miscellaneous

most popular posts of 2024

Here are the posts that interested people the most in 2024, via two lists: the most viewed posts and the most commented on posts. Most viewed posts of 2024: 10. my company says we can’t wear underwire bras 9. my coworkers are engaged but one of them is cheating … with my boss 8. is […]

Read the full article →

my favorite posts of 2024

Here are my favorite posts of 2024, in no particular order: 1. how much can I pet my cat on video calls? Because this is asking the important question. 2. I spent a ton of time helping 2 employees who hate each other … now they’re dating Because people are so weird. 3. I think […]

Read the full article →

all of my 2024 book recommendations

All year long, I’ve made a weekly book recommendation when kicking off the weekend open thread. These aren’t work-related books; they’re just books I like, mostly fiction. Sometimes they’re books that I’m in the middle of reading, and other times they’re just long-standing favorites. Here’s the complete list of what I’ve recommended this year (maybe […]

Read the full article →

“I will confront you by Wednesday of this week”

Several years ago, a reader shared with us this epic email that was sent by their company’s boss after a holiday party gone terribly awry, and as we enter the holiday season we remember its glory. “This happened about ten years ago, but the email I received from our boss was so epic I preserved […]

Read the full article →

more on AI attending meetings

A reader writes: This may be cheating as an “update” since I am not the original person who wrote in about AI attending meetings, but I still thought it might be interesting/useful to you and your readers! Today I was in a Zoom meeting: a regular small meeting to publish a paper. I noticed an […]

Read the full article →

the schedule for updates this year

Welcome to “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager! Between now and the end of the year, I’ll be running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. A heads-up about update season: for the next few weeks I’ll be posting at midnight, 11 am, 12:30 pm, 2 pm, […]

Read the full article →

have a question about holidays at work?

I’m doing a column for Slate answering questions about holidays at the office, and I want your questions! Maybe you’re wondering how to get out of buying gifts for all your coworkers, or you want to avoid being shafted in the Secret Santa this year, or you’re terribly afraid your boss is going to hand […]

Read the full article →

the star guest got drunk at an event I was hosting

A reader writes: I’m in a position where I do some industry event hosting and public interviewing. I don’t arrange any of the events, I’m just a speaker/host (I work in a related field too, but these gigs are freelance and paid separately.) I had agreed to interview someone very prestigious in their field who […]

Read the full article →

this one weird trick cured my burn-out

In last week’s question about burning out doing work that you love, I wrote this: I used to think the cure for burn-out was lots of downtime and relaxation — and sometimes it is — but what’s worked better for me personally is regularly using my brain for something completely different. Otherwise you’re just wearing […]

Read the full article →