when your teenager dates your boss’s son and it goes bad by Alison Green on August 28, 2024 A reader writes: I know that you’ve repeatedly discussed how romantic relationships at work can be problematic, but how do you navigate it when it’s your child? I was catching up with a friend (Sara) who told me that her teenage daughter had started dating Sara’s boss’s teenage son. Sara didn’t want to forbid the […] Read the full article →
I’m in trouble for not answering a midnight phone call … for a non-emergency “emergency” by Alison Green on August 26, 2024 A reader writes: I work freelance in an industry which is notorious for bad work-life balance. I have another job alongside my freelance work to top up my income. It’s seasonal, over a busy summer period for an organization that’s related to my freelance work, and I work 10 hours a week. My role is […] Read the full article →
I’m worried a wedding vendor will complain about me to my boss by Alison Green on August 21, 2024 A reader writes: This starts with my wedding. To make a very long story short, my wedding dress alterations were a complete disaster. The seamstress produced such awful work that I had to have an emergency appointment with another shop to fix the dress, just days before my wedding. The new seamstress showed me how […] Read the full article →
my boss jokes about our bodies, our sex lives, our pregnancies, and more by Alison Green on August 20, 2024 A reader writes: The manager of my department has a habit of saying inappropriate things. It seems like she means them to be jokes, or perhaps it’s a misguided way of trying to connect with people. Regardless of her intentions, she has been making everyone increasingly uncomfortable as time goes on. Before she was a […] Read the full article →
my boss says I need to socialize more with my team by Alison Green on August 20, 2024 A reader writes: I’ve been in my job for about two years, and I’m just going to say it: I don’t have a great manager. The biggest sticking point has been his over-emphasis on the team hanging out and “getting to know each other.” He never bothers to schedule work time for us to do […] Read the full article →
my boss is pressuring me to work more hours … I just came back from stress leave by Alison Green on August 12, 2024 A reader writes: I recently took a couple of weeks off work because of a work-stress-related mental breakdown, and came back today. Our project is a nightmare — toxic culture, inexperienced leadership, over-budget, understaffed. Brian, our project manager and my grandboss, is responsible for a lot of the problems. He also can’t manage the members […] Read the full article →
my coworkers are engaged but one of them is cheating … with my boss by Alison Green on August 7, 2024 A reader writes: My question is regarding a rather sticky situation I am unwillingly involved in. In short, I think I am reliving an episode of The Office. I have two colleagues who are about to get married to each other, let us call them Joe and Kate. Unfortunately, I know for a fact that […] Read the full article →
my manager is a hoarder — how do I nope out of our office? by Alison Green on July 15, 2024 A reader writes: My manager is a hoarder, and our office space is odious. There is no trash can, because my manager treats the office as one giant trash can. She leaves leftover lunch and discarded wrappers all over, sometimes even on my desk. She uses the office as an extension of her own home: […] Read the full article →
do I have to refuse to use first names because my manager won’t? by Alison Green on June 26, 2024 A reader writes: I just started with a new organization three months ago. I was hired to lead a newly-formed team. In case it matters, I am the team leader but not the supervisor — there is a vacant supervisor position, and my boss has made it clear she would like me to fill that […] Read the full article →
my CEO is furious about a joke I made by Alison Green on June 19, 2024 A reader writes: I recently had an odd situation with the CEO of my company. I am a project manager working on a high-profile, time-sensitive project that was very important to the company. Although the company is a large multinational, I work out of the small satellite office, along with the CEO for North America, […] Read the full article →