my manager has a million questions about EVERYTHING by Alison Green on October 19, 2020 A reader writes: Please help me identify some strategies to appropriately communicate with my new supervisor (“Jane”), who excessively questions *everything*. For context, I am a mid-level manager in the U.S. government, and she is my new supervisor who has never managed before. The excessive questioning covers almost all aspects of our work, but a […] Read the full article →
my boss tells weird lies about all of us by Alison Green on October 14, 2020 A reader writes: My boss, Valerie, makes up little lies about people who report to her. She never lies about anything work-related and while those of us who report to her all know she is a fibber about things, our clients and other people have no idea. Valerie would have no reason to lie about […] Read the full article →
should I warn someone he might be fired? by Alison Green on October 7, 2020 A reader writes: I have a new employee who has performance issues — bad communication, loads of errors, very slow pace, among other things. I am working on improvements, both on his and my side. But if no improvement happens, this employee will be let go. I am wondering if I should tell him that. […] Read the full article →
my boss told me that I smell by Alison Green on October 6, 2020 A reader writes: I recently started a position and my boss just called me in for a meeting that was really embarrassing: My boss told me that someone in the office had told them I had body odor. My boss told me that this wasn’t something they had noticed, so maybe it was just an […] Read the full article →
my boss is rude to waitstaff by Alison Green on October 5, 2020 A reader writes: I’ve recently left an extremely toxic workplace (so toxic that I’m pretty sure it gave me some form of trauma that I needed three weeks off to cope with), and I’m happy to leave that part of my career behind. However, I’m remembering a situation I ran into while there that flabbergasted […] Read the full article →
my boss is impossible to reach when I need responses by Alison Green on September 29, 2020 A reader writes: I work at a small organization that’s heavily regulated (financial services). I manage the marketing projects for the organization and report directly to the CEO. He is a smart and kind man, but he is impossible to get in touch with. He never replies to my emails about large-scale projects and events, […] Read the full article →
my boss suggested I stay home once I have kids by Alison Green on September 14, 2020 A reader writes: Recently my boss (just above my immediate supervisor) called me to “share his perspective” since he knows I am getting married soon. He wanted to tell me how much he appreciates his wife staying home to care for their children and wanted me to hear that perspective since it is counter to […] Read the full article →
my boss’s kids are incredibly distracting on video calls by Alison Green on September 8, 2020 A reader writes: My job went to 100% remote so I’ve been reporting to my manager virtually for the past few months. She has three kids, all under five years old. Sometimes all of them are home and sometimes it’s just one. At first, the kids popping up were cute in our video calls. Now […] Read the full article →
my boss says it’s “not her place” to say anything to my smelly, messy coworker by Alison Green on September 2, 2020 A reader writes: My coworker, let’s call her Pippa, leaves a layer of dirt everywhere she goes. Her hygiene is terrible and as the person who sits closest to her, I have to bear the brunt of it. I feel it best to give a bulleted list of some of her hygiene issues: * She […] Read the full article →
my boss wants to be my BFF by Alison Green on September 1, 2020 A reader writes: I started a new job around the time COVID-19 hit. To take the job, I moved about six hours away from home, so I was starting over in a new city and I didn’t know anyone other than a few friends of friends. I worked in the new city for a month, […] Read the full article →