my manager died, and one of my coworkers didn’t go to the funeral by Alison Green on March 17, 2025 A reader writes: My manager was one of the good ones, completely trusted their team, didn’t micromanage, would support and defend us, and was just generally a friendly person. Their death was sudden and devastating to a lot of people, to say the least. Our team is fewer than 10 people, and most had worked […] Read the full article →
my coworker’s boyfriend hangs out at our desks to flirt by Alison Green on March 11, 2025 A reader writes: I work in manufacturing, and I more or less have a desk job. My “office” is a clump of desks off to the side of the manufacturing floor. I have a coworker, Laura, who also works in this clump of desks, who is dating a technician. Laura is younger than me, was […] Read the full article →
are my longer hours unfair to my coworker? by Alison Green on March 6, 2025 A reader writes: I work in an office with two full-time employees, a manager, and 80+ contract employees. Jane, the other full-time employee, and I both support the contract employees in vital, yet different ways. Let’s say that she schedules appointments, and I process payments. Each office in our company has a scheduler and a […] Read the full article →
how can I stop being frustrated with a coworker who’s making my job harder? by Alison Green on February 26, 2025 A reader writes: I just got feedback from my manager that I need to work on communication with a coworker. I think it’s mainly about tone not content, and I agree with the feedback — I have admittedly been pretty short. I’m irritated and it’s coming across. Where I’m getting stuck, though, is that it’s […] Read the full article →
how do I handle endless rounds of nitpicky questions from coworkers? by Alison Green on February 18, 2025 A reader writes: Lately I’ve been subject to a technique by coworkers that I call “death by a thousand questions.” It goes something like this: Q: Hey, are we getting in the combination llama/alpaca wool? A: I don’t have a date yet, I’m hoping for the 20th. Q: So the 20th. A: It’s not confirmed. […] Read the full article →
coworker swears angrily during the day by Alison Green on February 11, 2025 A reader writes: My office is next to a person who swears a lot during the work day. I assume it’s frustration with his computer, but a least a couple times an hour I’ll hear an onslaught of expletives coming from his desk. It’s pretty disconcerting to hear and it’s also really distracting. Otherwise, he’s […] Read the full article →
my coworkers have way more money than me … and they constantly expect me to shell out cash for meals and gifts by Alison Green on January 28, 2025 A reader writes: I work in a government agency that’s very analogous to a private sector industry (think trade vs. banking or procurement vs. real estate) and many of my colleagues have either joined us after having made plenty of money on the private side or are otherwise independently wealthy. Our senior leadership are politically […] Read the full article →
my “on-site” coworker is never on-site by Alison Green on January 27, 2025 A reader writes: For the past 18 months, the person in my office who holds the same job title as me has had serious attendance and communication problems. I’m not talking a few times a month. I’m talking it’s a miracle if he makes it in most of five days in a week. He’ll be […] Read the full article →
my coworker accused of me of deliberately snoring to keep him awake on a work trip by Alison Green on January 21, 2025 A reader writes: I went on a work trip and thought it went well. On the last day, I woke up to hear my senior teammate bashing me. We shared a wall, and it was paper-thin. I snore, and it’s something I’m embarrassed by, but there’s nothing I can do to control it. My teammate […] Read the full article →
my coworker keeps demanding I say “please” by Alison Green on January 20, 2025 I’m off for the holiday, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2018. A reader writes: I have a problem with a coworker and have been hesitant to send this to you as it seems petty but it has been bugging me for awhile. It started as a pet […] Read the full article →