a coworker stole my spicy food, got sick, and is blaming me by Alison Green on May 31, 2021 I’m off for Memorial Day, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2016. Don’t miss the update, which is also linked below! A reader writes: We have a fridge at work. Up to this point, nothing I had in it was stolen (I am quite new, and others have […] Read the full article →
how to help coworkers who have been in the office all along by Alison Green on May 25, 2021 If you’ve been working from home but will be returning to the office at some point in the future, have you thought about what you can do to make life easier for any colleagues who have been there all along and who have been shouldering a higher level of risk and burden? In the comments […] Read the full article →
someone keeps farting in important client meetings by Alison Green on May 24, 2021 A reader writes: I work in upper-middle management at a large business and entertainment events company and recently we got back to regular face-to-face client meetings. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been having some intense and lengthy meetings in our office with a potential local client, which could really take our company to the […] Read the full article →
my nightmare former coworker is now a superstar by Alison Green on May 18, 2021 A reader writes: A few years ago, I managed a long-term project that my coworker, Jane, was working on. Jane was tricky to work with. In terms of technical skill, she did a few things exceptionally well but her overall performance was slightly below what I would have expected from somebody with her experience. But […] Read the full article →
my condescending coworker tries to take over my work and is a disruptive know-it-all by Alison Green on May 18, 2021 A reader writes: I work for a large company where employees very often contribute to community resources, either as part of their paid work or as volunteers. (Think open source software, but it’s not that.) Because this work is important to our business (and there are legal considerations), I work on the team that manages […] Read the full article →
my coworker’s constant emails make me less productive by Alison Green on May 11, 2021 A reader writes: I have a coworker who sends daily emails (often more than once a day) reminding me to complete work that is a normal part of my job and that I always complete on time. Two minutes after I receive a file to work on, she’s in my email asking me to send […] Read the full article →
my coworker asks me to google things for her and treats me like her assistant by Alison Green on May 10, 2021 A reader writes: I work for a niche department within a very large company. This company has one specific focus but my department isn’t directly related to the main output of the company. Think IT at a pharmaceutical company or public relations at a large law firm. I started with this company about a year […] Read the full article →
what to do when your coworkers keep coming back from lunch drunk by Alison Green on April 28, 2021 A reader writes: I am writing to help a friend who is in a tough predicament at work. She and her colleagues work in an office environment in the same department. The manager works out of state and is hardly in the office. The newest employee is an alcoholic, and the other employee has battled […] Read the full article →
my new coworker can’t handle our new-agey woo environment by Alison Green on April 26, 2021 A reader writes: We have a new project manager, “Dawn,” and she’s a lot. The company I work for is very emotionally oriented and feelings-driven so none of us have titles like “manager” or “director,” they’re like Imagination Collaborators for our design team or something like that so things are a little complicated because our […] Read the full article →
my coworker is a talker and whines when I ask him to stop by Alison Green on April 14, 2021 A reader writes: I’m a mid-20’s woman and I share a tiny office with two coworkers who each have multiple grandchildren. My male coworker, Bob, is a talker. I have tried everything — the staring at my screen, typing furiously as he starts a conversation, the distracted “mhmm, ok”’s as he rambles, and straight up […] Read the full article →