my coworker asked out a coworker, got turned down, and now won’t stop badmouthing her by Alison Green on July 2, 2024 A reader writes: I have a group of coworkers who I am rather friendly with. About a year ago, one of the members of this group (Josh) developed a crush on another employee who is not part of our social circle (Tiffany). Eventually he asked her out, but she declined. Josh was outwardly calm and […] Read the full article →
my coworker is spreading a rumor that I have bulimia by Alison Green on March 27, 2024 A reader writes: I really need some unbiased advice here as I am really struggling with a situation at my job but at the same time love my position and don’t want to leave. I’ve been at my current job for just over two years. Initially, I really enjoyed my job and my coworkers, but […] Read the full article →
a coworker is harassing my neighbor (who is having chemo) by Alison Green on February 12, 2024 A reader writes: I live in a high-rise condo complex and work for a prominent and large (10,000+ employee) healthcare system. My condo complex has a listserv that gets sent to the 1,000 or so residents — unfortunately with very little moderation. Over the past few months, but particularly today, somebody who works at my […] Read the full article →
an employee is out to get my star performer, and no one else cares by Alison Green on February 6, 2024 A reader writes: I manage Tina, who is a genius. She’s fresh from school but has already saved our department tens of thousands. We acquired a few failed companies and Tina dove in, learned all their systems, and automated the pulling of data in a week. This saved us hundreds of hours in training and […] Read the full article →
men are hitting on my scheduling bot because it has a woman’s name by Alison Green on January 8, 2024 A reader writes: I have sort of a strange situation. I provide consulting services for (mostly) small business owners. This generally involves scheduling some meetings, and I have an email “Personal Assistant” bot that does this for me. It has a female name (which was the default), and does not announce that it is a […] Read the full article →
the worst boss of 2023 is… by Alison Green on December 18, 2023 The final votes are in, and the CEO who tried to fire an employee after a DNA test revealed they were half-brothers won the Worst Boss of 2023 Award, with 60% of the vote in the final match-up. Coming in second, the company that wouldn’t do anything about an employee who was angry about an […] Read the full article →
vote for the worst boss of 2023: the finals by Alison Green on December 15, 2023 It’s the final round of the Worst Boss of 2023 voting. We’ve narrowed the pool from eight nominees to two (see results from the first round and second round). The two finalists go head-to-head below. Voting is now closed. The results in this round were: A Monstrous Match: a DNA test revealed the CEO is […] Read the full article →
vote for the worst boss of 2023: round 2 by Alison Green on December 13, 2023 It’s round 2 of the Worst Boss of 2023 voting. In the first round we narrowed the pool from eight nominees to four (see results here). The four winners from round one are paired off in two match-ups below, as we move closer to declaring a winner. Voting is now closed. The results in this […] Read the full article →
vote for the worst boss of 2023 by Alison Green on December 11, 2023 It’s time to vote on the worst boss of the year! Today we’ll vote for the worst boss in each of four match-ups. On Wednesday, the winners will go head-to-head with each other. On Friday, we’ll vote on the finalists. The winner will be crowned next Monday. Voting in this round closes at 11:59 pm […] Read the full article →
my patronizing coworker interrupts meetings to explain basic things to me by Alison Green on October 4, 2023 A reader writes: My coworker, Craig (mid-40s, male), chronically interrupts discussions in meetings, ostensibly to “help” me (mid-50s, female) by explaining obvious things. Typical example: Other Coworker is proposing a plan to use to our advantage a quirk in the way our state categorizes, say, UFO sightings. I’m well aware of this quirk, because I […] Read the full article →