advice about your coworkers

Need advice about your coworkers? Here are answers to questions from dealing with a coworker who sings all day, to interrupters, to credit-stealers, and much more.

I have to train an aggressive man when I have a trauma history

A reader writes: I’m part of a project team creating and launching a new online system, which will mean significant changes in the way employees do their job. There’s some resistance to this change within the organization and one department in particular that is deeply opposed to the new system. We have been on a […]

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a “thought experiment” is causing a cold war in my office

A reader writes: I work in an office of ~20 people. The majority of us have lunch together in the conference room most days. It’s not organized or mandatory, just a preference for most of us. People drift in and out and sometimes skip if they have errands or out-of-office meetings that day. The only […]

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my coworker has started faking a British accent

I’m off today, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2018. A reader writes: So this question is … more just truly bizarre than anything. But recently, a coworker of mine has decided she is now British and has been regularly slipping into a thick British accent — very […]

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my coworker keeps asking me for personal favors

A reader writes: I need some advice regarding a colleague who is becoming very needy and dependent on me, and is making me uncomfortable. She constantly asks me for personal favors, while I have never asked her for anything. Let me list out the things she’s asked of me, and the stuff I have done […]

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my boss won’t do anything about my slacker coworker

A reader writes: My colleague “Andrew” and I work in a specialized department for a mid-sized company (about 150 employees), each of us covering one half of the company with no overlap. We both work remotely while the teams we support are on-site in offices across our region, so we rely heavily on Microsoft Teams […]

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what subjects are off-limits for work chat?

A reader writes: I was recently part of a conversation about things that should never ever be discussed at work. People listed politics, religion, personal lives, alternate health, and money/health troubles. I don’t know if I can fully agree all of these must be fully checked at the door. Making sure one is mindful of […]

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