than synthetics can help. Anyone else?

5. Should I reach out to someone who previously offered me a job?

Two and a half years ago, I was job searching and ended up in a great position — I had two offers the same week. I did some negotiating and when I accepted one offer, I called the other folks and let them know how much I enjoyed the interview process with them. They let me know that they’d love to hear from me if I ever wanted to come work for them.

I’m starting to job search a little now, and I saw a position posted with that agency that fits my experience very well. I applied on the job posting site, but would it be too much to also send an email to the folks I had previously interviewed with? A quick LinkedIn search shows they’re still with the agency.

Not too much at all. They invited you to contact them in exactly these circumstances, and you should. Say something like, “We met in 2022 when I interviewed for the X position on your team. I ended up declining your offer but really enjoyed our conversations and learning about the work you do, and you asked me to let you know if my circumstances ever changed. I’m thinking about moving on from my current role and saw you’re hiring for Y. I’d love to talk with you again if you think I might be a match for that role.” And include your resume.